Student Technology Education Program
(STEP)
As the Franklin Road Academy Tablet program enters its fifth year, our objective remains for all our students to experience the responsible and relevant use of technology today as we prepare them with 21st century skills they will need for tomorrow. In our on-going commitment to quality control, we:
- Collect feedback from faculty, students, and parents
- Partner with Vanderbilt professor, Dr. Andy Van Schaack
- Design technology curriculum and integration in grades K – 12
- Continually seek to improve our educational program through professional development and analysis of best practices with technology
As a result, in the 2009 – 2010 school year, we are implementing STEP (Student Technology Education Program) in the seventh grade. There will be several components of the program designed to support students, teachers, and parents during this important first year of owning a personal tablet to be used in school.
STEP includes student assemblies, follow-up activities with the students, Technology Teas with parents, and annual technology surveys for faculty, students, and parents.
The topics will include:
- FRA’s Acceptable Use Policy & Taking care of your machine
- Time management – Vanderbilt researcher as speaker
- Internet safety – internal email, FBI agent Scott Augenbaum as speaker, external internet use
- Social networking – online interaction
- Research skills
- Plagiarism
- Tricks of the Trade
Another component of STEP is the continuation of our graduated license program. The tablet is an educational tool, to be used for primarily for academic work. In order to maximize learning with the tablet, and to teach responsible use of technology, students, while in the 7th grade, will not have access to social networking websites from their tablets. This means, in the 7th grade, students will have to use another computer at home, with parental permission, to be able to go on sites like Facebook and My Space. As students mature through grade levels 8 - 12, access to social networking sites at home will be increased. In 8th grade, students will be able to access these sites at home on their tablets. Note that no student will be able to access social networking sites from their tablet while on FRA’s campus.