For Professional, Effective Communication
in Print and on the Web
News Writing
Published Sept. 15, 1993
Mt. Carroll installs two new labs
Donations were key to computers at
district schools
By Nancy Gable
For The Journal-Standard
MOUNT CARROLL -- After a late and rocky start, three new Mount Carroll computer labs are busy learning centers for students and teachers of all grades and subjects.
The high school has two new labs, one with 24 IBM computers and the other with 18. The high school's previous computers were moved to Center Hill and set up in the lab area there for fourth through sixth grades.
Although the high school system is working, Tracy Marsh, business education instructor, said, "We had a rough start. On Aug. 12 the server was loaded from 4 to 9 p.m. We had no lights, no power and no air conditioning."
Because the extensive wiring that was needed had not been completed, extension cords were used so networking software could be put on the server.
"The cabling was done Aug. 19, one day before school started," Marsh said. "The programs were loaded on the system just one hour before the teachers were to come in for in-service instruction."
The high school computers are networked to a file server.
The larger lab includes four dot-matrix printers and a laser printer. The smaller lab has one dot-matrix printer with another to be added later.
Marsh said the computer labs are being used by the junior high and high school for keyboarding, advanced typing, BASIC programming, computer applications, word processing, algebra and geometry.
The accounting class will eventually use the computers to see how businesses do accounting on computers.
Students in other grades sign up for any remaining time available.
Machines in other rooms are used for computer-assisted drafting and science, with computers in the library expected to come on-line soon.
The $118,000 high school system is being bought from IBM over a period of five years with assistance from the Mount Carroll Education Foundation.
"The key thing for us was the Mount Carroll Education Foundation with their five-year commitment," Mount Carroll Superintendent Paul Tobin said. "There would be half as much for the students if not for them."
Marsh and mathematics teacher Mary Haas, system operators, have had two days of training, but Marsh said they feel they have only scratched the surface.
Marsh said IBM loaded the file server with 105 software programs that could be used and evaluated for one semester. The programs cover all subject areas for K-12. At the end of the semester the school will decide which programs to buy.
Third-party software can also be purchased and added to the server.
The 19 Apple computers along with four dot matrix printers at Center Hill will be used primarily for writing, math and social studies initially. Other subject areas will be added as teachers expand their knowledge and experience.
"We hope to get the kids into writing a lot more, get them excited about it," fifth-grade teacher Beth Diener said.
Fourth-grade teacher Bill Timm said all of the Center Hill students would use the computers for some of their assignments and would have their own disks on which to save their work.
Tobin said Center Hill has been awarded an $8,000 scientific literacy grant from the state. The grant will provide science software for the Apple computers and some science equipment.
Tobin said a technology committee of teachers, parents, staff and school board members was formed two years ago to determine needs and equipment. The plan for the new system took a year to put together.
"Our goal is to have all the classrooms networked," Tobin said. "Now the students have another way of learning. It's a tool for the teachers."
Tobin said community support for the education foundation's radiothon, which raised more than $22,000 last spring, was a key factor in being able to provide the new technology.
Tobin and Marsh said the school will eventually make the labs available to the community for adult education.
| Back to previous page | Back to top of page |