Dear Thompson Community:
Welcome to 2022! I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday season.
Over the last two years, our district has made huge strides in providing network, hardware and software access to staff and students to improve our operations and instruction. Our bandwidth has increased, all students have access to computers and many new learning applications are being implemented. While these are the main priorities of our Innovative Technology Services Division, there are many other areas of technology that we are also working to improve. Today I will highlight a less visible, but very important tool for learning – our technology labs.
The old-fashioned computer lab used to have the important purpose of exposing students to information technology when there were few other options available. But as more technology access was provided within the classroom setting, the general computer skills labs began to lose their relevance. Now, most students learn computer skills within the context of learning from their teachers. Each student has access to a computing device so a lab is no longer needed as the main place to utilize computers. Thus, the purpose of our labs has evolved. Now our labs are being redesigned to provide access to specialized technology that supplements the students’ standard devices and gives teachers creative ways to facilitate learning.
In our middle and high schools, most labs are specialized for subjects such as business, industrial fabrication, computer science and graphic arts. In some middle schools and most of our elementary schools, older labs are being converted from traditional generalized computer labs to Innovation Labs. These new learning spaces are modularized. Based on space, funding and curricular limitations, schools choose among eight different modules, including Multimedia Studio (K-5 or 6-8), Fabrication Shop (K-5 or 6-8), Health & Medical Zone, Fluid Works, Computer Science Lab or Innovation Den.
Students use specific processes to build skills and create both tactile and digital learning artifacts. Our new Innovation Labs provide spaces for students to do things with specialized technology that cannot be easily accomplished with standard students’ devices in the classroom. These specialized technologies align with and support college, career and technical opportunities in high school as students progress through the grades in alignment with the K-12 Computer Science Framework and ISTE Standards for Computer Science.
Over the past two years, we have installed fourteen of these modules and updated many existing middle and high school labs. Three more elementary innovation lab modules are in the planning stages now. While funding is a limiting factor, we have been able to maintain momentum with help from our philanthropic partners, including Parent-Teacher Organizations, Rotary and the Berthoud Schools Fund. Their financial support, combined with district funding, has made these lab transformations possible. We are so thankful for their generosity. Eventually, we will convert all of our generalized labs to specialized labs in order to provide the world class learning our students deserve.
As always, thank you so much for your support of our students and staff. Your dedication not only greatly benefits our district, it also helps to further strengthen our amazing community. We look forward to a terrific 2022!
Sincerely,
Dr. Marc Schaffer
Superintendent
Thompson School District