Information Technologies

Technology Information

One-to-One Computing in Florence City Schools

In our digitally diverse and complex world, we must constantly strive to make sure students in FCS are afforded the most up-to-date opportunity to learn, grow and excel. A primary objective is to make sure our students have access to all the tools for learning. Textbooks can become outdated even before they are issued. But computers can be used as a tool that not only inspires learning and growth but makes the world the classroom, where every student has a seat in the front row.

One-to-One computing simply means “anytime, anywhere technology for every student.” FCS has a vision for one-to-one computing (PC Tablets) in grades 6-12 within three years. Students in grades 3-5 will with be supplied with Computers on Wheels mobile labs (C.O.W’s) per grade level. The phases of this initiative include:

Securing a wireless infrastructure in all schools (began in 2005)
Supplying administrators, principals and lead teachers with PC Tablets and professional development on technology integration (began in 2005)
Teacher professional development on integrating technology into the curriculum (began in 2005)
Pilot student classrooms (begins in 2007-2008)
Core area classrooms (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, grades 6-12) with classroom sets of PC Tablets (begins 2009)

The Board of Education and administration of Florence City Schools have shown their commitment to technology by approving a massive upgrade of equipment and facilities over the past 8 years.

We believe that technology is not a one-time project, but an ongoing commitment to our students and staff. The "digital future" is upon us now and our aim is to produce teachers that envision it and students that embrace it.

All of our facilities are interconnected over a Wide Area Network (WAN). Each school is connected to the central office with a high speed 1 Gigabit Fiber connection. This WAN allows efficient operation and management of resources and also provides a permanent, high speed connection to the internet for every PC in our system (no dial-ups).
Each school has its own Local Area Network (LAN). This LAN consists of one or more servers (a very powerful main computer that houses most of the school's administrative and instructional data) and all the computers (classroom and others) connected to it. The LAN enables the sharing of printers, files, etc. across the network.

Students can access shared programs school-wide such as Accelerated Reader, Classworks, PLATO and other instructional software. The network allows students and teachers to browse the school media center and even reserve books without leaving their classrooms.