Education, technology, and the next generation
Implementing technology in the classroom is a relatively new phenomenon, made urgently important by the pandemic and the subsequent CDC guidelines in K-12 schools.
Whether your school is entirely remote, in-person, or using a hybrid-model, a cohesive and seamless learning environment helps children learn and engage from anywhere. Having the right systems, devices, and accessibility ensures students, teachers, and administrators operate as smoothly as possible.
E-Rate
The e-Rate program subsidizes technology for schools, giving them the opportunity to purchase state-of-the-art technologies to help students connect and learn across all grade levels.
OWL Labs
OWL Labs offers a fully immersive technological experience with a 360-degree camera and targeted views that follows each speaker, ensuring that the entire class can engage from anywhere.
Education IT Services
Technology in schools is in an endless cycle of innovation, updates, and upgrades. Ozone covers your IT needs by helping you every step of the way from e-rate applications and product orders to installation and maintenance.
Keeping up with the kids
Most children have grown up with a device in hand and the ability to navigate apps and games like professional chess players. Technology in the classroom has not kept up with the savviness of the next generation. The demand for remote learning has exponentially demonstrated the gap facing our schools.
According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), technologies in K-12 classrooms have been growing rapidly and have shown positive effects on learning. With the myriad of information available on the internet, it is vital that students and teachers can access it and harness it as an educational tool.
The Ozone difference
We are passionate about helping the next generation, especially when it comes to technology for students. Whether you’re looking for erate program support or want IT support and service at your school, get in touch today and let us know how we can help!
FAQS
According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), technologies in K-12 classrooms are growing rapidly and are showing positive effects on learning. With the myriad of information available on the internet, it is vital that students and teachers can access it and harness it as an educational tool.
By having access to technology in the classrooms, teachers can utilize everything the internet and online teaching programs have to offer. Teachers may gain virtual visualizations, such as PowerPoints, maps, and videos, to better demonstrate their lessons. They can even use programs and teaching tools to better assess individual students’ needs. Additionally, by granting each student their own device, teachers can use that technology to individualize lessons and meet the students at their personal level. Students can learn at a pace that suits their needs and in a way that best fits their individual learning styles.
Technology is a great supplemental and enrichment tool for teachers. It engages students at their individual levels without interrupting the rest of the class and adds additional visual and auditory resources.
While national data on the effectiveness of technology in the classroom is still in its preliminary stages, the U.S. Department of Education reported that there are “positive effects of technology on learning” in 2016. During unprecedented times like the COVID- 19 pandemic, technology has proved vital to continue educational lessons while maintaining safety for all students and teachers.
Technology in the classrooms and schools can be divided into two categories: networking infrastructure and end-user technologies. CNS Partners specializes in the infrastructure, ranging from fiber and coper wiring to servers, switches, and firewalls to wireless access points. We ensure that the entire school can have fast, reliable internet while maintaining security for all its users. We also ensure that the school’s infrastructure can support all the end-user’s technologies, whether it be mobile laptops, a computer lab of desktops, or an overhead projector or Apple TV.
Each school is unique in the quantity of technology they employ. Our goal as a technology company is to help augment infrastructures so schools can add devices as their needs grow. Studies show that technology benefits learning by providing more ease and resources for teachers and students, and we want to support that. Through programs like the Universal Service Administrative Company’s eRate program, we can help fund a better technological infrastructure for your school.
The eRate program was established by the Federal Government to help schools and libraries connect to the internet. It is a supplemental fund that enables schools and libraries to build up their network and support their students and patrons. Schools and libraries can apply annually for funding through the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).
eRate is the commonly used name for the Government’s program for K-12 Schools and Libraries and was implemented under the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The program is managed under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).
The program was intended to ensure that the Internet would be available to “everyone” by focusing on the “last mile” to get Internet into our schools, libraries, and research facilities. It started by paying for Internet circuits (Category 1 of eRate) and then expanded into the wired side of internal networks, switching, and finally covered WiFI technologies (Category 2). They explicitly drew the line on what the program covers by excluding end-user computing devices such as PCs, laptops, and tablets of every make and variation. Accordingly, if it’s “network” related it’s probably covered, if it’s computing related it probably isn’t. There are a few items that eRate covers that aren’t obvious, such as power related and battery backup systems, but check with your eRate technology provider for more details.