Technology for Parents
The Twin Valley Tech Dept is proud to introduce the tvsd.org app available on both Apple and Android! The tvsd.org app has news and event feeds as well as important documents available.
The Twin Valley Tech Dept continues to promote digital wellness through our Online Safety Hub: Online Safety Hub The Online Safety Hub is available to everyone and features a wealth of information about the technology our students use on district and personal devices. Online safety, popular app information and teen trends are just some of the categories covered via articles and videos. You'll also find the Qustodio Parental Control App which provides the necessary tools to manage your students on their personal devices, such as blocking inappropriate sites or tracking data. For more tech related information, head over to https://www.tvsd.org/page/technology
Going 1:1 in Twin Valley School District
Our story of "going 1:1" began in 2016 with our commitment to using the Google platform as a serious learning tool. Before long, our teachers found that Google provided a terrific environment for storing teaching and learning materials, and sharing them among their peers, but more importantly with their students. Teachers at all levels have found a place for using the Google apps, but our secondary teachers have woven Google apps and extensions into their everyday routine with their students. While we let this organically grow throughout the Middle School and High School, it became clear that needing a device that integrated with the Google platform would be necessary. Enter Chromebook carts!
During school years 16-17 and 17-18, we introduced Chromebooks stored on carts throughout the High School, and Middle School. Each cart contains a classroom-set. By the time we ended the 17-18 school year we introduced department and grade-level specific carts providing as many class-sets as we could. Popularity in using the carts grew with each passing month, so it became clear that providing a device per student was an effective direction to pursue.
Through our 1:1 initiative, we provide a standardized learning environment. Google + a device is the WHAT of our initiative, but the WHY is so much more exciting! Our 1:1 Initiative will provide anytime/anywhere access to learning and expand the possibilities of where learning occurs - the places we learn are many and don't always require brick and mortar. Our 1:1 Initiative will provide flexible access to instructional materials, allowing our students to learn at a pace they self-manage. Our 1:1 Initiative will provide a continuous cycle of feedback as students process instruction and practice subject matter. Finally, our 1:1 Initiative will support a transformation in classroom time -- a time for higher level thinking and discussion as students produce projects and achieve milestones exhibiting a mastery in their learning.
A 1:1 Initiative is a tool for learning. We do not expect our 1:1 to be the ultimate solution for academic success, but finding those niches where a standardized tool for learning enhances the process is a step in the right direction. It is the answer to the question "What does it mean to go to school at Twin Valley?" It is a milestone, one of many, in our learning culture that provides the answer "Technology and learning, at Twin Valley, are coexisting threads in the fabric of our learning community."
