Background
The purpose of this page is to cull together some of the extensive research I’ve done over the past month or so since the Net56 proposal was introduced. Technology is a very important part of our lives now and is an integral part of the education experience. Technology permeates the structure of administrative operations with student information systems, financial systems, transportation systems and others. In the classroom, technology provides the foundation for virtual learning environments, instructional programs, research resources and assessments.
Perhaps it is no strange coincidence that I should take keen interest in this process. In 1981, RLAS started its first gifted program, headed by Pam Bloom, called CAKE (Creative Activities for Kid’s Education). Students were identified for the program and I was one of the first ones at the earliest grade level (4th grade) for CAKE. Students would meet once a week with Mrs. Bloom for the program. The first year of CAKE, our meeting area was a janitor’s closet in the 2nd-4th Grade hallway in the west wing of Murphy School.
Also installed that year were the very first computers that I’m aware of in Round Lake, Radio Shack (Tandy) TRS-80 Model IIIs. In the office area of the Murphy library, I learned programming and it was there that I was exposed to BASIC. In 7th grade I would use the TRS-80 again for my Social Studies Fair project, which was to complete a menu driven “e-book” (written in BASIC) of the History of the Round Lake Area, which had been published around that time.
All in all I’m a geek at heart. I bought a Timex-Sinclair 1000 at a garage sale for $10 when I was a kid, I was in on the BBS wave of the early 90s at college; I’ve done my taxes on a computer since 1994; and at my last house I had a Linux box serving as a firewall, broadband server, and print server with two Windows XP boxes and an Apple Powerbook (my first Mac). Over the past few years I have leaned heavily towards Mac, so I will announce my bias up front. My home IT support time has diminished greatly since replacing my mom’s Compaq Windows XP box with a 17″ Intel iMac. My main machine now is a MacBook Pro.
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