Technology In The Classroom
One of Doceo’s co-founders, Christian White, sat down with Jim Roberts and Scott Rogers of York County School of Technology to find out more about the importance of incorporating technology into the modern classroom. Here’s what they had to say about YCST and the technologies used:
How long have you been in charge of the IT resources at YCST?
I (Jim) came to York County School of Technology 6 years ago, and have been working in Education for 10 years. I have spent 46 years in the Information Technology world, serving in the Marines and the commercial IT world before moving into Education. (Scott) have been at YSCT for 9 years.
In your opinion, what is the role of YCST in York?
Our primary role is to understand the future needs of employers in York County and to develop the curriculum necessary to educate our students to meet the emerging employer needs. We operate an Occupational Advisory Committee for each of our educational programs. This committee is comprised of local employers and gives the business community a voice in ensuring that their future employment needs can be met.
What technology initiatives have you introduced to the YCST?
When I (Jim) first arrived, the infrastructure was inadequate to meet the demands of the future. Step one was to upgrade the capacity and stability necessary to leverage the emerging educational technologies.
We upgraded internal bandwidth from 1 Gb to 10 Gb, and increased internet bandwidth from 10 Mb to 350 Mb. Implemented right-sized hardware under the demands of each program’s needs and virtualized our server infrastructure. Once the infrastructure was upgraded, the stage was set to implement new applications to enhance the educational experience for the students and families that we serve.
Is there any means of technology collaboration between YCST and the School Districts of York County?
YCST participates in the county-wide Educational Technology meetings where representatives from York County School Districts share best practices and policies for the utilization of technology in education. Meetings are coordinated by Intermediate Unit 12 and are sometimes hosted by participating schools. Which provides for the opportunity to demonstrate these technology practices in action.
Do you think technology is leading towards the paperless school?
While we have seen approximately a 7% reduction of print volume over the past three years. We do not think a paperless school is in the foreseeable future. The way paper is using has been dramatically changing. But people still like to hold a piece of paper in their hands for many tasks.
The biggest change is in how documents are stored, and this has made an impact on how and why we print them. Where a document was once printed and stored in hard copy files for future use. They now store documents electronically at the time of creation and print them only for immediate use. Once users complete that use, they destroy or recycle the document. If needed in the future, they print it again.
What goals are still in your sights?
We are committed to consistently delivering a high level of service. Our goal is to support the needs of our end users, including students, parents, and teachers. These users increasingly rely on timely and secure access to cloud-hosted data. Ensuring reliable performance and accessibility remains a top priority for us. Maintaining high levels of bandwidth availability is crucial. Requires continuing investment in infrastructure to stay ahead of the ever-increasing requirements imposed by advances in technology.
A curriculum-related goal is to increase the development of coding curriculum, even to the point of introducing coding at the elementary level. We feel that skilled programmers will be in short supply based on the current lack of curriculum. This is also a key area of concern among our Occupational Advisory partners. They will face increasing shortages in this important skill set as the demand increases.
York County School of Technology (YCST), located at 2179 S. Queen Street in York County, offers educational opportunities that guide and encourage every student to reach their full potential. Teachers establish high expectations for all students and provide a well-rounded curriculum through technical programs.YCST has been a customer of Doceo since July of 2017. Learn more by visiting www.ytech.edu
