Laptops & Technology

At GPS, technology is not confined to a computer lab. Students and faculty utilize a state-of-the-art hardwired network and connect with wireless radio frequency for student-owned laptops. Imagine a student being able to sit anywhere indoors or out on the school's 35-acre main campus and access her e-mail, look up an assignment posted by her teacher to the class Blackboard site, log onto the Internet to do research, and then begin working on a report for her electronic portfolio. A visitor to campus could easily look from the school's familiar rotunda to the lower athletic fields by the Tennessee River and see girls using their laptops. Why be in a computer lab when a warm, sunny day beckons?

 

 

Introductory classes in 6th and 7th grades prepare students with skills and enthusiasm for using computers in the classroom setting. In 8th grade, all students purchase individual laptops to enhance their educational experience. Beginner and advanced classes in graphic design, web page design, computer animation, digital storytelling, robotics, and programming are also part of the computer science curriculum.

 

 

Incorporating computer use in the classroom has been a priority since a pilot program involving 30 seventh graders began in 1998, and since then, independent schools in Chattanooga and other parts of the Southeast have visited to observe and learn from the GPS program. Today, few colleges and universities incorporate computer-based instruction into the classroom as much as GPS does. Recognized as a leader in the integration of technology, GPS provides faculty development opportunities to attend and be presenters at numerous conferences on instructional technology, symposiums on computer science education, and educational technology tradeshows.