Much has changed in the the three and a half years since the Tahoma School District passed its technology levy.

Technology moves at such a fast pace, explained district spokesman Kevin Patterson, and there’s so much to consider about what Tahoma has done with its technology levy money and what it might do with revenue if the next levy is passed in February.

“Technology is not static in their lives and it’s not static in the school district either,” Patterson said.

Planning began for the first levy in 2003, according to Dawn Wakeley, associate director of teaching and learning for the district.

“As you think back in time six years ago the picture of technology in education we were thinking we would be leaps and bounds ahead,” Wakeley said. “Now it really is how can we have ready access for kids to whatever tools they need and whenever they need it.”

Wakeley said that another change in thought is that all the computers kids have access to must have the same, standardized software when it’s really best to make sure that students can take advantage of the best tools for the task at hand.

One of the things the district has done since passing its technology levy in 2003 that has raised about $10 million, Wakeley said, is go “wireless in all of our buildings.”

“Six years ago that wasn’t on the horizon, yet, that was one of the first things that we did with the technology levy money,” she said. “We’re working to have enough internet capacity and bandwith so that as kids bring their own devices we’re not going to have to say no, you can’t do that.”

The district is also looking at ways of getting more computers into the hands of students. This past year at Tahoma Junior High there was a pilot program in a pair of social studies classrooms with 30 netbooks, mini laptop computers that are designed for better battery life and portability while retaining much of the same power of full size laptops.

“Kids were testing them to find out both what netbook model we want to use but also to understand what enhancements” will be needed in addition to guiding decisions about curriculum, Wakeley explained.

District staff had held off on purchasing additional laptops in the past year, Wakeley said, because it was clear that netbooks were coming into their own and could potentially be useful educational tools.

“We think that we’ll be able to triple our purchasing power (buying netbooks),” she said. “We’ve been working on building up our infrastructure so it could supports lots of wireless devices.”

This fall the district will begin purchasing netbooks with the plan to eventually deploy hundreds of the little laptops across the district at all grade levels.

“The intent is to add mobile labs in the schools to allow teachers to use different configurations,” Wakeley said. “The laptops we have added the last two years, they get used every period, every day, all of them.”

Teachers prefer the laptops that are part of the mobile computer labs because then students can work on the computers while still having access to all of the resources available in the classroom.

“The mobile labs are proving to be a really wonderful thing,” Wakeley said. “We want to work ourselves up to a point where every kid has a device. Where we see the need being down the road, even with the mobile labs we can’t keep up with the demand.”

In classrooms teachers and students both love “that ability to use the technology in the moment, just when we need to, just for the right application.”

During the second semester of the coming school year students at Tahoma High will be able to bring their own laptops to school to use in the classroom, Wakeley said, with the idea that eventually that will spread throughout the district.

As the district continues to consider the levy money it has collected there is considerable discussion about whether it’s better to continue to deploy electronic white boards, known as ActiveBoards, or to put that money toward a bunch of netbooks to give kids more immediate and hands on access.

“We want to make choices that are really going to serve us well now and into the future,” Wakeley said. “We’ve definitely used a process where we’ve tested and pilots thing before we scale up. What are the goals that we have and which technology tools are going to help us best meet those goals.”

Another aspect of what has been done with the tech levy revenue has been to work with teachers to provide them with training on the various tools beyond new hardware that they can use as well as work with district staff to get them “to think creatively about how we’re using technology.”

This fall students in the Global Academy at Tahoma High will be working with author Peter Senge who is a faculty member at MIT.

“He’s going to be directly linked in to our Global Academy kids as well as other students,” Wakeley said. “We’ll do some video conferencing with them and have him live there in the classroom and interacting with the kids.”

This is just one example of how district staff are trying to find ways to connect Tahoma students with people around the country and the world to broaden their perspectives using technology.

As staff members begin thinking ahead to what to do with revenue that could be generated by the next levy which is scheduled for February, Patterson said, it’s vital that those in the community who pay for it understand exactly what they’re getting for their buck.

“Looking forward to the levy, this is really a continuation,” he said. “Ideally it would be a part of state funding but it’s not so we have to do it on a local level or it’s not going to happen. It’s important to continue emphasizing that we’re not going to buy technology for technology’s sake. It is always there to support the learning. These are tools, we’re not into buying gadgets, we’re buying things intentionally to help students.”

Some equipment purchased with money from the 2006 levy, such as document projectors, will likely need to be replaced because they get daily use and wear out.

Other tools will be added to “help us increase access for kids” whether that’s through hardware or software.

“There will likely be some additional infrastructure pieces that we’ll need to be putting into place like what kind of wireless capacity will we need at the elementary buildings,” Wakeley said. “Once you have the tools there is what will you do with the tools, either the applications or access to rich content typically comes at a cost, so being able to buy into that.”

Ultimately the district will continue to research and test out anything that could be useful in the classroom.

“There’s a lot of cool technology tools out there and it’s important to sift through the glitz and the glamor to see what will serve us now and into the long term,” Wakeley said.