Electronic Contact

I contacted a teacher named Beth Ferrier that teaches over in Singapore. Her school is an international one that Americans as well as others who are living outside their country use. It is a very beautiful and small school that goes from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Technology is used a lot because, as an international school, they get students and applicants from all over the world. Teachers wishing to apply to teach there send in all of their resumes and personal information in electronically. The students have access to various degree programs that offer lots of classes. They have a much larger language selection there than we do here. They offer French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Mandarin! I can't think of a local high school that offers the last two. Mrs. Ferrier sent me a link to the school's site and I pulled this little blurb off about the technology they use that the school. At the end of this post I will put up the link.

"Working in partnership with Apple Computer Inc., the Overseas Family School integrated 1,200 Mac computers- desktop top iMac's and portable iBook laptops- into the school curriculum. All students have Internet access. From interactive music composition lessons with the Encore Music Software to graphing curves with Curvus Pro in mathematics classes, technology is integrated into everyday learning.
The school features nine distinct main computing labs. The Information Technology team at Overseas Family School is currently exploring the use of iBook and AirPort, portable wireless computers, for mobile classroom learning. In the next year, we plan to put in place an advanced server system. This system will offer all students, seamless access to their work from any computer in the school and from their own homes. Additionally, it will allow parents to log-in via password and check student information. We have chosen a Linux-based server platform for flexibility and to meet high security and encryption needs, insuring student privacy."

Sounds Heavenly doesn't it? The school also uses Open Document format where students can access their work from school or home. It's a lot like Google. Most high schools around here are lucky if they get a few computer labs stocked with old computers that don't even match. Since the school only has about 3000 students who come from about 60 different countries that means a computer for at least all of the students past elementary age. I am very interesting in teaching overseas one day and this place has really piqued my interest. Even though the project is over I am going to keep emailing Mrs. Ferrier and other teachers from around the world to find how out they teach and how I might be able to work over there for a while. It seems that paper and pencil will eventually be obsolete in this school!

Here is the Link http://www.ofs.edu.sg/