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Technology
We believe that technology provides us with tools to help us better understand our world and better communicate with our fellow humans. Tandem Friends School recognizes that access to technology gives students greater opportunities to learn, engage, communicate, and develop skills that will prepare them for work, life, and citizenship. We are committed to helping students develop 21st-Century digital life skills in order to create, collaborate, communicate and think critically while at the same time preserving Tandem Friends' unique culture and maintaining a balance of screen time and face-to-face time with teachers and peers. Tandem Friends School is committed to providing its students and faculty with the tools and knowledge to take advantage of these technological advances. In return, users are expected to respect the power of these tools, use them ethically and appropriately, and take care of them, in accordance with our Acceptable Use Policy.
Tandem Friends teachers, students and parents use the community portal to customize their communications from the school. Portal users can access customized calendars, news feeds, slideshows and athletics updates and receive alerts to their mobile phones. Our parent and student portals offer access to virtual classroom spaces, assignment calendars, report cards, a searchable school directory and supplementary information available to portal users at any time from anywhere. Students depend on our classroom portal as an easy way to access their homework assignments, participate in a discussion board topic, contribute to a class blog, turn in work, and collaborate on projects, and it serves as a communication center for many student clubs and groups on campus.
Our iPad Pilot Program is part of the TFS Digital Life Plan , which itself stems from the school’s strategic plan’s 21st-Century School goal. We believe that iPads allow students to explore and create, and reinforce a process of learning that allows innovation and problem solving. Tandem Friends initiated a 1:1 iPad pilot in September 2012 in grades 5, 6 and 9. In the 2013 academic year the school will expand the 1:1 program to grades 7 and 10. Teachers work closely with each other and with the Learning Technology Coordinator to develop a dynamic curriculum that integrates the iPad into daily lessons in a thoughtful, deliberate way, consistent with the ethical and moral standards of the School and the larger community.
All of our classrooms have at least one computer and some have several, allowing teachers to provide a variety of activities simultaneously in their classrooms, and nearly every teacher makes use of a digital projector to bring multimedia content, digital slide presentations, or the latest news and research from the Web into the classroom. Students and teachers also have wireless access to the Internet and the school network throughout the campus.
Three computer labs serve the needs of our students as they work individually or in a class setting. The lab on the lower floor of the Math-Science Building, with 17 PCs, is reserved for use only as a classroom, while a similar setup upstairs is suitable for classes of up to 18 students or for individual students during their study hall or free periods.
Our students use the 10 Macintosh computers in the art space in the Main Building to produce the yearbook and digital films and photographic images. With the experience gained in their classes, Tandem students regularly produce films recognized as noteworthy in the greater Charlottesville community, and our students compete every year in the Bridge Film Festival.
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Tandem Friends offers a wireless campus, two computer labs, and a Mac lab for digital film and design. We are also piloting a 1:1 iPad program in our 5th, 6th and 9th grades.
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