Wakefield School integrated technology to support student learning.
Our goal is for technology to transparently support our students, faculty, staff, and coaches in developing themselves to their fullest potential. Technology encourages communication among parents, students, and faculty, and we believe technology harnessed to a rigorous and content-rich curriculum will help our students to lead extraordinary lives.
NetClassroom, a state-of-the-art educational administration system, is our tool for monitoring and tracking student assignments, progress, and grading both in school and at home.
Upper School
Wakefield’s network, the FightingOwlNet, connects Upper School classrooms, offices and library with state-of-the-art technology including secure wireless network access throughout our campus. Our facilities are linked by fiber optic and Cat 5 data cabling. All members of the Wakefield community are bound by a technology use agreement clearly defining acceptable and unacceptable use of the network and its associated technologies. Wakefield faculty has, at their disposal, state-of-the-art mobile computing technology including a fully-equipped multimedia lab with computers, projectors, document cameras, speakers, and instructor’s tablet laptop. Both the production of the online student newspaper, Noctua, and Wakefield’s computer science classes take place in this lab.
Wakefield’s Publications Center, located in the beautiful Fine Arts Building, uses cutting-edge digital technology to produce our national award-winning student literary magazines, The Talisman and Amulet, our yearbook, Virtus Et Sapientia, artwork for our plays, and publications curriculum.
The Treptow Family Library, located in the Science and Technology Building, houses a mobile laptop computing cart, available to all members of the community on a reservation basis, providing laptops for students and teachers to use as needed to support classwork. This laptop cart can be moved throughout the campus as demand dictates, and there are additional computers located in the center of the library for students to use as appropriate. The library has a separate research lab fully equipped with computers for use by both teachers and students. Our classrooms have the latest in ceiling-mounted projectors, document cameras, and video players-all integrated into the FightingOwlNet.
Wakefield’s commitment to providing appropriate technology extends to supporting each student’s senior thesis project, as well as to our writing programs at every grade level.
Middle School
Wakefield’s Middle School technology program teaches our students proper keyboarding skills in preparation for the increasingly ubiquitous role of computers in daily life, and offers elective computer science and information technology course options, including programming, digital photography, media courses, and internet use courses.
Lower School
Our Lower School classrooms are equipped with Smartboards and other appropriate technology. All Lower School students have a dedicated Computer Lab for their exclusive use. Technology is introduced in our Lower School curriculum starting in Pre-Kindergarten.
Videoconferencing
Wakefield has a fully functioning videoconferencing system used in several application areas throughout the school. The Polycom VSX 8000 system provides integrated video, voice, data, and web capabilities allowing collaboration worldwide. The system provides our faculty with opportunities for virtual field trips, virtual class collaboration projects, streaming video, and podcasts.