Going Digital 3: Technology Tools Commonly Used at WBAIS

At WBAIS we strive to meet the growing demand for access to digital tools and develop a culture of digital literacy, citizenship and productive use of technology in the learning environment

While working with computer technology, students develop a set of skills with various digital tools that they utilize at school and at home. Some programs have been purchased by the school but as more and more alternate Open Source software is available we are providing students with a wider variety of tool choices to get their work done. Here are some of the programs that are presently installed/used on school computers:

Office Tools (Word Processing/ Spreadsheets / Presentations)
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
Google Docs *
Open Office *

Graphics Editors:
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Macromedia Fireworks
GimpShop *

Internet Browsers:
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox *

Multimedia: 
Photostory 3 for Windows
Windows Movie Maker
Adobe Premiere Elements

Creating and Editing Audio Files:
Audacity *

Learning how to Keyboard:
UltraKey

Graphic Organizers:
Inspiration

Tools used primarily by K-2 students:
Clicker
Kidpix

Please note that all programs marked with an asterisk (*) are free Open Source software and can be downloaded on to your home computer by following the links provided. You may also be interested in other Open Source alternatives, listed in the article The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives, or in reading about the pros and cons of Open Source Software.

We hope that by familiarizing yourselves better with the tools your children use in school you will better understand them as they discuss their laptop and other computer use. If you would like further information about technology tools used on campus, feel free to contact anyone on the tech team .

As always, you can learn more about our school's technology program by reading the WBAIS Tech Talk Blog .

We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

WBAIS Tech Team