17/04/2007
Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.
Press Release - 17th April 2007
Mayor Eamonn Maloney & Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, T.D Launch Connect School Project
Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, T.D. and Mayor of South Dublin County Eamonn Maloney today launched Connect St. Aidans Community School in Brookfield, Tallaght.
Launching the project The Minister said ICT has the potential to improve learning opportunities and outcomes where it merges successfully into the learning environment in our schools. Today, here at St Aidans, we see a very positive example of a whole school community with huge enthusiasm for embracing computers and technology into learning and everyday life.
Every 1st Year Student in St Aidans has received a laptop to use throughout their Secondary School experience. The teachers received laptops at the end of May 2006 and have been working hard since to develop interactive classroom material for use in their teaching of all subjects. Sixteen 6th Year ACE Students also received laptops as part of this initiative. ACE Students are participants in the Accessing College Education initiative.
A key aspect to the project is the interagency approach. Minister Hanafin explained
The Connect School initiative represents a unique partnership in the development of ICT in our schools. The project is supported by a range of bodies including the Department which, through the National Centre for Technology in Education and Dublin West Education Centre, is providing training for the teachers in the school. South Dublin County Council, as part of its wider Connect project, put the proposal to the school and to the Department of Education and Science. The Council have led the way in local government as regards the introduction of information and communications technology. The Institute of Technology, Tallaght has also been very supportive and Maynooth University has also provided advice and encouragement.
The teachers of St Aidans are developing the Virtual Learning Environment (using Open Source Technology, Moodle) by creating interactive classroom content across all subjects which the students access online to support and enhance their learning. The school is a Wi-Fi zone throughout with each classroom equipped with a projector and digital cameras available giving the lessons a multi-media component.
The origins of Connect are in Mobhaile which was a country-wide pilot IT project also launched by the then Minister of State at the Department of An Taoiseach with responsibility for the Information Society, Mary Hanafin. In South Dublin County this evolved and Connect is now working to enable local communities to use technology in innovative ways and to create local content on the World Wide Web.
ENDS
For further information on the Connect Project please contact:
Lorna Maxwell, Project Manager, at lmaxwell@sdublincoco.ie or 086 8202598
Ronan Herron, ICT Co-ordinator, at rherron@sdublincoco.ie or 0868587052
Sabrina Fogarty, PR & Development at sfogarty@sdublincoco.ie or 086 8273511