Computer Club with Matt Russell

You may have seen Matt Russell in your classroom fixing an Interactive Flat Panel or computer. He is our new IT guy. Yesterday, he was our guest speaker for computer club. Mr. Russell explained the different parts of a computer (motherboard, fan, processor, graphics card, etc.) and the functions of each. He also showed us how to properly clean our computers. I had no idea how much dust can accumulate after just one year! If you missed this presentation, you can catch him again Monday, November 7th. Computer club meets every Monday in the learning center until 3:15 pm (so students can catch the late bus).

Matt Russell explains the parts of a computer.

Getting our hands dirty. 

Our New iMac Lab

New iMac Lab in the School Library

Our new iMac Lab debuted this Fall. We now have 30 Apple iMacs and a new SMART Interactive Flat Panel on the classroom side of the library. These new computers will be used by our broadcasting and art classes. They will also be used by our other disciplines when creating public service announcements, commercials, and other video/photo-related content. We are very excited to see what our students create. Stay tuned for features from our best and brightest.

Chromebooks

At the end of last year, the library added a cart with 30 Chromebooks! Teachers sign out these resources for their classes.  We have already had classes in to use the Chromebooks for Internet searches and creating documents in Google Drive.

Everyone with an email address powered by Google at BMCHSD has access to Google Drive. Google Drive allows you to access your files anytime, anywhere on any computer, tablet, smartphone, as long as there is an Internet connection.

There are many advantages to using Google Drive including always working on one version of a document, no email attachments back and forth, and no flash drive/external hard drive needed. You can upload documents, spreadsheets, and presentations that are already created in other programs, such as Microsoft or create new ones. There are no compatibility issues when you use Google Drive. It is a universal format. One of my favorite features is "revision history." This allows you to revert back to a previous version of the document. You can add comments to shared documents or go in and edit a document directly if given permission by the author. You also have the option to download Google Drive documents to MS Word, spreadsheets to MS Excel, and presentations to MS Powerpoint. The biggest benefit to using Google Drive over more traditional forms of word processing has definitely got to be AUTO SAVE! You'll never lose a Google Drive document because you forgot to save it before closing the application.

Welcome Back!

Greetings Class of 2011. Welcome back students and staff. We have had many changes to the Mepham High School Library this year. The first things returning students and staff might notice are the 15 brand new Dell flat screen computers and scanner. We also acquired many new fiction and non-fiction books over the summer and they are on display all around the library. We are always looking for ways to serve you better. If you have any suggestions of comments we would love to hear them. Just stop by the library during your free periods, lunch, or after school and tell us! We are looking forward to a fantastic 2007-2008 school year!

Image taken from Dell