Cam High is advancing towards the technological world, with the addition of the new Computers On Wheels (COWs) program. Seven carts each containing thirty-eight computers are now available for in-classroom use across campus instead of teachers having to schedule their time for the computer labs or take time out of students’ days to refer to the library desktops.

The OUHSD has supplied the laptops as an experiment which will aid students in the Smarter Balance assessments that will replace STAR testing. Five days a week, Mr. Charles Tapee, an OUHSD I.T. technician, provides maintenance on the COWs, keeping them up to speed with Windows 8. The computers are charged in the library, ready to be pushed to the next classroom at any given time.

Mr. Richard Winterstein, English teacher, believes that using them in his class for a recent research paper gave the students the ability to save time by working in class instead of doing it at home.

“They are a great idea. It is twenty-first century learning in here, and [having a COW program] is great if you can fund it and get it,” said Winterstein.

Many other teachers had the same reaction toward the computers, believing that they worked incredibly well, and students agreed. When asked, students were more than happy having a class period dedicated to research, studying, writing, and completing assignments online. The COW’s are appropriately filtered to keep students from straying into the wrong Internet area.

“Being laptops, you can move them around, whereas desktops lack the mobility. Instead of going to the libraries or the labs, where sometimes you don’t have enough computers for everyone, with the COWs, you have the convenience of the board and the teacher,” senior Nick Castro said.  “It’s very productive. It’s the twenty-first century, man.”

Ms. Lauri Markson, English teacher, was one of the first teachers to use the COWs. “The students really took advantage of the opportunity to use the Internet,” said Markson. “I am looking forward to using them next time to work on Smarter Balance. They are going to be used often throughout the school […] it would be nice if they’re shared,” she said.

Beyond using them for research, some Cam High science teachers have used them for virtual dissections, providing students the necessary materials to learn about the biology of the creature they’re dissecting without killing the animal.

For more information on COW’s at Cam High, contact a Cam High administrator.