The Green Vale School in Old Brookville welcomed Colin Samuel, executive director of technology, as a new member to the school’s administrative team this past May.
Samuel previously held directorial positions at Convent of the Sacred Heart and at the Weill Medical College at Cornell University. He is a successful leader of strategic planning for educational technology initiatives and the school community looks forward to the impact he will have at Green Vale.
The investments in hardware and infrastructure over the past three years netted state-of-the-art wireless coverage across all of the school’s campus and made possible the BYOD (bring your own device) program for grades six through eight.
They also allowed fourteen servers to be collapsed into four, so that Green Vale’s private cloud is now 75 percent virtual — good for the environment!
Having laid the groundwork needed to deliver a globally-connected and competitive learning environment, current and future steps address the student experience. As of September, there is a new online learning management system for grades one to eight; an expanded 1:1 iPad program for grades five and six; a cloud-computing pilot program, with Chrome Books, for grades two and three; and a cloud-computing pilot program for Green Vale’s youngest students and the after-school enrichment program.
The role of technology in education has increased greatly in the past few years and its use will continue to evolve and expand. According to Samuel, “students will learn quickly what a positive role technology has in their education when presented with a secure network, reliable tools and strong mentoring. Blended online and classroom learning is in their future; the preview here at Green Vale will prepare them well for it.”
