Red Deer Public Schools is a blended Windows 7 / Windows XP / Mac OS X jurisdiction, with approximately 2500 PC and 100 Macintosh computers five years old, or newer. We also have over 500 peripheral devices, such as copiers, printers, scanners, and the like, on the network.
Our network also consists of over 30 Windows Server 2008 computers that provide print, file, web, mail, and other services to our 10,000 students and almost 1,100 staff. Our student records, financial systems, and human resources systems are housed on our OpenVMS AlphaServer. Our data center has been virtualized using VMWare and Equal Logic storage.
The supporting wired and wireless network infrastructure is Enterasys equipment.
Red Deer Public Schools also has three video-conferencing suites (one at Central Services, a second at Hunting Hills High School, and the third at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School). We currently have close to 300 classrooms equiped with interactive whiteboards from SMART Technologies, and close to 400 classroom projectors available to display the images from the classroom computer.
All of the information technology infrastructure is managed and maintained by a staff of eleven I.T. Specialists whose responsibilities range from desktop support, training, programming and network administration.
Please see our Youtube channel for self help videos.
Instructionally the use of technology within Red Deer Public Schools is guided by the Learner Outcomes in Information and Communication Technology, also known as the ICT Program of Study. Technology is infused within the core subjects of Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. Also, technology is implemented in a variety of CTS courses offered at the high schools and most middle schools. Through the use of collaboration tools such as wikis and blogs, and a software package called Visual Casel, teachers are able to prepare and post learning content accessible to all students from school or from home.
Teachers and students alike are able to login to our Learning Portal from home in order to access all of the District’s electronic resources, such as their files, applications, printers, and so forth. Parents are able to keep in close contact with their children’s progress through the District’s “eLink” project, in which parents are able to login to a secure web site and view their children’s assessment on projects, assignments and tests. eLink also allows parents to view their child's attendance records, as well as provides students and parents with information regarding their high school course completion and graduation requirements.
