Get Connected - April 2008 - (Page 3)

FROM THE PRESIDENT I’d like to personally welcome you to the newest edition of ENA’s Get Connected newsletter. It’s a pleasure for us to share these stories in the spirit of collaboration, community and partnership. The newsletter highlights models and best practices of learning environments enabled by technology and the ENA network. Many of the stories in this issue feature the ways that individual teachers, entire school systems and libraries are harnessing the power of their networks to engage students, improve content mastery and outcomes, and enhance the quality of traditional patrons’ library visits while simultaneously ensuring an engaging, effective and safe haven for all users. This issue outlines Orange County Public School’s measured student improvements through a demonstration program at Westridge Middle School called Building Literacy and Skills Through Technology (BLASTT). As you’ll learn in the article “The End of a Bottleneck,” both technology and curriculum district personnel report that the new ENA network in Orange County has already allowed for advanced learning in the classroom and improvement in the dayto-day business of school administration. We’ve also included an important story on the proposed federal budget cuts to Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) funding. While you may already be familiar with EETT funding challenges, you may not know that there’s an easy and effective way to make your voice heard on the issue. The article provides information on how you can become more actively involved in this critical issue of ensuring that our nation continues to fund education technology. Technology-enabled education is becoming ever more crucial to the overall success of students. Twenty-first century teaching and learning will not be possible unless we maximize the use of available technologies. ENA’s goal is to develop and deliver excellent solutions that enable measurable impact in student learning. We understand that student outcomes are what our network is all about. Because ENA is focused on the education and library communities, we understand the unique challenges educators and schools face. And whether your school system has 175 schools such as Orange County Public Schools or five—such as Payette County, Idaho, one of ENA’s newest customers,— the level of quality, professionalism and dedication you receive from ENA remains and will continue to be exceptional. We are proud of our expansion into new geographies, but it hasn’t changed the fundamental nature of our business. We are focused on what matters most to our customers and we hold a steadfast commitment to customer service. These two principles distinguish ENA from other service providers. While we now manage multiple statewide and district-wide school and library networks, serving millions of students, teachers, administrators, librarians and patrons, we haven’t forgotten how we achieved this level of service. Listening to customers—truly listening with passion and concern about the goals each school and library must accomplish—is at the core of ENA. That passion and customer dedication drives ENA. So even if your classroom, library, school district or corporation isn’t featured in this newsletter, it is our hope—and literally our daily mission—that you are experiencing great successes with the education initiatives and experiences the ENA network supports. We want you to know that we never stop thinking about you and our team continues to remain dedicated to your success. Sincerely, In BIG WAYS & small ways, Excellence Is Our Endgame David M. Pierce David M. Pierce President & CEO, ENA 3

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Get Connected - April 2008

The End of a Bottleneck: OCPS’ New Network Contents A Letter From the President Not Your Average Library: New Carlisle, IN New Consortium Program Launches May 1 Hands-on Education Education Leaders Decry EETT Cuts Much More Than E-mail: Gaggle’s Other Apps Notes From the CTO

Get Connected - April 2008

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