Educational Technology & BYOD
Educational Technology serves SHC’s mission by empowering faculty, staff, and especially students with the knowledge and tools to create and collaborate effectively with technology. Our professional learning team provides faculty and staff with innovative new resources throughout the year. Faculty integrate technology to encourage students to build critical thinking skills, design media, and develop digital citizenship and literacy skills.
Our robust, campuswide wireless infrastructure supports student learning via laptops, e-readers, tablets and smartphones. Our learning management system, Schoology, as well as Google Apps for Education (GAFE), and a wide array of discipline-specific apps allow students, teachers, counselors, club moderators, coaches, and parents to learn together, exchange information in real time, and communicate in a wide range of digital media.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
With the dizzying pace of advancements in technology hardware, a single platform or device is out of date almost as soon as it is released. Our BYOD program is a catalyst to the digital literacy and self-navigation required by our students’ rapidly-changing, complex, global future. SHC’s curriculum and infrastructure develops a range of digital skills in an array of technologies to create, evaluate and share information.
Minimum System Specifications
Minimum system specifications for our BYOD program are driven by curricular objectives from across our classes. Our vision is that SHC students acquire the skills necessary to select and manage digital tools that will empower them in all phases of the learning process, including research, problem solving, content creation, communication and collaboration. Students and families may already have a device that meets these requirements, may upgrade a current device to meet these requirements, or may purchase a new device to meet these requirements. Students are expected to bring their device to school each day.
Windows Laptop | Mac Laptop | iPad | Google Chromebook | |
Recommended | Recommended | Sufficient | Sufficient | |
Storage Capacity | 128 GB hard drive | 128 GB hard drive | 32 GB – 3rd generation or newer | 16 GB |
Operating System | Windows 10 or higher | macOS 10.15 or higher | iOS 7.0 or higher | N/A |
Wi-Fi Capability | Must support 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. wireless networks | Must support 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. wireless networks | Must support 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. wireless networks | Must support 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. wireless networks |
Minimum Battery Life | Four hours | Four hours | Four hours | Four hours |
Required Accessories | Protective case/cover, headphones | Protective case/cover, headphones | External, full size keyboard, protective case/cover, headphones | Protective case/cover, headphones |
Approximate Cost | $600 and up + accessories | $1199 and up + accessories | $329 and up + keyboard and accessories | $249 and up + accessories |
Note: Smartphones and e-readers do not meet minimum specifications (e.g., Kindle, Kindle Fire, Nook, etc.). Recommended and Sufficient designations are the consensus results from student and faculty user surveys. Updated January 2021.
Software
Devices that meet the minimum specifications in the table above will function with SHC’s essential educational and communication software systems. Your device needs to be able to connect to our email system: Gmail, Google drive, calendar, etc. It also needs to work with Schoology, our Learning Management System. In some cases students will need to spend a small amount of money on software. We recommend that use of free software/apps (Gmail, Google Drive, Schoology, etc.) and open-source software where appropriate.
Support
We strongly recommend that students purchase an extended warranty for their device at the time of purchase. Students can bring their device to the SHC Tech Department for initial diagnosis in the event of malfunction. If the problem can be easily fixed within 15 minutes, the Tech Department staff will do so. If not, students will be provided with a loaner device. Devices are loaned no longer than two weeks and the student/family are responsible for the repair or replacement of their own device. Just like textbooks, notebooks and other tools for learning, the student owns and is ultimately responsible for the upkeep and usefulness of the device.
BYOD Frequently Asked Questions
Innovative Private Preparatory & Catholic High School in San Francisco
