Morgan
County Schools
| COMPANY/LOCATION: |
Morgan County Schools, Wartburg, Tennessee |
| SITUATION: |
The Morgan County School System has a vision that will bring its schools
into the future. The system attributes their vision to the great influence
from the Manufacturing Skills Campus at the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing
Technology. Prior to 1994, Morgan County considered itself to be in a state
of emergency with regard to technology. Being a graduate and parent volunteer
of that school system, Clyde Kelly, a Skills Campus training manager, contacted
Ken Vespie, the principal of Morgan County Central Elementary School and
described how the Manufacturing Skills Campus could be of help to the school
system. Soon after, Vespie attended the Skills Campus Personal Computer
Maintenance and Troubleshooting class and returned to his school giving
"rave reviews" of the program to his peers. Since that time, Morgan County
has sent six of their best teachers to three multiple-level training classes.
Their plans are to develop formal training that will be available to every
teacher during the summer in service session. |
| PROJECT: |
The school system has a technology plan that requires teachers to be
trained in core technology areas. The training sessions attended by the
Morgan County teachers have built a foundation and basis for the formal
training they will, in turn, teach to approximately 50 other teachers throughout
the school system. The six teachers initially sent have returned three
subsequent times, each time to receive more advanced computer training.
Vespie said it "would be hard to quantify the increase in knowledge for
each of the other teachers; but I feel certain that my level of knowledge
has increased 100 percent." Vespie went on to say that prior to the training,
the schools had to hire outside firms to perform personal computer maintenance
that they now perform themselves. |
| RESULTS: |
Vespie recently made the transition from school principal to Technology
Coordinator. He believes the transition would never have been possible
without having taken the Skills Campus training. "I have always been interested
in technology; but I didn't have a technical background. After the hands-on
training I received, I am no longer intimidated by the technology and have
also obtained the knowledge to help the schools plan for the future. There
is no question the training has exceeded my expectations." Since this
training, which supports a DOE competency area of System Engineering Science
and Technology, Morgan County Schools have added about 40 new computer
systems. With the assistance of LMES volunteers, they have been able to
network almost every system. |
PARTNERS:
 
|
|
Technical assistances provided to the private sector by the Oak Ridge
Centers for Manufacturing Technology (ORCMT) and its manufacturing extension
partners throughout the United States.
|
