Dear Parents of Classes 8 and 9,

We are writing to you in the event that you missed these announcements at Upper School Parents' Night on Thursday, September 28.

In the same way that your daughters in Class 6 were required to have Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint at home, along with First Class Plan A and an Internet connection, we are now requiring all students in Class 8 and Class 9 to be able to do audio assignments (listening and recording) as part of assigned homework.

The options include ANY of the following options:

  • Plan A: having a PC or Mac with a microphone and speaker and the software called audacity which is free from audacity.sourceforge.net
  • Plan B: having a PC or Mac with a microphone and speaker and First Class Plan A which allows audio recording
  • Plan I: having an older iPod with iTalk
  • Plan P: perhaps even the option to create a sound file via a telephone call ... we are still exploring this option ... see www.audblog.com or see www.audioblogger.com/
  • Plan V: having a video iPod with TuneTalk ... click here to see a picture
  • Plan W: the willingness to do assignments at school (both the library and the room 39 computer center close at 5pm)

A few more comments to help clarify that this is an AUDIO requirement not an iPod requirement:

  • We are emphasizing there is no reason to go out and buy!
  • We are emphasizing that the requirement is to be able to produce a sound file and to be able to listen to posted sounds via some method.
  • You can always make a change in November or December. Please do not interpret this announcement as one that is requiring a purchase.
  • Your daughters do not need to bring their iPods and iPods/TuneTalks/iTalks every day to school; their foreign language teachers will tell them in advance if this is necessary. Teachers doing an audio lab in class will either use a classroom set of iPods or the new digital language lab.
  • We will not be loaning out iPods, iTalks and TuneTalks the way we did last year.
  • Our iPod Web page for the girls is at http://gatornet.chapin.edu/~techmsus/ipods and contains much more information about this tech initiative.

 

Last updated 09.28.06

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