Technology+Department

School Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide an excellent college-preparatory education in a nurturing environment that values personal integrity, that prizes creativity and that inspires the lifelong love of learning.

Technology Department Values and Beliefs
As part of the Walker School, the Upper School Technology Department supports the school’s mission and will work to accomplish it through our beliefs, goals, and teaching practices. How do we achieve this? What makes up “an excellent college preparatory education” for technology? Of what does a “nurturing environment” consist? How is “personal integrity” valued? How is creativity prized? And how do we inspire “life-long love of learning”? In the Technology Department we believe that we provide an excellent college preparatory education through stressing problem solving and critical thinking at every level and in every course. Our students will grow into adults and need the knowledge and skills to use technology to explore their world, research and analyze problems, and to communicate with others in order to negotiate solutions to these problems. We ready our students for college by presenting a thorough foundation in the basic design, programming, and operation of information systems, while also promoting discussions on the social and ethical uses of technology. We also encourage students to learn to manage their time, plan ahead, and take responsibility for their own learning—skills they will need to be successful in college and in life. We believe a nurturing environment is one in which we accept all students’ abilities and current level of knowledge and have faith that all students can learn technology. We believe students should develop their potentials and encourage them to do so, regardless of how great or how limited that potential may be. This is accomplished by keeping expectations high for all students and giving positive feedback for successes. We also believe that a nurturing environment includes a willingness to use different teaching approaches, group work, peer teaching, and timely communications with students and parents regarding progress. We believe we value personal integrity by expecting each student to be honest and trustworthy, to show respect for themselves and others, and to contribute positively to the group. Through emphasizing learning of concepts rather than earning of grades, we believe we encourage the integrity of each student to be developed. Also, creating a classroom environment that models and rewards honesty, mutual respect, and kindness, and that does not accept opposite behaviors, shows that we value personal integrity. We believe we prize creativity through the creation of participatory media, such as programs, graphics, videos and other projects. Through encouraging the use of various problems solving methods and strategies, by posing problems based on real-world situation, and by allowing students to discover concepts on their own, and encouraging group work and peer teaching, we also show a respect for creativity and individuality. We believe we develop a love of life-long learning by allowing students to experience the joy and self-satisfaction of discovery and understanding through the use of technology to solve problems. We believe discussing history and current events and making relationships among past, present, and future also lead to a love of life-long learning. Equipping students with the tools, confidence, and tenacity to pursue solutions to difficult problems also results in a love life-long learning.

Walker School Technology Courses
**AP Computer Science** Course Description: This course offers students the opportunity to expand their knowledge of computer science and to experience the rigors of a college level course. The curriculum covers the development of programs that are understandable, adaptable and reusable in problem-solving situations. Students also are introduced to the analysis and development of standard algorithms and the use of fundamental data types. Prerequisite: Successful completion of introductory programming or robotics course. Course Description: This course teaches the basic skills needed to create and edit two dimensional production drawings. Students receive extensive hands-on practice and learn step-by-step procedures to create, access, and share design information. They will learn to work with paper space, reference files and dimension styles, as well as explore solutions to common problems. Students lean to work with solution sets and to manage XREFs, raster images, drafting tools, dimension styles, layouts and attributes. Course Description: An extension of CAD I, this course is designed for students who want to reach an advanced level of CAD and three dimensional design. Emphasis will be on the practical use and application in the fields of architecture, mechanical and site plan layout. Students will prepare to complete the Auto CAD User exam. Prerequisite: CAD I **Film and Video Production** Course Description: Students will learn about project planning, shot framing, and video editing as they work in groups to create an original commercial, a music video, and a short documentary. Each project will be introduced with historical context, current conventions and video examples. Secondary learning objectives include copyright law and basic tax code / accounting for self-employed entrepreneurs. Prerequisite: Successful completion in English or Journalism. **Geographical Information Systems** Course Description: This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the technology used to study our planet. Students will learn how scientists from many different social and scientific disciplines use satellites, remote operating vehicles, and radar to collect information and how this data is stored in databases, and analyzed using ArcView GIS. Students will use a number of online GIS layers to look at problems related to population increase, crime, culture, emergency response, energy, mining, and deforestation. Course Description: This course is for students wishing to extend their artistic talents with the computer, as they develop a portfolio of graphic design elements such as logos, themes and posters. Challenging and creative projects which include compositing, lighting effects, layers and PWL (paint will light) to provide students opportunities to gain mastery of Adobe Photoshop. Students will have the foundation and the imaging skills to create professional looking school presentations and art work. Prerequisite: Completion of one art course. Course Description: This course is for students wishing to understand how the Internet works and how web-based technologies and how these technologies are used by different cultures around the globe. Topics covered in the course include an overview of the internet’s structure, history of the web, connection devices (such as the iPhone and GPhone), and web based applications. Particular emphasis is placed on how the emerging web technologies, such as RSS feeds, blogs, and social networks, are used to communicate and collaborate online. Students will also cover appropriate use and various legal issues, such as international copyright. Prerequisite: None Course Description: This hands-on course will teach students to configure, manage maintain and troubleshoot computer hardware and software. Students will learn how to set-up and perform maintenance on personals computers, laptops and portable devices. Students will also be introduced to various diagnostic tools and procedures for troubleshooting problems. Computer and network security will also be addressed, with a focus on viruses and various forms of cybercrime. Prerequisite: None Course Description: Using Multimedia Fusion and Game Factory software, students will learn to program 2D games. The course will introduce students to basic concepts in object oriented program, such as object characteristics, conditional statements, loops and classes. No previous programming experience is necessary. This course can serve as a prerequisite for AP Computer Science. Prerequisite: Enrollment in Algebra II or a higher mathematics course. Course Description: Providing students with their first exposure to a programming language, this course provides an introduction to object-minded programming, JAVA syntax, library classes, and graphical user interface (GUI) applets and applications. No previous programming experience is required, but this course serves as a perquisite for AP Computer Science. Perquisite: None **Introduction to Robotics** Course Description: This course uses a hands-on approach to introduce students to the basic concepts in robotics, focusing on mobile robots and illustrations of current state of the art research and applications. Course information will be tied to lab experiments; students will work in teams to build and test increasingly more complex LEGO-based mobile robots, culminating in an end-of-semester robot contest. The basics concepts introduced in this course will include: coordinate transformations, sensors, path planning, kinematics, and feedback and feedforward control. Robot kits will be used in weekly exercises illustrating lecture material. Students will spend last month applying the learned material to a final project, in which the students will design and build a robot for a final competition. This course can serve as a prerequisite for AP Computer Science. Prerequisites: Algebra I **Outdoor Culture and Technology** Course Description: This course is for students who are interested in the outdoors and the technologies that are used for climbing, caving, hiking, kayaking, sailing, and surfing. Students will learn how GPS units, rescue beacons, and satellites work. A survey of extreme sports, geographic hotspots, risk behavior, team dynamics and advances in wilderness medicine are also addressed. Students will learn how to use HTML and JavaScript to create data layers in Google Earth Pro. This course may be taken for a second semester for students interested in studying expedition history and the technology related to exploring our world. Prerequisite: Open to 11th and 12th grades. **Technical Fluency** Course Description: This course is designed for the student who recognizes the need to be technically proficient in today’s world. This is a survey course for students interested in how computers work, office productivity software, Web research skills, Internet safety, on-line collaboration software (such as Google Tools), digital photography, and audio/video editing. Prerequisite: None **Web Design** Course Description: This course introduces students to the use of Dreamweaver to construct dynamic websites using CSS, XML, and PHP. Students will learn techniques related to large website management, the use of Photoshop to alter images for the web, and the use of Flash to create basic animations. Prerequisite: Basic understanding of HTML and of Dreamweaver
 * Computer Aided Design 2D **
 * Computer Aided Design 3D **
 * Graphic Design **
 * The Internet and Society **
 * Information Technology Hardware and Software **
 * Introduction to Programming: Game Design 2D **
 * Introduction to Programming: Java **