School to Show Off Tech Know-How

Costa Mesa High School will show off its status as a “Digital High School” tonight at a Technology Night.

The school was one of 200 in the state chosen at the beginning of the academic year to take part in a $100-million grant program called Digital High School. The five-year program lets schools install comprehensive computer networks, buy new equipment and software and hire specialized staff members to help add technology lessons to the curriculum.

Costa Mesa received $355,000 from the state, and Newport-Mesa Unified School District contributed $572,000 for equipment, programs and instruction.

School officials have stressed they don’t want to amass the computers and other equipment simply to “automate” student lessons, but wish to use the technology as a tool to encourage learning as a lifelong process.

“Internet access is not the key here, it’s what you do with the information,” Cheri Sheldon, one of the program’s teachers, told the Newport-Mesa school board recently.

“Technology in the classroom will become as invisible as a pencil or calculator in our Digital High School,” according to a school administration report on the program.

The Technology Night open house will feature a multimedia presentation and a question-and-answer session on the Digital High School program.

The event begins at 7 p.m. in the Costa Mesa High School Lyceum at 2650 Fairview Road.

Information: (714) 424-8700.