By Bria Jenkins
Students in the Baltimore County public schools now have free access to Microsoft Office 365 Proplus for up to five computer devices under a new program designed to bring students into the 21st century.
The software program, which was approved by the Board of Education last November, will benefit all 110,000 students in the county’s school system.
Delores Pierorazio, a spokesperson for the school board, said the software offering is part of the board’s Students and Teachers Assessing Tomorrow, or STAT, initiative.
According to the Board of Education’s website, the STAT project will provide schools and students with the necessary skills for the 21st century so that they can be competitive globally.
The program will cost an estimate $11 million for students and $1.6 million for staff and teachers, Pierorazio said. Students are permitted to download up to five copies to their devices.
Pierorazio said students and faculty members can get a copy of the software by logging on to www.bcps.org/office365 and entering their BCPS username and login information.
Parkville High School is one facility that is using the program.
Aaron Chotikul, a math teacher at Parkville, said he is enthusiastic about Microsoft being more accessible to his students.
“Students were typing five paragraphs on their cell phones or outdated processors, which is not efficient or good for their eyes,” Chotikul said.
Chotikul said outdated versions of Microsoft Word made it difficult for students to open school documents, which hindered their work.
“Instead of updating to a newer version, students would rather lose points on the assignment by handwriting it rather than typing it,” Chotikul said.
Parkville is pushing for a paperless form of learning and although computers are not located in individual classrooms, teachers can use several computer labs in the building, Chotikul said.