Ashford Students Use Technology to Witness History: January 20th 2009

The excitement was evident early on January 20th. Ashford School was gearing up to watch the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Barak Obama. Ashford School has only one cable TV drop so we knew it would be a challenge to make viewing the historic event a possibility for all classes planning to participate. Grades 4 and 6 squeezed into the library and viewed using the cable TV.


Additionally, in various classrooms throughout the building, computers were directed to the special feed provided by the Connecticut Education Network (CEN) for live-streaming of the event. This feed to CNN was established by the CEN in anticipation of the regular Internet lines to news sources becoming clogged during the height of viewing. Computers were connected to projectors and the programming was viewed by many as it was projected onto whiteboards. Through these technology tools, Ashford students got to watch the massive crowd, listen to the new President be sworn in, and participate in the Star Spangled Banner with the nation in real time on this historic day!