A group of middle school faculty members will serve as Technology Integration Specialists and oversee the one-to-one initiative planned for the 2013-2014 school year, Director of Studies Liz Resnick announced in an email to faculty. The first step of the Technology Plan includes the new requirement of seventh graders to bring their laptops to class. The requirement will include all grades of the Middle School in September 2014 and the Upper School in September 2015.
Resnick met with Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts, Educational Technology Committee chairman Jeff Snapp and Head of Middle School Jon Wimbish to discuss leadership of the initiative. After discussion, science teacher David Fromme, English teacher Julia Grody, librarian Anna Martino, Latin teacher Moss Pike, math teacher Karen Stern, history teacher Ian Ulmer and librarian Dave Wee were selected to work on the Technology Integration Specialist Team at the middle school. Resnick will head the team.
“We will actively work with seventh grade teachers and teams to integrate technology in order to deepen student engagement and learning, provide support for middle school teachers endeavoring to incorporate computing technologies into their classes, encourage teachers and teams to experiment with laptop integration, assist teachers with effective use of the Hub, Google Drive and other web tools, conduct professional development for teachers during the school day and after school and maintain a list of recommended computing tools as well as professional development opportunities,” Resnick said.
The middle school Technology Integration Specialists will also work with Snapp and members of the computer services department at the Upper School. The team will support the rest of the middle school faculty as they begin to incorporate laptops into the classroom.
“[To accommodate the upcoming program], we’ve significantly increased the available internet bandwidth on both campuses,” Director of Computer Services Dave Ruben said. “We’re also replacing the wireless network system on both campuses over the summer.”
According to Snapp, the Educational Technology Committee reviews school policies surrounding educational technology and makes recommendations to Huybrechts. While the middle school Technology Integration Specialists plans to meet weekly and the school-wide Educational Technology committee meets monthly, Resnick and Snapp communicate on a daily basis.
