I recently attended an educational conference and was struck by the speaker’s simple, powerful message. He said, “We, as educators in elite independent schools, have got to stop educating students for the past and start preparing them for their future.” Those words hit me. And in the following several months I heard similar sentiments at Vanderbilt University, The Association of Boarding Schools, Georgia Independent School Association, etc.
At Darlington, we acknowledge our obligation to create digitally fluent citizens while honoring teacher expertise, autonomy and creativity. Toward that end, we are launching what we are calling the “nextbook initiative” to engage teachers and technology specialists in selecting digital solutions. Last week, the Upper School faculty began working on a two-year phase out of textbooks. And while we are only in the first steps of this process, many teachers and department heads are already expressing excitement.
Some of the digital solutions we expect to see might include:
- Flipped classroom websites featuring teacher-generated webcasts
- e-Books, PDFs, downloadables, etc.
- Teacher-generated websites loaded with links to videos and readings from foremost scholars in a given subject
- Student-generated websites, blogs, etc.
- Online subscriptions
- Students collaboratively researching, assembling, editing and publishing their own e-textbooks online
This is all a natural next step for Darlington. The nextbook initiative fits, hand in glove, with several other key initiatives that are already underway. Our school-wide technology plan supports student fluency in technology. Our vertical curriculum alignment process has been instrumental in the development of clear technological learning objectives from PK-12. The nextbook initiative will promote the mastery of these skills while embedding our technology within each department’s curriculum. Project-based learning, an initiative launched last year, promotes collaborative problem solving in the classroom. This initiative was one of the driving forces behind the creation of a new daily schedule, designed specifically to enable active, meaningful engagement with learning. Now, with the nextbook initiative, Darlington continues its movement to the forefront of education.
In the coming weeks, teachers will be meeting with our instructional technology coordinator and bookstore manager. Not only will this initiative save space, time, resources and money, it will better serve students and parents alike, while increasing teacher innovation and autonomy. The rollout of the nextbook initiative has been carefully planned in phases to ensure that quality of instruction is not diminished. On the contrary, we anticipate that this will enhance the learning experience of our students and better prepare them for the rigors of college and the demands of the work force.
Darlington School is committed to preparing students for success in college and beyond. We also dedicate ourselves to ideals such as “learning with passion” and “wisdom more than knowledge.” As the demands of the workforce change, so, too, must the demands of the educational system. The simple truth is that the world will require our graduates to be digitally fluent and able to use technology in collaboration to solve real-world problems. Please look for more information about how this initiative will manifest itself in each of our departments.
