NewsUpper SchoolPre-K to 8
Technology Goals Will Change Both Classroom and Communications
Feb 1, 2000 8:00 AM
By Stefan Eady - Faculty
New technology initiatives affecting Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools will take place as a result of Goals 2000.
In the Lower School, information and communications technology (ICT) strategies call for changes to begin in the 2000-2001 academic year. Next year, Darlington will teach Internet and other ICT research skills in the fourth and fifth grades, requiring fourth-graders to complete one long-term and fifth-graders two short-term projects using ICT research and production skills. ICT will also be used to teach grammar in the fifth grade language arts. Strategies for subsequent years will be developed by department chairs and the faculty and reviewed annually by a newly-established ICT Committee.
In the Middle School, a three-year ICT integration plan will begin next year. For the 2000-2001 academic year, all sixth-graders will be required to have the use of a computer and access to the Internet at home. Sixth-grade English will require the extensive use of ICT and teach the necessary ICT skills as part of the course. The second year (2001-2002) calls for all sixth- and seventh-graders to have the use of a computer and access to the Internet at home, and for seventh-grade English and social studies to use ICT extensively as a part of those courses. The third year (2002-2003) mandates that all Middle School students will have the use of a computer and Internet access at home and that eighth-grade English, geography, and science will use ICT extensively.
The Middle School will discontinue the seventh-grade computer course by 2001-2002 and will use the instructor as a full-time Middle School technical trouble-shooter and ICT resource person. By 2002-2003, the Middle School will produce confidential student pages on every student, accessible to parents through the Darlington web site via a password and containing homework assignments, grades, conduct reports, student portfolios, and other useful information.
In the Upper School, ICT changes will be implemented by department, with department chairmen submitting ICT integration plans annually each March to the new ICT Committee. Confidential grade and comment Web pages, which already exist for each student, will become student confidential pages incorporating such features as grades, comments, tardies, deportment reports, kudos, personal reminders, scheduling prompts, course syllabuses, homework assignments, performance activities including tests and quizzes, portfolios, and weekly academic probation reports for those who underperform.
Within the next few years, Darlington will design and test two or three elective on-line Upper School courses in religion, ethics, history, environmental science, philosophy, or the arts. Other schools, especially international schools, may eventually work with Darlington in a partnership in which each participating school offers on-line courses to students in all the schools. Planning for such courses is underway with a Russian boarding school.
Many Lower, Middle, and Upper School publications will be refocused to the Web and no longer printed in the next few years. Student handbooks, summer reading booklets, and perhaps even Lakeside Lines will eventually be moved to the Web, saving the school tens of thousands of dollars in printing and mailing expenses.
In the Lower School, information and communications technology (ICT) strategies call for changes to begin in the 2000-2001 academic year. Next year, Darlington will teach Internet and other ICT research skills in the fourth and fifth grades, requiring fourth-graders to complete one long-term and fifth-graders two short-term projects using ICT research and production skills. ICT will also be used to teach grammar in the fifth grade language arts. Strategies for subsequent years will be developed by department chairs and the faculty and reviewed annually by a newly-established ICT Committee.
In the Middle School, a three-year ICT integration plan will begin next year. For the 2000-2001 academic year, all sixth-graders will be required to have the use of a computer and access to the Internet at home. Sixth-grade English will require the extensive use of ICT and teach the necessary ICT skills as part of the course. The second year (2001-2002) calls for all sixth- and seventh-graders to have the use of a computer and access to the Internet at home, and for seventh-grade English and social studies to use ICT extensively as a part of those courses. The third year (2002-2003) mandates that all Middle School students will have the use of a computer and Internet access at home and that eighth-grade English, geography, and science will use ICT extensively.
The Middle School will discontinue the seventh-grade computer course by 2001-2002 and will use the instructor as a full-time Middle School technical trouble-shooter and ICT resource person. By 2002-2003, the Middle School will produce confidential student pages on every student, accessible to parents through the Darlington web site via a password and containing homework assignments, grades, conduct reports, student portfolios, and other useful information.
In the Upper School, ICT changes will be implemented by department, with department chairmen submitting ICT integration plans annually each March to the new ICT Committee. Confidential grade and comment Web pages, which already exist for each student, will become student confidential pages incorporating such features as grades, comments, tardies, deportment reports, kudos, personal reminders, scheduling prompts, course syllabuses, homework assignments, performance activities including tests and quizzes, portfolios, and weekly academic probation reports for those who underperform.
Within the next few years, Darlington will design and test two or three elective on-line Upper School courses in religion, ethics, history, environmental science, philosophy, or the arts. Other schools, especially international schools, may eventually work with Darlington in a partnership in which each participating school offers on-line courses to students in all the schools. Planning for such courses is underway with a Russian boarding school.
Many Lower, Middle, and Upper School publications will be refocused to the Web and no longer printed in the next few years. Student handbooks, summer reading booklets, and perhaps even Lakeside Lines will eventually be moved to the Web, saving the school tens of thousands of dollars in printing and mailing expenses.
