Dear colleagues,
The landscape of educational technology at ISL continues, as ever, to develop. Most systems will be the same at the start of the next year, but here is a short summary of some changes:
1 to World is a Thing
We are used to the term '1 to 1' which describes each student in a classroom having her own computer. Next year, you will increasingly hear the term '1 to World' which reflects the ability of a student using a computer to connect with resources and people beyond their classroom.
1 to World in Upper School
Upper School students from Grades 6 to 11 will be bringing a laptop to school every day. Grade 12 students will be encouraged to do so, but it is optional for them. Here is a copy of the letter which went to families summarising the situation with 1 to 1.
Increasing ICT integration in Upper School
ICT integration at ISL will continue to work closely with individual colleagues on their projects, but there will be a greater emphasis on integrating ICT into the schemes of teaching teams so that the student experience is more uniform. We are developing an 'Educational Technology Skillset' which will identify abilities we would like all students to have acquired when they leave Grade 8 and that teachers of older year groups can assume their students have. This is a work in progress. To achieve this goal, the ICT facilitators have met with a number of teaching teams (both Middle School and subject groups) to discuss projects we can co-develop from the planning stages to co-teaching in the classroom and we will continue to work on this from the start of next school year.
ICT in Action
As a consequence of the increased focus on integration of ICT into curriculum planning, the course of ICT in Action, which has been a feature in the Middle School Cascade programme, will be phased out. The skills which students learned in these standalone classes will be taught instead through the medium of regular classrooms in a closer alliance between teachers and the facilitators. The students joining Grade 6 will get up to speed with the basic skillset in a six lesson programme during the first 2 weeks of school called Get Set.
New ICT Facilitator
... and finally, we will have a new facilitator in Upper School from the start of next school year. Becky Burnett is joining us and I know you will make her very welcome. This means, sadly, that we are saying 'Sayonara' to Matt. I know many of you will miss his cheerful expertise and I am very sorry to see a great colleague leave us.
The landscape of educational technology at ISL continues, as ever, to develop. Most systems will be the same at the start of the next year, but here is a short summary of some changes:
1 to World in Upper School
Upper School students from Grades 6 to 11 will be bringing a laptop to school every day. Grade 12 students will be encouraged to do so, but it is optional for them. Here is a copy of the letter which went to families summarising the situation with 1 to 1.
Increasing ICT integration in Upper School
ICT integration at ISL will continue to work closely with individual colleagues on their projects, but there will be a greater emphasis on integrating ICT into the schemes of teaching teams so that the student experience is more uniform. We are developing an 'Educational Technology Skillset' which will identify abilities we would like all students to have acquired when they leave Grade 8 and that teachers of older year groups can assume their students have. This is a work in progress. To achieve this goal, the ICT facilitators have met with a number of teaching teams (both Middle School and subject groups) to discuss projects we can co-develop from the planning stages to co-teaching in the classroom and we will continue to work on this from the start of next school year.
ICT in Action
As a consequence of the increased focus on integration of ICT into curriculum planning, the course of ICT in Action, which has been a feature in the Middle School Cascade programme, will be phased out. The skills which students learned in these standalone classes will be taught instead through the medium of regular classrooms in a closer alliance between teachers and the facilitators. The students joining Grade 6 will get up to speed with the basic skillset in a six lesson programme during the first 2 weeks of school called Get Set.
New ICT Facilitator
... and finally, we will have a new facilitator in Upper School from the start of next school year. Becky Burnett is joining us and I know you will make her very welcome. This means, sadly, that we are saying 'Sayonara' to Matt. I know many of you will miss his cheerful expertise and I am very sorry to see a great colleague leave us.
