Using Technology to Develop the Whole Person

The most recent edition of Independent School magazine focuses on this issue. As John Chubb, the president of the National Association of Independent Schools observes, “technology does not threaten the education of the whole child…but it will increasingly and relentlessly force schools—and enable them—to educate students for this century to help them learn new skills and new ways of learning.”

 

Our use of blended learning is one example of how technology has enabled a “new way of learning” for students at Greenwood. Rather than have one teacher-directed lesson, students in the use of online modules in Grade 9 geography enables students to make choices about completing a unit through the use of small tasks or as one big-picture assignment. Students studying physics continue to complete traditional lab activities, but also use online simulations, which complement the key understandings of the lab activity. The use of online lessons in mathematics allows more class time for student collaboration. Because teachers are not at the front of the room lecturing, they can use their individual conversations with students as a means of assessing learning and providing individualized feedback.

 

By design, our use of technology allows students more opportunities to work both independently, in small teams and with their teachers, which all contribute to the development of the whole person here at Greenwood.