Improving Teaching and Learning with an Intentional Approach to Technology

By Joe Hernick, Director of Educational Technology

Third-grader Emily Badenhop loves to spend time with her little brother Bryce, kindergarten, in their backyard treehouse. What makes this play area extra special is the fact that Emily designed it in Country Day’s Lower School Design Lab. In the fall, third graders studied the engineering design process, and their first challenge was to collaboratively design and build a model treehouse, according to Courtney Chambers, Lower School educational technologist.

After reading Everything You Need for a Treehouse by Carter Higgins, students flexed their imagination muscles and got to work planning their own creations. Emily, along with her classmates, iteratively worked through the design process, beginning with needs assessment and determining requirements, and ending up with a 3D cardboard model. “Right off the bat, Emily mentioned that she had been hoping for her own treehouse at home and that this would be the perfect opportunity to build a model and show her parents her ideas,” remembers Ms. Chambers. “When I learned that her parents were going to help Emily bring this project to life, my teacher’s heart burst with excitement! Knowing that I have encouragement from families to stretch my students to try challenging and inspiring lessons in the classroom means I’m becoming a better teacher every day, which directly impacts the education their children receive.”

The Lower School Design Lab and its emphasis on hands-on, project-based learning activities is just one of many examples of intentional technology at Country Day. In a nutshell, intentional technology means the school takes a thoughtful approach to discovering and implementing tools and tech practices to improve teaching and learning outcomes for our community. We purposely shy away from the bleeding edge of new tools. We are cautious of EdTech fads that emphasize technology for technology’s sake without practical applications in the classroom that create sustainable and meaningful aspects to the educational experience for our students—these not only improve the educational experience today, but develop lifelong skills that students will take with them into the future.

IMPROVING THE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE TODAY

Country Day teachers regularly look for ways to improve the classroom experience by using technology in ways that deepen and broaden the learning experience. For instance, Upper School modern and classical language teachers use tools like Flip, a Microsoft video discussion app. Spanish

Upper School Spanish teacher Paty Prieto leans into technology as a means to help students improve fluency.

teacher Paty Prieto leaned into this technology while teaching students remotely during the pandemic. It was so effective that she continued its use for in-person teaching as well. Within a secure online space, Ms. Prieto can make a video with instructions and a prompt. Students, in turn, respond with their own videos. The process allows students to build confidence and present their best selves via video before doing live presentations for oral mid-terms and major presentations. Additionally, both students and teachers can easily access past recordings to assess progress in fluency.

Understanding process is critically important in all disciplines. We all look back at draft versions of documents or presentations to edit and improve our work; Microsoft Office365 and Google Suite allow users to “roll back” the clock to review earlier versions of students’ work to see edits and changes. In a similar fashion the iPad has become an indispensable tool for our Middle School visual arts students to record and review their off-device process as well.

Using the time-lapse function of the iPad’s camera, students capture the off-device work of sketching, painting, and sculpting. By recording the entirety of the creation process, students can review hours of work in a few minutes, and art teachers can gain a focused, “over the shoulder” view to witness the effort and steps taken by each student to get to the final piece of art. iPads also allow art students room to experiment with techniques before committing to a change in a project.

As Middle School art teacher Dwayne Wilson shares, “Using digital art apps frequently provides students the opportunity to quickly explore ideas with more confidence because it lessens the fear of ruining their original drawing or painting. These digital apps provide instant access to a plethora of creative ideas that can then be transferred to traditional means.”

Country Day’s 3D Printing Lab, located in the engineering classroom in the Purdy Center for Science and Mathematics and supervised by Upper School science teacher Stewart Peery ’98 and the 3D Printing Club, allows for rapid prototypes, iterative designs, and final models to be created for classes in all three divisions. Rather than having printers across campus, Country Day has centralized the finicky devices and implemented a print-job workflow, where teachers submit student projects to the queue, and Upper School students assign prints to individual machines using a centralized server and web-based tools. Club members maintain the printers, load filament, and keep the shop running.

The print jobs (which can take multiple hours for complicated designs) can be remotely monitored via webcam, and a timelapse of the print can be shared with students. Projects have ranged from Lower School students designing pen holders to Upper School students creating game board characters in Design Class to insulin models for advanced science-minded seniors participating in our ongoing computational biochemistry research. The expertise and commitment of club members allows students and teachers to focus on the creative design process, without having to learn the specialized skillset and nuance of running a 3D printer.

Educational Technologists Help Deepen Learning Opportunities

Educational technologists at each division are deeply involved members of the Country Day team who support teaching and deepen learning opportunities. They work with directors of study, department heads, and teachers to implement and support educational technology tools and resources to ensure that our students are provided with the latest technology for their learning experiences. They are also key in providing training and support for educators and students to make sure that the technology tools and resources are used effectively. All members of the EdTech team are experienced classroom teachers, and each team member teaches at least one class per term. Educational technologists can also be found co-teaching tech-focused lessons across the curriculum, providing professional development for faculty, and meeting individually with students and teachers to provide tailored support.

READY FOR THE NEXT STEP

We can’t predict the future, but we do know that technology will only continue to advance. Looking ahead and making educational technology decisions, not only for today but for tomorrow, is always on the forefront of our minds. One of the key goals of the 1:1 initiative rolled out in 2013 was to ensure that students and faculty members could work collaboratively with the same set of tools. Moreover, we put a staffing model and resources in place to support user training, security, and device deployment and support, all with the explicit goal that there would be no additional financial burden to families, and that all students in a grade level would have the same device, regardless of means. And although teaching and learning during the pandemic had its challenges, our existing 1:1 technology greatly aided students in their remote learning endeavors. Because we were already well-equipped with hardware, well-versed in software, and had the support team in place, Country Day was able to help students succeed academically under difficult circumstances.

In the same way that we want to ensure that our school is prepared for future unknowns and the unpredictability that comes with technology, we want to equip our students with the skillset to use the tools of tomorrow. For example, as students navigate a “tech transition” from iPads in Lower and Middle School to Microsoft Surfaces in Upper School, freshmen work through the challenges of moving to a new device, building confidence and resilience along the way. When students enter lab results in a shared Excel sheet in ninth-grade biology, they learn that cloud computing resources in Microsoft Office365 are analogous with Google tools like Docs, Drive, and Sheets. Lessons across subject areas show students that word processing and presentations skills are transferable no matter what platform they use—the rubric for a solid presentation focuses on skills and outcomes, not the platform used. This purposeful transition and technology platform shift will be one of many that our students experience as they move through college and the workforce.

As we look to the future of AI, including ChatGPT, we are collaborating to answer the deeper questions regarding the skills that students need as they head into their futures. Just like the math teachers of the past worried about access to the graphing calculator, teachers today have to look at their teaching to ensure that they are truly preparing students to not just regurgitate something that a robot gave them, but truly understanding, critically thinking, collaborating with others, and creating something even better that can make an impact on the world.

Fostering a culture of experimentation and exploration with technology, students develop problem-solving skills and become lifelong learners, equipping them with the skills to be “Country Day Ready” and well prepared for the challenges of the future. And this approach empowers students to leverage technology as a tool to make the most of what’s yet to be invented, which is critical in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Digital Citizenship Certified

As parents and teachers, it’s important to support our children in navigating the online world. We view digital behavior as an extension of face-to-face citizenship expectations and strive to offer guidance and support as our students navigate the challenges of social media and online interactions.

That's why Country Day sought out a JK–12 digital citizenship program in 2015, becoming the first area school to be certified by Common Sense Media, a leading non-partisan, non-profit resource. Our faculty and staff are trained in the program, and lessons are created and aligned across all grade levels.

Our students begin learning about digital citizenship in junior kindergarten through fourthgrade classrooms and continue this instruction in advisory sessions in Middle and Upper School. The curriculum is research-based and covers a range of digital issues that today’s youth face, including internet safety, the role of copyright, online relationships, privacy, security, cyberbullying, personal reputation management, information literacy, and social justice. We continue to review curriculum and tools, adjusting lessons in response to new technologies, platforms, and social trends. Our goal is to give students the skills and habits of mind they need to be ethical and safe digital citizens, no matter what technology the future may bring.

Tech-Intensive Upper School Courses

Country Day was the first independent school in the area to offer technology-intensive classes (including Lower School computer classes from the 1980s through today) and we’ve supported robotics clubs starting in the early 2000s. AP Computer Science has been offered consistently since 2008, and courses such as AP Human Geography, AP Statistics, Computational Biochemistry, and visual arts offerings engage students with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Java, C and R Programming, 3D Design and Fabrication—all incorporating advanced tools and methodologies normally found at the college level. For students who really want to expand their technology skills, numerous course offerings are available:

Advanced Topics in Computer Science

AP Art: 3D Design

AP Computer Science A

AP Human Geography

AP Statistics with R

Bioethics

Computational Biochemistry

Digital Animation & Film Production

All 2D design courses

Exploring Computer Science

Honors Engineering

IB Information Technology in a Global Society

Astrophotography

New Journalism–Podcasting

Podcasting II

Short Films

Structural Engineering

Additionally, Independent Study offers students the ability to create their own path. Recently, students have completed IS in 3D Printing & Design, C Sharp Game Design, Computer Security Systems, and Advanced Computer Science.