Teachers Flock to MKA's Summer Tech Institute
The combination of MKA’s new faculty professional development plan and the impending 1:1 student learning initiative for September 2010, led to faculty registering in unprecedented numbers for MKA’s Technology Institute - four days of summer in-service training in technology that was led, not only by their peers, but also by students from the Student Laptop Leadership program who served as mentors and even facilitators.
Over 70 teachers signed up for two workshops – the first, “Developing Continuous Conversations with Students to Support Learning” gave faculty the opportunity to learn how to use old and new technology tools in new ways to allow students to better understand and take responsibility for improving their own learning. The second workshop, “Facilitating Collaboration to Enhance Learning” focused on how technology can provide excellent tools for student collaboration, and also examined assessment information that teachers can collect from those collaborations. Said Upper School History teacher and Ethic Coordinator, Kerry Verrone, “It was a way for faculty to be students - and learn from students!”
Designed to offer faculty opportunities for “learning by doing,” faculty explored a broad range of tools, such as Moodle, Twitter, del.icio.us, Google tools, Voice Thread, iMovie and other iLife09 tools that have the potential to take collaboration to a new level of productive, engaging learning. With the integration of pedagogy and technological practices, MKA teachers headed into the summer inspired. As Laura Doto stated, “ Engaging in the Tech institute while the curriculum and activities from the school year are still fresh in my head and before I've done the concrete planning for next year really prompted some creative ideas. It got me thinking and brainstorming about how and when I could effectively utilize different tools and/or media into my classroom.” If the creative energy evident in these workshops is any indicator, MKA’s community of learners will be heading into the new 1:1 laptop initiative eager to take on new projects and new challenges!
