“The goal of incorporating technology into our classroom is not to be fashionable, but to make learning more meaningful for the students. It requires that we find different ways to deliver instruction to meet the needs of the 21st Century learners.” – Ms. Sunita Saxena

For the past two years, St. Francis has been exploring the next step in technology and education. Extensive research was conducted, interviews with technology integration specialists were held, multiple school site visits were made, and the Board of Directors created a Technology Subcommittee in order to guide the initiative. These efforts were critical in positioning St. Francis to move seamlessly toward a more inquiry/project-based learning environment to enrich the students and to prepare them more effectively for the future.

Ms. Sunita Saxena, the St. Francis Technology Coordinator, stresses that, “The goal of incorporating technology into our classroom is not to be fashionable, but to make learning more meaningful for the students. It requires that we find different ways to deliver instruction to meet the needs of the 21st Century learners.”

One of the first components of this plan involved the creation of a Model 21st Century classroom, which included an interactive white board, class set of iPads, as well as a new computer projection and sound system. Freshman Religion classes, under the direction of Mr. Mark Fredette and Mr. Joe Kim, were the first to explore and benefit from these new instruction tools.

In just a few months, Mr. Fredette reports, “The kids love using the Extron board – we were able to incorporate it in a timed map competition. This competition when compared to previous years’ results shortened the learning curve to at least one third. This was one example of a learning activity that used to take students 45 minutes and produced mixed results. With the new technology, virtually the whole class learned and mastered the concepts in 15 minutes.”

Freshman Cameron Wheeler observes, “When using the iPad to study for a test about the Middle Eastern countries and their geographic locations, we used a Middle East Map quiz game online to study. Then each side of the classroom competed to see who would finish the game first. From then on the map was practically burned into my memory.”

This Model Classroom will provide the blueprint for the most visible part of the St. Francis technology plan. The current construction of a new classroom wing that will house three 21st Century classrooms is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013. Ultimately, all of its classrooms will be retrofitted with these 21st Century learning tools.

In May, faculty members were issued iPads and in September we will begin 18 months of ongoing and extensive professional development that will facilitate the transition to an inquiry/project-based learning environment. All of this will prepare its teaching community for the rollout of our 1:1 program in which every student will use iPads on campus to access textbooks on-line, and for classroom activities and projects.

This program will begin in the fall of 2014 with the classes of 2017 and 2018, and will be followed in the fall of 2015 with the classes of 2016 and 2019.

While this is a major step for St. Francis High School, and most certainly will meet with twists and turns along the way, the school is confident that its due diligence over the past two years will result in success.

For more information, visit http://www.sfhs.net.