Notre Dame took another big step in its plan to make digital devices in the classroom as ubiquitous as desks. Students at the school's lower division went "totally iPad" this week as second through fifth graders took possession of their own Apple iPads.
According to Joanne Widmaier, NDPMA’s registrar and academic technology coordinator, access to tablets are now available to all lower division teachers and students. “Besides the 1:1 deployment for grades 2 through 5, we have two carts of thirty Apple iPads for junior-kindergarten and first-grade students with two Apple MacBooks, one for each of the carts,” she said. “The MacBooks are used to configure iPads and create iBooks.”
Many advantages have been cited worldwide for going digital in today’s schools. For Notre Dame, especially with its IB programs, going global and going there quickly just makes sense for a “world school,” school officials say. Among other reasons for going digital are:
• It allows learning anywhere, anytime, with many more resources than students can possibly carry in a backpack
• Interactive simulations and illustrations that can produce a much greater depth of understanding of a concept
• New media: students can use PowerPoint and Prezi, record their own words, use photography, make a video, create a website and blog to get their points across
• Collaboration: a vital skill in a digital world is the ability to work collaboratively on projects with others who may be in the next classroom or in a different hemisphere
• Attentive students: studies show student engagement increased when using tech tools and that achievement levels are greatly improved
• Productivity: allows for a unique academic profile, creating a virtual three-ring binder that is omnipresent, all work in one place—great study tool for final exams
Widmaier says that this new technology helps Notre Dame students acquire the skills they need to survive in a complex, highly technological, knowledge-based world. "Curriculum integration with the use of technology involves the infusion of computers and tablets as tools to enhance the learning in a content area or multidisciplinary setting," she said. "Technology enables students to learn in ways not previously possible."
Going forward, the plans for the middle and upper divisions may go in a different direction than iPads, Widmaier said. Notre Dame’s Educational Technology Team (ETT), a group of teachers and staff charged with bringing the school into the digital world, has been comparing tablet devices and currently are leaning toward a Windows 8-based hybrid tablet/PC with a rollout schedule in the works.
Follow Notre Dame at @NDPMA.
About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.