IN Mt. Lebanon Fall 2016 | Page 35

these skills are overlooked in the typical classroom setting. Educators are working toward providing students with meaningful learning opportunities through technology that encompass all of the aspects that make up success for a graduating high school senior entering college or the workforce. Saint Anne School 4040 Willow Avenue Castle Shannon, PA 15234 412.561.7720 www.saintanneschool.org THE WHO Teachers Near the end of 2015, the U.S. Department of Education released the 2016 National Education Technology Plan as a commitment to supporting personalized professional learning to provide greater equity of access to technology for students across America. In addition, the Future Ready initiative, developed by the department in 2014, had more than 2,000 superintendents across the country who pledged to integrate digital learning into their districts’ curricula. The National Education Technology Plan also includes a focus on providing each student with the chance to engage in educational experiences led by technology. In addition, Education Week states that digital instructional content is the second largest spend in the K-12 educational technology market, just behind hardware. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Pearson, previously known for their paperback publishing, are pushing out the most digital lessons in math, English/language arts, science, business, and fine arts. An education for total development of the child - body, mind, and soul Accepting Registrations for 2016-2017 • Grades 1-8, full day Kindergarten, 4 yr. full and half day Preschool, 3 yr. half day Preschool • 15:1 student-teacher ratio, challenging faith-based curriculum with emphasis on STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Art, Math) • Students consistently score above anticipated levels on standardized tests • SMARTboards in every classroom • Chromebooks provided to all students in grades 5-8, Kindles provided in grades K-4 • Networked classrooms with a multi-platform technology environment • Scholarships and tuition assistance available • Variety of sports programs and extracurricular activities including STREAM-focused workshops Students No student is the same. Each has a different family life, upbringing, ability to communicate and learn, and yet these students are all being taught the same way. Schools across the country are shifting from a one-size-fits-all approach to a personalized learning approach. A current buzzword in education, personalized learning allows students to become part of their learning experience. Students will be in control of creating content for learning using smartphone apps. This approach intends to put students at the forefront of molding their learning experience, resulting in stronger student engagement and therefore better outcomes. The Nellie Mae Education Foundation notes that a studentcentered approach can “only be successful if [it occurs] within a cultural context that demands continuous improvement and engages collective processes that foster understanding and broad ownership of decisions. This should be driven by vigilant consideration of assessment results that help illuminate the extent to which particular interventions are working, and who is benefiting from the changes in what ways.” THE HOW Mobile and Digital Learning Digital learning made a slow entrance into mainstream education, but with the use of tablets and mobile devices, the number of teachers using game-based learning in the classroom has doubled i