May 1996 — Features

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The School Design Model at Brewster Academy: Technology Serving Teaching & Learning

DR. ALAN BAIN, Assistant Headmaster, Brewster Academy, Wolfeboro, N.H

The curriculum and teaching/learning practices drive everything from position descriptions to the design of space.

The Technology

The technological transformation at Brewster is based upon two fundamental drivers -- universal access and connectivity, and curricular embedding.

Universal Access: While we know that access to technology alone is clearly not sufficient to ensure meaningful use by students and teachers, it is an obvious and necessary prerequisite. Access g'es hand in hand with curriculum integration. Weave technology into the very core of school operation and many barriers to curriculum integration are reduced, if not removed entirely. When teachers know they can assign a homework activity that involves spreadsheeting some data from a science experiment, given that students have access to the hardware and software necessary to do so, the use of technology becomes a critical factor in the teacher's thinking about pedagogy in and out of the classroom.

Similarly, when a teacher can develop a computer–;based presentation at home, knowing that the facilities exist within a classroom to deliver that presentation, there is greater likelihood that technology will become part of day–;to–;day teaching practice.

When Monday's class activity involving technology is to be followed up at the next class session, instead of next week when the class is next booked for the computer lab, the likelihood increases that technology becomes a tool instead of a "glitzy" demonstration ¼ece or disconnected incentive.

Embedding: While these examples are important, they suggest a significant but nonetheless utilitarian level of technology use, more related to availability than curricular integration. More important are the answers to the following questions: