Educational Technology Plan
	Greens Farms Academy April, 2008   Committee Members Aron Back Ian Campbell Ann Cotter Jason Cummings Mohie Mohie Eldin Connie Ennis Christine Fecteau Justine Fellows Peter Herzberg Drew Meyer Matt Norko Dianne Schlosser Andrea Sullivan Erin Thorkilsen Catherine Watson Greens Farms Academy has evolved into a school that uses technology at every level. 2003 – 2004 The First Class email system is used campus-wide and at home by administrators, faculty, staff, and students. Faculty and students make extensive use of the course conference feature of First Class, organizing course content, posting assignments, participating in discussions, organizing online chats for review and creating a history for each class. 2004 – 2005 Laptops were given to faculty. Wireless provided throughout campus. 2006 – 2007 GFA has also expanded technology use by requiring that each student in the Middle and Upper School have his or her own laptop computer. The integration of technology into the curriculum is made easier with technology being readily accessible. In the Lower School the use of technology is made possible by having laptop carts in the classroom. Students taking visual arts, electronic music, computer science, or physics also have access to mini-labs of computers in those classrooms. 2006 - 2007 Administration, staff and faculty use the Senior Systems database with the online My Backpack portal to organize and efficiently run the business, development, admissions, college placement, registrar, deans and scheduling functions. 2007 - 2008 Parents and students access the student directory, schedules, attendance, grades and comments online through My Backpack. 2007 – 2008 Mounted projectors with sound systems have been installed in all Lower*, Middle and Upper School classrooms, and in large meeting areas in the school. Throughout the years 2004 – 2008, the infrastructure to support the academic technology program was upgraded. This upgrade included servers, wiring, networked printers, additional internet connectivity and volume Microsoft licensing. *As of February, 2008 4th and 5th grade have mounted projectors. We plan to have either mounted projectors or SmartBoards in K – 3rd grade during the 2008 -09 school year. Administrative support, professional development, a dedicated technology department, and an extraordinary faculty have all worked consistently to ensure that GFA is a leader in technology. The coordinator of academic technology in each division has made a significant difference in turning technology into a transparent tool. Each division coordinator meets on a regular schedule with each faculty member. This has proven to be the best way to get faculty engaged in integrating technology into their curricula. Professional development funding has allowed faculty to attend conferences and workshops to get up to speed with technology use in the classroom. The GFA mission statement includes the following sentence, "In a supportive community built on trust, we give our students the opportunity to become critical, independent and creative thinkers and encourage them to explore particular passions that will sustain them throughout their lives." The following is our vision that will allow our students to fulfill the expectations of the mission statement and also provide direction and expectations for faculty. Technology should change and improve the learning process and prepare the students for a rapidly

	Our Vision of Technology
	In our vision of technology, we feel that technology integrated into the curriculum will • Allow students to acquire proficiency with information literacy: Students will access, validate and understand the organization of information. Example: When citing a website, students have to validate the web source to know who is responsible for writing and publishing the content. Students will learn not to trust everything they see on the Internet and will evaluate carefully before using as a source. Students are taught step-by-step how to determine the value of a website. • Expand relationships: Students will collaborate and communicate globally. Example: Through web tools such as Skype, wikis, and blogs, students can communicate with other students and professionals throughout the world. The language department and students participating in 20 20 make use of web tools to connect with students and professionals in other countries. • Challenge students to construct their own knowledge: Students will use primary sources instead of textbooks to enhance critical thinking and will build knowledge without boundaries making use of online learning. Example: Using the plethora of online material, students can create their own text and organize material in a way that is relevant to them. Students may negotiate and organize information to construct knowledge. Critical thinking and formulating their own ideas is enhanced because of the research possibilities that are so readily available. • Provide opportunities to construct and publish work for a real audience: Students will post work to the web using blogs, wikis, and other online sources. Example: Collaborative wikis and blogs are being used for students and faculty to post and comment on each other’s work. Some wikis are also open to the general public for comments and have had postings from professionals in the field. The English Department has used wikis to teach the Odyssey which promotes student collaboration providing voice and ownership to the student. • Provide ways to teach ethical behavior specifically related to use of the Internet and other digital tools: Students have to understand and adhere to the school’s acceptable use policy. Example: Presentations and discussions about ethical behavior concerning the internet are an ongoing process. When students breach the acceptable use policy, they are disciplined in a timely manner and with appropriate consequences. Through Turn It In software, students can self-monitor their writing to discover if they have plagiarized their work. • Offer possibilities to alter the role of the teacher: Teachers can become facilitators shifting control to the learner. Example: In the sixth grade robotics instruction, each group of three students works out the software to build and run a robot. The student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Each student is in the position of defining his/her goals, making design decisions, and evaluating progress. The teacher is no longer the center of attention as the dispenser of information, but rather plays the role of facilitator, setting project goals and providing guidelines and resources, moving from student to student or group to group, providing suggestions and support for student activity.  • Create new ways of assessing learning: Teachers can use a variety of tools to address the varied learning styles of students and devise different ways to assess student work. Example: Students record their speaking in languages, customize their vocabulary study, produce their own tutorial videos, and collaborate through wikis and blogs. The use of instant messaging allows students who don’t normally participate in class discussions to fully participate and it also provides a record of the discussion for assessment.

	Future Plans, 2008 – 2012
	Because of the ever-changing aspect of technology, it is difficult to predict what may happen over a five year time span. However, as of February, 2008, Greens Farms Academy will • Continue to support faculty via one-to-one meetings with the academic tech coordinators. This approach has been successful because it has allowed the tech department to address each faculty member’s needs individually while motivating faculty members and ensuring that attitudes remain positive. • Continue to encourage faculty to engage in professional development not only by attending conferences and seminars but also visiting other schools. Participating in professional development and visiting other schools keeps teachers on a forward track regarding their day-to-day planning and teaching. • Complete the one-to-one student laptop program so all students grades 6 – 12 have their own laptop for use at home and at school. This initiative evens the playing field for students and teachers and provides complete access to technology plus the means to learn in alternate ways. • Investigate the possibility of installing Smart Boards in grades K – 5. Smart Boards provide interactive learning with technology. Interactive whiteboards affect learning by raising the level of student engagement, motivating students, and supporting many different learning styles. They also promote constructivism which relies on the learner to select and transform information, build hypotheses in order to make decisions, and to construct meaning. • Investigate video conferencing equipment that would expand the goals of our global initiative. Video conferencing would allow our students to interact visually and verbally with students in other countries. It would also allow for students to interact with professionals in the field no matter where they are located. • Investigate tablet laptops for faculty and students to determine if tablets would encourage and be more conducive to technology integration. Tablet laptops are particularly useful for math and science classes allowing students and faculty to draw and write formulas, diagrams, graphs, etc., save to the laptop, and then email to students. • Install a managed wireless system that would provide security for the wireless network, regulate bandwidth on our network, and provide access to the GFA network anywhere in the world. Currently, GFA has an open non-secure wireless network meaning that anyone within a reasonable distance can log onto our network and surf the Internet. A managed wireless system requires a password and blocks out other users. This security ensures that all information is protected. In addition, there is a device that can be purchased that will provide a user access to the secured GFA network wherever they are. This would be especially useful for administrators who work from home or elsewhere during holiday periods or on the weekends. It could also benefit students who participate in the education abroad program by keeping them connected to GFA.