The "Global Student" and the Importance of Technology

In its vision statement, the Portola valley School District (PVSD) recognizes the development of intellectual curiosity, personal responsibility, and the skills to navigate a diverse and rapidly changing world as fundamental attributes of a “global student.” To that end, the District’s Strategic Plan is unambiguous in its call to provide a world-class education for its students. Components of this initiative, as defined by their 2006 public statement, include the ability of students to understand and value other cultures and perspectives, and to confront challenges by applying critical thinking, problem solving, research, and communication skills. That same document charges the professional staff to identify and implement instructional strategies that effectively meet individual student needs and learning styles by investigating alternative structures for classroom organization and instructional delivery. Proposed changes in the delivery structures in our 4^th and 5^th grade classrooms for the 2009-2010 school year will meet these calls for conscientious restructuring.

Portola Valley is not alone in its quest to provide authentic instructional strategies designed to increase student achievement, student engagement in learning, and accountability by shifting responsibility for learning from teacher to the learner. A smattering of other visionary school districts are heading down this path, knowing the risks, but understanding the consequences of inaction. Education futurists, thinkers, and authors have issued repeated calls to step away from the strictures of the ‘standards movement’ into collaborative classrooms that promote synergy rather than competition. Classrooms that exude the entrepreneurial spirit; that acknowledge individual learning styles, engage multiple pathways to goal achievement, promote connections instead of discreet skill development, provide rich opportunities for higher-level problem solving, and generate an atmosphere where effort and attitude, not necessarily raw intellect, lead to success. This is how our Integrated Exploratory classes are being designed.

This, then, is where the deployment of on-demand computing (i.e technology) becomes critical to the success of our design process. The 2006 PVSD strategic plan states unequivocally that ‘classroom/network infrastructure should promote optimal and innovative teaching and learning.’ During this school year we will turn technology tools from playthings into vehicles for creating knowledge through collaboration. We will employ Web 2.0 applications (e.g. Skype, email, websites, blogs, wikis, social networking sites) to convey ideas, exchange and evaluate data, communicate cultural understandings with local native Spanish speaking peers, publish products or projects, correspond with peers and experts, engage in a web-based national service project, and truly connect with our larger world. In the 5^th grade, during the first weeks of school, we plan to use laptop browser technology and Enterprise level infrastructure to access online resources to:

• investigate aspects of ancient civilizations,
• explore our individual personality types, learning styles, and interests,
• prepare a learning profile on Renzulli
• research current events, and 'The Day in History,’
• prepare and evaluate a peer challenges,
• review and practice mathematics facts,
• post information to topical wikis,
• post daily responses on our limited-access classroom (moderated) blog, and
• provide appropriate images to promote point-of-need background development in all academic content areas.

During the early weeks of the school year we also plan to use standard desktop applications to:

• compose quick writes, prepare and complete reading comprehension notetaking T-charts (Pages, MS Word), and other written work,
• capture images for our first exploration project - Ourselves As a Fundamental Human Resource (PhotoBooth),
• guide our understanding of the landforms of North America (Google Earth),
• record, chart, and interpret frequency data from our wetlands exploratory (Excel),
• prepare a digital portfolio (Mac OS),
• interact with experts and advisors (Skype),
• enhance mathematical concept development (AKEKS),
• listen to and interpret the works of Gustav Holtz, Phillip Glass (iTunes),
• record classroom activities (Garageband and iPhoto), and
• develop lexicological and mathematical skills (dictionary, calculator).

We will learn:

• the ethics of using the Internet appropriately, and
• proper ‘netiquette.’

The above list is but a sampling of the probable uses for on-demand computing in the Integrated Exploratory classes this school year. As the term continues, additional explorations and their requisite presentations/exhibitions using other computer applications (e.g. ActiveBoard, KeyNote, PowerPoint, iWeb, iMovie) will be fully integrated.

On-demand computing will assure that our Integrated Exploratory students develop those 21^st Century competencies that business organizations and multi-national agencies claim many of their young employees lack: collaboration, critical thinking, creativity & curiosity, communication skills, citizenship, cultivation, and competency. On-demand computing will provide digital equity within the ranks of our students. It will revolutionize our classrooms, converting them into interdependent learning ecosystems where just-in-time information will secure knowledge connections for each individual student. On-demand technology will transform our learners into the independent thinkers, the creative and curious, ethical, and risk taking individuals that our global society so acutely demands.

Through technology, the Integrated Exploratory classes will realize their commitment to define[ing], align[ing], implement[ing], assess[ing], and communicate[ing] the structures, curricula, instructional practices, assessments, and professional development needed to produce the Global Student.”1

1 PVSD Strategic Plan 2006-2011, November 28, 2006