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The  Future  is  Already  Here:  One  Decade  of  1-­‐to-­‐1  By:  Holly  Chesser  Published:  September  2012    Consider  the  cell  phone.  Twenty  years  ago  only  12.4  million  people  carried  a  phone.  Today,  75%  of  the  global  population  has  access  to  a  mobile  phone.  Global  saturation  occurred  in  just  two  decades!    The  same  is  true  in  education  where  mobile  learning  has  likewise  become  ubiquitous.    According  to  NAIS’s  2012  Mobile  Learning  Survey,  “mobile  learning  devices  appear  to  be  well-­‐entrenched  in  independent  schools,  as  three-­‐quarters  of  schools  are  already  using  them,  more  than  one-­‐in-­‐10  are  actively  planning  to  use  them  and  the  remainder  are  considering  and  researching  their  use.”  The  jury  is  no  longer  out:  digital  devices  are  interwoven  into  the  fabric  of  our  students’  lives  in  and  outside  of  the  classroom  and  will  continue  to  remain  so.      But  while  most  schools  agree  that  the  use  of  mobile  devices  can  transform  how  students  learn,  the  devices  and  models  employed  vary.  1:1  initiatives,  BYOD  pilot  programs,  Macs  and  PCs,  iPads  and  tablets.  Like  independent  schools  themselves,  there  is  no  uniformity  in  approach.      However,  the  pace  of  technological  innovation  can  sometimes  leave  schools  feeling  as  breathless  as  Alice  in  the  Red  Queen’s  race,  running  only  to  stay  in  the  same  place.    If  your  school  is  feeling  the  urgency  to  innovate,  perhaps  it  would  be  helpful  to  look  to  another  who’s  been  traveling  on  this  path  for  some  time.    

Saint  Agnes  Academy-­‐Saint  Dominic  School,  led  by  Barbara  Daush,  in  Memphis,  TN  is  a  progressive  leader  in  incorporating  educational  technology  into  its  curriculum  and  campus.    In  2001,  the  school’s  Dean  of  Technology,  Bobby  Ireland,  brought  a  proposal  to  Barbara’s  desk.  If  the  school  purchased  80  iBooks  (Mac’s  version  of  the  laptop  at  that  time),  Apple  would  include  20  more  for  free.  Barbara,  who  had  been  engaging  her  staff  and  faculty  in  brain  based  learning,  embraced  the  idea,  and,  after  extensively  researching  Apple’s  educational  initiatives,  took  it  one  step  further,  asking,  “What  if  we  were  to  provide  an  iBook  to  every  student  from  1st  to  12th  grade?”    Bobby,  whose  expertise  lies  in  instructional  technology  and  training  teachers,  

hesitated,  encouraging  a  more  gradual  approach.    Barbara  intrepidly  countered  that  no  one  grade  was  more  important  than  another.    He  recalls  her  words  that  set  him  on  the  journey  he  remains  on  today,  “If  this  is  the  right  thing  to  do,  then  let’s  do  it  for  all  of  the  students.”  

   

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 However,  Bobby  understood  that  for  the  initiative  to  be  successful  it  needed  teacher  buy-­‐in.  Right  away,  the  school  undertook  an  intensive  professional  development  program  focused  on  supporting  its  teachers.    The  first  act  was  to  provide  each  teacher  with  an  iBook.    In  addition,  two  teachers  who  previously  oversaw  the  Mac  and  Dell  labs  became  full-­‐time  technology  integration  specialists,  described  more  aptly  as  “lifeguards”  for  the  teachers.  Amy  Moody,  the  head  of  the  English  department  and  early  adopter  of  technology,  left  her  post  to  assume  leadership  of  the  integration  department.    On  hyper-­‐drive,  this  team  worked  with  teachers  for  a  year,  guiding  them  to  understand  how  these  digital  devices  could  enhance  collaboration,  efficiency,  and  engagement.      Assured  the  teachers  were  prepared  for  the  upcoming  launch,  Bobby  instructed  his  own  tech  crew  to  focus  on  making  the  technology  work.  He  asked  them  to  think  of  themselves  as  the  power  company:  “When  you  flip  a  switch  and  the  light  comes  on,  you  don’t  think  about  the  how  and  why;  it  just  works.”  He  emphasized  to  his  team  that  their  sole  focus  was  to  eliminate  obstacles  so  that  teachers  could  concentrate  on  teaching  and  students  on  learning.      Thoughtfully  approaching  every  problem  that  came  their  way  (and  problems  did  come  their  way),  the  faculty  and  staff  worked  together  to  brainstorm  solutions  and  to  predict  possible  glitches.    Using  this  team  approach,  they  educated  and  prepared  parents  for  the  presence  of  technology  in  their  children’s  lives  and  taught  the  students  how  to  assume  responsibility  for  these  new  tools.      Now  10  years  later,  SAA-­‐SDS  has  received  the  Apple  Distinguished  School  Award  for  the  last  five  years  in  a  row.    But  it’s  not  ready  to  rest  on  its  laurels.  Excited  about  running  the  Red  Queen’s  race,  the  school  accepts  the  heady  pace  of  innovation  and  embraces  the  cycle  of  feedback,  evaluation,  and  improvement.  Vice-­‐chair  of  the  Board  of  Directors  for  The  Coalition  of  Lighthouse  Schools,  Barbara  Daush,  President  of  SAA-­‐SDS,  travels  to  Cupertino  every  year  to  hear  what  Apple  has  to  offer  next  in  education.      Recognizing  that  technology  gets  continually  better  and  cheaper,  the  school  refreshes  all  of  its  devices  every  three  years  through  a  lease  program  with  Apple.    The  school’s  commitment  to  professional  development  led  to  the  creation  of  spaces  on  campus  like  the  CyberCafe  complete  with  a  flat  screen  panel  where  teachers  can  showcase  their  own  lessons,  engaging  in  collaborative  lunch  and  learns  with  one  another.  The  school  also  hosts  mini  internal  iSummits  for  teachers  to  present  to  the  whole  school  what’s  working  in  their  classrooms.  As  Bobby  explains,  our  former  professional  development  model  was  administration  driven;  now  that  teachers  feel  competent  and  supported,  they  have  assumed  control  of  their  own  learning.    Always  looking  beyond  the  horizon,  SAA-­‐SDS  built  a  Distance  Learning  Center,  a  scaled  down  model  of  The  Zone  at  The  FedEx  Institute  of  Technology,  University  of  Memphis.  A  73  seat  interactive  auditorium,  the  Distance  Learning  Center  allows  students  to  engage  with  scientists  

   

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from  the  Alaskan  tundra  or  professors  of  anatomy  at  University  of  St.  Louis.  SAA-­‐SDS  recently  won  a  grant  from  the  Edward  E.  Ford  Foundation  to  create  another  Distance  Learning  Center  solely  for  teachers  and  staff  to  engage  in  their  own  learning  with  speakers  and  experts  around  the  world.  Intent  on  focusing  on  collaboration  not  competition,  SAA-­‐SDS  even  hopes  to  include  other  schools  in  these  opportunities,  believing  everyone  can  benefit  from  a  shared  approach.    In  August,  Bobby  Ireland  began  his  12th  year  as  the  Dean  of  Technology  at  SAA-­‐SDS.    Asked  what  one  piece  of  advice  he  would  offer  schools  seeking  new  forms  of  innovation,  he  responded,  “Be  fearless.”    Looking  back  a  decade,  he  remembers  the  anxiety  the  faculty  expressed.    They  were  afraid  of  losing  control  of  the  teaching  process,  of  diluting  their  content,  of  no  longer  being  sages  on  the  stage.    But,  as  Bobby  explained,  “Those  are  adult  fears  expressed  by  analog  adults  teaching  digital  children.  We  had  to  help  them  put  their  fears  aside  to  meet  the  students  in  the  environment  the  world  was  leading  them.  The  students  themselves  were  fearless.  We  have  to  model  their  attitude.”    He  emphasized  the  need  for  everyone  to  adapt:  faculty,  staff,  administration,  and  parents.    Questioned  whether  he  could  imagine  putting  the  genie  of  technology  back  in  the  box,  he  replied,  “No,  who  would  want  to?    The  genie  offers  us  knowledge,  collaboration,  and  creativity.”    Technology  has  taken  education  into  unchartered  territory.  No  one  knows  for  sure  what  technological  tools  or  models  will  engender  student  learning  most  effectively.  And  frankly  any  tool  that  works  well  at  the  moment  may  be  obsolete  tomorrow.          Perhaps,  schools  need  to  accept  the  words  of  UCLA  computer  scientist  Alan  Kay:  “The  best  way  to  predict  the  future  is  to  invent  it.”    SSA-­‐SDS,  under  the  leadership  of  Barbara  Daush  and  the  oversight  of  Bobby  Ireland,  has  created  its  own  future,  and  best  of  all,  they’re  willing  to  share  it.