For many years now we have been hearing about 21st Century Education and the importance of bringing significant change to student learning. Actually, we have been talking about this for well over 13 years, even before we entered this century. It is exciting to see the technological changes and innovations that have occurred since our arrival in the 21st Century.
Now that the worst of the education funding crisis is in the rear view mirror and with a sense of urgency being driven by new and ever emerging technologies…we had better get moving. My vision is to see Sunnyvale School District launch the One-to-One: Technology to Support Learning Initiative in 2013-2014. This means providing access to technology for all students over the next three years. Digital education is coming anyway, so we had better embrace it, put a framework around it, and work to ensure success as we deploy new ways of delivering educational content.
This initiative is not so much about the technology as it is student learning. We want our students to be active learners, critical thinkers, problem solvers, researchers and writers. We want them to be able to collaborate and extend their learning beyond the classroom. As more and more instructional content becomes available electronically, we will no longer be limited to a textbook-based, teacher-centered, classroom model, but rather a real-time, research-driven, project-based classroom where learners work collaboratively with their classmates and with students around the world – the Global Classroom.
As technology continues to change, so must our classrooms and the tools we use to support learning. This initiative takes head on the challenge to accelerate our adoption, deployment and use of instructional technology devices and creating these environments now, making them a reality in every school, in every classroom, for every student throughout Sunnyvale School District.
Let’s get to work! Our students are waiting.
UPDATE: September 2013, please see the following in-depth article in the Sunnyvale SUN by clicking here.
Article by Benjamin Picard Ed. D., Superintendent of Schools
