Published on: Wednesday, March 03, 2010

By Shannon Hoffman

The co-principals of a new school opening in June believe the curriculum is suitable for the 21st-century learner. Given the advanced technology showing up in classrooms, one might think this requires cutting-edge gadgets.

Not always, said Geoff Fletcher, editorial director of THE Journal, which explores technology use in the classroom. Understanding what your students need is more important than the devices used to instruct them, he said.

“You need to understand where the students are and where they need to go” before selecting  tools, he said.

It’s a question the co-principals of a new area school have explored. Tobias Harkleroad is principal of St. Camillus in Silver Spring, and Matt Russell is principal of St. Mark Evangelist School of Hyattsville. In June, the two schools will merge into St. Francis International School, located at the St. Camillus campus, and they’ll be co-principals.

The co-principals are thinking globally. St. Camillus’ 257 students represent more than 45 countries, and 266 of the students at St. Mark are from more than 18 different countries. Because of the diversified student bodies, Harkleroad and Russell want the curriculum to enhance students’ awareness of the world beyond Silver Spring.

“We’re going to be asking our students to think of themselves as global citizens. Anything that we do with our kids, we need to give them the tools to engage in that,” said Cathy Spencer, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment of the archdiocese. St. Francis’ curriculum follows the archdiocese’s standards, including those regarding the use of technology.

One way that Harkleroad and Russell think students can become a part of the global community is through video conferencing. Though it’s not a capability they expect to have by fall, they’d like to eventually offer distance learning through live video streaming that will allow students to interact with lessons taking place outside of St. Francis. They also envision that students learning foreign languages will be able to video chat with other students native to that language.

However, Fletcher suggests that schools consider alternatives before committing to video conferencing tools, which can often be pricey. He suggests that foreign language classes consider using MP3s to communicate with natives of the language. Although it wouldn’t be live, he said it would function OK, and it would be cheaper.

“I go back to what should be the first question: ‘What do you want to do?’ and once you figure out the answer to that, then ask the question: ‘How do we do that; what is the best technology?’”

Fifth-grade teacher Eron Cohen is spearheading a project to integrate video chatting at Calverton Elementary School in Beltsville. The former computer programmer and Web developer constantly looks for ways to bring more technology into the classroom, and agrees that there are inexpensive methods.

Because the quality of cameras built into computers is improving, as well as downloadable video chatting software like Skype, Cohen said video chatting hardware may soon become obsolete.

Now Cohen wants to look at doing virtual field trips, “because frankly I can’t afford the bus,” he said, adding that many of his students aren’t able to contribute even $5 each for a trip.

It’s a needs-based system that Fletcher said should be used to determine which technologies get students where they need to be. Further, the grade level, subject and technological proficiency of the teacher should be considered before committing to any type of technology.

By next fall, Harkleroad and Russell plan to have interactive whiteboards in all of the school’s 30 classrooms.

Russell said that one of the goals is for students to learn how to wade through the information that’s available, and how to vet sources.

The principals say computers will always be available to students. Currently, the school has an average of three computers in each classroom. There’s one main computer lab with 34 computers, and two smaller ones with eight to 10 computers. These will serve the school’s predicted enrollment of 450-500 students.

Fletcher said this “is not a bad ratio,” but the current trend is for schools to facilitate computers on wheels, or COWs—carts that carry 10-30 computers that are shuffled between classrooms. He said it’s a situation that takes lots of organization, but would only cost about $200 a student.