Wednesday, March 28, 2012

KYMN Radio interview with Dr. Richardson and Matt Hillmann

Dr. Richardson and I had the opportunity to visit with KYMN Radio host Jeff Johnson this morning. We had a great conversation about transformational technology. Jeff was a gracious host and had great questions about how we are at (maybe beyond?) the tipping point for true technology transformation in our nation's classrooms.

You can listen to the 40 minute interview by clicking here.

Monday, March 26, 2012

The beginning...

Over the past couple of School Board meetings, we have begun discussing transformational technology for modern learners. The accelerated development of tablet computers, couple with rapidly expanding digital textbook resources have inspired us to look more closely at the potential for replacing traditional textbooks with tablet computers for students.

In January and February, more than 30 educators from across the District researched, discussed, and analyzed the potential for tablet computers in our classrooms. That group's recommendation, provided to the District Technology Steering Committee, was to consider an aggressive implementation timeline to modernize resources for our students by using tablet computers for each student. The Technology Steering Committee began their review of this recommendation in March and will continue to do so throughout the Spring.

I will be making a presentation to the School Board this evening, highlighting the path we intend to take in regards to evaluating what such an implementation will look like in Northfield. You can view my outline here.

While there are a plethora of items to consider in evaluating this kind of implementation, we also have the ability to learn from the school districts that have already implemented similar programs.

As part of our next steps, we plan to continue to gather feedback from stakeholders. This includes:
  • Informational meetings for staff at individual schools
  • Informational meetings for community members 
  • Focus groups with Middle and High School students 
These meetings will be scheduled in the near future and announced on this blog and also emailed to District parents via our Skylert system.

Please return to this site to follow our progress during this discussion!


Welcome!

The Northfield Public Schools has spent the last several month beginning the process of analyzing transformational technology to support our modern learners. You can follow our progress on this site  as well as get updates at our Technology Transformation Project web site.