Faculty Require Mastery of Content and Skills – Not Just Technology Use

By Wesley Fryer On January 2, 2011 · · 1 Comment

When teachers in schools implementing 1:1 laptop projects start creating technology-infused assignments for students, often they will require the use of a SPECIFIC software program or application. That is NOT the case today for some of the teachers at Yarmouth High School in Maine, where teachers and students are in their EIGHTH year of a 1:1 project with Apple Macbook laptops. In this 1 minute, 21 second video clip, Yarmouth senior, Ben Nickerson, describes how many of his teachers now “require mastery of content and skills” in assigned projects rather than the use of specific technology applications.

This is an important difference in crafting student assignments which utilize digital technology. Yarmouth teachers are focusing more on learning outcomes than simply technology use, which should be an important goal of 1:1 projects. For more videos of Ben and others at Yarmouth discussing “lessons learned” from their 1:1 project, see the index of videos on wiki.wesfryer.com/videos, referencing videos posted to my YouTube channel: youtube.com/wfryer. Also check out my post from Saturday featuring three other videos of Ben, “Welcome to Yarmouth High School: 8 Years of Successful 1:1 Learning.”

If you’re interested in learning more about successful 1:1 learning projects, I highly commend the updated website of the Maine International Center for Digital Learning (MICDL.) Also check out the outstanding December 9th Seedlings podcast with Bette Manchester and John Newlin of MICDL!