When the Niles community showed its support of Niles Community Schools in May by passing our first bond initiative in decades, the Curriculum Department jumped for joy. The bond will greatly improve safety and security, energy efficiency and allow the district to maximize use of its classrooms. The technology upgrades to the infrastructure in all of our buildings are critical for curriculum and will reshape the learning experiences in our classrooms.

Why would a bunch of wires and connection points be a source of joy to the Curriculum Department? Finally, there will be reliable Internet connections in each classroom. A more reliable Internet connection will allow our students to connect to the web and access information that will enhance their learning. Currently, we have classrooms throughout the district where this is not possible. Reliable connections will allow teachers to finally create the type of learning experiences that our children, Michigan Core Standards and book publishers expect districts to be able to access.

As curriculum director it falls to my department to ensure that experiences in our classrooms support our learners on the path to becoming career and college ready. This is a challenging task made more daunting when you look closely at the students coming into our schools and consider their vast familiarity with technology outside of school. Our students were born into a world where technology has always existed. They have always been surrounded by and immersed in various forms of technology. They prefer to receive information quickly and multi-task. Our learners come to us having formed these relationships with technology and expect to be educated that way in the classroom.

As cited in the Mindset List developed by Beloit College to provide insight into the lives of incoming college freshman, “This year’s entering college class of 2015 was born just as the Internet took everyone onto the information highway and as Amazon began its relentless flow of books and everything else into their lives. Members of this year’s freshman class, most of them born in 1993, are the first generation to grow up taking the word ’online’ for granted and for whom crossing the digital divide has redefined research, original sources and access to information, changing the central experiences and methods in their lives.”

Our learners are considered “Digital Natives.” Since they were born, they have been surrounded by technology. These learners come into our classrooms with a much different set of expectations and standards regarding their learning. Research shows that these learners “are used to receiving information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task. They prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite. They prefer random access (like hypertext). They function best when networked.” (Mark Prensky, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”) These expectations are based on their experiences with technology, most of which occur before they even enter a NCS classroom, and are experiences they expect in their classrooms.

The state of Michigan also expects students to have access to reliable technology. This is evidenced in Michigan Core Standards and our district’s Technology Standards. In Literacy, for example, it is expected that beginning in third grade our students will be able to “use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as interact and collaborate with others.” So, not only are our children expected to have keyboarding skills, but also they are expected to use technology to interact and collaborate. Our teachers create learning experiences based on the standards. If there isn’t reliable connectivity, it becomes very frustrating for the learners and the teachers.

 

To meet our students where they learn best, curriculum is going digital. In the past two years, we have purchased K-12 math material that has free web access for learners, parents and teachers. As more of our curriculum goes digital, the need for highly reliable technology becomes crucial. The passing of the bond in May is making it possible for the Curriculum Department to provide the materials our teachers and students will need to ensure our community’s children are career and college ready.

All of this makes me wonder what our incoming Niles Community Schools’ Kindergarteners will experience during their 13 years in our classrooms. What will these students expect from their learning experiences? What technologies will they expect to have access to in the classroom?

The monies from the bond will make it possible for Niles to give our students the learning experiences they expect while meeting Michigan’s standards. High quality digital materials will be more readily available and will help our learners excel not only in our classrooms, but in our community and out into the world.

Thank you, Niles!

 

Angela Cramer is the director of curriculum and assessment for Niles Community Schools.