Join us for Transformative Technology Night on 1/5
The philosopher Plutarch suggested that “the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited.” Since 1996 with the implementation of our 1:1 laptop program, Cincinnati Country Day School has been using technology to ignite academic fires in its students. We were one of the first schools in the world to move to tablet technology in 2003, which added digital ink via the stylus to enhance creativity, collaboration, and engagement in the classroom.
On January 5th from 6:30-8:00 p.m., we will host another “Transformative Technology Night” to showcase the powers of our 1:1 tablet pc program. Tablets “flip” the educational paradigm, enabling more human collaboration, more creative inspiration, and more futuristic skill-building in and out of the classroom. Head of School Rob Macrae, Technology Director Rob Baker, Academic Dean Greg Martin, and the CCDS faculty and staff invite you to experience learning with your hands, your brains (both right and left), your creative spirit, and your sense of fun and play. The evening will start with a technology playground for the attendees to explore and move directly into hands-on labs to give you a feel for our learning environment.
One of the major forces in education, the 21st Century Skills Movement, is promoting a push to teach American children in different ways. According to a leading publication, “An encouraging sign that 21st century learning methods are taking hold is the recent announcement that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has stopped presenting introductory physics in large-lecture format…and is instead having small student teams do hands-on labs, interactive computer-based activities, and video-based lectures. As a result, class attendance is up and the course failure rate has dropped by 50 percent.” At CCDS, we integrate technology through the lens of learning, effectively shifting the paradigm so more class time can be devoted to collaborative, active, hands-on learning. Classes can delve deeper into subjects, reinforce concepts and be more interactive because of technology.
We continue to work at the epicenter of this world, leading hundreds of other schools (often our own competitors) in their integration of technology and innovation in education.
In advance of Transformative Technology Night, we will send a series of videos and digital presentations (much like the ones MIT is using). Please watch them at your leisure before we meet on January 5th. The “pre-work” will let us keep the event short while providing everyone a chance to experience the power of tablet pcs and spill some digital ink.
