Foxborough Administrators, Teachers Utilizing Technology

Technology has been the focus for the Teaching and Learning Highlight at the last two School Committee meetings.  Earlier in November, Mrs. Keri Green, District Technology Integration Specialist, presented the district’s K-8 Technology Skills Curriculum and how it is being integrated into classrooms across Foxborough.  

Like students in the classroom using a myriad of online resources to provide for a more interesting, diverse and meaningful learning experience, teachers and administrators are not immune.

Teachers and administrators are learning new web-based tools as they incorporate technology into their work in order to make it more efficient and meaningful.   BaselineEdge is a new technology tool that teachers and administrators are using to help with the implementation of the new Massachusetts Educator Evaluation System, which was the most recent Teaching and Learning Highlight.

Integrating technology into classroom instruction means more than teaching basic computer skills and software programs in a separate computer class. Effective technology integration must happen across the curriculum in ways that deepen and enhance the learning process. Foxborough teachers actively engage students, facilitate collaboration of student groups, provide opportunities for frequent interaction and feedback through themselves and peers, and allow opportunities for students to connect with real-world experts in all facets of learning. 

Utilizing a video Ms. Green created with the zooming online slideshow tool Prezi with embedded video created using Animoto, she demonstrated some of the Web 2.0 tools, software programs and curriculum projects that students are experiencing through the newly developed curriculum based on the Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standards & Expectations. Ms. Green is a great support to teachers’ effective technology integration. To view Mrs. Green’s presentation, please visit the following link: <http://prezi.com/eu6_5nkqcwb9/k-8-technology-literacy-curriculum/>.

The most recent Teaching and Learning Highlight focused on how Foxborough administrators and teachers use technology as they implement the new Model System that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) adopted in June 2011. The new model system is intended to promote leaders’ and teachers’ growth and development and place student learning at the center of the process.

The use of multiple measures of student learning, growth and achievement is a significant factor in all educator evaluations. In an effort to introduce this Model System in a way that made it manageable, emphasized 21st Century learning and most importantly stays true to the spirit of which the new regulations are intended - improve teaching and learning for all students, a technology tool was considered necessary. As a result, all district administrators and faculty were trained to use BaselineEdge, a web-based software solution, which acts as a digital portfolio.

It offers a productive way to manage and complete effective evaluations and it provides for ease in collaborating between administrators and teachers in regards to teaching and learning. This technology tool is an efficient way to oversee the evaluation process.

Whether its Web 2.0 tools or specific software programs like some of the ones highlighted at the last two school committee meetings, when the use of technology is routine and it supports curricular goals across all content areas, teachers and students grow expanding their role to that of adviser, content expert, and coach.

Save the date to join the Foxborough Public Schools for the second annual Parent Technology Night that will take place on the National Digital Learning Day on Feb. 6, 2013.