Moving in a direction that aligns with 21st Century Skills, Mount Notre Dame is pleased to announce the decision to implement a One-to-One Tablet PC Program beginning with the freshman who enter in the fall of 2010 (Class of 2014). The program will be phased in, one class at a time, over the next four years.
A Tablet PC is a laptop computer with enhanced capabilities. The screen swivels and can lie flat like a traditional paper notebook. The tablet also has a digital pen, allowing students to “write” their notes and draw images. Other benefits include the ability to receive and store digital documents such as class worksheets, the capability to create multi-media projects and the means to store all academic information in one location. Students will also now have access to the same technological tools both during the school day and at home.
Mount Notre Dame’s Academic Dean, Mrs. Karen Day of White Oak, was instrumental in developing the study that led to the recommendation for MND to move in this new direction. She feels strongly that this is the next step in MND’s technological evolution. “The Tablet PC will definitely serve as a communication and organizational tool and will change the logistics of the high school classroom – no more binders and notebooks, creating a simpler and ‘greener’ academic environment. This tool will open up new opportunities for students to learn. They will now be able to connect to digital tools and resources at school and at home. While the educational atmosphere will still include a variety of teaching methods, including lecture, small group, discussion, projects, papers and presentations, we can also begin to include more digitally-based curriculum and relevant resources such as discussion boards.”
The Tablet PCs, as with most technology, will also shrink the world for Mount Notre Dame’s students. “Imagine a foreign language classroom where every student can visit the Prado Museum at eye-level! We all hear that our ‘World is Flat.’ Tablets will make our educational classroom ‘flat’ so that we can utilize the abundant resources it provides,” said Mrs. Day.
Another important benefit to instituting a Tablet PC program is that it levels the playing field for all students. When a student misses class, she will be able replay class notes, in the step-by-step manner in which they were presented. A prolonged illness will no longer set a student back academically as the possibility will now exist for “attending” class remotely.
MND English teacher Mrs. Aideen Briggs of Anderson Township, feels that incorporating the Tablet PC will enable students to hone the skills necessary for textured or multi-layered writing which is becoming the norm. “They need to learn how to smoothly integrate linear writing with graphics and sound in order to be considered fully literate in the 21st century. The bottom line is that the Tablet PC Program will enable them to communicate more effectively and thus have a larger voice in the world.”
Saint Julie Billiart, the foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame deNamur, said in reference to the role of Catholic educators, we should “teach them what they need to know for life.” Based upon this philosophy, it is with great excitement that MND will begin our 151st year of educating young women by phasing in our Tablet PC program.