Learning Technologies

A Contemporary Learning Environment

At Munich International School we believe a contemporary learning environment, one that parallels many of the technology-enabled experiences available to students and staff outside schools, by nature, in 2010, includes one-to-one access to portable technology devices.

We also believe firmly in the value of the opportunities for redefined learning that such technology access provides our students and staff to be the priority focus of our work together. The technology is available for the service of a greater aim and, for us, that aim centres around enabling our students to engage in transformative learning experiences, experiences that would not be available without one-to-one access to an appropriate suite of technologies. We also know that such transformations do not occur by accident or without parallel focus by our faculty on the developing knowledge of twenty-first century learning. To this end, we bring these conversations together through the teams and structures we build as we review, incorporate and evaluate new technologies hand-in-hand with redefined teaching and learning initiatives.

We began the journey to provide this innovative learning environment in the Fall of 2005. We share here our stories in the hope of contributing to the experience of other schools in their own journeys as well for our broader community, so that our shared understanding and expectations are transparent.

Since the Fall of 2005 MIS has been researching the possibility of implementing  a 1:1 program.  During this time all teachers have been using mobile technologies to determine if mobile computing could transform education in the same way that it has so many other aspects of our lives.

At this point the teachers are emphatic, either we move to 1:1 or we stop trying to integrate technology into our lessons.  In addition, the MIS network and server resources were updated to ensure that digital resources could be accessed anytime and anywhere. This included:

• Deploying a campus wide scalable wired and wireless network
• Developing enhanced digital data and resource management systems
• Selecting appropriate software and hardware vendors
• Ongoing on and off campus teacher professional development

 This brings us to the threshold of deploying an ambitious 1:1 initiative that we believe over time will actually make us forget about the technology. We will not pretend to know exactly what the future holds for our students, but we can be certain that it will require them to continue to learn, to deal with complex multi-dimensional problems (systems and thinking), and will definitely include technology. We do not believe that isolated use of technology in schools is the best avenue for preparing our students for the opportunities and challenges that await them.