Digital Learning

The presence of the Academy in cyberspace has expanded again. Tapping into what is now known in educational circles as digital learning, and what is widely regarded as essential for effective 21st century education, our high school English teachers have created their own websites as a means of enhancing and furthering instruction in their classrooms.

Mrs. Abby Johnson is using her blog as a vehicle for her AP students to do informal "reaction writing" to their course reading. Click on the "comments" link on each post to see our students in action. One of this year's exciting new additions to our faculty, Mrs. Ashly Hood, is also jumping headfirst into the world of cyberlearning. While still in their most formative phases, Mrs. Hood has created both a wikispace and a blog which she intends to use as instructional and organizational tools for her classes.

I too have a wikispace for the seminar I am giving in the Boys High School on the European Enlightenment (in fact, I also have one for the purpose of faculty collaboration and another one for use by our administration). While pretty bare right now, this one will be populated throughout the year by student created PowerPoint presentations on major figures in Enlightenment thought, such as Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and many others.

This YouTube clip - which we showed to our faculty at our opening In-Service this year - makes the case rather well for the importance of digital learning. While we have much still to do in this area, it's good to know that we've begun to plug in to the world of technologically progressive education.