TRICKLE DOWN EDTECH? The NYT reports that the Mountain School of Milton Academy is starting to come to grips with the current technology craze. Set in rural Vermont, the program provides a semester of technology-free, collaborative learning -- camping, farming, environmental science, and navigation for example -- for a small cohort of students, selected mostly from elite private schools such as Philips Exeter Academy. Administrators are now contemplating how to deal with inevitable technology advances as the small town of 730 people is set to receive a fiber optics connection soon.
Sticking to their learner-centric philosophy, school leaders have asked students and alumni to come up with the next technology policy. It's a stark contrast from many K-12 technology policies -- not only is the Mountain School ceding control, but also counting on students to determine the how, when, why, and where with regards to access.
There's a tad bit of irony here. While many K-12 administrators hustle limited resources toward the latest flavor of BYOD or 1:1 computing, the folks at the Mountain School are taking the time (and luxury) to figure out what's best for their student population. Could this be a plausible model for developing acceptable use policies?
