Technology

Embracing student CREATIVITY...

Our 21st century students demonstrate amazing creativity when they have the freedom to engage their academic work in motivating and unique ways. TCIS believes technology brings richness to the educational environment when implemented at developmentally appropriate levels. Whether it is through blogs, wikis, or digital collaboration, TCIS seeks to create an environment that embraces an interactive community, preparing students for success regardless of what future dreams and goals they pursue.

Preparing for tomorrow TODAY...

Students are different from their parents because technology permeates their lives. The depth of these differences goes well beyond environmental factors at the surface. Current research on teenagers’ brains reveals differences in their brain development. Not only are their brains different, but students learn differently. They make meaning, engage, and process their learning in ways that reflect the digital world that surrounds them. An immense amount of information is now available to them as digital media. TCIS seeks to maximize the opportunities of technology to enhance the learning community of students and faculty.

1:1 laptops, putting the power into STUDENTS' hands...

TCIS believes that 1:1 laptops place powerful learning tools into students’ hands in every classroom during every period. Although we cannot foresee exactly what the future holds, we can predict skills that will make students successful in the 21st century. Digital literacy accompanied by the ability to adapt and learn new skills effectively is critical to our students’ success in their educational endeavors as well as longer term life goals. TCIS seeks to develop a learning community that celebrates collaboration, critical thinking, and effective technology infusion into these life skills.

A 1:1 laptop program ensures that our students have access to the myriad of resources available to them. Currently, all students in grades 9-12 are required to have their own laptop. Laptops promote student-centered learning and inquiry, a centerpiece of the IB programs TCIS has implemented.

Students use their laptops to develop learning communities with their peers. These learning communities enhance the learning that occurs within the classroom as well as extending the learning outside the walls of the classroom. The implementation of technology at TCIS gives students the opportunity and skills to be inquirers, critical thinkers and problem-solvers. It increases their access to knowledge, opens their minds, and allows them to be risk-takers, learning from their failures as well as their successes. TCIS's interactive community promotes reflection, develops communication and welcomes new ideas. Ultimately, laptops at TCIS reinforce balance, empathy and ethical decision-making that encompass the ethos of the TCIS community. Technology use increases the richness of the students' experience in the classrooms and the interaction with the TCIS curriculum.