DIGITAL SKILLS
TECHNOLOGICAL/DIGITAL FIELD: ADVANCED LEVEL IN TECHNOLOGICAL READINESS
Innovation and technology are the main drivers of our society and, as part of this society, El Regato School cannot ignore this. Therefore, we have always been pioneers in the use of technological tools in the classroom and in the school as a business.
STUDENTS
100% of our students from the 1st year of primary school to the 2nd year of sixth form work with digital educational platforms. We use two specific platforms::
Google for Education: From 1st of Primary to 2nd of Bachelor, all students have a Google account with unlimited space, with which they have access to all Google applications approved by the center such as Gmail, Classroom, Drive, Documents, Presentations , Sites, Forms, etc. These applications are primarily used for student learning management and content production. We differentiate consumer applications (in which we are offered closed activities; multiplications for example) from production applications (a video editing app) betting on the latter since they are the ones that best respond to the objectives we seek for our students: autonomy, leading role in learning ...
GOOGLE CLASSROOM
From the 1st year of primary education to the 3rd year of primary school we use Google Classroom as an educational platform to management students’ learning and work. It allows the teachers to share tasks, documents, presentations, forms, videos, pictures, etc. with the students in their group, while at the same time making it easy to compile the same types of items produced by the students from a young age, with a digital portfolio being created automatically on the Drive, which will be kept while they remain in the school.
MOODLE
From the 4th year of primary school to the final year of sixth form, the platform used by the teachers and students is Moodle. This platform allows students to obtain and access the content for the chosen subject in their accounts, anytime and anywhere. The respective teacher includes all of the necessary resources to develop the subject, along with theoretical and practical material through files, links, pictures, videos, etc. Additionally, as it is an online interactive platform, the teacher creates activities through the active participation of the students in forums, uploading assignments with a specific deadline and they can even propose questionnaires and exams to assess them, which are completed on the tool itself. By entering their personal profile, the student can see the progress made with uploaded assignments and the assessment tasks performed thanks to instant feedback that allows Educamos to be launched.
This means that the students have daily interaction with technology and electronic devices by creating online documents in various editing and display programs, thus enabling the cross-development of technological skills.
For all of these reasons, this use of digital educational platforms has led to the school promoting digital devices with which the students can interact. Therefore, we have implemented a school strategy to ensure that every student has the most suitable digital tool for the current stage of development.
DIGITAL PLATFORMS FOR THE WHOLE SCHOOL
Digital innovation is not only used in the classrooms, it is widely used by the whole of the school’s staff, as we have Educamos with Office 365 and Google for Education as the school’s management platform. .
Also, this year, we have also acquired Additio collaborate for the secondary school and sixth form teachers, a platform that promotes self-assessment among students by using a variety of assessment tools: rubrics, self-assessment targets, etc.
HUMAN RESOURCES: THE LKT PROCESS AND THE IT MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT
Platforms and devices are not only needed for the technological innovation that is widespread in the school, we also need to have people to maintain this innovation. Therefore, there are two teams that are vital for us.
IT MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT: We have an IT department whose purpose is to provide support for this entire infrastructure. Not only for the school, but also the infrastructure required to ensure that our students’ devices are in optimal condition and the digital platforms work correctly.
LKT PROCESS: The school has a group of teachers at different levels who determine the teaching strategy to be followed in the school and the suitability of the different tools and devices for each student’s current stage of development.
INFRASTRUCTURE AND COMMUNICATIONS
Finally, we must highlight the other digital resources that the school has, which allow us to optimise the set strategy, such as: Televisions, Apple TV, Chromecast, projectors, digital whiteboards, speakers …. And all kinds of devices and technology enablers that support and promote the aforementioned activities.
It is worth noting that all classrooms and educational spaces have projectors and digital whiteboards, in addition to audiovisual resources, so the school is a technological educational environment.
We have a synchronous fibre-optic internet connection that offers a speed of 1200 MBPS and which, thanks to our 40 Wi-Fi points and Ruckus controller, ensures a reliable and secure internet connection.
WHY IS TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION IMPORTANT IN THE SCHOOL?
Technology has become a vital addition to traditional teaching. Nothing can replace a teacher and classmates; social learning is the greatest enabler of personal development. That is not its purpose. The aim is to combine the best parts of traditional teaching with the best elements of the digital world beyond the classroom, such as using colours, the multimedia experience and unlimited content available to everyone.
When we decide to implement technology in the school, we do it to redefine our learning process, where the student is:
Pivotal: digital devices promote autonomy among students, as these tools allow the students to progress at different paces
Learning in numerous ways: technology makes it possible to improve multiple intelligences (visual, mathematical, etc.) by reaching a higher number of students. There is an unlimited number of digital resources to use in the classroom, enabling the improvement of classes and, therefore, of learning.
Creating their own content: technological tools are not only designed to find information, but also to create your own content and also allow you to share that content with other people.
Researching: the digital world is full of opportunities for researching, for digital culture, for a world in which education is no longer only provided by the family or the school, but now also by the digital society.
Being protected: digital identity and the dangers of the technological age are also part of our students’ education. As a school, from age 2 to 18, we want our students to learn how to use new technologies properly and gain the ability to use them in any setting after they leave school.
