2012 School Spotlight

“MKA not only educates, it empowers.  Our 1:1 learning environment combines excellence in teaching, creativity in curriculum and a highly personal, technology-enriched environment.” Thomas W. Nammack, Headmaster.

The Montclair Kimberley Academy (MKA) is one of the largest co-educational Pre-K-12 independent day schools in New Jersey, serving over 1040 students from over 70 communities in three age-appropriate campuses.  Long known as a leader in the field of educational technology, MKA implemented a full-faculty laptop program in 2007, and, following three years of planning, research and preparation, a 1:1 Laptop Learning Initiative for students in the fall of 2010. All students in grades 4-12 were provided with individual MacBook Pro laptops, together with an identical suite of software (also installed on faculty laptops) to ensure a common platform for instruction; while Primary School students are prepared for the initiative through individual access to, and instruction on, class laptops, iPod Touches and iPads.

The use of technology as an effective teaching and learning tool is a key curricular and instructional focus that is exciting and engaging to both students and faculty on all three MKA campuses.  MKA students use technology tools to explore learning–to acquire knowledge, practice skills, problem solve and demonstrate and communicate understanding in new ways.  Students are challenged to use technology to be more flexible, innovative thinkers and to understand and respect the moral and ethical issues related to their use of technology.  Students are empowered to take responsibility for both the social/legal implications of laptop use and the practical skills necessary to maintain a laptop through passing a “Driver’s Test” to demonstrate their understanding of MKA’s Acceptable Use Policy and obtain full administrative rights on their machines.

Highlights of the MKA Laptop Initiative include:

A New School-Day Routine:  A typical day in the life of an MKA student might begin with checking iCal to consult the school calendar, checking Moodle to ensure that all assignments are complete, logging in to a Moodle forum to post ideas during first period, recording an advertisement in a foreign language and sharing the media with the class, blogging to create an authentic exchange of ideas and strategies, editing with a variety of dynamic online applications, and using an Evernote notebook to collect evidence for a research paper, synthesize ideas and receive timely feedback from the teacher so that learning can be adjusted accordingly.

A Student Laptop Leadership Team: Much of the credit for the successful implementation of the 1:1 Initiative is due to the work of 26 students in grades 5-12, the members of the Laptop Leadership Team.  Guided by members of the  Educational  Technology and Technology Departments, these student leaders tested hardware and software, proposed new applications, offered feedback on ideas for making technology a seamless part of learning and instruction, provided technical support to both their peers and the faculty, trouble-shot technology issues and created training materials to help students prepare for their "Driver's Test." This leadership opportunity is open to students through an increasingly competitive application process, and older members of the group mentor younger members and are able to receive Apple Certification.

A Summer Tech Institute for Faculty: An MKA tradition, this past summer’s Institute, entitled “Empowering Learning,” was attended by 75 participants from MKA's faculty and administration.  This  four-day summer workshop annually promises participants they will “learn by doing” and learn from one another.  Through their exploration of learning and of technology tools to promote it, participants learn new ways of using technology to support students’ learning; consider how technology can support varied, dynamic and timely assessment; and also learn to match the right kinds of technology tools to their specific learning objectives.

MKA and Evernote: MKA is Evernote's flagship school. At MKA’s June 2010 Tech Institute, faculty quickly saw the potential Evernote held for providing dynamic assessment and feedback opportunities.  Members of MKA’s Technology Department and representatives from Evernote discussed both how the application could promote learning and how input from the school could help Evernote’s product development.  Now, Evernote is one of the most widely used applications in the school.  Beyond allowing for quick and easy capture of Internet research materials, Evernote routinely enables an MKA high school athlete to post notes by phone from the bus on the way to a game, a middle school drama student to have an individual,  annotated discussion with the teacher about a character in a play, or a young scientist to record, caption and analyze photos of a science experiment.

Evernote Resources:

1. Evernote at 1:1 Schools: Conversation With The Montclair Kimberley Academy (50:00 min)- A discussion about the use of Evernote at MKA 

2. Evernote at The Montclair Kimberley Academy (1:33 min)

3. Interview: Evernote at Montclair Kimberley (2:47 min) 

Previous Spotlight School Recipients

The 2011 Spotlight School was awarded to: Fort Worth Academy

The 2010 School Spotlight was awarded to: St. Joseph's Academy

The 2009 School Spotlight was awarded to: Nashwaaksis Middle School

The 2008 School Spotlight was awarded to: American School of Bombay

The 2007 School Spotlight was awarded to: The Urban School of San Francisco

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