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Information and Communication Technology at MTS

• Information and communication technology (ICT) will prepare the boys to participate in a rapidly changing world, in which work, leisure and the home are increasingly being transformed by access to a wonderful range of varied and developing new technologies.
• The boys will learn to use ICT tools to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information responsibly, creatively and with discrimination.
• Increasing and appropriate use of ICT will help us promote initiative and independent learning amongst the boys, enabling them to make better and more informed judgements about when and how to use ICT to best effect.
• Emphasising the importance of new technology will mean that, with sufficient access and support, teachers at MTS will be better able to help the boys master difficult -to-understand concepts and better meet our pupils' individual needs. If we take advantage of the opportunities presented to us, technology will enhance learning and improve the boys’ achievement in all areas of school life.

Contents of this page:

1. All the boys and teachers should have access to information technology in their classrooms and homes and be able to access school resources, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week;
2. All our teachers will use technology effectively to help pupils achieve the highest academic standards;
3. All the boys will have technology and information literacy skills;
4. Electronic content and networked applications will enhance the boys' learning and our teaching.

1. All our pupils and teachers should have access to information technology in their classrooms and homes and be able to access school resources 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

An integral part of improvement at MTS in the coming years will be pupil and teacher deployment of educational technology, especially the Internet. Universal access to the Internet and access from home to the school network, via our website, is helping exponentially expand our resources for teaching and learning and provide more challenging, authentic and higher-order learning experiences for the boys. It will also help home -school communication and the involvement of our parents and Old Boys in the life of the school and the boys’ learning.

Broadband access will help us take advantage of interactivity and rich multimedia content. To take advantage of all the possibilities of the latest technology, it will become increasingly important to develop more sophisticated network infrastructures - wired or wireless, desktop or handheld - that allow multiple devices to connect simultaneously to the Internet and the school network.

To realise this goal, we must:

• Ensure sustained and predictable funding for ICT;
• Ensure that our ICT development plan reflects the educational needs of pupils and is regularly updated;
• Ensure that all our facilities are modern, reliable and easy to use and that all our pupils have a curricular entitlement to ICT.

2. All our teachers should use technology effectively to help the boys achieve high academic standards.

 Ensuring that we use ICT effectively means more than just providing access to technology. We will:

• Improve our preparation, including our knowledge of how to use technology for effective teaching and learning;
• Increase the quantity, quality and coherence of technology-focused activities ;
• Improve the training available to the teachers.
• This process will undoubtedly be uneven as in some subject areas (D & T, Art, Music ) excellent applications already exist, whereas in others they are still in the process of being developed; our allocation of funds should reflect the academic quality and learning opportunities provided by what we propose to purchase.

3. All the boys should have technology and information literacy skills.

The need to prepare the boys with the skills they will need to participate fully in an increasingly technological society is a major priority at MTS. A meaningful , unified, cross-curricular approach to providing the boys with the skills they will need in their future lives must be more than a checklist of isolated skills; these skills are only a first step in ensuring that all the boys become proficient information and technology users.

E-learning is helping shift the style of learning and teaching, with the boys become more actively involved in the process of learning and our teachers increasingly no longer playing the role of “the sage on the stage” but becoming the “guide at the side”: inspiring the boys and presenting challenging problems for solution. Our boys will be learning how to:

• Define tasks;
• Identify information-seeking strategies;
• Locate, retrieve and process information;
• Determine that information's relevance;
• Organise and communicate the results of their problem-solving effort;
• Evaluate the effectiveness of their solution;
• Present their findings to their peers and teachers.

This in no way contradicts our efforts to raise academic standards for our pupils ; it simply reflects the fact that the ways in which we define an excellent education change, as society and technology change. Rather than displacing the teacher-pupil relationship, ICT frees teachers and pupils from much routine communication of information and rote practices of memorisation and copying down, so that they can explore together the more fascinating and academically stimulating aspects of the subjects that require more creativity in approach. There will always be a place at MTS for the widest variety of teaching and learning styles to stimulate the pupils , embracing everything from the quick-fire question-and-answer session, to the formal academic lecture or more private and quiet reflection on spiritual issues.

To ensure that pupils are prepared for their future we should include technology and information literacy in our curriculum as a basic entitlement. We must also find ways of ensuring that the boys use technology appropriately, responsibly and wisely ; in addition, we need to devise different forms of assessment to take advantage of the opportunities made possible by ICT. These range from online multiple-choice testing to the old-fashioned viva voce. Paradoxically, the ease with which information can be downloaded from the Internet may make the academic viva voce, so rarely used in recent decades, a vital component in testing how well boys have assimilated a particular topic or mastered a particular skill.

4. Electronic content and networked applications will change the way we teach and learn.

To ensure that such applications will enhance teaching and learning, we need our teachers at MTS to be confident in using them and understand how they can improve teaching and learning. We are helping our teachers, especially Heads of Department , to find and make available the very best electronic content and networked applications for the boys’ education. This involves us in finding creative ways to overcome the inevitable budgetary constraints on purchasing cutting-edge ICT content and applications.

Electronic content and networked applications should support positive changes in our approaches to teaching and learning. In order for these changes to lead to increased educational opportunities for the boys, all electronic content and networked applications must be:

• Of the highest possible quality;
• Made available for all subject areas and all year groups;
• Have the power to challenge, inspire and motivate pupils so that they attain the highest possible standards of personal and academic achievement.