Martin is currently the Academic Dean at Cincinnati Country Day, where he teaches English and history in the Upper School and runs the Pedagogical Growth and Development and Curriculum Review programs. Working with Technology Director Rob Baker, he helps administer the oldest 1:1 program in the country. Martin and Baker host three Tablet PC Conferences at Country Day during the school year to help other educators experience the powers of their technology-rich environment. Prior to coming to Country Day, Martin helped another Cincinnati school launch a Tablet PC program. He has also taught at the college level, initially as a teaching fellow in Kent State University's Technology and Writing Research Classroom, a space where scholars could explore the relationship between technology and the composition process. Martin is married and has three children. He plays ice hockey in his spare time to blow off steam.
At Cincinnati Country Day, we are often asked why we put computers in the hands of fifth graders. Having lived this model (1:1 in 5th-12th grade) for over five years as a professional, I've seen the reasons up close and personally. Our fifth grade students are some of our best users. They are gentle with their machines (for the most part). When they make mistakes...
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Lots of people who fear technology in schools (especially when those people are faculty) assume that everything has to change tomorrow. Elvira and Country Day are proof that incremental change is best.
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When I went to ISTE in San Diego this summer, I visited my friends at the Fujitsu booth. They had a prototype of a device we’ve been wanting for years. It had all of the powers of a Tablet PC, but the screen could be removed from the keyboard, enabling even greater flexibility without sacrificing power and productivity. Recently, we received the first of our own batch of Fujitsu Stylistic Q 702s (aka “the Q”).
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When I was interviewed for my first position at Cincinnati Country Day, I asked Rob Baker (Director of Technology) and Kelly Hammond (Academic Dean) if they’d ever heard of OneNote. They looked at each other, grinned and explained that they were currently jotting notes in a shared notebook that was synchronizing so that they could see both sets of comments on the same page. That was over six years ago...
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If many of you are like me, returning to school is an exciting time. My spirit hearkens back to the smells of leaves on the ground, the sounds of fall sports, and the excitement a new year of academics brings. A new school year brings with it, too, all of the back end work that goes into evolutions in our technology program.
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The Partners in Learning Network is both a website devoted to sharing and celebrating great educational ideas and a yearly competition to determine finalists who will represent the U.S. in a global forum and competition.
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Microsoft’s announcement earlier this week that they will begin producing their own Tablet PC, the Surface. Hemingway argued that the beauty of an iceberg is that 90% of it is under water and concealed. I would suggest that the true beauty of a convergence device such as the Surface is, well, below the surface.
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Jeremiah McCall has pioneered the practical application of video games in history and social studies classrooms. He is able to do great things because he teaches at a school dedicated to best practices and characterized by a rich Tablet PC environment.
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Using Microsoft Community Clips and Tablet PCs, students at Cincinnati Country Day learn by teaching each other, making videos much like Sal Khan's.
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When I agreed to write for the National Teachers Alliance, I suggested that the best way to get to know the success of Country Day’s technology program was through its people. Rob Baker, our Director of Technology, is a man who uses....
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In 1996, school leaders from Cincinnati Country Day traveled to Microsoft's headquarters to learn about 1:1 Computing. Nearly twelve years to the day, another generation of Country Day leaders returned to Seattle to meet with other innovative educators to discuss the powers of Tablet PCs in altering the education landscape in the United States and around the globe.
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