21st Century Teaching and Learning

The Skowhegan Area Middle School, located in central Maine, has experienced 1:1 computing for the past six years as part of a statewide initiative aimed at bridging the gap between the “haves” and the “have nots.” The Maine Learning Technology Initiative, or MLTI, was the brainchild of our Independent and visionary former Governor Angus King, who saw technology as way to address not only the socioeconomic divide, but also the future of Maine’s economy. In 2000, with a budget surplus of 70 million dollars, Governor King proposed that every student in Maine be equipped with a laptop computer. His plan weathered many a storm, but by the 2003–2004 school year, all students in grade 7-8 and their teachers received a laptop.This totaled 37,000 people and covered 239 schools.

Preparing our youth for the challenges that face them in this increasingly “flat" and globally connected workforce, by introducing 21st century skills, has been a guiding force in our school and throughout the state. The goal of the MLTI project has always been to provide the tools that will facilitate rich teaching and learning that goes on throughout our Maine schools. Never has the focus been on technology as an isolated tool.

This philosophy greatly complimented our own vision here in MSAD#54 where the technology classroom project of the 1980’s featured computers within the classroom and not in an isolated lab environment. Very early on teachers came to realize that technology was a tool to enhance and enrich the curriculum and placing it in a special lab where students would view it essentially as an “extra”, was not conducive to learning.

In 1998 National Semi Conductor recognized our middle school technology rich classroom for an innovative classroom project that focused on the power of telecommunications. The award provided 30,000.00 for hardware and staff development. This notion of technology as a "tool" and not an add-on has proven true from those early roots to the 1:1 environment that we enjoy today.