Technology

NMH Lauded for New Technology In Education Initiative

NORTHFIELD, Massachusetts

As portable computers become smaller and lighter, Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) has demonstrated that the best portable computer weighs exactly nothing. In a bold move that maintains its role as a leading innovator in the use of portable computing technology, NMH puts the hardware back on the desktop, while providing even greater accessibility, flexibility, convenience, and security than is possible with laptop computers.  NMH believes that its Next Generation educational technology initiative establishes a new best practice for providing students with a safe, productive, and portable computing environment.  Other schools that are adopting NMH's approach, and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) seem to agree.

Judges from the NAIS Leading Edge recognition program selected Northfield Mount Hermon as its top pick from among 250 independent schools competing in the technology category. Led by NMH Director of Information Technology Jon Shannon, the school developed the Next Generation Strategy for Teaching and Learning with Technology—or NextGen, as it’s called at NMH—which builds on the success of an innovative notebook computer program launched in 1997. The $1.4 million capital project was implemented in September 2002.

The original laptop program provided individual access to the school’s state-of-the-art network and the Internet in dorms, classrooms, and homes via the notebook computers required of each student. Since then the school’s knowledge of educational technology has kept in step with technological advances in the computer industry.

The NextGen program continues to provide personalized portable computing, but eliminates the need for students to carry equipment to and from classes. All teachers and students now have personal virtual desktops that can be accessed from nearly any Internet-connected computer in the world. Students use their web browsers to access their virtual desktop, a real Windows desktop that overlays their screen, and school software, information resources, personal documents, campus news and intranet, as well as the World Wide Web.

Students now bring the computer of their choice to school, and NMH has outfitted each classroom and most public spaces on campus with school computers and accessories. This means that the entire community has its work and personal virtual desktops available in almost any location. For example, a student working on a document in a dorm room can move to a computer in the library, log on, and find the document just as it was left. Furthermore, the virtual desktop software and personal documents are protected on a centralized collection of servers, safe from viruses and problems caused by software that students install on their own computers.

A notebook computer and its accessories may constitute up to 12 percent of a young person’s weight. Without the extra weight to carry, students’ necks and backs are healthier. Another benefit? Students can no longer say they couldn’t complete their homework because the computer crashed.