Education and Technology at Hebron

BY EMILY BONIS, DEAN OF FACULTY

Walking into any class at Hebron Academy during this past year, one would immediately notice that things were very different. During a visit to Dr. Swenton’s ninth-grade Conceptual Physics, hybrid learning was on full display. On this particular day, there were nine “Roomies,” as Dr. Swenton affectionately calls her in-person learners, and six “Zoomies,” her distance learners. The class was beginning an investigation of color-blindness with the eventual goal of designing and creating a solution for a particular case study.

As Dr. Swenton introduced the lesson, each student was working on a digital notebook to locate resources and background information. After some initial discussion, students went into “breakout” rooms, which included a combination of in-person and distance students working together in real time with their computers, where they were discussing what they already knew about the topic and defining the questions they needed to answer to move forward. During this discussion, all students were working together regardless of their locations, which fostered the sense of community that is central to the Hebron experience. Dr. Swenton navigated these two realms by intentionally drawing the distance learners into conversation with the in-person students and by seeking each group’s input throughout the class period. The use of the digital notebooks, Zoom breakout rooms, and the lab’s “owl camera” all had the intended effect of bringing students together to create a collaborative and supportive learning experience.

Clearly, none of this innovative learning would be possible without the use of numerous technologies. Along with utilizing Zoom, a small number of Hebron teachers this past year tested the Meeting Owl, a conference camera that makes any classroom a hybrid learning environment by providing a 360° view of the classroom. Other tools that support a hybrid learning environment—such as virtual science labs, digital notebooks, virtual bulletin boards, and screencasting apps—have also been widely used in Hebron classrooms. The community has adjusted to this new reality, and teachers and students alike have learned a great deal through this process of adjustment and change. What we’ve realized time and time again is that connection is what is most important, both the connection between teacher and student or student and student.

Many of these technologies have allowed teachers to provide content delivery asynchronously so time spent together focuses on discussion, collaboration, connection, and creativity.

Throughout the year, Hebron teachers engaged in the crucial process of reflection and iteration as all learned what worked, made mistakes, changed approaches, and adapted to changing advice from health experts. We have considered what we have learned and the implications that this experience may have for effective teaching and learning moving forward. A hybrid learning space opens many possibilities. Imagine students being spread across campus . . . perhaps one group conducting water analysis at Marshall Pond while another group is at the pond in the rhododendron garden and a third at the retention pond behind the Williams Center. Students could conduct experimentation and analysis in three remote locations while discussing the process and staying connected simultaneously.

In many ways, the rapid development of new technologically supported learning that Hebron has undertaken as an institution has allowed us to look beyond our present horizons and consider what more might be possible. We know that the lightning-speed change dictated by our response to this COVID year has and will continue to have silver linings and meaningful ramifications to the classroom environment. While the Hebron classroom of the future is a changing landscape and cannot fully be mapped at this point, what we do know for certain is that the lessons learned through the pandemic have given us tools to remain “Hebron connected” in ways that we never imagined before.