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St. Vincent de Paul’s Approach to Technology

The purpose of technology in our school is to enhance our faith and learning and to be used for productivity and work. Technology will not be used for entertainment or as a reward. Our stance for technology is to be “contemplative critics.” We recognize both that technology is needed for our modern world, a way to enhance our faith, and evangelization and deepen numerous learning opportunities, and that undirected use of technology has harmed teens and adults alike. Our teachers commit to both utilizing technology in meaningful learning capacities, and specifically limiting technology in order to use traditional learning media such as pen and paper and direct books. Our school as a whole commits to the effective and safe policing and monitoring of our students’ online presence, which operate effectively and consistently whether a student is on campus or at home. Our school filters monitor student use of digital resources, and alert administrators if a child searches for something potentially harmful/negative. Our filters also monitor typing content on other non-search fields, such as Google Docs or Forms. Teachers have software to both control what students can access during a class period, often limiting them to 1-2 apps and no internet, or internet but only allowing access to 1-2 sites. This control can also temporarily black out iPad screens and make them inactive during a class. Teachers also have software to see student screens at a glance.

St. Vincent’s uses a 1:1 program, so that when a child needs a tech based platform, they all have their own device. K-2 students do not take devices home, unless inclement weather / e-learning time is anticipated. 3-8 do take devices home, but we set general guidelines for screen time within a day, in order to minimize total time a child has in front of a screen, and intentionally set them up well for non-tech learning materials, and in the evenings, for time with family and other evening activities they may pursue. These guidelines are in fact general, in that in many grades, students are assigned to use digital textbook resources with a certain amount of minutes per week. Therefore, if a student didn’t work on that some nights, it would increase his/her time on later days. However, as general guidelines, are daily screen time goals, counting in school and homework, are as follows:

         -Kindergarten – 2nd Grade: Up to 1 hour

         -Grades 3-6: Up to 90 minutes, or 2 hours in 6th grade

         -Grades 7-8: Up to 2 or 2.5 hours

In that the school day is 7 active hours, and homework loads (described in our handbook) can be up to 60-90 minutes in the jr. high level, these guideposts reflect the real desire to restrict how much time a student is on a screen during the day

St. Vincent’s also utilizes a faculty committee to review apps/websites/digital content before they are used, to review them for any content that may not be in line with our mission. If such content is found, we do not use that content with students and instead find other solutions for the learning goals.

As contemplative critics, we do find that certain learning applications give real value to our students in their abilities to grow in reading and math especially. The State of Indiana mandates that ILEARN be taken online, and our Diocese mandates that NWEA formative assessments be taken 3 times/year, also online, so we also have a real responsibility to prepare our student to live morally and effectively in a digital environment as well as the physical world. Our school especially utilizes digital components from our reading and math series to support individual student learning. These include items like the iReady Pathway for K-5 (math), Success Maker for reading for K-5, ALEKS math app for 6-8, and IXL math app for our younger grades.

Our technology use and planning, with specific limits to technology use as well, therefore lives our mission. Our approach to technology is also meant to help our students live and share their Catholic faith, while growing in academic success.