Whole School Student Focused Approach in Education with ICT

Lára Stefánsdóttir
Menntaskólinn á Tröllaskaga (MTR)
(Upper Secondary School at Tröllaskagi Northern Iceland)

Abstract

Menntaskólinn á Tröllaskaga was founded 2010 in northern Iceland. All students are required to use laptops in their studies and teachers have access to both a laptop computer and an iPad. Classes are organized into one week modules, in which students can both access and hand in their assignments online, with few exceptions. One-to-one approach is used in grading by formative assessment methods. There is a trend towards flipped teaching and collaborative approaches where formal class sessions are divided between single subject´s class work and open all-subjects sessions. Teaching material varies from student´s own research on the Internet, collaboration within a cloud, videos, various specialised material provided by teachers to books.
The school´s fundamental aims are: Innovation – Creativity – Daring, which are reflected in every aspect of the school´s work. The school has implemented a formal internal audit, which is actively performed each semester, and  its findings are used to refine the school´s work.
Each semester ends with an exhibition of students´ paintings, photography and music as well as other innovative projects. At the exhibition students also present various other assignments from their classes such as videos, posters, online activity, and more.

Keywords: ICT in education, flipped teaching, learning environment, laptop computers, whole school approach.