The MassCUE fall conference was held at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 19. According to the tech-promoting organization, the Pathfinder Award “is presented to a Massachusetts Educator and leader whose efforts have enhanced the field of educational technology.”
“This person has gone ‘above and beyond’ in demonstrating leadership and providing inspiration to other educators,” MassCUE says of the award. “The Pathfinder’s contributions will have been a catalyst for advancing the use of educational technology and will have had significant impact on people outside their local classroom or district.”
A MassCUE press release provides some insight on why Geoghegan was considered a fit for the award.
“Since Marty started at the Nichols, the school has gone from little technology to a BYOD school to a 1-to-1 Chromebook environment, where Google Applications for Education are helping his students see greater success. He was a high school and middle school English teacher before he made his way into administration. He is currently the President of the Massachusetts ASCD Board of Directors and the Middle Level Chair on the MSSAA Board. He founded and moderates the #MSSAAchat on the second Tuesday of each month for all educators. Marty has a BA in English and an MA in Education from the University of Connecticut, as well as a Master's of Education in Administration from Endicott College. He lives in Scituate with his wife and two sons where he tries to carve out some time to coach when he's not tweeting.”
“I found out that I received the award over the summer,” Geoghegan said. “It was a tremendous honor. Knowing many former Pathfinder winners and the other three winners this year it is a great recognition of all the work we have been doing as a Nichols community. This award is not just my doing, not even close — it is an award for all the teachers, directors, and support that has been given to NMS.”
Geoghegan was nominated for the award by Chief Operating Officer for Middleborough Public Schools Technology Department Ellen Driscoll, who, in her letter of nomination, noted the school administrator for his BYOD and 1:1 initiatives, offering professional development relative to technology for school staff, enhancement of digital communications between school and parents, and four years on the District Technology Committee.
“Marty is a dedicated administrator who values technology and how it can transform teaching and learning,” Driscoll told The Gazette. “He is a constant advocate for change that supports student learning.”
Since the adoption of the digitally-integrated Digits math program by Pearson Education, Inc. in 2013, the Nichols Middle School has been on a steady path toward 1:1 (“one to one”) technology use, which recently came to fruition just last week.
“1:1” technology is a term used in education to refer to a learning environment in which every student has access to a device capable of accessing and completing assignments, interacting with peer groups, teachers, and more. In the case of Nichols Middle School, the device of choice is the Chromebook — a popular choice for schools making the transition to 1:1.
“A few years ago, we had to get tablets for our math program, Digits. With our math teachers utilizing the technology, and our teachers wanting to get more, they started borrowing the tablet carts on days when the math teachers were not directly needing the tablets with their students. We then got the wifi to be throughout the building, which allowed us to have the students use it with any device they brought to school, hence our BYOD (bring your own device) initiative,” Geoghegan said of the school’s gradual progression toward 1:1 technology use. “But with BYOD, a teacher cannot always depend on the students having the device on a certain day for a certain lesson. So we began to purchase more tablet carts so that each team had a cart they could share between English language arts, social studies, and science. As the teachers used the technology more, they wanted to take advantage of it more and more so that these carts were always booked. We needed to go 1:1, and with the support of the district, the technology department, and the town, we now have a tablet for each and every student to pick up in the morning during homeroom and then return at the end of the day.”
“We started last week with eighth grade,” he continued, “this week with seventh, and hopefully by next the sixth grade.”
Though the rollout didn’t start as soon as Geoghegan and others at the middle school had hoped, now that it has begun, 1:1 is taking off which has faculty and students excited to teach and learn in new ways.
“At first, when we didn't have the 1:1 set for day 1 of the school year, it was a little bit of a letdown, but as we get into it now, we can all see the work it takes to get the program off the ground,” he said. “The teachers have been dying for this to happen. They have been training themselves and getting PD (Professional Development) on how to utilize technology in their teaching for the past few years. This is why I feel so good about the direction we are moving. The teachers here have been awesome about changing their curriculum as they have been able to get their hands on more technology. Now that they know that their students will be definitely coming with a Chromebook to class each and every day, they know they can move their curriculum, planning, and instruction to include this technology as a tool for learning.”
Though the rollout process is still ongoing, Geoghegan says he’s noticed teachers making good use of Google apps, and students are eager to take advantage of the ability to share their work with the click of a button.
“Many teachers are utilizing Google Classroom and other Google Suite of Educational Apps to have our students collaborating, communicating, and thinking more critically,” he said. “The teachers and the students are so excited for the ability to have their personal 1:1 device. They are thanking us on a daily basis, showing us the work they are doing, and even emailing me ‘sharing privileges’ of their work. It has been awesome.”
The next step in 1:1 integration at the middle school, Geoghegan says, will be giving students the ability to take their Chromebooks with them at the end of the school day so that the devices may be used for homework as well as class work.
“We eventually want to give the students the ability to take home the device. I know we have some transitioning to occur before we can do that, but I see it in the near future for our students,” he said. “This way they will have a more seamless transition to doing their work outside school. It will take some work to get wifi to all our students, but we are visioning this to be a reality.”
While technology is becoming more integrated with the Nichols Middle School experience than ever before, Geoghegan says it’s important to remember that education still revolves around the hard work of those using the technology, not the technology itself.
“Technology is a tool for learning. We need to make sure we understand that. A Chromebook cannot take the place of a teacher,” he said. “We need to continue to do the work we are doing in supporting our educators so that they can guide our students to more successful lives. We as a faculty and staff here at Nichols understand this. We are going to continue to work hard at reaching our students and engaging them in their learning any way we can, and through this integration of technology, we feel as though we can do it even better now.”
