About Us
Media and Digital Learning Department Mission
The mission of the Media and Digital Learning Department is to provide flexible and welcoming learning environments that enable students and staff to become curious problem-solvers, thoughtful innovators and creators, independent lifelong learners, cognizant researchers, and socially responsible global citizens whose work is supported and enhanced by modern and efficient digital tools. Our work is strongly aligned to and promotes the dimensions in the district's Portrait of a Needham Graduate.
In the Media and Digital Learning Department, in order to realize our mission, we strive to:
Ensure equitable access to print and digital information and resources.
Refine critical and creative thinking skills such as communication, collaboration, and innovation, and amplify these skills through 21st century technology and tools.
Challenge students to become responsible digital citizens who are information-literate and adept at processing sources so as to form well-evidenced arguments and confidently present findings.
Collaborate with teachers and administrators in working toward shared instructional goals and full integration into the curriculum.
Develop and foster a lifelong love of independent reading, within and beyond the library.
Empower students to solve authentic challenges as part of an inquiry-based curriculum.
Provide hands-on, experiential approaches to digital learning and multimedia creation for students and staff.
An Equity Perspective in the MDL Department
Technology and library equity encompasses equity of access and equity of opportunity. When used effectively to help students create, think critically, access information, research, communicate, and collaborate, technology and libraries can be a powerful levers to:
Engage students in deeper learning
Provide student-centered learning experiences
Empower students through identity, voice, and choice
Access rich content in many modalities
Close access, achievement, and opportunity gaps
Vision for Technology
Needham Public Schools is committed to creating an environment in which students and staff become curious problem-solvers, thoughtful innovators, independent lifelong learners, and socially responsible global citizens. Their work is supported and enhanced by modern and efficient digital tools that make learning more meaningful, relevant, and student-centered. Students are engaged, excited, and experience deeper understanding. Learning and operations are supported by a well-maintained technology infrastructure and efficient information systems that enable digital-age leadership, streamlined workflow, and effective practices.
Student-Centered Learning
Student-centered learning is a flexible, competency-based approach to instruction that enables students to meet essential learning goals. Students and teachers are entrusted to share ownership of their learning through experiences that are tailored around their strengths, needs, interests, choice, and social and emotional well-being. Students learn to reflect, think critically, and solve complex problems in a differentiated, collaborative, supportive, relevant, and digitally connected environment.
Project Based Learning
Project Based Learning (PBL) is a framework of teaching and learning that is used extensively in Media and Digital Learning.
Project Based Learning is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn by actively designing, developing, and constructing hands-on solutions to a problem. Students are actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects. PBL builds student choice into the process and is inquiry-based, stimulates intrinsic curiosity, and generates questions as it helps students seek solutions. PBL uses 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. PBL aligns to the Portrait of a Needham Graduate, and the learning standards that guide library and digital learning curricula.
Questions?
Chris Gosselin, Director of Instructional Technology and Innovation
chris_gosselin@needham.k12.ma.us