Photograph by Matthew O'Shea

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High-Tech High

By Bryan A. Hollerbach

“When I first started teaching, in 1973,” Chris Bolesta confesses with a chuckle, “I didn’t even have a calculator.”

Talk about upgrades! Bolesta nowa-days oversees a largely computerized curriculum as principal of John F. Kennedy Catholic High School, which piloted the adoption of laptops in St. Louis archdiocesan schools three years ago. As a result, she and technology coordinator Mary Lynn have a prime perspective on computers in education.

Beyond embracing word processing, presentation and spreadsheet programs, Kennedy students submit assignments electronically and consult teachers using virtual-classroom software. Moreover, Spanish courses there employ a Web-based textbook, says Bolesta.

“The e-texts we use are interactive—more than just words on a screen for the students to read,” Lynn emphasizes. “The students can hear native speakers; they can also record themselves speaking and then hear what they sound like.”

Archdiocesan institutions scarcely hold a monopoly on high-tech innovation, of course. Earlier this year, for instance, the Jennings School District bought personal digital assistants for most of its students.

Despite the glamour of digital learning, Lynn doubts that schooling will ever go solely online: “There’ll always be classrooms, bells ringing, people moving in the hallway.”

Still, in education, technology has been rewriting the rules at least since the abacus was invented—and the microchip has greatly accelerated the pace of change. Like other educators, though, Bolesta welcomes the challenge: “We’re always trying to get kids ready for what comes next, for the next level of schooling, for the world beyond even postsecondary education.”