Tech-whiz heroes help learning continue during pandemic

PORTLAND, Ore.  — They built Web pages and mastered robots, addressed login issues, responded to a deluge of software-related questions and even stood atop wobbly ladders to fix glitchy Wi-Fi extenders.

Many professionals have been dubbed heroes of the pandemic, and schools’ tech whizzes – those who’ve ensured teachers could teach and students could learn – should likely be counted in that esteemed mix.

For nearly a year, Catholic school students in Oregon and nationwide have reaped the benefits of often behind-the-scenes technology experts whose jobs have taken on a new significance.

“I can’t imagine facing some of the daunting challenges of the last 10 months without Ellie Gilbert’s expertise,” said Nicole Foran, principal of St. Mary’s Academy in Portland. Gilbert is the all-girls school’s director of instructional media and education technology.

During the pandemic, Gilbert’s responsibilities swelled. She created online resources for teachers and ran tech training camps including a session on Swivl, a robot that has a dock for an iPad and can follow teachers around a classroom.

She also hosts morning drop-in tech sessions with the information technology director and his assistant. “If I can give teachers a minute back in their day, that’s my marker of success,” she said.

Pre-pandemic, St. Mary’s Academy, like most Catholic high schools in western Oregon, had integrated technology into classes and had experience with designated distance-learning days. But teachers had not employed technology for long-term instruction.

The pandemic, Gilbert said, meant even the most experienced educators were like first-year teachers again.

“Yet the best teachers are the most experienced learners in the room,” she told the Catholic Sentinel, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland. And when it came to learning how to adapt to ongoing online instruction, “the master teachers at St. Mary’s rose to the occasion.”

Carrie Coleman is science, technology, engineering and math director at La Salle Catholic College Preparatory in Milwaukie, southeast of Portland. She coached teachers on a variety of tools and platforms during the pandemic but said effectively using technology requires a shift in perspective.

“First and foremost at Lasallian schools is a focus on the relationship with students and on building an inclusive community,” Coleman said. “But how do you do that when not in a classroom?”