Technology with Purpose

For 100 years, Marymount has embraced change while remaining grounded in the RSHM values at the heart of our mission: educating students who think critically and creatively, communicate with purpose and clarity, and act ethically and justly. As technology and AI continue to transform the world our students will inherit, we use these tools with intention to keep human connection, intellectual engagement, and discernment at the center of a Marymount education.

Marymount believes that education is fundamentally a human endeavor. Technology has a place in learning when it supports the human-centered, intellectually rich experiences we value for our students. Used with purpose, technology can meaningfully enhance teaching and learning and help create powerful learning experiences. At Marymount, powerful learning engages students in meaningful, challenging work that sparks curiosity and joy, fosters agency and collaboration, and leads to deeper understanding, personal growth, and a sense of purpose, responsibility, and connection to the world around us. When deciding whether to incorporate technology into a lesson, faculty consider whether it will strengthen these essential elements of learning.

early childhood student and teacher
Technology with purpose
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Developmental Approach

Throughout their journey at Marymount, students are equipped with the judgment, habits, and ethical grounding to navigate technology wisely. This progression reflects a gradual increase in responsibility, knowledge, and independence. 

  • Lower School: Wonder and Awareness

Lower School centers relationship building and the embodied experience of learning through play, exploration, and practice. Under the careful guidance of their teachers, technology is introduced as a tool students use to notice, question, and explore the world around them.

  • Lower Middle School: Exploration and Responsibility

Lower Middle School builds students’ capacity to use technology safely, ethically, and resourcefully under the guidance of their teachers and in support of their learning. Students learn to question what they encounter, understand how technology and AI are created, and use digital tools to support creativity and learning; 

  • Upper Middle School: Critical Thinking and Voice

Upper Middle School cultivates important academic habits that will help students navigate the digital world now and into the future. Students learn to use technology responsibly and with integrity, evaluate sources and online interactions critically, and understand how AI can support rather than replace their own thinking and expression.

  • Upper School: Agency and Leadership

Upper School prepares students to choose technology strategically, use and cite sources transparently, critically examine the implications of AI, recognize the limits of technology, and advocate for its responsible and ethical use. Students graduate as leaders who use technology responsibly and constructively to solve problems and produce meaningful work.
 

Phone-free environment

During the school day, Marymount is a phone-free space to improve teaching and learning, build community, develop authentic relationships, and practice healthy habits. While we believe that technology can be used meaningfully for learning, we also believe that academic focus and social connection improves when students are fully engaged with their teachers and classmates. Students in Nursery-Class V do not bring devices to school at all, and students in Classes VI-XII store their phones and smart watches during the duration of the school day.