Learning and Academic Honesty
What does it really mean to learn?
That was the question Director of Curriculum Ms. Morsman asked students at Friday morning’s assembly. Ms. Morsman wants students to consider the many opportunities they have each day to learn and take ownership of that learning.
Sharing the faculty’s summer reading of The Digital Delusion by Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, Ms. Morsman explained to students how students learn best and why Eaglebrook is creating more opportunities for them to work not relying on screens. “Those who do the work, do the learning,” she reminded them. Faculty are putting that idea into practice across the curriculum. In Sixth Form English, students are reading and annotating a short story on paper. Third Form students are annotating My Side of the Mountain. In science, students are gathering and illustrating facts about nature from a book.
Ms. Morsman noted that technology remains an important learning tool when used intentionally. Students may use Google Docs for longer writing assignments, explore protein structures with AlphaFold in Biology, or engage with a chatbot in World History and Geography to apply what they have learned about the partition of India. The point is not to avoid technology, but to understand when it helps students learn and when doing the work themselves matters most.
Ms. Morsman then reminded students of Eaglebrook’s Academic Honesty policy, including the expectation that students complete their own work and use AI only when a teacher explicitly permits it. She encouraged students who are struggling with time management, organization, understanding an assignment, or the pressure of a grade to reach out to their advisors and teachers rather than take a shortcut. Asking for help, requesting an extension, and taking responsibility for one’s work are all opportunities to develop the Core Skills of self-advocacy and accountability.
Ms. Morsman also shared the perspectives of several Eaglebrook students on why academic honesty matters. “If you are not honest, you are cheating yourself,” one student said. Another student mentioned that, “If you give zero effort, no matter how many days, it will still be a zero at the end. But when you give effort, you learn and make progress.” Other students made the same connection between effort and learning: “If you cheat, you won’t learn anything and can fall behind,” and “When you do the hard work, you learn.”
By sharing the students' comments with us, Ms. Morsman brought the morning’s message back to its clear point: learning is about more than completing an assignment or earning a grade. It means putting in the effort, asking for help when you need it, building confidence, and taking ownership of the work that helps you grow.
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Sharing the faculty’s summer reading of The Digital Delusion by Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, Ms. Morsman explained to students how students learn best and why Eaglebrook is creating more opportunities for them to work not relying on screens. “Those who do the work, do the learning,” she reminded them. Faculty are putting that idea into practice across the curriculum. In Sixth Form English, students are reading and annotating a short story on paper. Third Form students are annotating My Side of the Mountain. In science, students are gathering and illustrating facts about nature from a book.
Ms. Morsman noted that technology remains an important learning tool when used intentionally. Students may use Google Docs for longer writing assignments, explore protein structures with AlphaFold in Biology, or engage with a chatbot in World History and Geography to apply what they have learned about the partition of India. The point is not to avoid technology, but to understand when it helps students learn and when doing the work themselves matters most.
Ms. Morsman then reminded students of Eaglebrook’s Academic Honesty policy, including the expectation that students complete their own work and use AI only when a teacher explicitly permits it. She encouraged students who are struggling with time management, organization, understanding an assignment, or the pressure of a grade to reach out to their advisors and teachers rather than take a shortcut. Asking for help, requesting an extension, and taking responsibility for one’s work are all opportunities to develop the Core Skills of self-advocacy and accountability.
Ms. Morsman also shared the perspectives of several Eaglebrook students on why academic honesty matters. “If you are not honest, you are cheating yourself,” one student said. Another student mentioned that, “If you give zero effort, no matter how many days, it will still be a zero at the end. But when you give effort, you learn and make progress.” Other students made the same connection between effort and learning: “If you cheat, you won’t learn anything and can fall behind,” and “When you do the hard work, you learn.”
By sharing the students' comments with us, Ms. Morsman brought the morning’s message back to its clear point: learning is about more than completing an assignment or earning a grade. It means putting in the effort, asking for help when you need it, building confidence, and taking ownership of the work that helps you grow.
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