Seth Battis

Educator. Esthetics. Electronics. Easterner, who thinks he's a westerner.

I am the Director of Academic Technology at the Groton School in Groton, MA. My central focus is on supporting teaching and learning through mindful and carefully-planned use of technology, or the intentional absence thereof.

Previously, I was the chair of the Computing, Design & Fabrication department at Gann Academy in Waltham, MA where I developed computer science, engineering, and robotics curricula, trained and led faculty, and developed our classroom lab spaces. I was the Director of Academic Technology and the chair of the Mathematics department at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, MA where I coached their FRC Team 3566 “Gone Fishin’”. I was the Head of Upper School at Lake Forest Country Day School in Lake Forest, IL, the Upper School Technology Coordinator at Milken Community High School, and a computer science instructor and academic technology support at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN.

My experience as the assistant director of the Cottonwood Gulch Foundation, in Thoreau, NM, where I led educational wilderness expeditions, deeply informs my understanding of both project-based learning and core relational fundamentals of teaching and learning. My work there as both a group leader and as staff trainer guides my perspective on mentoring faculty, seeking to identify and celebrate growth and a growth mindset in all.

I have worked to make technology meet teachers and students where they are at a number of schools. I have found that teaching and learning work best when the tools are suitable to the purpose, rather than trying to bend either the person or the purpose to fit the tool.