Presented by Dr. Karen Cheser, Superintendent, Durango School District 9-R (CO); Dr. Heath Morrison, Superintendent, Montgomery Independent School District (TX); and Mr. Marlon Styles, Superintendent, Middletown City School District (OH)
Moderated by Ann McMullan, Project Director, CoSN (Consortium for School Networking) EmpowerED Superintendent Initiative
In this edWebinar, Chris Dede and John Richards explore new models and strategies for lifelong learning in an era of profound economic disruption and invention.
The industrial education model was massively successful, with high school graduation rates and student achievement increasing decade after decade. However, by the end of the 20th century, it was evident that the industrial education model had hit its limit with graduation rates plateauing at 80% and student achievement and engagement plummeted the longer students were in school. According to Dr. Devin Vodicka, Chief Impact Officer at AltSchool, in a recent edWebinar, reform after reform and many well-intended efforts have tried to reach the aspiration of all students being successful. Vodicka along with Erik Burmeister, Superintendent, and Theresa Fox, Coordinator of Technology and Innovation, both from Menlo Park City School District, CA, agreed that if 80% of students are graduating, then 20% of students are not graduating and that educational professionals can’t be satisfied with these statistics.
Join the Alliance for Excellent Education’s Thomas C. Murray, one of the leaders of the Future Ready Schools initiative, as he discusses key factors in creating cultures of innovation.
We can embrace change and harness its power, or resist it and be pushed to the margins. Using the backdrop of great new maker tools, PhD physicist Steve Kurti explored the need for leveraging the great features of new technology to find a timeless treasure: independent learning. Steve also investigated how maker education and makerspaces can supercharge run-of-the-mill projects by considering that any good teacher can create an environment for exploration.
You don’t necessarily need the newest, shiniest gadget to engage kids. In this edWeb.net edTech Innovators webinar, librarian and tech guru, Todd Burleson, Resource Center Director at Hubbard Woods Elementary at Winnetka, IL, discussed how he used Peter Reynolds’ book, The Dot, to inspire creativity and teach his students in his K-4 school about Braille alphabets, Morse code, splatter painting by Jackson Pollock, and pointillism by Seurat and Lichtenstein.
This past school year, Hilliard City Schools in Ohio convened a technology task force to decide what direction the district should move in. In this EdTech Innovators webinar, Chief Technology Officer Rich Boettner detailed how various stakeholders built a shared vision for the future of the district, which involved combining a 1-to-1 rollout with blended learning.
Webinar presenter, Scott Merrick, v-Learning Support Specialist, Academy Coach, v-Lead Teacher, and All-Stars Lead Learner at the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools in Tennessee, discussed how he went from being a private school teacher to being a vLearning specialist in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools.
Creativity and innovation are now seen as high priorities in virtually every human endeavor, spanning academic, business, and artistic domains. Some say we have left behind the “information age” and entered the “era of creativity,” in which our role as educators is to define and teach students how best to maximize their uniquely human creative potential.