Creating a Learning Space

I’ve always felt that my school is quite innovative. Whether it be teacher collaboration, progressive teaching practices or access to & effective use of technology, there are many ways that TIS goes above and beyond.

The recent school expansion afforded some interesting opportunities that most schools would be envious of - suddenly there was an abundance of space. What do you do with a large space that was once the secondary school library? This scenario had the administration & department coordinators sharing ideas on how to best use the spaces that were now available.

We wanted to turn the old library into a learning space that all teachers and students at TIS could access. It was decided early on that our new space had to serve many purposes & interests and we took inspiration from innovative schools such as Shekou International School and Suzhou Singapore International School; both have innovative learning spaces and classrooms that are designed for student collaboration & comfort. We named our new space the “Learning Lab” and it was designed to include the following elements:

• Breakout rooms for small group activities
• Dividers that make the room smaller - these dividers also act as whiteboards
• An audio recording room
• Green screen area
• Robots & drones (all programmable)
• Chairs & tables that are moveable & stackable
• Several storage areas
• Sinks for washing/cleanup
• An office for technology integration staff

The Learning Lab is now open for students & teachers to use. If you are visiting the school I encourage you to stop by and take a look around. I think you will be impressed with the possibilities that this space offers to TIS staff & students.

Finding Value

Almost weekly I get contacted by phone, email or twitter about a fantastic new product that will surely improve teaching & learning at my school. While I think it is important to be continually improving our learning environment I often feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of apps, tools & devices that are available.

How do I determine if something is worth checking out? I base it on the following:

1. Does this product fulfill a current need?
2. Have I heard others talk (rave) about this product?
3. If I need to spend money will it be cost-effective?

Here are some examples of “new things” that we have incorporated at my school. The first is Seesaw. We use this product for digital portfolios for our students. When we were looking for a suitable platform there was quite a bit of buzz online about Seesaw. We did some testing -teachers loved it- and it quickly became our tool of choice. Seesaw is a paid service but we found the cost per student (and the unlimited number of classes) was well worth the benefits that came with this platform. It has become more and more popular and our Mandarin teachers are the latest group to incorporate Seesaw into their classes.

Another new product was Gibbon EDU. Gibbon (gibbonedu.org) is a Student Information System and a Learning Management System all rolled into one. My school had been searching for a new SIS and by chance a few staff met the Gibbon EDU developer at a professional development activity. His short overview piqued our interest enough to test out this platform. At the time Gibbon was being used in a handful of schools and it was still a young product. The positives for us was that it ticked a lot of boxes and the developer was a teacher; a person who understood the needs of a typical teacher. Again after a testing period we decided to use this young & developing platform. The interesting thing about Gibbon is that it is open source - no initial fees or subscription fees. This allowed us to take the money we normally spent on a SIS/LMS and put it towards a new staff member who would oversee this new platform.

My experiences show that there is value to be found; you just need to do your research and don't be afraid of some of the more obscure products out there. Good luck!

When Teens Talk to Parents About Technology Use

It can be difficult being a teen. You’re no longer a “kid” but not an adult either; it’s like being caught in a state of flux. Then there is the media, the peer pressure and the longing to “fit in” without standing out. When you add technology to the mix, many students (and parents) start to struggle. How much is too much? Is it safe? Is it distracting? It’s tricky.

The thing to keep in mind is that a teenagers online presence is just as important as their face-to-face presence. Many parents don’t understand this because they never experienced it themselves. Parents who lament about their teens (or tweens) always being on their devices should remember that they themselves probably spent hours on the phone talking with their friends. The difference was that phones back then didn’t have a screen and they were physically attached to the wall. Same but different - sort of.

But how do you get busy parents to give up two hours of their time in order to attend a presentation? You tell them that a panel of teens will be sharing their personal experiences and will answer questions from the audience. To be honest, this was not a novel idea, rather I learned about this format from Common Sense Media. Finding teens that were willing to answer questions and share their stories was easier than I thought. We did hand-pick students because we wanted individuals who had the maturity to speak openly, honestly and confidently to our audience. It was important that the group was diverse too; we made sure there was a wide variety of “life experience” on the panel.

The teen panel was an amazing success. The students spoke clearly and with detail as they answered fourteen different questions. I was impressed with their poise and it was interesting watching the parents; they were riveted by the responses from the seven teens who took part. The responses were completely honest and as such, a few comments raised some eyebrows.  One parent (whose daughter was on the panel) was shocked at how late into the night (morning really) her daughter had spent on social media. Overall, it was an incredibly valuable and powerful experience.

Looking back upon this night, it was the students who made it a great success. Nothing beats having authentic speakers with real life experiences. If you want to discuss teens technology use with parents, I urge you to involve students in the process. You won’t be disappointed.