Please join the Alliance for Excellent Education for a webinar that continues a series on connected learning and the digital transition. This Google Hangout will explore how one Pennsylvania school district has transformed librarians into guides; study carrels into beanbag chairs; and a library into a learning environment where students can grab a coffee, explore a new technology, discuss projects with friends, and work with mentors.
Elizabeth Forward School District (EFSD), outside of Pittsburgh, has undertaken this transformation inspired by the YOUmedia work of the MacArthur Foundation, and is the first district to provide such space in a public school. Students are able to use innovative technologies to explore their interests, create, and connect their experience to what they are doing in the classroom. EFSD also has a Simulated Multimedia Arts Learning Lab, or SMALLab, which creates a kinesthetic learning environment that supports full-body games and new ways to experience abstract concepts. The school also incorporates game design into the curriculum to support STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) outcomes.
EFSD Assistant Superintendent Todd Keruskin will provide insight into how these new learning spaces were created and supported, and how students and teachers have responded. Alliance Director of State and District Digital Learning Tom Murray will host the interview and moderate questions submitted by viewers across the country.
