21st century classroom

Congratulations to Della Curtis, coordinator of library information services for Baltimore County Public Schools and winner of Tech & Learning magazine’s 24th annual Leader of the Year program. Della, who has blogged for us here at SAFARI Montage HD Network, has been honored for her visionary leadership in the creation of a true library without walls through the use of the technology she has brought into BCPS, and the way it has been integrated into administrative and instructional needs in a cost-effective manner. 

I recently collaborated with an innovative group from Hastings School District. This district, which is located in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, has many forward thinking staff. While meeting with this group of education professionals the topic of mobile devices and SAFARI Montage was discussed. Can they work together? What would it take to get this done? What are the benefits of marrying our [Hastings School District] SAFARI Montage system with mobile devices? Those, among many other questions, lead to great discussion and a list of integration strategies. Below I have shared three of these strategies in detail.

Wow! What a terrific event we had yesterday. Thank you to all of our SAFARI Montage Texas Stars who joined us for a day of collaboration. It was great to hear from so many about how they are leveraging SAFARI Montage throughout their districts and to hear their ideas for future product development.

You may already know this, but Texas is a rather large state. So, it stands to reason that working with school districts across this great state means lots of miles in the Tundra. Early on in this position (after reading Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and The Power of an Hour) I decided that drive time should not be squandered. So, I did what any other techno-nerd would do: I plugged in my handy dandy iPhone and began listening to all sorts of Podcasts to pass the time and hopefully learn something new that would help me in my mission to change education!

I attended a very informative Ed Week Leadership Forum in Philadelphia recently where I was able to listen to Ed Tech leaders talk about how changing the way we teach is imperative for the kids we see every day! One idea kept at me all day…

3D content in the classroom is one of the most talked about and exciting ways to engage students with content in an interactive learning experience. Technology and education journals are filled with articles about the impact of 3D models in the classroom, and specifically the importance of 3D content to enhance STEM instruction.

Is there a Rosetta Stone for instructional technology? IWB, LMS, LRS, PLC, DRM, BYOD, 1:1, VLE…AHHH it is easy to get swept away in a whirlwind of different educational technology acronyms (EDTAs) and buzzwords these days. As soon as you think you have mastered them all, a new one replaces an old term and the crazy cycle begins again.

It’s no secret the majority of those involved in education would like to make the most of the technologies represented in these letters in order to get the ROI they are seeking. However, the amalgamation of these distinctive pieces in pursuit of an effective digital classroom implementation is a complex, ever-moving target. How does it all fit together? What does seamless integration really look like?

Today was another great day at ISTE in the SAFARI Montage Effective Digital Classroom, Meeting Room 105A. We had some terrific sessions-- it was standing-room only for Tim Beekman's session, SAFARI Montage: A Total Solution for Integrating District and Classroom Technology and Digital Resources and the room was buzzing all day long with presentations from Motorola and Keller ISD, Panasonic, Cyber Science, CableTime, Hitachi and more.

We kicked off ISTE 2011 with 3 very successful workshops in the SAFARI Montage Effective Digital Classroom. 

Lately I've been thinking about how blended learning will be implemented in an environment where teachers are already tasked with endless mandates; differentiate instruction, provide real-time formative assessments, go from sage on the stage to facilitator of learning, and do all this while infusing 21st century technology for today's digital learners.