Four years ago, Chris Nagele did what many other technology executives have done before — he moved his team into an open concept office.
His staff had been exclusively working from home, but he wanted everyone to be together, to bond and collaborate more easily. It quickly became clear, though, that Nagele had made a huge mistake. Everyone was distracted, productivity suffered and the nine employees were unhappy, not to mention Nagele himself.
Classrooms are essentially open offices. Well, they’re even worse than open offices since the desks and chairs are usually not comfortable and their is no ownership of what little space the students get.
What’s more, certain open spaces can negatively impact our memory. This is especially true for hotdesking, an extreme version of open plan working where people sit wherever they want in the work place, moving their equipment around with them.
Whoa, that sounds a lot like how classrooms work now!
Strategies for doing more with less include adequate PD around new technology, embracing mobile solutions, low-cost high tech, and expanding the ownership of school policy making. Source: Doing More With Less: PD, Resources, and Ownership When talking about PD, I think one piece that seems to be missing way too often is helping teachers learn…
More than 40 years before women gained the right to vote, female “computers” at Harvard College Observatory were making major astronomical discoveries. Between 1885 and 1927, the observatory employed about 80 women who studied glass plate photographs of the stars. They found galaxies and nebulas and created methods to measure distance in space. They were…
One of the most exciting trends in education today is the integration of technology to enhance instruction and learning. Schools have only scratched the surface when it comes to learning technology, and this knowledge-action-resource gap further exacerbates the overwhelming “kid in a candy store” mentality. Source: End Your Fixation on Tech Tools | EdTech Magazine…
Today we’re introducing new time-saving features to Docs, Sheets and Slides designed to speed up and simplify the way teachers and students work, so they can focus on what’s really important—teaching and learning. These apps still have all of the same functionality that students and teachers love, with the addition of these new features. Source:…
Introducing the “I Am A Scientist” initiative, which provides opportunities for students, specifically those in Junior High School and High School, to interact with the science and stories of today’s scientists—breaking down barriers like race, gender, and personal interests. The program’s collection of classroom toolkits provide real-life stories of modern scientists, classroom resources, posters ,…
If we are waiting for some “technology” to come along and redefine schools, we will be either waiting a long time, or it will be too late. This is a shift we will need to create in our own thinking. Source: Technology Will Not Redefine Schools As a product of 20th century school who is…
