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!
Forest is a free Google Chrome extension designed to help you focus and not get distracted by Internet sites. Once installed, you can click on the icon to plant a tree and have it start to grow. Under the options you can blacklist and whitelist websites. The blacklist is to list sites that will distract you….
In a panel at last week’s SXSWedu, moderated by The Teacher’s Guild Director Molly McMahon, a trio of two Texas K-12 administrators and a district teacher of the year from Georgia discussed the benefits of letting teachers drive innovation. Spring Branch Independent School District Associate Superintendent Elliott Witney, El Paso Independent School District Superintendent Juan Cabrera,…
When learners design their own infographics they interpret their data, information, research and facts. Students create a meaningful connection with the data and share with others the important bigger picture the data tells. Infographics can persuade others to act or reflect. The following web tools will help students design awesome infographics. Source: 9 Web Tools for…
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…
Amidst the discussions about content standards, curriculum and teaching strategies, it’s easy to lose sight of the big goals behind education, like giving students tools to deepen their quantitative and qualitative understanding of the world. Teaching for understanding has always been a challenge, which is why Harvard’s Project Zero has been trying to figure out how…
During the 2015-16 school year, I visited schools across the nation to see how technology can transform teaching and learning. The changes I’ve seen have been exciting, meaningful, and more often than not, challenging to get right. The “digital divide” is still very real. In places like Eminence, Kentucky, we’ve seen how creative school leaders have found…
