In previous posts, I have shared our goals to create opportunities to leverage a  maker mindset, the Vision 20/20 framework we adopted for our learning/technology planning, and learning goals for Quest’s gifted student population. It was the convergence of these ideas that have led us to create our Innovation Lab, the transformation and re-purposing of our computer lab. This post will focus on the physical environment and my next post on this topic will delve into the curricular changes that will leverage this space and have a huge impact on student learning. Once we adopted our Vision 20/20 framework, we […]

Cross posted on KeepingUpWithIT.edublogs.org. Most future updates will be posted there rather than here, with the exception of major milestones. After a spring and summer of planning and purchasing, the sounds of drills are announcing the official start of the transformation of our new Innovation Lab. The crew today is beginning to work on updating the ventilation system in the lab. This upgrade will provide for better airflow within the space. In the middle of the room, you will also see the new ceiling tiles which will also be installed in the space. Additionally, Sheryl Peterson and I have met […]

Continuing my series on the genesis of our Innovation Lab, today, I want to focus on  two goals we have for our gifted students.  It has now been one year since I have moved to my current post at Quest Academy. Quest Academy was established in 1982 to provide an appropriate learning environment for gifted children whose educational needs were not being well served by their local public schools. The school currently enrolls over 290 students, preschool through 8th grade, from over 72 different Chicago area communities. We have communicated two goals that we want to come from the creation of […]

As a result of being involved in our Innovation Lab transformation and traveling to San Antonio for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference in San Antonio, I stumbled across the fact that there is a Venture Lab Makerspace, an educational maker space created for students to build, make, and hack. I had a chance to connect with Mark Barnett, the founder of the space on the Friday afternoon before the ISTE Conference. This space, which has been open for a few short weeks,  is located in Art Space San Antonio (445 N. Main Street – a short […]

Contributing to our Innovation Lab was the work we started on our learning and technology plan, Vision 20/20. Creating this framework was one of the first tasks that I was asked to begin to build at the school. We choose Vision 20/20, since it would provide us the opportunity to build, grow, and change over a multi-year process. The purpose of the plan was to provide us the lenses for all future technology and learning innovations moving forward. The goal was to make sure that all growth was done in a systemic way, rather than in an ad-hoc fashion. To […]