Innovative K-12 School Product Works Any Where....Even works in Silicon Valley

The One Workplace Education team supports 21st Century Learning by offering products that support the student and the teacher. Check out this Video Link of the Opti Product by VanerumStelter.  It offers ergonomic support, kinetic support, visual support and so much more! Isn't this what we should be choosing  for our teachers and students to enhance innovation and learning???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSPM1QZPboY&feature=em-share_video_in_list_user&list=UUNa4NCXIAGjcAet57Hry6_QE

The Changes In Education

Below is an article on the changes in Education over the years.  This article takes a close look at the teacher-student relationship, where it has changed and where it's going.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304213904579095303368899132.html?mod=trending_now_2

How 3 Different Generations Use The Internet

This is a very fascinating article on how 3 different generations use the internet in their everyday lives.  Starting with the lack of everyday use out of the Baby Boomers to the abundance of use out of the Millennials.  Some fun statistics that show the downfall of unstructured outdoor activities, and the rise of technology dependency.  How this all effects the classroom, and why it's important for a teacher to have an understanding of this change.

http://www.edudemic.com/kids-of-the-past-vs-today-infographic/

Khan Academy - Flipping the Classroom

Take a look at this great 60 Minutes video on Khan Academy.  An awesome look at the future of Education + Design, and the idea of flipping the classroom.  Flipping the classroom (6 min mark of the video) is the idea of what you think of as homework you do at school and school work you do at home.  Flipping the classroom allows students to move at their own pace, when you do this there is less lecturing and more interaction.  Click the link below to watch:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7401696n

Burnett Elementary Learning Center

It's back to school time, meaning One Workplace has completed another beautiful Learning Center in time for the new school year.  The latest installation took place at William Burnett Elementary School, which is part of the Milpitas Unified School District.  Here's what Caitlin Beaupre, part of the One Workplace Education team, had to say on the new install:

"We wanted to create a space where the students felt that they weren't walking into an ordinary classroom.  The learn lab encourages students to have a sense of ownership in the way they want to learn and work with their peers.  The room is made up of multiple zones that allow for different modes of learning.  Students will be able to choose which area they want to work based on the type of work they will be doing that day.  This space is truly a great example of where education and the classroom are going in the future"

Check out some images below. 

The New IQ Workshop

The following images are some moments captured from The New IQ Workshop that One Workplace hosted at our Oakland Office.  It was a great event with discussions on the active learning center, with participants from all over the Bay Area.

Small active learning group.

The New IQ Workshop panel discussion.

Summer AppCamp

Summer AppCamp at Mission College for Middle and High School Students!

Space Impacts Learning

Take a look at a Case Study of the Stanford d.school displaying how space impacts the way you learn.  This space showcases active learning and collaboration with others, where real engagement between students and instructor, students and peers is on display.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NSjezj7_6mc

(http://360.steelcase.com/case-studies/stanford-d-school/)

21st Century Classrooms

Take a look at this article from Steelcase on the evolution of the classroom in the 21st century.  Steelcase has studied the transformation of the classroom starting in K-12 through Higher Education. 

http://www.steelcase.com/en/resources/industries/education/documents/classrooms%20ceu%20abstract.pdf

(www.steelcase.com)

The Evolving Classroom

Take a look at this inspiring video featuring Dr. David Thornburg - an award-winning futurist, author, and education consultant. In this video, Dr. Thornburg discusses the "holodeck" classroom -- an environment that  supports project-based learning -- and makes the case for why the role of the teacher must change from lecturer to exploration guide.

(www.edutopia.org)

Verb in Action - Coastline Community College

Take a look at this great new video posted by Steelcase. It shows Verb and Node in use at Coastline Community College in Newport Beach. See how students and instructors interact with the furniture and listen to their valuable feedback. This is a great video to share with customers!

Click here to watch the video.

Steelcase Active Learning Environments - Summit Public Schools

A One Workplace customer, Summit Public Schools has been featured in the Steelcase Active Learning Environments guide as in-between learning space. Take a look at the article below or click here to view.

The Favorite TED Talks Of The TED Talks Education Speakers

Check out this comprehensive post from Edudemic.com. If you don't have time to watch all of the TED Talks Education series, take a look at some of the highlights from the speakers themselves.

(photo credit: TED website)

"Last month, we wrote about the ‘TED Talks Education’ live event which showcased some great speakers like Sir Ken Robinson and Bill Gates. Each of the diverse group of teachers and education advocates delivered a short, high-impact talk on the theme of teaching and learning.

To keep you inspired and learning, TED asked each speaker to compile a list of their favorite TED talks, which are linked below. Each has curated a list for you to enjoy, and each list reflects the speaker and his or her interests. Thanks to the speakers for sharing, and thanks to TED for putting these lists out there .

• Sir Ken Robinson chose his favorite talks, spanning creative methods of learning and powerful spoken word. Watch his favorite talks »
• Educator Angela Duckworth selected inquisitive talks about human behavior and psychology. Watch her talk picks »
• Bill Gates’ extensive playlist includes a variety of eye-opening selections on medicine, robots and violence. Watch the talks that inspire him »
• Teacher and activist Geoffrey Canada’s playlist reflects his passion for advocacy through an exploration of violence, slums and environmental activism. Watch his favorite talks on social justice »
• Poet Malcolm London picked talks from speakers with candor – poets and educators alike. Watch this poet’s selections »
• High school teacher Pearl Arrendondo chose motivating talks that reflect her own drive. Watch her inspiring picks »
• Ramsey Musallam, chemistry teacher, selected talks on imaginative ways of repurposing education and learning. Watch his inventive collection of talks »" (www.edudemic.com).

The Evolution of Classroom Technology

This great post by Edudemic highlights the fascinating evolution of technology in the classroom over the past 350+ years. Take a look and let us know what you think. Where does the evolution of classroom furniture fit into this?

"Classrooms have come a long way. There’s been an exponential growth in educational technology advancement over the past few years. From overhead projectors to iPads, it’s important to understand not only what’s coming next but also where it all started.

We’ve certainly come a long way but some things seem hauntingly similar to many years ago. For example, Thomas Edison said in 1925 that “books will soon be obsolete in schools. Scholars will soon be instructed through the eye.” I’m pretty sure this is exactly what people are saying these days about the iPad.

Also in 1925, there were “schools of the air” that delivered lessons to millions of students simultaneously. Scroll down to find out how that worked (hint: it wasn’t by using the Internet!)

c. 1650 – The Horn-Book

Wooden paddles with printed lessons were popular in the colonial era. Perhaps this is where fraternities got the idea? On the paper there was usually the alphabet and a religious verse which children would copy to help them learn how to write.

c. 1850 – 1870 – Ferule

This is a pointer and also a corporal punishment device. Seems like both this and the Horn-Book had dual purposes in terms of ‘educating’ the youths of that era.

1870 – Magic Lantern

The precursor to a slide projector, the ‘magic lantern’ projected images printed on glass plates and showed them in darkened rooms to students. By the end of World War I, Chicago’s public school system had roughly 8,000 lantern slides.

c. 1890 – School Slate

Used throughout the 19th century in nearly all classrooms, a Boston school superintendent in 1870 described the slate as being “if the result of the work should, at any time, be found infelicitous, a sponge will readily banish from the slate all disheartening recollections, and leave it free for new attempts.’

c. 1890 – Chalkboard

Still going strong to this day, the chalkboard is one of the biggest inventions in terms of educational technology.

c. 1900 – Pencil

Just like the chalkboard, the pencil is also found in basically all classrooms in the U.S. In the late 19th century, mass-produced paper and pencils became more readily available and pencils eventually replaced the school slate.

c. 1905 – Stereoscope

At the turn of the century, the Keystone View Company began to market stereoscopes which are basically three-dimensional viewing tools that were popular in homes as a source of entertainment. Keystone View Company marketed these stereoscopes to schools and created hundreds of images that were meant to be used to illustrate points made during lectures.

c. 1925 – Film Projector

Similar to the motion-picture projector, Thomas Edison predicted that, thanks to the invention of projected images, “books will soon be obsolete in schools. Scholars will soon be instructed through the eye.”

c. 1925 – Radio

New York City’s Board of Education was actually the first organization to send lessons to schools through a radio station. Over the next couple of decades, “schools of the air” began broadcasting programs to millions of American students.

c. 1930 – Overhead Projector

Initially used by the U.S. military for training purposes in World War II, overhead projectors quickly spread to schools and other organizations around the country.

c. 1940 – Ballpoint Pen

While it was originally invented in 1888, it was not until 1940 that the ballpoint pen started to gain worldwide recognition as being a useful tool in the classroom and life in general. The first ballpoint pens went on sale at Gimbels department store in New York City on 29 October 1945 for US$9.75 each. This pen was widely known as the rocket in the U.S. into the late 1950s.

c. 1940 – Mimeograph

Surviving into the Xerox age, the mimeograph made copies by being hand-cranked. Makes you appreciate your current copier at least a little bit now, huh?

c. 1950 – Headphones

Thanks to theories that students could learn lessons through repeated drills and repetition (and repeated repetition) schools began to install listening stations that used headphones and audio tapes. Most were used in what were dubbed ‘language labs’ and this practice is still in use today, except now computers are used instead of audio tapes.

c. 1950 – Slide Rule

William Oughtred and others developed the slide rule in the 17th century based on the emerging work on logarithms by John Napier. Before the advent of the pocket calculator, it was the most commonly used calculation tool in science and engineering. The use of slide rules continued to grow through the 1950s and 1960s even as digital computing devices were being gradually introduced; but around 1974 the electronic scientific calculator made it largely obsolete and most suppliers left the business.

1951 – Videotapes

What would school be without videotapes? (Thanks to Jaume in the comments for reminding me about this one!) The electronics division of entertainer Bing Crosby’s production company, Bing Crosby Enterprises (BCE), gave the world’s first demonstration of a videotape recording in Los Angeles on November 11, 1951. Developed by John T. Mullin and Wayne R. Johnson since 1950, the device gave what were described as “blurred and indistinct” images, using a modified Ampex 200 tape recorder and standard quarter-inch (0.6 cm) audio tape moving at 360 inches (9.1 m) per second. A year later, an improved version, using one-inch (2.6 cm) magnetic tape, was shown to the press, who reportedly expressed amazement at the quality of the images, although they had a “persistent grainy quality that looked like a worn motion picture”.

c. 1957 – Reading Accelerator

With an adjustable metal bar that helped students tamp down a page, the reading accelerator was a simple device designed to help students read more efficiently. Personally, this looks like a torture device and is probably the least portable thing to bring along with a book. Is turning the page of a book or holding a book really that difficult?

c. 1957 – Skinner Teaching Machine

B. F. Skinner, a behavioral scientist, developed a series of devices that allowed a student to proceed at his or her own pace through a regimented program of instruction.

c. 1958 – Educational Television

By the early sixties, there were more than 50 channels of TV which included educational programming that aired across the country.

1959 – Photocopier

Xerographic office photocopying was introduced by Xerox in 1959, and it gradually replaced copies made by Verifax, Photostat, carbon paper, mimeograph machines, and other duplicating machines. The prevalence of its use is one of the factors that prevented the development of the paperless office heralded early in the digital revolution[citation needed].Photocopying is widely used in business, education, and government. There have been many predictions that photocopiers will eventually become obsolete as information workers continue to increase their digital document creation and distribution, and rely less on distributing actual pieces of paper.

c. 1960 – Liquid Paper

A secretary made this white liquid in her kitchen and sold the company to Gillette for about $50 million. The rest is (redacted) history!

1965 – Filmstrip Viewer

A precursor to the iPad perhaps, this filmstrip viewer is a simple way to allow individual students watch filmstrips at their own pace.

c. 1970 – The Hand-Held Calculator

The predecessor of the much-loved and much-used TI-83, this calculator paved the way for the calculators used today. There were initial concerns however as teachers were slow to adopt them for fear they would undermine the learning of basic skills.

1972 – Scantron

The Scantron Corporation removed the need for grading multiple-choice exams. The Scantron machines were free to use but the company made money by charging for their proprietary grading forms. Sneaky stuff.

1980 – Plato Computer

Public schools in the U.S. averaged about one computer for every 92 students in 1984. The Plato was one of the most-used early computers to gain a foothold in the education market. Currently, there is about one computer for every 4 students.

1985 – CD-ROM Drive

A single CD could store an entire encyclopedia plus video and audio. The CD-ROM and eventually the CD-RW paved the way for flash drives and easy personal storage.

1985 – Hand-Held Graphing Calculator

The successor to the hand-held calculator (see above), the graphing calculator made far more advanced math much easier as it let you plot out points, do long equations, and play ‘Snake’ as a game when you got bored in class.

c. 1999 – Interactive Whiteboard

The chalkboard got a facelift with the whiteboard. That got turned into a more interactive system that uses a touch-sensitive white screen, a projector, and a computer. Still getting slowly rolled out to classrooms right now, betcha didn’t know they were first around in 1999! (I didn’t know that, at least)

2005 – iClicker

There are many similar tools available now, but iClicker was one of the first to allow teachers to be able to quickly poll students and get results in real time.

2006 – XO Laptop

The ‘One Laptop Per Child’ computer was built so it was durable and cheap enough to sell or donate to developing countries. It’s an incredible machine that works well in sunlight, is waterproof, and much more. Learn more.

2010 – Apple iPad

Just like the original school slate, could the iPad bring Thomas Edison’s statement to life? Could the iPad make it so “scholars will soon be instructed through the eye.” Only time will tell (Jeff Dunn, www.edudemic.com)."

http://edudemic.com/2011/04/classroom-technology/

TED Talks Education

Check out the following post by Edudemic.com. It's a great intro to TED Talks Education, a series that focuses on teaching and learning.

"This past Tuesday, PBS aired an hour long special called TED Talks Education. We’ve talkedabout TED talks before, and there has always been a number of education related TED talks out there, so TED talks about education are not really anything new. But this special put together a diverse group of teachers and education advocates delivering short, high-impact talks on the theme of teaching and learning.

Featured Speakers

• Pearl Arredondo, Founder, San Fernando Institute for Applied Media
• Geoffrey Canada, President, CEO Harlem Children’s Zone, Education Reform Advocate
• Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
• Bill Gates, Technologist and philanthropist
• Malcolm London, Chicago poet
• Ramsey Musallam, Chemistry teacher and blended learning specialist
• Rita F. Pierson, Ed.D., Educator and anti-poverty advocate
• Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D., Educator, author and most-watched TED Talk speaker on TED.com

The program also features two short films profiling high school students with remarkable stories. The documentaries were produced by two-time Emmy-winning filmmaker Tony Gerber and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and MacArthur Genius Award-recipient Lynn Nottage. Musician John Legend hosted the event.

With topics varying from teacher-student relationship building to leadership and the challenges teachers face, each of these TED talks is an original (so they’re not just repeats from previously recorded talks that are already on their website). You can check out the website if you’re looking for the clips of individual speakers (some – not all – are available).

To view the video, click here.

Smart Spaces with Steelcase

The following interview was first published in edtech digest. In it, Sean Corcorran of Steelcase Education Solutions explains why learning environments need to be re-designed. Take a look and share your thoughts in the comments!

"Sean Corcorran is General Manager of Steelcase Education Solutions, a division of Steelcase, Inc., a global furnishings company designing modern and sustainable environments for workplace and academic settings. Sean has been involved in research and development of new education solutions including visual collaboration technologies, interactive whiteboards, and furniture, for classrooms and other learning environments. He has more than 20 years of experience in design, engineering, product development, and innovation consulting. “Education environments must be re-invented,” he says. In this interview, he explains why.

Victor: We talk a lot about technology transforming education. Let’s talk a little more broadly about creating 21st century learning environments, something you specialize in. Kids learn in huts in less affluent areas. Why is it important to consider the overall learning environment?  

Sean: The changes in education today are a challenge Steelcase has studied for years. We are engaged in various studies with schools at all levels, from kindergarten through postsecondary, observing educators at work and testing design principles, product ideas and applications. We’re going to school practically every day, listening and learning, working with teachers, students and administrators to create new, innovative, active learning spaces. Because all types of spaces can be used for learning, it’s important to consider every corner and make even casual places, like hallways, count. Learning is what happens when space, teaching methods and technology come together to encourage deeper thought, interaction and collaboration, regardless of whether or not that’s in a small schoolhouse in Latin America or a state of the art lecture hall in America.  Also regardless of whether the space is new or old, large or small, the space needs to help students engage with the information. When students are passive learners, which we see a lot in the traditional row-by-column seating, it is harder for them to absorb the information being presented. Space, when designed with active learning in mind, can enable engagement.

Victor: What makes for an effective, rewarding and inspiring learning environment – what are the key features, elements, components of one – what should an administrator put on his or her checklist?

Sean: Given the pivotal role of the classroom, technology and physical space must be integrated to support the pedagogies at work in the classroom to create a more active and engaging experience for instructors and students. Administrators should look at the entire ecosystem as a tool for learning. Take advantage of new media and allow freedom of movement for the instructor, removing the “front of the room” and well as for students. Designing to support fluid teaching modes, for sharing and for visual and physical access are all ways to create a better learning environment. The classroom literally needs out of the box thinking, and when viewed through the lens of this new learning ecosystem, the classroom transcends the box and becomes a much more effective learning environment.

Victor: In light of computers, desktops, mobile devices and so on – what are some of the technical considerations in selecting the right components for a modernized school learning environment?  

Sean: While we’ve seen technology evolve and embraced in classrooms, the physical space supporting these technologies hasn’t changed. Learning environments should be flexible, allowing students and instructors to access the technology in the room. Seating and desking solutions should accommodate the tools students bring to class today, and whatever they might bring to class tomorrow by providing a large enough work surface for multiple technologies and access to power. media:scape was designed for a “walk-up and connect” experience. The technology is built into the media tables and enhances collaboration. eno  combines a classic whiteboard, projector, and works with any software, it can also either be mobile or mounted. Long stretches of work are taking place and it’s important to consider the levels of comfort and versatility.

Victor: How does learning best take place, in your opinion, or from your observation of what really does work?

Sean: We’ve observed that inflexible layouts and furniture with limited mobility hamper interaction among students, instructors and content; in fact the environment can be a barrier as much as a facilitator. The majority of classrooms in use today were built for traditional, “stand-and-deliver, sit-and-listen” pedagogies in a passive learning setting. Technology access is highly variable from classroom to classroom and often poorly integrated. Instructors and students cannot easily leverage technology—either built-in or portable—to support problem-based pedagogies and hands-on learning. Large group discussions, small groups and lecture modes are examples of different classroom methods that our solutions are designed around. Learning best takes place in spaces that can easily morph based on teaching approaches and learning preferences.

Victor: Can you point to any efficacy studies about learning environments raising the levels of learning? 

Sean: I can think of an example where a major university renovated a 1,600-sq.-ft. derelict lecture hall into what we call a LearnLab for their chemistry program. The room now seats 72 people at round tables and mobile task chairs so students can work together easily. Projectors, big screens, and tablet PCs support a new, more interactive curriculum. With no front stage, instructors move around and immerse themselves in the learning environment with the students, who build Lego models to better understand chemical reactions or fashion a spectroscope from a cardboard box and a DVD. Sections are now hands-on, brains -engaged classes that have connected well with students. How well? Chemistry has a high dropout rate compared to other subjects, but retention is up nearly 5% and grade performance is up 3-4%.

Victor: In your company literature you refer to this – so what exactly is a “smarter, active learning space”?

Sean: There’s a new generation of students with different experiences and expectations than those of their parents. They’re savvy and comfortable with technology and typically carry an array of technology with them. Rapidly changing technology continually offers new approaches to learning and instruction. From digitized content to interactive technologies, education often defines the cutting-edge use of technology.  At the same time, multiple pedagogies are being employed at every level of education. Many educators are embracing a more active and immersive style of instruction, engaging with students, leveraging technology and exploring more and varied educational strategies. Properly designed and furnished, every space can take advantage of the opportunities represented by continual change. That’s what active learning is all about. It’s the positive synthesis of space, technology and pedagogy.

Victor: As you solicit feedback from educators, what sort of things are you hearing?

Sean: We get a lot of great feedback from educators and students. It’s overwhelmingly positive. We hear most that active learning environments improve concentration and focus and facilitate group engagement. We hear that these new solutions make it easy to move in and out of different learning modes, and that they improve the overall classroom experience, which, in the end, is what really matters. If students and teachers look forward to being in the classroom, that’s going to show in the quality of learning that happens in those environments.

Victor: What is the trend — or what are the trends — as we move forward?

Sean: More than three-quarters of classes include class discussions and nearly 60 percent      of all classes include small group learning, and those percentages are continuing to grow. Interactive pedagogies require learning spaces where everyone can see the content and see and interact with others. Every seat can and should be the best seat in the room. And it’s not just faculty who are teaching. As more schools adopt constructivist teaching pedagogies, the “sage on the stage” is giving way to the “guide on the side.” The classroom needs to support instructors moving among teams to provide real-time feedback, assessment, direction and to support students in peer-to-peer learning. I think we’ll see the space, furniture and technology more easily adapting to the pedagogies and learning preferences of each term and the classroom effectively supporting how instructors teach and students learn. That’s where effective classrooms are headed" (www.edtechdigest.com).

Node Finds a Home at SJSU

The Institute for the Future recently hosted their annual Ten-Year Forecast event with 150 top executives from Fortune 100 companies. This year, they wanted to experiment with seating and audience design. At a recent visit to IDEO, they saw the Node chair and thought it would be perfect for their conference as they represent the future of modular event seating design.

Lisa Christensen and John Minnema delivered the chairs to the Institute for the Future - Palo Alto and met their neighbors Workspring. The excitement was building and everyone couldn't wait to get into their Nodes! According to Sara Skvirsky of the Institute for the Future, "everyone i raving about (the chairs). They are GREAT! We love them."

After just one-and-a-half days in use, the Node chairs needed a home. Trevor Croghan stepped in and was able to sell all 150 chairs to San Jose State University at a reduced price. 

Back and forth coordination was consuming. The order placed for 150 chairs on 3/29 had to arrive by 4/10, no small feat! The chairs arrived at 8:00 and everyone was happy. 

Thanks to the entire One Workplace and Steelcase for making this happen quickly and efficiently!

Summit Public Schools

Recently, our education team has had the chance to work with Summit Public Schools, a group dedicated to putting students on the path to a four-year college education.

According to their website, "our mission, ambitious yet achievable, is to ensure that every student in Silicon Valley - from South San Francisco to San Jose - has the opportunity to not only attend, but succeed in, a four year college or university. While some students will select career paths or community colleges, the preparation for four-year college will help them avoid the academic and skill deficit that results from being placed in a non-college prep, high school diploma program. These children are our future and it is our responsibility as the public education system to prepare them to be active, productive citizens" (www.summitps.org).

Summit is a huge believer in 21^st Century Learning and the active learning environment. They put an emphasis on space and how it can truly affect the student learning experience. They believe in group collaboration and uphold a vision far from traditional forms of teaching. Currently One Workplace is working on a large pilot space - a center room where multiple classes take place, with four classrooms on each corner. Each room has a different product, verb, node, etc. We will be gathering research and 'best practices' for what has been beneficial for them and their school. 

Check out some images below of the pilot space. Great job team!!