PowerED Up: The Commodore Vision for Digital Learning

We are happy and excited to announce that Perry Central is a proud recipient of a $100,000 Digital Learning Grant from the IDOE!  A team from Perry Central was selected, from an application process, to make a pitch to the eLearning team from the IDOE.  Our pitch had to include a vision for digital learning, a plan to carry it out, and the capacity to be able to do it.  It was an exciting and fun experience for us and we're glad they liked our pitch.   

We started this process by brainstorming a vision for moving digital learning forward.  What our team ultimately came up with was, PowerED Up: Passion Based Learning.  We want students to have time, while at Perry Central, to pursue their own interests and passions.  Being a history teacher, it's hard for me to imagine some students not being passionate about studying the past and making connections to current events but there are a few (probably much more than a few...ha!) that just aren't!  I know, it's hard for me to believe too!  Our goal with this project then, is to allow students to do both, learn what they NEED to learn and learn what they WANT to learn.  We want this to be a project with students, getting their input throughout the process. 

First, I want to share with you our team's vision for moving digital learning forward.  If we could sum it up in one statement it would be this: Less us, more them.  Meaning, less lecture and facts and more facilitating.  We want students to create, tinker, and solve problems they care about.  We want students to learn from failure, not be afraid of it.  Imagine all the great inventions and ideas that would have never been if people stopped trying after failing the first time.  Students should be imagining, wondering and innovating.  They should have their ideas and projects heard and seen by authentic audiences giving them real feedback.  Students will have to learn how to find their passions and interests. We believe these types of experiences can be very empowering for students.

Without a plan, a vision is just a vision, so we developed a plan to carry this vision out.  Professional development will be an important piece of this plan.  We are hosting a "Summer of eLearning" conference right here at our school.  Keeping in theme with this project, the conference will be called PowerED Up and will be June 2 and 3. 

There will be nationally renowned educators and speakers here giving great insight into digital learning.  It will also be a great opportunity to connect with other educators and share ideas.  There will be other professional development opportunities as well.  On the student side, we want to give them time during their day to pursue their passions and interests.  WIN, specials, mini-classes, a Learning Experiences in Applied Fields (LEAF) class for high school students, and after school time will be the basic structure for giving students this time.  Since technology is the vehicle, we also plan to expand our 1:1 initiative as well.

The capacity to carry it out is where the rubber meets the road.  When it comes to digital learning, there are so many great things happening at Perry Central.  I think of the VEX and LEGO robotics teams, PLTW classes, FedEx days the seniors participated in, online classes, blended classes, flipped classrooms, My Big Campus, all the Google tools being used, as well as other technology tools.  There is a lot of great digital learning going on at Perry Central but we now have the opportunity to push that even further.  We know we have the capacity to make it happen and drive this vision forward because everyone at Perry Central has always had a commitment to create the best school we can for our students.

Below is a video we shared with the team we presented to.  We believe it is a good representation of what Perry Central is and stands for.  It is a "Happy" place to be!

      
Team members on this project include: Mary Roberson, Tara Bishop, Jackie Wright, Seth Clark, Ray James, Jody French, Jamie Guillaume, Kris Walsh, and Phil Zellers