The Classroom of the Future Foundation’s board of directors recently set its priorities for 2015. Several are longstanding initiatives while two newcomers are under investigation.
A significant priority will continue to be the San Diego County Project RED Collaborative where the San Diego County Office of Education, Classroom of the Future Foundation, six local districts and local businesses are coordinating technology efforts to implement one-to-one learning programs that personalize learning through universal access to innovative technology. Real-time, collaborative instruction from multiple sites creates enormous learning potential. It’s made possible in part by a $10,000 SDG&E grant.
Other priorities will include continued development of the USS Midway Museum’s education programs, Students for Cyber Safety, STEM-related programs, and Innovation Day, among others.
Two New Initiatives Under Consideration
An intriguing initiative now under investigation is the web-based Gooru learning platform. It uniquely blends curriculum material (including that developed by CFF business partners) in a way that enables teachers to create customized class plans, whole-class learning activities, customized relearning for individuals and small groups, student assessment, and hands-on learning activities.
Gooru is now used by 600,000 educators and students in 210 countries. Approximately 70,000 teacher-made collections span K-12 topics such as math, science, social studies and English language arts. In addition, it makes more than 16 million free learning resources available.
The idea is to make it available at no charge to local schools. An all-day coaching workshop will be held on Oct. 2 to demonstrate the potential of Gooru for San Diego educators. More information is available here.
The board also is looking at a proposal from USD dean and professor Dr. Paula Cordeiro to create a “Professional Learning Center” at USD’s School of Leadership and Education Sciences. It would provide professional development opportunities for local educators with CFF acting as the facilitator. More information about SOLES is available here.