iEducate Delaware: Learning Beyond Classroom Walls
On May 1st, we began accepting nominations for iEducate Delaware, an initiative to uncover and share the amazing stories of education leaders across the state. As the nomination window continues through the end of June, we will be posting updates about last year’s honorees and their projects. Rodel invested $2,000 in each of these honorees’ projects to support their work.
Lori Roe, one of our inaugural iEducate Delaware Honorees and founder and manager of the Beyond Classroom Walls program at Cape Henlopen High School, shares:
The Beyond Classroom Walls project at Cape Henlopen High School has provided teachers and students a blended learning environment through videoconferencing and the use of iPads. Over 900 students in grades 9 through 12 participated in more than twenty five virtual field trips around the country, visiting places they wouldn’t be able to travel to physically and learning from experts across the globe through videoconferencing.
This year, we were able to participate in some great trips. Earlier in the year, History classes virtually visited the Ohio Historical Society and participated in their program about law, government, and the rights of individuals in the United States since the late 1700s. Students in Economics classes were also able to virtually visit the Federal Reserve and participated in a financial literacy program through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, entitled, “Takin’ Care of Business!” And just a few weeks ago, exchange students from Germany visiting our media center were able to participate in a synchronous video chat with another school in our district! They learned all about distance learning and the possibilities of international collaboration! We hope to continue our collaboration when they return to Europe.
The iEducate Delaware award has given us the opportunity to promote global projects through videoconferencing by allowing us to purchase additional videoconferencing services through the content provider, Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration. In addition, the award enabled our high school media center to complete a cart of mobile devices to provide access to eBook resources and a Polycom app that will allow students to engage in virtual field trips and distance learning from their classrooms.
I am honored to have been part of the first group of iEducate Delaware Honorees, and look forward to hearing the stories of this year’s campaign!
Related Topics: iEducate Delaware