Last week, NUREVA installed a 20ft meshed interactive surface that uses two solid state projectors. Finally, I have the digital real estate to capture the large complexity of a whole unit, or a multistep problem or allow students to organize their own schedules for the semester, or ideate the solution to a problem.

I wonder how VIZWIK will look on such a large screen. Will we be able to arrange multiple scripts on one screen so that they are all visible at the same time?

Mr Armand Doucet used the SPAN wall system to have his students create a rubric for their final project. This makes him unique in many ways. Yes, it is true that now there is the tech to make this large messy process possible. Most importantly, it is his DESIRE to ALLOW students to create their own rubric and deal with the chaos that is most unique and difficult. Most would see the creation of the rubric as a distraction from their content and not considering that the building of the rubric might be more important than their content and might engage them more in their content. Again, the tech is necessary, but it is the teaching style that is MOST IMPORTANT.

In my SCIENCE 12 class, there is no course code, no curriculum document, no formal assessment and no grades. Imagine, learning for the sake of learning!! They used the SPAN system to organize their semester. They informed me that they wanted 4 days of optics, 3 days of quantum, 4 weeks for a project, 2 weeks of coding etc… The large digital space in the SPAN system made the logistics quick and easy, allowing us to spend our time discussing and thinking. Again, the tech allowed the process to happen easily, but it was the TEACHING STYLE that is MOST important.

I fear that innovative ED tech companies have double the struggle. Not only do they need to build great tech along with the business side of things, they also need to change teaching pedagogy, which is a difficult beast to move.