The purpose of these types of grants is to serve as a "proof of concept". This type of grant affords the district with the flexibility of trying some cutting edge technologies with new instructional approaches. A possible outcome would be cutting down on the need for traditional textbooks, paper/copying, graphing calculators, adaptive devices, and more. Without grants such as i3, districts would not be able to gamble on these types of initiatives with the current school funding levels. There is also merit to the collaboration with other districts. This project is aligned to the goals of the National Educational Technology Plan that was adopted by the US Department of Education in March 2010.
I am excited about the possibilities of partnerships that may come out of this. For example, the Science Museum of Minnesota is very interested in working with us along with Apple. We are exploring other partners as well by working through a foundation site that allows others to find us (https://www.foundationregistryi3.org/).
"The challenge for our education system is to leverage the learning sciences and modern technology to create engaging, relevant, and personalized learning experiences for all learners that mirror students' daily lives and the reality of their futures. Technology provides access to more learning resources than are available in classrooms and connections to a wider set of educators, including teachers, parents, experts, and mentors outside of the classroom. On-demand learning is now within reach, supporting learning that is life-long and life-wide (Bransford et al., 2006)."
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
i3 Innovation Grant
For more information go to: http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/03/08/i3-innovation-grant-program-opens.aspx
The St. Cloud Area School District is working with four other school district to write an i3 Grant for approximately $4.5 Million. The other districts include West St. Paul, Stillwater, Buffalo and Little Falls. Leaders from each of these districts have been collaborating/teaming to think of ways to integrate technology into the classroom with mobile devices that would enhance our science curriculum. This grant program was designed to fund the development of new ideas that would enhance learning.
The requirements for applying for i3 grants include supporting teachers that prepare students for success in college and careers. Therefore, we decided that we must gear this toward the way students engage in communicating now. They come to school connected, we often ask them to "power down" when we should be taking advantage of the mobile devices that "turn them on" to learning.
The grants that we hope will be awarded to us are called Development grants where we can apply for up to $5 million to support new concepts that are deemed worthy of further study. With our interest in technology, we have targeted the use of mobile devices that integrate into the 8th grade science standards. These five school districts are comprised of approximately 2,000 8th grade students.
We do have to secure 20 percent of the award from the private sector, and we are hoping that this will create a partnership that could help us well into the future. The "tricky" part of doing this is tied to the closing date for the application; this is due one week from tomorrow. Grants are expected to be awarded in September. Additional grants may be awarded later, as there's an additional $500 million proposed in President Obama's 2011 budget plan.
"This is the first national forum within which entrepreneurs, education stakeholders of all types, and foundations can partner to develop and fund innovative ideas in the education sector," -ED reported. "Through this portal, the Department will hope to facilitate partnerships by convening like-minded individuals to accelerate the development, identification, and broad use of innovative products, practices, and processes to improve education in schools."
The St. Cloud Area School District is working with four other school district to write an i3 Grant for approximately $4.5 Million. The other districts include West St. Paul, Stillwater, Buffalo and Little Falls. Leaders from each of these districts have been collaborating/teaming to think of ways to integrate technology into the classroom with mobile devices that would enhance our science curriculum. This grant program was designed to fund the development of new ideas that would enhance learning.
The requirements for applying for i3 grants include supporting teachers that prepare students for success in college and careers. Therefore, we decided that we must gear this toward the way students engage in communicating now. They come to school connected, we often ask them to "power down" when we should be taking advantage of the mobile devices that "turn them on" to learning.
The grants that we hope will be awarded to us are called Development grants where we can apply for up to $5 million to support new concepts that are deemed worthy of further study. With our interest in technology, we have targeted the use of mobile devices that integrate into the 8th grade science standards. These five school districts are comprised of approximately 2,000 8th grade students.
We do have to secure 20 percent of the award from the private sector, and we are hoping that this will create a partnership that could help us well into the future. The "tricky" part of doing this is tied to the closing date for the application; this is due one week from tomorrow. Grants are expected to be awarded in September. Additional grants may be awarded later, as there's an additional $500 million proposed in President Obama's 2011 budget plan.
"This is the first national forum within which entrepreneurs, education stakeholders of all types, and foundations can partner to develop and fund innovative ideas in the education sector," -ED reported. "Through this portal, the Department will hope to facilitate partnerships by convening like-minded individuals to accelerate the development, identification, and broad use of innovative products, practices, and processes to improve education in schools."
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