Tim Nash, a STEM and robotics teacher, says that his students are repurposing skills they learned in the Verizon Innovative Learning HQ lessons and bringing them to other subjects. “We have a journalism class that does weekly video announcements using [readily available video production apps],” Nash says. “It’s something new that we’re doing, because the kids now know how to use the tools in ways that can be implemented outside of the classroom.”
Those video announcements are shared school-wide. And, as Nash points out, it’s “pretty cool” that middle-school students are stepping into these kinds of roles, inspired to branch out and apply what they’ve learned in real-life scenarios.
For her colleagues, meanwhile, Thompson fosters ongoing creative usage of Verizon Innovative Learning HQ lessons at the school by sharing resources, lesson examples and project ideas with teachers, partly through a monthly newsletter and partly through one-to-one calls with her co-workers. And just like their students, the teachers are taking the ball and running with it, with creative and engaging results. “The teachers see the resources and take them and they make them their own,” she says.
Verizon Innovative Learning is a key part of the company’s responsible business plan to help move the world forward for all. As part of the plan, Verizon has an ambitious goal of providing 10 million youth with digital skills training by 2030. Educators can access free lessons, professional development, and immersive learning experiences to help bring new ways of learning into the classroom by visiting Verizon Innovative Learning HQ.
