Cape Business Centre (Cape Town, South Africa) a premium business center,  wanted to stay ahead of the times and bring its conferencing capabilities into the 21^st century with technology innovations that would streamline meetings. They also wanted to save their clients’ time and provide an efficient and smooth experience from beginning to end. 

With much discussion on whether to have employees fully return to offices, incorporate a hybrid model, or allow remote work to continue, the prevailing concern is whether productivity is continuous, smooth, and without major interruption. For companies that are deciding that hybrid and remote will best suit the overall company needs, including safeguarding employee health, then a means for collaboration is necessary. Do companies see employee training to improve collaboration and productivity as essential?

Stafford Public Schools (Stafford Springs, CT) is a nationally recognized school district and consistently strives to drive learning so that, according to their mission statement, their students are prepared “to assume productive, meaningful, and responsible roles in an increasingly competitive global society.” Made up of five schools with approximately 1500 students enrolled, Stafford is a 1:1 district, and this past school year, implemented a hybrid learning model – students learning from home and in-class.

Implementing social-emotional learning (SEL) skills and strategies have shown to positively impact student learning. Especially with this past year, teachers and students have had to deal with challenges they may not have been prepared for including how COVID-19 our feelings towards learning. Addressing SEL skills is not a new concept and educators have referenced the SEL Framework to meet students’ emotional needs to clear a pathway to learning success.

Horsley Park Public School (Sydney, Australia) is a small primary school, situated in the semi-rural outskirts of Sydney. Made up of of eight classes - four mainstream and four providing support for children with autism and intellectual disabilities – a goal of Horsley Park is “positive behavior, cooperation, and a growth mindset are encouraged and supported through a positive environment.”

There is countless research that says an engaging learning environment supports student achievement and success. As a former classroom teacher, my favorite memories are of seeing my students totally into a project, hearing them talk with their classmates about what they were doing, and celebrating their successes when they understood a concept or completed a project they worked so hard on. A classroom should be a place for conversation and collaboration, combined with critical thinking and creativity.

Ah summer break! A time to relax, refresh, and enjoy time away from all things academic. Sure, there are concerns about losing what was learned during a unique year (and a half) of schooling. But the pressure can ease up a bit so that building in enjoyable literacy-based activities will be more meaningful for our youth. Overall, the purpose of emphasizing reading over the summer is to help children retain literacy skills, maintain comprehension, spelling, and vocabulary skills, and boost self-confidence in their abilities. In addition, reading is the foundation for learning in all other subjects so just a few books can make a difference.

Laurel School District (New Castle, PA) has the goal of “equipping students to become knowledgeable, responsible, and engaged contributors” to society, and since the early 2000s has worked to implement education technology like interactive whiteboards to meet this goal. Unfortunately, interactive whiteboards only had pockets of success and use was generally low for both teachers and students. Robert Lee, Director of Administrative Services at Laurel SD commented, “We wanted to infuse educational technology that allows our students to be active participants.”

Now more than ever, school and parent/family connection is integral when it comes to supporting students as everyone is working to maneuver learning in various environments and situations. In response to school closures and a move to remote learning, there were districts that provided training to help the adults at home understand how online learning platforms, software programs, and video conferencing tools would be used. Parents and caregivers needed to know the what, when, why, and how of educational technology and how to best support learning at home.

The value of emphasizing STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) is essential since it impacts just about every facet of our lives - checking the news on your mobile phone, using video conferencing software to facilitate meetings, or programming our home alarm systems are all everyday activities influenced by STEM innovations. When we can make connections between topics being learned and our own lives, the learning tends to stick in our minds longer. It seems reasonable then that the study of robotics is integrated into STEM education programs since robotics influences many areas of life – construction, defense, health, maintenance, security, and more. Of course, robotics also allows for learning beyond our general experiences such as space exploration.