McKinley Technology High School’s Challenge

As part of its goal to become the highest-performing school in the nation by 2013, McKinley Technology High School in Washington, D.C. is phasing in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Academy program. “We previously had STEM curricula, but we weren’t formally a STEM school,” said David R. Pinder, principal of McKinley. “Collaboration is a key to making the transition to a STEM school and that is what we are currently focusing on for grade nine teachers. Next year we will incorporate grade ten into the STEM Academy.”
 
Under the new program, teachers focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and project-based learning. In order to facilitate this through technology, the school decided to incorporate an online learning platform to support those instructional practices. Social studies teacher, Gideon Sanders, had used an LMS in a prior school and was called upon to find the right LMS for the STEM Academy.

McKinley Technology High School’s Solution

After working extensively with other options, Sanders began piloting the itslearning Individual Learning Platform in July 2009. Since the company was new to the United States, Sanders also spoke with contacts in countries like Norway, Holland and England to find out about how they felt about the platform.

 
In August 2009, Sanders approved full implementation of the platform for the beginning of the 2009-10 school year. That same month, due to Sanders’ interest in STEM and his experience with learning management systems, Pinder appointed him as the program and curricula developer for the STEM Academy. In addition to teaching, Sanders is now responsible for developing programs to provide a comprehensive STEM-aligned education.
 
Although only ninth graders entering McKinley were transitioned into the STEM Academy during the 2009-10 school year, all of Sanders’ 11th grade U.S. History classes also started using the itslearning platform at the beginning of the school year.
 
Sanders uses itslearning for 90 percent of his instruction. He and other teachers at the school make accommodations for students who do not have access to a home computer by allowing those students to use computers in the library, stay after school, and so on. In addition, the platform is also accessible via devices such as Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation or cell phones. “Most, if not all, students have cell phones with Internet access,” said Sanders.
 
Sanders also used the platform to assign each student an individual blog which they can publish on the Web. “It is extremely important to give students an outlet to express themselves, and to give their opinions validity. This strengthens students’ desire to be part of the learning process,” said Sanders. “We ask students to express themselves via the blogs as part of the learning cycle.”
 

Platform Benefits

• Support for interdisciplinary projects: students can use itslearning to access the appropriate project component from each class, while keeping the entire project in one virtual location.
• Posting classroom materials online means that students have ready access to documents after something is taught and thus listen and concentrate more during class time.
  All coursework and assessments can be delivered online saving time, paper and effort, and improving on-time submission rates.
• If students are absent, they can stay on track by using the online content on the platform.
  Support for group learning and peer reviews: the itslearning platform allows students to go online to correct each other’s papers, conduct research and more.
  Since students collaborate online, physical limitations of time and space do not interfere with the process.
• All student work is saved in an ePortfolio so students can refer to past work throughout their academic career, and parents can monitor their children’s progress.
   

Results

After implementing itslearning, Sanders has seen school work that is more complete, robust, thorough and on time than in previous years. Students have used the Blogs to express opinions about events at the school, such as when teachers were laid off, instead of participating in confrontational protests.
 
For teachers, collaboration is crucial, and in a school where the teacher population is 50% African American and 50% Caucasian, the traditional race boundaries for face-to-face interactions are eliminated.
 
Pinder’s and Sanders’ goal is to eventually take all instruction online. They are entertaining the option of implementing the “Virtual High School,” thereby offering courses from talented teachers across the country and not limiting access to these opportunities due to time, space or budgetary constraints. “It’d give students an opportunity to take courses that aren’t offered onsite at McKinley, like an AP Criminal Justice course or a Medical Ethics class,” said Sanders. “We could allow students to take that STEM coursework without sacrificing STEM time in class. For example, the criminal justice course would mesh with the school’s offering of forensics in biochemistry class.”
 
“The itslearning platform enriches the learning experience for students and meets them at a technological level that is a part of their everyday lives,” said Sanders. “As a STEM school it is imperative that we integrate technologies into every aspect of learning so that we better prepare our students for college and the workforce.”