As Director of Technology and Innovation, I am both privileged and excited to lead the infusion of innovative applications of technology and evolving styles of teaching, learning, and assessment to enhance the learning experience for our girls both within and beyond the classroom. Most recently Ellis has launched an Innovation Collaborative, which I am co-leading with Dean of Faculty, Dr. Norma Greco. The Innovation Collaborative will serve both as an internal center of excellence for the Ellis Community and external institute offering workshops to peer schools on topics such as educational innovations and research on how girls learn best. We will also present findings at regional and national conferences. Through learning communities, workshops, events, and consultations with individuals and groups, the Innovation Collaborative supports faculty members, staff, and students as they experiment with new ways of learning including the flipped classroom, design thinking, and active learning. Our objective is to advance the School’s strategic vision by integrating innovation across the core curricula and connecting learning to life outside the classroom.

While there are many to share, here are a few examples of innovations happening at Ellis:

• Many strong partnerships are being woven into the curricular program across all grade-levels. Ellis faculty members Dr. Susan Corbesero and Isabelle Moldovan are serving with Dr. Greco and I as partnership coordinators working with faculty to promote experiential learning opportunities for our girls. One notable project is the UPMC partnership with the Upper School biology class. Ellis girls are “hacking” a flu study conducted by University of Pittsburgh researchers and replicating it at Ellis. The girls are using design thinking methods to determine why and how flu spreads at Ellis and how they might limit its spread in our community through building prototypes of products or health practices.

• Our Active Classroom for Girls project, funded earlier this year by the Edward E. Ford Foundation and our Board of Trustees, is a success. We are partnering with Dr. Adam Liebovich, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who has won awards for his innovative teaching practices. With Dr. Liebovich’s help we are studying the effect of active learning in our physics and engineering classes to determine what affect active learning has on girls’ confidence and competence in science learning. Early results gathered from student feedback and from quantitative analysis of assessments shows that student engagement and learning have both increased.

• Elis has been using new technology to “flip” the classroom, providing lectures online and dedicating class time to hands-on activities. Most recently we were selected to be Google Glass Explorers and have used Glass to create “LabCasts” that students can watch online before class to be better prepared for labs.

• Ellis recently announced we have become one of the founding schools of the GAINS network, which is comprised of premier girls’ school across the United States who have joined together to use social media to connect students and faculty to professional women in STEM careers. The Upper School engineering design class will be participating in the Spring Mentoring event led by the President of the Society for Women Engineers. GAINS was also open to any other Ellis Upper School girl interested in participating. 

• This spring Ellis faculty will participate in the second Blended Learning cohort with the Online School for Girls. At the conclusion of this course, 30 Ellis faculty will have been trained in blended learning methods that allow teachers to use class time more productively to deepen engagement, participate in project-based learning, and provide differentiated instruction to improve learning outcomes.  In addition, we will be hosting John Nash, a leading educator from the University of Kentucky "dLab." Nash will train all Ellis Upper School faculty in a day-long workshop on how to integrate design thinking into their classrooms. Nash will also lead a shorter session for all Middle and Lower School faculty.

• On April 5, 2013 Ellis is hosting edcampPGH, a teacher-drive “unconference” that will bring together more than 100 teachers from across the region to share educational innovations and best-practices. We will also offer the only public screening in our region of the educational documentary, “If You Build It: Inside of One of America's Most Innovative Classrooms.” The film explores design thinking and experiential learning and will be followed by a panel discussion debrief which I will co-moderate along with Ellis Alumnae and Sprout Fund Program Coordinator, Alessandra Harkpoft. Ellis community members are welcome to attend the 1 PM screening. No registration is required unless you would like to join us for entire day of edcampPGH.

Starting in the next GreenSheet, I will begin to write a regularly occurring “innovation insight” to share ways in which our girls and faculty are infusing innovation in and out of the classroom in all three divisions.