Wednesday, January 15, 2014

3D learning

There's a great article in the Town Crier about LASD's partnership with zSpace, a company that makes 3D workstations.  (Read the article)

What's interesting about this is it is a great example of sustained innovation.  LASD has been engaged with zSpace for several years.  We've looked at what they had and provided them feedback about how we'd like to use it.  As recently as this past spring, I reviewed the workstations and software, and there were still gaps in what we needed to make it useful.  I'm thrilled with what zSpace has done in just 8 months.  They've been able to enhance their product in ways that make it much more useful for education by adding content that aligns with our curriculum.   

This partnership is great for both parties.  It benefits zSpace because they get clear feedback from a school district that is well known for innovation.  In my discussions with zSpace executives, they observed that our staff is very helpful in asking for what we need to take advantage of the technology.  On our side, we continue to bring leading-edge technologies to our students.  The kids are deeply engaged in learning, and it is a useful applied learning- tied to curriculum, but engaging students.  When kids are this excited about the content, they'll continue to explore on their own.  It's exactly what we want them to do.

Hats off to Alyssa Gallagher and the rest of the LASD team for uncovering and cultivating another great way to engage our students!