When Turner Valley School, located in Alberta, Canada, chose to update its library, it did more than just bring technology into the learning space.
The school decided it wanted to completely transform its library into a learning commons in order to provide students with innovative, 21st century learning experiences.
“We wanted to innovate and change the layout of the school libraries in the Foothills School Division. I have this particularly expansive space at Turner Valley School and I was fortunate enough to be in line for a complete renovation from top to bottom,” says Carol Webb, the learning commons librarian at Turner Valley School. “My space has been completely re-done and is completely modernized with a focus of it being the nerve center of the school. That’s why we wanted to bring in the latest state of the art technology.”
That state of the art technology is the Nureva Span classroom collaboration system, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model that enables collaboration on an expansive 40’ (12.2 m) digital canvas. The cloud-based solution leverages student devices to help them develop 21st-century skills, and enables them to contribute drawings, pictures, and text from their own devices at any location and at any time.
“By becoming an extension of the classroom, it has enriched the space and places that kids can learn throughout the schools. It has made my learning commons a real hub of knowledge in the school and kind of the most valuable real estate now in the school,” says Webb.
The partnership between Turner Valley School and Nureva began after a former district tech director mentioned to Nureva that the school was looking to transition its library into a more collaborative, active space. Given that the Span system is focused on bringing more collaboration to the classroom and enables every student to contribute to the virtual canvas, Turner Valley felt the technology could deliver the collaborative experience the previous library was lacking.
With the help of the school division’s tech team and Nureva professionals, Turner Valley’s library was renovated and designed particularly for the Span system. This allowed for an easy installation, despite the various hardware and software that needed to be installed.
“There is a projector that is installed and a mounting plate. There’s also a touch module that gets installed below the projector and then there’s a surface that goes on the wall,” says Nancy Knowlton, the co-founder and CEO of Nureva. While the Span system can be projected onto a painted wall, a smooth wall surface works best for students to touch and interact with different media.
Nureva has also provided Turner Valley with ongoing support and professional development, which has helped teachers learn how to best leverage the Span system and create engaging, active learning experiences.
“Nureva held an in-service workshop and provided ongoing support for teachers who wanted to implement new ideas. They introduced the technology to the entire staff through a professional development day and that generated a lot of questions and feedback,” says Webb. “That was an important piece, educating the staff.”
Rachel Quetti is the editor of K-12 TechDecisions, aimed at helping K-12 professionals make better decisions about technology purchases for their classrooms, schools and school districts. Rachel joined the TechDecisions team in 2015 and covers the latest technology trends in the K-12 market.Get in Touch: [email protected] More by Rachel Quetti
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