District-Vendor Partnerships
GRANT AWARDS TECHNOLOGY-BASED LEARNING PROJECT TO DENVER ACADEMY. Denver Connections Academy, a unique public school that students attend from their homes, has received a technology grant from the Denver Public Schools Information Literacy & Technology Department to develop Map It, a technology-based math and geography unit. Students in grades K-2 at Denver Connections Academy will take part in the course and will work virtually in small groups with their teachers and "learning coaches" (adults, typically parents, who guide students' learning in the home, one-on-one). Together, they will explore non-standard units of measurement. The goal is to create a map of an immediate environment of their choice.
"Map It will build students' content skills in math and geography while using technology tools that include the Internet, word processing, and presentation software," says Barbara Frey, founding principal of Colorado Connections Academy. "We are very excited to bring the Map It unit and its corresponding instructional technology to our students."
The Map It unit is also making use of Connections Academy LiveLesson (based on Macromedia Breeze www.adobe.com), which integrates voice-over-IP chat, and whiteboard technology. Visit www.connectionsacademy.com.
This article originally appeared in the 01/01/2006 issue of THE Journal.