I had a chance to visit the Innovation Learning Center at Hanover High School and talk with their Director of Technology Dave Fry today. This was a great experience as we saw some tremendous learning spaces. They have converted the library into a Makerspace environment. Here you can see VR station as well as 3D printer station. There are several collaborative spaces as well for students to work. Some are within glass walls while other sit in the open spaces. I really liked the opportunities for students to work together. Students can sign up for the facilities and we saw several students come in and start working. They had a gaming area and laser cutter / engraver. There was also a table with kits that students could play with. Along the far wall there were two recording students with cameras and green screen technology. In between was a coffee bar for students. All in all, it was a warm and inviting space that offers lots of opportunities for students to work and be creative.
We had a chance to walk over to the music and tech ed area where they showed us several other rooms that give students a chance to engage in authentic work. The first was the music classroom with two soundproof recording studios. Students use GarageBand to make recordings. Students were also working in the new Gaming Room. We saw students engaged in programming as well as VR activities.
The final stop was the robotics lab. There were all the tools needed to design and create robots. They were using things such as Vex and Raspberry Pi. We also saw short throw projectors mounted vertically to create design stations that function as whiteboards on horizontal surfaces allowing for collaboration.
