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Edison Township Public Schools Receive Recognition for Technology

EDISON, N.J. — Edison Township Public Schools has been expanding its technological reach in order to live up to its name and the 21st century learning environments of schools around the country.

The district has approximately 14,500 students and 17 public schools — but in 2011, the district was not utilizing technology in the classroom. That has all changed now that Richard O’Malley started as the district’s superintendent.

The changes in technology alone have given the schools national recognition, as they were the first K-12 district in the U.S. to leverage the Blackboard Mobile Central platform. In 2011, the district partnered with Washington, D.C.-based Blackboard Inc., to launch a custom-designed mobile application to enhance school communities.

The mobile application, My Edison, is free for students, parents and the community, and gives access to school news, district-wide events, maps, contact directories and more, all via smartphones, mobile devices and platforms.

Edison Township School District is one of the first K-12 districts to pursue a mobile strategy, as well as the district’s Parent Portal, giving parents the ability to securely access information on their child’s schedules, grades and attendance.

The move to utilizing greater technology was in response to a shift in students’ learning methods — most of which were heavily influenced by technology. During the same time as the mobile app was launching for the district, the schools also saw the implementation of iPads in freshman algebra classrooms, through a partnership with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

What started out as a small advancement has now grown to over 300 iPads in algebra and geometry classes, including distributing iPads to eighth grade students in honors algebra classes this year.

“This is where it is heading into the future, and there are endless opportunities [with the use of iPads],” said Joe Riggi, eighth grade algebra teacher at the district’s Woodrow Wilson Middle School, in a statement.

Another technology that has been integrated into the classrooms throughout the district is Promethean’s ActivTables. The ActivTables are at four middle schools in the district and have made up the largest distribution of ActivTables in the nation.

The 16 tables in various classrooms at the middle schools all have a full 46-inch LCD HD display that works like an oversized tablet or iPad, allowing up to six students to work collaboratively on a single screen.

Even though the new technology is exciting, educators at Edison Township Public Schools say the innovations will not replace the district standards, or textbooks. Riggi explained in an article that even though iPads are great to have, nothing beats the learning environment with teacher and student interacting together. He explained, “That cannot be replaced.”

Technology Changes Design

The design of schools is changing and the focus now is to deliver students technology in collaborative and interactive spaces.

Along with all the gizmos and gadgets one would not assume that chairs and tables are making its way into the technologically advanced education market, but do not doubt that industry for a second. Furniture companies are hard at work developing solutions for students in the classroom. Along with Promethean’s ActivTables, VS America has also seen the evolution of classroom furniture and answered the needs of the changing market by developing its Lounge Series, which provides students the flexibility they need.

“It comprises of modular elements that allow you to create your own ‘landscape’ of soft seating,” said Carmen Klaus, business development manager for VS America. “The regular height backrests as well as the movable armrests can serve as a flat surface to put your laptop on while casually sitting on the seating area. The Hi-Back Lounge elements create privacy before you go ahead and share your work.”

As learning in the classroom progresses, classroom design is not far behind. Although VS America was not directly involved with Edison Township Public Schools, the company has delivered furniture to other districts who are also changing the way classrooms looks in order to meet different learning styles of students today.

“It generally seems that a lot of previous stationary IT equipment in educational environments is traded in for laptops. The added flexibility by just being able to pick up and sit wherever to work with your laptops is great because now students don’t have to stay within the walls of the media center or computer lab but can truly work throughout the school (or even at home),” said Klaus.

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New Awards at 2011 CEFPI Annual Conference

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) presented two new awards, the CEFPI Fellowship Award and the Industry Partner Award, at its 88th Annual World Conference & Expo in Nashville, Tenn., at the Gaylord Opryland Resort.

The Fellowship Award is one of the organization’s most distinguished honors, conferred by the Council to members who have provided exemplary contributions to CEFPI for many years. Charter members of the Fellowship group were selected at the September event.

The award went to fellows from Stanton Leggett & Associates, tBP/Architecture, DeJONG, Tandus Flooring, Fanning Howey, Planning Advocates Inc., Kirkbride Associates, The Beresford Co., McKnight Associates, and Planning Alliance. The fellows are long-standing recognized experts in their fields who push the industries and the associations forward by volunteering for committee assignments and positions of leadership, lending innovation and progressive thinking.

As the most respected members of the CEFPI community, they represent the mark of excellence in the industries in which they serve tirelessly and selflessly in support of the associations, according to CEFPI.

Ushering in the Industry Partner Award, CEFPI recognized VS America Inc. as its first award winner as well as Tandus Flooring and FrontRow as runners-up. This newly established award is designed to highlight innovation in materials, technology, products and services that are key elements in defining healthy, high performance schools. The competition recognizes the efforts and foresight of the companies whose policies bring new products that simulate life and growth in educational facilities.

VS America’s ergonomically designed furniture is produced by Vereinigte Spezialmoebelfabriken GmbH & Co. KG, a German manufacturer that has focused on the educational market for more than 100 years. It utilizes a management system based on the ISO 9001:2008 standard to meet higher quality and rigorous environmental standards. Founded in 2003, VS America uses raw materials with minimum environmental impact and follows safe, environmentally sound manufacturing processes, including raw material procurement and manufacturing recyclable furniture. Product lines are safely produced from recyclable materials, are low emitting, and meet strict GREENGUARD certification requirements and the worldwide environmental policy, ISO 14001.

Tandus Flooring provides a product line of Powerbond, modular, broadloom and woven products that work in tandem to provide "fit-for-purpose" flooring systems that enhance educational environments. Powerbond, a recipient of the Antron Sustainable Flooring Performance Award, is a hybrid resilient sheet flooring that suits any classroom and is more durable than carpet, VCT, linoleum and rubber flooring.

With more than 45 years in education, FrontRow systems are designed specifically for speech intelligibility, childhood development, evolving technology, and real-world usability. FrontRow classroom amplification systems can improve a teacher’s clarity so that children in the back of the classroom can hear just as clearly as those in the front. The firm’s products are used in over 60 countries and tens of thousands of classrooms worldwide. With FrontRow systems, classroom sound quality is improved, thus increasing student comprehension and test scores while reducing behavioral problems.

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Kids Fidget and Rock While Learning More

SAN FRANCISCO — When we think about learning and ergonomics in the classroom, we may not be picturing kids rocking on their chairs, or sitting backwards on them, but those movements are precisely what is needed to facilitate learning, sustain concentration and maintain healthy posture, according to Dieter Breithecker, a health and kinetics scientist, and head of the Federal Institute on the Development of Posture and Exercise in Germany, who was at the VS America booth at NSBA.

“For mental and physical surviving, it is crucial that kids in elementary school are fidgety and rock,” Breithecker said. “It is important for their health, attention and concentration. It means they have more overall oxygen supply, higher temperature and more oxygen in their brain.”

In an interview at the National School Board Association show, Breithecker explained how hip rotations, on a chair deigned by VS America, can cause the brain to activate neurotrophins, resulting in better concentration.

The PantoMove chair, with a 3D rocking mechanism and concave base, allows students to move their hips in patterns: sideways, swivel, and forward and back. Breithecker emphasized the need to eliminate rigid furniture. He said the mechanics of chairs must allow for children’s bodies to be in motion whereby the blood flow is facilitated by the interdependency between movement and brain activity.

Dynamic sitting provides students flexibility needed to expend energy and, at the same time, to focus on their work instead of having to focus on how to keep still, according to VS, a company whose history dates back to 1898, when it was formed by the amalgamation of four school-furniture manufacturers.

In 1945, major changes after WWII impacted school furniture design as the rigid school bench was pushed into the background and more flexible seating options were sought after. Since then, the trend shows less movement in the classroom increasing significantly. Since 1940, the hours per day students sit has grown, from five up to 10, while the number of hours spent moving has dropped from just near seven hours to less than one hour a day, according to Breithecker.

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