Nurture Creativity and Self-Expression

The following success stories, case studies, research, and evaluation reports support this vision statement.

A.C. Mosley High School creates movies with a message.
K-12 Education - Success Story
Produced by Adobe Systems, Inc.
Students at A.C. Mosley High School are learning basic, intermediate, and advanced video production techniques. Using Adobe Production Studio, students create a daily news and other creative projects. The highlight of this program has been a video discouraging drunk-driving, required viewing by some organizations before students apply for a driver's license. With this program, students are producing quality work and are preparing for careers in broadcast and video.

High School in Indiana successfully incorporates video games into curriculum.
K-12 Education - Video Success Story
Produced by CBS News
At Oak Hill High School in Converse, Indiana, world history teacher David McDivitt has made video games a successful part of his lesson on World War II. Using Making History, an educational game produced by Muzzy Lane, Inc., Mr. McDivitt motivates his students and deepens their understanding of the material. The video game also encourages the students to learn and discuss topics outside of the classroom. While Mr. McDivitt continues to teach using orthodox methods, he plans to continue to incorporate video games into a part of his curriculum.

Moments of Joy: Student Engagement and Conceptual Learning in the Design of Hypermedia Documents
K-12 Education - Research
Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Volume 35 (3). By P.Chen and D.McGrath. 2003.
This study examined student engagement and the impact of hypermedia documents on conceptual learning. Student engagement was defined in this study as enjoyment, concentration, perceived control, exploration, and challenge. This engagement was monitored in four hypermedia tasks: chunking, linking, naming paths, and information organization. The study found a high degree of engagement in information organization and the students demonstrated greater understanding expressed in final knowledge representations. While students experienced differences in cognition and conceptual learning, the organization of information kept them engaged in challenging assignments.

Evaluating learning in the 21st century: a digital age learning matrix
Postsecondary - Research
Technology, Pedagogy and Education, Volume 20(1). Louise Starkey. 2011.
This article describes an evaluation tool developed using emerging ideas about knowledge creation and learning in a connected society. The digital age learning matrix was successfully trialed and applied in a study of six digitally able beginning teachers during their first year of teaching to identify aspects of learning occurring as digital technologies were integrated into their teaching practice.

Wiki as a Collaborative Learning Tool in a Language Arts Methods Class
Postsecondary - Research
Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Volume 42 (1). Conducted by K. Mathew, E. Felvegi, and R. Callaway. 2009.
The purpose of this study was to determine how contributing to a class wiki affected the learning of preservice teachers enrolled in a language arts methods class. Participants included 37 preservice teachers enrolled in three sections of a field-based language arts methods class during two semesters. Data collection included online observations of the development of the wiki pages, students' reflections periodically posted in WebCT, final reflections, e-mail correspondence, interview transcripts, and researcher notes. (This is a paid product for non-ISTE members at $5)