), indicating what students should be working on during their time at the Center. As students enter, they scan their student IDs with a bar code reader, which then populates a Google Spreadsheet with their names and a timestamp. Teachers have access to the spreadsheet from their own computers, so they can see exactly when students arrive at the Learning Center. Students then hand the Prescription to Kitchen or his assistant, so the staff knows exactly what students should be doing.
This arrangement has effectively made every classroom larger. “Just imagine yourself as a classroom teacher and you probably want to send kids out to the hallway, but are afraid to because of X, Y, and Z – some teachers are hesitant of that,” Kitchen explains. “So now, this space has opened that. If you want to personalize your learning, which is what we’re doing nowadays anyway, you can send three or four kids down to the learning center with this prescription that allows us really to work with them.”
Apart from the furniture, what equipment is available for student use? Here’s a breakdown of the tech in the Learning Center:
- 2 Clevertouch Plus interactive touchscreens
- 1 Epson Brightlink Interactive Projector
- 2 wall-mounted TVs that can be hooked up to laptops and used as monitors
- 1 green screen room, which uses an iPad with a green screen app
- 5 desktop computers
- 10 Chromebooks
- 3 digital cameras
What About Books?
Can students still check out books? Absolutely. Big Walnut did not reduce its collection; they just consolidated it. In fact, students now have access to even more books than before, because Big Walnut is working on a partnership with the local public library to allow for inter-library loans with weekly deliveries to and from the school.
“So, in essence,” Sturtevant says, “we have expanded our library collection, not shrunk it.”
See it in Action
Take a look at this video to see the Learning Center in use and hear testimonials from the students who use it.
Big Walnut Middle School would like to thank the anonymous donor who gave to the Delaware County Foundation. Their grant made it possible to obtain many of the “extras” in the new Learning Center, such as the technology.
Are you interested in converting your library to a learning center?
Ed Kitchen, the Learning Center Coordinator for Big Walnut Middle School, is available for consulting and professional development. You can reach him at Big Walnut Middle School or on Twitter at @ekitchen87.