The move is part of the telecommunication company’s award-winning education initiative, Verizon Innovative Learning, according to a recent CMSD press release.
To bring this vision to life, the school district collaborated with Verizon and other organizations, including the Heart of America and the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at Arizona State University.
The goal of this new lab is to help change the way teachers teach and students learn.
“Verizon Innovative Learning is allowing students to do more and enables hands-on experiences for students with emerging technologies,” the release said.
Heart of America will offer state-of-the-art space in collaboration with the schools and district teams, whereas the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at Arizona State University will provide a “project-based curriculum and training for the teachers.”
In a brief ceremony on Tuesday, the new lab finally opened its doors to residents.
The lab is intended to offer students and teachers access to new technology, such as augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing and artificial intelligence.
For the past 10 years, Verizon has been working to address digital inclusion for students and teachers. Since 2012, the program has committed over $1 billion to support digital equity — reaching nearly 2 million students.
“So many students across the nation lack the access to technology and resources they need to be successful in today’s digital world,” said Verizon representative Krista Bistline in a recent statement. “On behalf of Verizon, we are excited to enable students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District with this multiyear initiative that integrates emerging technology with an online, project-based curriculum and real-world problem-solving in a custom-designed, experiential learning lab.”
This past September, the school district also announced it would be partnering with Verizon to provide more free technology, such as new devices, Internet access, and innovative STEM learning programs at “Local Title I Schools,” where children from low-income families make up at least 40 percent of enrollment.
Those schools include Douglas MacArthur Girls’ Leadership Academy; Euclid Park School; Garfield School; George Washington Carver STEM School; and Kenneth W. Clement Boys’ Leadership Academy.
The “Verizon Innovative Learning” schools will also be equipped with a technology coach to provide professional development support for teachers, helping them explore new ways of teaching and elevating student engagement.
The schools will be among the 50 new schools to join Verizon’s Innovative Learning Schools for the 2022-23 school year, equipping almost 30,000 students- around 561 schools nationwide- with the latest technological resources.
“The expansion of the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program in these five schools is another example of our district’s commitment to ensure that our learners have the ability to engage in innovative academic tasks where they can demonstrate their learning in authentic and meaningful ways,” said Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon in a recent statement. “I am so grateful to Verizon for this investment in the scholars and educators of CMSD.”
In its wake, the pandemic exposed the enormous digital divide in Cuyahoga county as students, their families, and the school district switched to online learning. In 2020, At least 20% of households — including more than half of Cleveland households with incomes below $20k— had no access to the Internet.
To address the issue, Cuyahoga County, the Cleveland Foundation, and telecommunications giant T-Mobile formed the “Digital Equity Coalition” to help close the gap.
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