The third phase of investigation was conducted during the formative research phase of the project in 2012. Following the literature review, and the environmental scan, in order to begin to develop specifications for what would become the Smithsonian Learning Lab, two phases of teacher research and prototyping were conducted. The first engaged a group of 20 educators in California in the spring of 2012. The second involved rapid pro...

This week, I attended a farewell “staff meeting" for G. Wayne Clough who is retiring this month. I was reminded of this quotation from Dr. Clough, the Smithsonian's 12th Secretary, at the occasion of the launch of the Learning Registry (a project we will talk about in greater detail on this site later): We have ambitious plans to use new technologies to reach new audiences. … We have much to offer students and teachers in ...

Just two weeks ago, I had the exciting opportunity to visit two schools that had completed Smithsonian Quest digital badges in the Midwest region of the United States. Smithsonian Quests are project-based learning experiences that highlight Smithsonian collections, research, and experts so that students can explore their own interests, build skills, and try out new roles, such as a historian or a scientist. This was such a uniq...

A second phase of investigation was conducted during the formative research phase of the project in 2012. Following the literature review, in order to gain insight into the current trends in digital learning, an environmental scan was conducted to inform development of the Learning Lab. A list of 32 websites for review was developed to provide a broad spectrum of sites to which K–12 teachers are exposed and which are attracting pa...

This is part 2 (read part 1 here) of a post summarizing the second phase of investigation that was conducted during the formative research phase of the project in 2012. Following the literature review, in order to gain insight into the current trends in digital learning, an environmental scan was conducted to inform development of the Learning Lab. A list of 32 websites for review was developed to provide a broad spectrum of sites ...