Iggy

No, not Iggy Pop. Saint Ignatius High School, Lakewood Ohio. I was off Friday, so I took the opportunity to visit St. Ignatius High School to visit Jonathan Jarc (@trendingedtech ) and his learning space. They took a regular computer lab (industrial carpet, rows of tables with desktops) , pulled everything out and created a more collaborative, creative space.  They made some of their own furniture, had a local person custom make some, and  bought some. There are several areas to do large/medium group teaching from, with TV & projectors having Apple TV’s connected.

They added some maker equipment that went with their new “Digital Literacy” 2D/3D design class that they started 3 years ago, replacing their “Computer Applications” course. All sophomores (~300) take this for a semester. One quarter is 2D design,working with vector graphics drawing and photoshop. The students use the cnc machine, laser cutter and vinyl cutter, as well as cardboard, for projects. The students have MacBooks.

The other quarter is 3D design, stepping things from 2D to 3D , while using laser cutter and 3D printers. They have an awesome toy/ornament design project. They do a high volume of printing and need the multiple machines. They have 6 regular printers and are getting 4 more. They have 4 , “specialty” 3D printers.
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The class is in the Art department. Jonathan and one other teacher teach this , as well as Tech PD duties, and a couple of other classes (like a 3D design elective for Juniors & Seniors. They have 28-30 students in each section and need more space. There is an old auxiliary gym that is only used for some things that they would love to take over.  They could also use another teacher so they can reduce class sizes (we all know how “easy” it is to just add a teacher to staff).

A couple of Art students actually mashed up some ideas and used the CNC to make patterns that they can roll their ceramics on.

I enjoyed some nice conversation with Jonathon. it is always nice to bounce thoughts and ideas off others who have similar interests.