Every month, we award a deserving educator with $500 towards EdTech from our store through our technology grant program. We love giving back to the educators who work so hard to bring innovative learning opportunities to their students. For the month of November, we’ve awarded the grant to Jason Kissel, who works with students and teachers at over 30 schools! Jason is the Tech Liaison from the South-Western City School District in Grove City, Ohio and he is responsible for helping teachers at the district’s 32 schools integrate new tech into their instruction—in all areas of the curriculum, not just STEM classes.
Jason’s application was one of the first we received for the month of November and it was certainly unique. We didn’t see much wrong with his vision for using technology in education, either. For Jason, he hears a lot about using technology in career tech and STEM-focused classes a lot more often than he hears about it being used in other subject areas. While this does make some sense, it’s his belief that technology use shouldn’t be dictated by the subject matter. Technology can help students in all different classes and he doesn’t see why its use should be limited.
So, Jason came up with the idea of creating a district-wide pilot program that centers on the incorporation of a certain piece of technology. He chose 3D printing as the technology to focus on and, as this month’s grant recipient, we’ll be providing him with a FlashForge Finder 3D printer and some filaments. He wants his younger students to see what it’s like to actually create with a 3D printer and allow as many of the district’s teachers to make use of it as possible. Since Jason is responsible for working with educators in all 32 of the district’s buildings and helping them integrate technology effectively, his mission could be challenging, but we’re excited to help play a role in its success!
Eventually, Jason wants to lead professional development sessions for the teachers in his district. In his mind, these sessions could vary on what tech tool or tools they cover and they could be changed whenever necessary. The FLASHFORGE 3D printer would be a great one to start with and we definitely think this is a great idea for engaging more members of the school community. With the printer he’ll receive, Jason hopes to get everybody on board so he can start leading larger sessions with more tech products—possibly even a whole bunch of 3D printers! He’s also planning on working with teachers who teach all different subjects and brainstorming ways to incorporate the 3D printer into different content areas.
Jason wants the students in the district to see that technology can enhance and drive many different academic subjects—not just those in the technology fields. Just the same, technology now has the power to shape any future career and not just one that’s in a tech-specific field. One of Jason’s ideas is to have geometry teachers use the 3D printer and challenge their students to create an object with the exact dimension requirements they’re given—one of the coolest ideas for 3D printing in education we’ve heard about! He also has ideas for how to use the 3D printer in science and language arts classes at different grade levels. And, as he and his students use the printer more and more, we’re confident the creative ideas will continue to be born.
In Jason’s eyes, his students aren’t always given every opportunity to prepare for their futures by leveraging the power that today’s educational technology has. He not only wants to change that by acquiring new tech for them to try, but he wants to start a shift in the mindset that’s employed by members of the school community. This is what he thinks will spark a real change in the way students are taught, the tools they use, and the results that are achieved. In the next six months, Jason wants teachers and students to develop as big of a library of 3D printed objects as possible using the printer he’ll receive through the grant. As the ideas and learning experiences start to mature, he’s confident that it will help bring more innovative technology, including additional 3D printers into the South-Western City School District!
We thank Jason for applying for our grant and admire his determination to bring greater equity to the students he serves! We also can’t wait to see how the teachers in the district are able to expand their instructional abilities after practicing with the 3D printer. To keep up with any news about Jason’s project, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram. And, if you would like to apply for our December EdTech grant, you can find the application here.