Tim Wilson Blog ePortfolio

Developing a School Culture Around Design Thinking The tides of a paradigm shift in education are on the shore.  It is imperative that we prepare our learners to be confident in their abilities to adapt to a rapidly changing world. To instill an innovator’s mindset into all that we do. To get to this point, though, we must create systems of thought and actions that support our values. It is our mission “to inspire students to reach their highest level of personal and academic fulfillment.  To reach that goal, we are not afraid to chart a different path if we believe it will clearly benefit our students.” Innovation does not come from new ideas that suddenly pop into your head, but from ideas that are developed, tested, questioned, and reworked.  To best support this innovative mindset, we will be working on integrating the theories and practices of Design Thinking in all aspects of what we do here at Alcuin.  It is not our aim to change the role of the teacher i...

Forest City Innovation Academy Development Proposal Executive Summary As the development of Forest City Johor continues to progress there is a clear and strategically planned need for an internationally minded school to be included in the overall design of the city.  Forest City Innovation Academy (FCIA) will provide high quality, environmental and technology based education that aligns with the vision of Forest City, as the role model of a sustainable smart city well ahead of its time.   Background Forest City is an extensively planned and scaled sustainable, intelligent city development project of four man-made islands located in the Johor Straits between Malaysia and Singapore, where urbanism and sustainability form an equilibrium, creating a dynamic, highly efficient and fulfilling international community. Recommendations To meet the needs of the varied international community that will inhabit or commute to the islands, and in order to reach the standard...

In the recent years St. Francis College has made some changes in the area of technology.  Some eight years ago the school had dedicated labs with desktop computers for teachers to schedule at least weekly visits for their class and were available for more time as certain projects required.  About five years ago, these labs were removed over a weekend, in the middle of some class projects, as the school had purchased fifty Netbooks.  At this point it was much more difficult for students to gain access to the computers both through logistics and skills.  The computers had to be carted around, they were often out of battery, and an IT technician needed to be available to check them out.  As for skills, this meant that students needed to start-up and login each time, which is not incredibly difficult, but for younger students this could end up taking the entire lesson time to complete.  Four years later the Netbooks are failing.  The batteries run out qui...