Last month, before COVID-19 hit North America hard, I welcomed the challenge of presenting eight “Flash App” workshops in four days, as part of the District School Board of Niagara’s Digital Learning Week. I visited four schools (grades 5-12) and ran morning and afternoon app building sessions of one, two and three hours.

It began with two high school groups at DSBN Academy, where MAD-learn was first introduced to Canadian students over five years ago. Matt West was happy to have his classes explore the program, even at just an introductory level. He plans on going further with it later in the school year. The same kind of excitement was generated at the other schools I visited, where both teachers and students expressed strong interest in using MAD-learn on a larger scale.

Beyond the success of the week’s visits, the experience reminded me of the amount of effort and endurance it takes to be a full-time teacher. What I did over four days is what I did for some 30 years, before joining MAD-learn. It is an exhausting, consuming rollercoaster that provides twice as many thrills as any amusement park ride. As tired as I sometimes got, I was immediately re-energized by the students. They were engaged, excited, and even disappointed that they had to break for recess!

MAD-teachers of the Month

The Lovett School is in its second year as a MAD-learn school, and in both iterations has provided the Middle School students with a unique learning opportunity using mobile app development. This year’s major project involved students exploring the stories of various refugees from around the world and their journeys to new lives. John Rice, Wesley Brown, and Teresa Young worked closely with MAD-learn to build the project from scratch. These three teachers enthusiastically led their charges through a powerful experience, the students building apps  that included sharing experiences (both of the refugees and their own understanding) showing destinations and time lines, and giving app users a firsthand experience.

A great example is one student’s “Refugees app” which is featured on the current MAD-store offerings. Each teacher brought their own unique perspectives and visions to the development of the project–not surprising, considering their varied list of backgrounds and accomplishments. These include a Woodward Award for Excellence in Teaching, Georgia State United Nations sponsor and even successful softball coach. We are proud to have these dedicated and talented educators on the MAD-learn team, and we look forward to seeing what lies ahead!

          

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