Webmaker/HiveKansasCity/BrightSpots
Project Bright Spots Wiki
Major Goals:
• Share existing examples of “Bright Spots” of teaching and learning in the KC
• Develop a city-wide dialogue and a collaborative community of educators,
The Concept:
Kansas City is not currently known for innovation or excellence in education. However “bright spots”-- isolated examples of innovative and inspiring teaching and learning--do exist. Project Bright Spots exists to illuminate such examples, share them with the greater Kansas City community, and spark dialogue and support so such examples of excellence and innovation can spread throughout the region, serving as inspiration to students, teachers and the community at large. Project Bright Spot acknowledges that currently, the vehicle to share, convene, posit and brainstorm new innovative solutions does not yet exist. Project Bright Spots is the solution to create such a forum. Project Bright Spots works to highlight existing innovative and effective teaching and learning experiences in K-12 settings across the Kansas City metropolitan area, while also spurring conversation about how to create new collaborations/innovations. Project Bright Spots will accomplish this goal by providing a showcase for innovative and effective teaching and learning, and also as a place to use integrative and multi-media technology to build community and catalyze citywide conversations around innovation in education. Project Bright Spots will accomplish this by developing a web interface that engages teachers and students in dialogue about innovation in education, as well as acting as an archive of existing examples. A “live feed” by nature, the interface, entitled “The Project Bright Spots Feed,” will act as a twitter feed, but will be segmented into three columns: dilemmas, ideas for solutions, existing examples & inspiration. Users can enter submissions into any of the three categories through the use of a username. Submissions can be text, photos or videos—imagine a twitter/instagram/facebook feed, but segmented into three columns and dedicated to all things innovation in Kansas City education.
Report-Outs
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Project Bright Spots Partners
Alta Vista Charter School; KIPP Endeavor Academy; Ewing Marion Kauffman School; Genesis Promise Academy; Crossroads Academy; Benjamin Banneker; Upper Room
Metrics & Outcomes
Tech Outcomes
We will build a multi-media web platform to showcase the "bright spots," or excellent inspirations and solutions currently present in Kansas City education. We set a goal to have 50 original videos uploaded & tagged, 100 links uploaded & tagged, 100 dilemmas will be recorded by users in the “dilemmas” section by end of the 12 week period, and 100 ideas of solutions will be recorded. Additionally, by the end of the 12 week period, we will also have the capabilities to live stream from any location with a webcam and internet connection. This technology itself is not necessarily new but its use is innovative because the current landscape of Kansas City education is particularly fractured and silo-ed. Educators, parents, and learners cannot convene quickly and easily to spread the educational solutions pioneered in other classrooms across the city. Through Project Bright Spots however, all three parties can access multiple approaches to similar problems as well as find new ideas or inspiration to push education in Kansas City further, faster.
Learning Outcomes
By participating in the pilot, teachers, students, and parents will be more informed concerning developments in education in Kansas City. Specifically, teachers and students will be targeted to share their insights into the three delineated sections of the Project Bright Spots Live Feed, sharing their own dilemmas, ideas for solutions and examples of bright spots. Project Bright Spot intentionally includes students, as students are the ultimate consumer of education. Engaging students in this process will help teachers receive honest feedback, as well as inspire teachers to create engaging, innovative solutions that have high impact on the learning of their students. In turn, involving students will give students a sense of agency in the educational process and will aid in the creation of a robust community.
Community Outcomes
We will share how our project impacts the KC community. Stay tuned!
Show & Tell
Check out The Lean Lab's live stream of their Demo Day, where fellows presented their solutions for education in Kansas City after learning the basics of Design Thinking and Lean Startup for Educators.
We are Open >> Learn More
- Visit us on the web. www.projectbrightspots.com
- Follow us on Twitter. @p_brightspots
- Check out our Github.