In this week’s class, we got the opportunity to hear from Jeff Hopkins, the founder of the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry also known as PSII. We are lucky enough to have PSII located right here in Victoria. We were told that it is one of the only innovation schools in British Columbia. I found it very interesting how Hopkins started this school, and how he felt that kids were stuck in this repetitive cycle of only being taught what they needed to be taught and not being allowed to explore further into topics they enjoyed. I also found it fascinating how they have two curriculums, emergent and personal as well as the common curriculum. The emergent and personal curriculum give students the chance to create an inquiry project, which will help them develop and gain knowledge of something they want to learn more about. They still have to touch the regular curriculum but do it in a way that is more comfortable for students. They have drop-in times for their curriculum classes which I think is a great idea for students who want one on one help or a smaller class setting. I know someone who attended this school back in high school and he never had a bad thing to say about it!

Other things I wanted to look into were the tools and resources they use in their program. I keep hearing everyone talk about Trello and how great it is but honestly have never heard of it before. I took this opportunity to go to the Trello website and find out more about what it is and how to use it. Although you have to pay for Trello they do have an option on their website where you can find out more about it. I watched the quick video and honestly I think it would be very helpful in a classroom setting or even using it now in university. This site is all about assignments and group work. You can create a board and add as many people as you would like, and you can split things up into categories such as To Do, Doing and Done. I know this would be a great way to keep track of when our assignments are due!!

I wanted to take a look at one of the other resources mentioned. I choose to look at StudioBinder. It is free to anyone who wants to make an account. This website is all about video and film, it allows you to write scripts or upload them, and you can categorize characters, props, extras and other scenarios for your projects. There is even a somewhat similar Pinterest Board where you can post pictures for your project’s image or layouts. You can also schedule when you want things done to hold yourself accountable for your assignments. Another thing I found interesting on this site was the ability to send notifications to those who are in your video or film to let them know they will be needed on a certain day. This also gives those the option to send a clarification text saying they will be there that day! I think that is such a cool feature.

Overall I enjoyed Jeff’s presentation and am curious if innovation and inquiry will ever work for younger age groups or if it is better for high school kids.