Recently, Yorkville High School in Yorkville, IL, was featured in a video produced by EdTech Magazine that highlighted the school’s recent transformation into a state-of-the-art collaborative learning hub.
The upgrades covered both the school’s technological infrastructure as well as furnishings and equipment provided by Projects by Design in order to provide students the most opportunity to interact with technology and each other.
“School Specialty formed a partnership with us from the project planning stages all the way through implementation. School Specialty helped us decide which pieces of furniture suited our vision, helped us design the furniture layouts and color schemes, and helped Yorkville change their spaces from a traditional high school setting into a 21st century collaborative learning environment. School Specialty was truly a one-stop-shop for our furniture needs,” said Yorkville Director of Technology Ryan Adkins.
The innovations at Yorkville include flexible furnishings that can be reconfigured to create a variety of collaborative environments, “fish bowls” for students who want to work in a more private setting, and an area dubbed the Learning Stairs (an amphitheater-like lobby where teachers can present interactive and collaborative experiences with help from a two-story-tall projection wall). There were also upgrades to the school’s STEM labs that facilitate the school’s recognized engineering program. All of these spaces include furnishings that charge and keep wireless devices safe.
As the video shows, Yorkville’s students and staff are excited about the changes and are already benefitting from the school’s forward-thinking approach to learning.
