1. Mobile Among
the Museums
A Blended & Personalized Learning
Environment Leveraging Community
Resources for Improved Learner Outcomes
Stephanie Sandifer
@ssandifer

2. Stephanie Sandifer
@ssandifer
Online educator, learning designer, advocate for arts,
technology, and innovation in education, and mom of
three young Montessori learners.

3. Question…
How can we combine mobile technologies with
community and cultural resources to remove the walls
that separate school from community to transform the
learning experience into a more personalized and
engaging learning experience with improved academic
and social growth for all learners?

4. A+ Unlimited Potential
Mobile Middle School in
Houston Museum District
aplusup.org
Houston A+ Challenge
houstonaplus.org
Personalized • Museum-based • Technology-infused
Blended & Connected • Flexible • Relevant
Mastery-based • Student-driven

5. Problems
State of schools
Innovation
Technology
Instructional
Methods
Policies
Two Options:
Fine-Tune / Tweak
Innovate

6. Innovate
Revisit…
Challenge…
Re-imagine…
…our most basic assumptions about what school should
be… how it should look… where it should be located…
how it should operate…

7. Re-Imaging
Role of Teacher
Relationships
School as a place
Learning - process/product
Ownership
…the entire system itself…

8. Goals
4.5 yrs in 3
Problem-Solving
Character
Community Members
Communicators
…to inspire others to re-imagine the system for learning
in other communities… to spark the creation of many
more innovative learning environments everywhere…

9. A+ Unlimited Potential
Mobile Middle School in
Houston Museum District
aplusup.org
Houston A+ Challenge
houstonaplus.org
Personalized • Museum-based • Technology-infused
Blended & Connected • Flexible • Relevant
Mastery-based • Student-driven

11. What happens at the intersection of mobile,
blended, personalized learning, and the
meaningful use of community resources?

36. Inspiration
& Models
Science Leadership Academy
HOMAGO • Connected Learning
S.O.L.E. • Montessori • Dewey

37. Partnerships
Health Museum
Museum of Fine Arts
Holocaust Museum
Children’s Museum
Asia Society of TX
Houston Zoo

38. Open Application & Enrollment

39. …increased engagement, ownership,
meaningful progress…

44. Progress…

45. Key Elements
Mobile/Blended/Connected
Personalized
Embedded w/in Community
Student-Driven
Mastery-Based
Flexible & Agile
The elements -- the ingredients -- blend together to create a unique
and transformative learning experience for EVERYONE involved.

46. Future
Replication
Expansion
Charter
Spread to Existing Schools
Teacher Prep
…Ultimate goal… to transform educational experiences not for a
few hundred students, but for thousands or more…

47. Question…
How can we combine mobile technologies with
community and cultural resources to remove the walls
that separate school from community to transform the
learning experience into a more personalized and
engaging learning experience with improved academic
and social growth for all learners?

48. Discuss…
What ideas most resonate with you?
How could you do something like this in
your community?
What are your rich community
resources that could serve as a launch
pad for re-imagining school?

49. Questions?

50. A+ Unlimited Potential
aplusup.org
Houston A+ Challenge
houstonaplus.org
Stephanie Sandifer
@ssandifer