“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
We’re pleased to announce the recent release of our newest feature: the catalog. While we're excited about the catalog's capabilities, we're even more excited about what it represents: collaboration. "The idea was first proposed at Spring CUE in 2016 by Tina Canon at Hemet Unified. Tina approached me and asked if it would be possible to get content from other districts easily. As we worked with other districts, we saw that many districts were creating very similar content. And we thought, why not make the content shareable within the broader community?"
All of the districts on our platform have contributed so much to this mutual knowledge base in such a short amount of time. The content is diverse: from technology integration into the classroom, to PBL and expanding your personal learning network. It's keeping up with educational trends: from the SAMR model* to G Suite for Education.
The Catalog
Collaboration not only means access to more content, but it also means a reduction in the cost and time commitment it takes to implement professional development. The valuable pedagogies that have already been developed by many of our districts will help new users to hit the ground running. They'll be able to build out their content quicker, and explore how long-time users employ our software in creating their PD platforms. Sharing also provides access to content that’s already been proven effective in other districts, so administrators can spend less time testing and assessing learning outcomes, and more time focusing on the bigger picture. Collaboration is key in building thoughtful, effective PD.
Take a look at what districts are saying about the new feature:
"The catalog feature saves time and allows Chrome Warrior administrators to focus on the pedagogy of the game instead of designing and writing sorties one by one. The ability to collaborate with other districts makes the overall games stronger for all of the participants across all Chrome Warrior districts. I am so pleased we adopted Chrome Warrior because it allows us the opportunity to grow and change with the needs of our district. It provides truly customizable professional development opportunities."
-Heidi Baynes, San Jacinto Unified School District
"The added feature of the catalog has allowed me to focus on the pedagogy of the game, rather than spending all my time creating my own tasks. Just as we encourage students to collaborate as 21st century learners, Chrome Warrior is allowing us to be collaborative professionals, using the catalog- and especially the search feature- to build on each others' ideas. Being able to search a topic to see how others have written tasks helps me creatively. The best part is- my version then goes into the catalog to help others, too. We are all on team Chrome Warrior!"
-Liz Hoppe, Hueneme Elementary School District
*Stay tuned for more information on how the catalog feature is providing districts access to SAMR Model learning.
