MindShare Learning

MindShare Learning is a leading EdTech industry consulting firm that counsels education leaders. The goal is to help such leaders understand the emerging needs of learners to succeed in the 21st Century.  

In the about section, it states that "Robert Martellacci and his associates collectively bring over 50 years of expertise to the K-12, post-secondary and private sector learning environments. He draws on his experience as a university administrator, where he specialized in sport marketing, public relations and business development in promoting the interests of York University. Most recently Mr. Martellacci augmented his expertise as a graduate of Pepperdine University Masters in Education Technology." To read more, go to the About the Principal Section.

The blog post I was most interested in was Why We Need Teacher-Innovators (Part 2). In this post, Timothy Gard examines just how crucial it is to have teacher-innovators and their affects on the future. As Timothy writes, "I believe that one of the failings of our educational systems that will haunt us in the future unless it is remedied is the lack of system leaders who are committed to creating teaching environments where teachers can collaborate, re-think and innovate. If we need teacher-innovators we also need administrators and system leaders who are also innovators and understand that dynamic learning environments do not happen on their own" (Gard, MindShare Blog). I can completely connect with this, as I have just recently had an experience in technology education that was unlike any of my previous educational courses. During Integration and Technology, Part One through UOIT I have had the opportunity not only to learn about certain technologies that will assist students, but to collaborate with fellow teachers in using the very technologies that will be helpful in the classroom. Such an experience allows the teacher to truly be the student again, and gives permission to play and engage and have fun with the tools that their students will also enjoy.  

As an educational professional, this article reinforces just how essential it is to engage our students with 21st Century learning skills. Though this is a fairly new goal of mine, I have continuously come across information over and over again that supports just how important it is that we as teachers are well equipped in this area of education. I completely support the framework that Teacher-innovators are necessary to facilitate the learning of strong student-innovators who will one day guide us as a country.