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ATA librarian Sandra Anderson is clearly excited as she talks about receiving a $14,000 donation of robotics equipment that will enable her to create classroom kits for teachers around the province.
“I just can’t believe how generous they’ve been” Anderson says. “This is an amazing gift to teachers.”
Donated by the Educational Technology Council of the ATA (ETCATA), the technology will be added to the library’s makerspace collection. This fall, teachers will be able to borrow classroom kits of ozobots, beebots, micro:bits, makeymakeys, spheros, as well as scratch coding cards.
“We’ve never been able to offer classroom kits before. This is a game changer,” Anderson says. “I’m so excited about being able to mail these out to teachers.”
The new equipment is for all grades and will come with ideas developed by the council about how to use the robots in the classroom, says Nicole Lakusta, ETCATA’s professional development co-ordinator.
Some kits like the beebots are aimed at young students, while others like the sphero and makeymakeys can be used for grades 3 and up. All of these kits help students develop their computational thinking skills.
What is ETCATA?
The Educational Technology Council of the ATA offers resources and materials to support the mindful use of technology in classrooms. Along with public lectures and an annual conference, the council holds several meetings each year. For more information, visit www.etcata.ca (make sure you’re signed into your ATA account to view the website).
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Lakusta works at Parkland School Division as curriculum educational technology facilitator. Several years ago she discovered that the ATA library was starting to loan technology to teachers and she realized that the council could help the library while also filling its mandate of supporting technology in the classroom.
“The library has an awesome distribution system,” she says. “We wanted to get technology in the hands of teachers and this was the perfect solution. Helping the library helps us.”
Teachers can look for the new collection this fall by visiting the library webpage and clicking on Maker Kits in the Makerspace Collection box. Anderson advises that other kits of new technology are coming throughout the year, so interested teachers should check monthly for new additions. ❚
How to borrow technology
Sign into the ATA library page (http://library.teachers.ab.ca) with your ATA account.
Click the Maker Kits link to see a full listing of the maker kits available in the ATA library.
Kits are mailed to your school anywhere in the province and return postage is prepaid.
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Sandra Anderson,
ATA Librarian
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Nicole Lakusta,
Educational Technology Council of the ATA
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