West Allegheny strives to provide its students with every opportunity to realize success. In the last few years the district has been challenged to prepare students for the technology-rich higher ed and career paths of the future. How could we provide a “connected” and relevant school experience for our “digital-native” teenagers?
We needed to re-engage our students, provide access to more modern technology, and prepare them for the future. How could we change our curriculum, environment, and instruction to provide a brand new educational experience? Could we develop one that would have students running TO school instead of AWAY from it?
That’s when we developed the idea to create West Allegheny’s Entertainment Technology Academy!
We followed a three-pronged approach:
- Implemented an innovative Entertainment Technology curriculum
- Renovated a traditional space into a creative and tech-rich design studio
- Trained teachers to use project-based learning and game-based learning (no more traditional lecture-based, teaching-to-the-test instruction!)
West Allegheny's Entertainment Technology Academy 