Office Depot Inc (NASDAQ:ODP) published an update on its initiative to make classrooms more technologically advanced. The company shared that its educators, enrolled under “Committed to Learning” program are constantly working with the Education Service Centre (ESC) Region 11 in North Texas towards this end.
Teamed up with ESC
Collaboration between Office Depot and ESC is termed as The Innovative Solutions Classroom, which is aimed to create an impactful learning environment to stimulate and support the ever changing needs of the classroom.
ESC Region 11 is among 20 education service centers, which were established by the Texas State Legislature, formed to provide technical assistance, professional development, and management of educational programs. ESC Region 11 currently offers services to 77 public school districts and 53 charter campuses in North Texas. Total of 67,940 educators and 556,895 students are part of the 10-county area covered by ESC Region 11.
Classroom environment impactful for students
In accordance with its commitment to make students future ready, Office Depot will bring new classroom designs to nearly 130 school districts and charters. The company will focus on providing flexible furniture alongside multiple options to use classroom space optimally. In this direction, the company has brought together education experts and ESC Region 11 to develop collaborative classroom design initiative.
Office Depot’s initiative holds significance as recent research has underscored the impact of classroom impact on student performance. It is found that collaborative classroom environment and spaces can affect nearly 20% of the variance in student learning. Becki Schwietz, senior director of K-12 initiatives for the company, said that he is hopeful to extend partnership with K12 stakeholders in order to develop and create classroom environments, where students will experience ‘real life’ learning.
It is noteworthy that Office Depot is aggressively investing in forming a national team of education experts. It is also collaborating with thought leaders outside its internal team to keep a track of changes in early literacy, entrepreneurship, cognitive computing, project-based learning and innovative learning spaces.
