Edtech News out of Michigan: Innovation Thrives on Great Communication

America Votes for TOTY: http://www.toyawards.org/

What a company of dedicated, wonderful, and amazingly talented people can accomplish: School Zone Publishing Company's Little Scholar tablet is nominated for Toy of the Year in the Educational category. (Think Grammy or Bammy! for toys.) We are a company based in Grand Haven, Michigan, and we are proud of our roots in the West Michigan community.

Many educators share a common value: education for young people is a right, not a privilege. During my work-life, I have been a part of an interesting process: books turning into ebooks, which turn into interactive apps, and apps can even turn back into books. All of these type of publishing processes take programmers, graphic designers, illustrators, writers, quality assurance specialists, editors, and many others who are changing how education is defined because they are creating new ways of learning out of what has worked before. How can such a diverse group of people, in my experience, create an educational tablet for kids in a relatively short time period in a small town: they communicate with each other very well. Communication is key. Innovation thrives on great communication. The Humanities matter, the Arts matter, rhetoric and composition courses matter, creative writing courses matter, and the list, yes, fortunately, goes on...

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Shannon Mullally has a doctorate in Creative Writing and loves food studies. Find Shannon on twitter @SMMullally