Maranatha High School Introduces the Tile Department

Maranatha continues its series to help you become better acquainted with each department at Maranatha.

One of Maranatha’s smaller, but impactful, departments is the Technology Integration Learning Environment, or simply, the TILE Lab. The TILE Lab’s educational initiative emphasizes computer aided design, engineering, and computer science to help students gain traction in colleges and organizations across the country via a maker-centered/project based learning framework. While maker-centered learning is not a new concept, recent and emerging educational trends suggest a new kind of hands-on pedagogy—a responsive and flexible pedagogy that encourages community and collaboration (a do-it-together mentality), distributed teaching and learning, and crossing boundaries within the classroom.

Part of the demand for this maker-centered learning is due in part to the rise of exponential technologies impacting nearly every sector of the workplace. As more industries become data driven and software oriented, the skills required to maintain jobs in work environments will be outdated every 2-4 years. Future workers will need to be “learning as they are working” and share their knowledge with members of their organizations to navigate the new era of acceleration. Students will need to develop and sustain a sense of agency to empower them towards building meaningful lives in the 21st century, while preserving their Godly character. This is where the TILE Lab offers a unique, values-based ecosystem, where humanity and purpose thrives through the use of technology.

The department is led by its Chair, Miguel Almena, along with Dr. Ted Yu. Student Joshua Li ’22 is the department’s intern, and Charles Walker ’22 is their honorary intern. When asked what makes their team unique, Mr. Almena replied, “Our core notion is simple: Rather than increasing human capital or physical assets, we leverage information and technology to achieve rapid expansion, in pursuit of our massive transformational purpose. In doing so we’re able to scale our strategy, culture, organizational framework and purpose at the rate as the technology, i.e. one that follows the exponential curve.”

In closing, MHS asked if there was anything else they should know about their team. He replied, “Well, we all have a major sweet tooth!”

Maranatha High School, 169 S. St. John Avenue, Pasadena, (626) 817-4000 or visit www.maranathahighschool.org.