Project History

    Montessori Live is in the final phase of development. We have completed production of 120+ hours and over 1,300 streaming video segments as of November 2009. We began filming in June of 2006. It has been a tremendous journey of creativity, determination, flexibility, false-starts, happy coincidences, and just plain luck.

    Over the past few years, the staff of Montessori Live has been focused on the development of our Elementary I training course. We are still adding videos to the library portion of our Website. Now that video production has been completed (we will always be tinkering!), we can focus on completing the video library collection. Now there is also time to increase our curriculum resources as well as support member discussion forums.

    Montessori Live is pioneering a relatively new model of distance education: video-based learning. Video has been around for many years, but streaming its content over the Internet is just now becoming possible. A necessary convergence has occurred between computer technology and connectivity. Montessori Live is committed to developing our programs based on best practice in teacher-training by distance as well as best practice in Montessori education.

    We know that not everyone agrees that Montessori methodology and philosophy can be communicated via distance. As with any medium, it is the instructional method that makes much of the difference. As we continue to refine our methodology, we know that our experience will benefit both the Montessori community as well as the fields of distance education and instructional technology.

    Montessori Live is a part of Island Village Montessori School, a public, non-profit charter school located in Sarasota County, Florida, USA. While our intention is that Montessori Live provide an important income stream for the school, we promise to keep our costs as low as possible.

    As an independent corporate entity, Island Village Montessori School does not have the financial pockets of a school district or large government agency that can provide free professional development. The Montessori Live program must pay its own way. Our commitment to students and members is to keep prices affordable and program models "adult-friendly."

    The future of Montessori Live is to provide multiple avenues for training: professional development, Montessori certification, graduate credit and degrees, as well as alternative certification for Montessori educators in the public sector. Our member newsletter will keep you current with regard to our progress.

    We look forward to having you join our online community! Thanks for coming this far!

Kym Elder
Project Director, Montessori Live
Executive Director, Island Village Montessori Schools