from around Texas to continue dialogue about the ways in which mobile learning can be implemented in K-12 schools. Couch came to McAllen for the event and toured two MISD schools to see mobile devices at work, including Diane Alvarez’s fifth-grade class at Jackson Elementary. Couch beamed as he heard students excitedly explain how technology brings life to their learning. “at conference was a pep rally for the kind of 21st-century learning that equips teachers and administrators to make real change in the lives of students in an area of the world that is often overlooked and marginalized,” said George Saltsman (’90), executive director of ACU’s Task Force for Innovation, Learning and Educational Technology. e experience helped open doors in 2012 that led ACU to create Connected Consulting, a professional development organization partnering with K-12 districts and higher education institutions to create their own mobile-learning programs, and provides initial teacher training and ongoing support through an online learning community. Connected Consulting offers on- and off-site training and draws on a core team of academic innovators from around the world, most of whom are Apple Distinguished Educators. e new organization is engaged in three-year partnerships with 17 school districts around the nation, helping more than 2,600 teachers use technology to transform their learning environment. e last batch of Apple devices arrived in November in McAllen, where pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students use iPod touches and grades 1-12 have iPads. Diane Alvarez said her students at Jackson Elementary love their iPads, using them every day to take photographs for use in their projects, as a microscope, and for in-class Web research through Kidrex.com (a child-safe Internet search engine). “To do research just a few years ago, we would have to all walk down to the library, and worry about whether there were enough encyclopedias for everyone and whether or not they were current,” she said. “e iPad has changed everything in my classroom.” Abel said the school district is now “the talk of the education world,” and Saltsman said Apple sees Connected Consulting as an ideal partnership between ACU and K-12 districts such as MISD. “Abel is always the ambassador, always thinking about how to connect ACU with others, and how to bring our influence into his community,” Saltsman said. “And he believes every child in the Valley would be best served with an ACU education.”
The urgency of living on borrowed time Other than God, his church ministry and his family, Abel says ACU is the most important influence in his life. “I tell myself, ‘You’ve been around for 50 years. What have you done?’ In many ways, I’m still trying to figure what I’ll be when I grow up, but I realize I’m running out of time. “I figure I’m here for a reason,” Abel said. “I almost died at age 28 with a wife and two small kids. I had a kidney transplant and my body rejected it, which caused all kinds of other problems. I begged God, ‘Let me live long enough to get these kids to a point where they are not starting out in life like I did.’ He’s kept his end of the bargain, so I need to keep mine. I feel like I’m living on borrowed time, and at times, like I am running on fumes. I don’t know if I have five or 10 years left. So it’s part of the drive I feel.” is summer, his agreement with God looked to be a finished sale. Abel was hospitalized with sepsis – systemic inflammatory response syndrome, a bacterial poisoning of the blood that causes organs and body systems to shut down. With Abel near death, McConnell drove to McAllen to pray in person with the Alvarez family. Some 30 of Abel’s relatives traveled from California to be with him, sensing the end was near but he gradually recovered with an even greater renewed sense of purpose. e university feels his influence not only in South Texas but on campus, where he is a member of the ACU Board of Trustees, bringing his insight and energy to every challenge and opportunity. “His whole life, Abel has been going against the grain,” McConnell said. “He shouldn’t be where he is, given where he came from and what he’s been through. He is totally focused on others, but he also is relentless. When he puts his mind to something, it’s going to happen.” “Aside from my grandfather, I have never known a more selfless person than Abel,” Diane said. “He has this huge heart for people; he would do anything for anyone. He puts everybody first and himself last, even to his own detriment. I feel shamed at times because he gives so much of himself and loves people so deeply. He walks the walk. He has a gift for people..”䊱 For more: acu.edu/connected and connectedconsulting.com and mcallenisd.org
ACU helps MISD students such as (from left) Alexa Gutierrez, Robert Martinez and Ethan Bazan learn to use mobile-learning technology to enrich their classroom experience.
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