Nine educators from Cabarrus County learned through hands-on activities how to use today’s digital technology to increase student achievement in the classroom during four days at North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT), a national leader in professional development for teachers.
“It has been an amazing week for the nine of us,” said Cabarrus County Instructional Technology Coordinator Patti Freeman. “Even though this group is very tech savvy these were some new concepts for us and gave us things to take back and use in all our schools.”
Freeman said the group had already divided up how they would present the information to other educators in the district with sessions on how to create QR (Quick Response) codes and use Blendspace. QR codes can lead students to information by using computers or mobile devices. Blendspace allows teachers to create digital lesson plans to engage students. Freeman and her group were part of 17 educators from across North Carolina Jan. 14–17 at NCCAT.
Educators attending from Cabarrus County Schools were: Sarah Dabbs of Carl A. Furr Elementary; Maranda Daniel of Pitts School Road Elementary; Krista Eason of Harrisburg Elementary; Jacqueline Fletcher of Weddington Hills Elementary; Patti Freeman, Cabarrus County Central Office; Camella Herrin of Rocky River Elementary; Paula Shrum of Wolf Meadow Elementary; Mike Trump of Northwest Cabarrus Middle; and Erica Wallace of J.N. Fries Middle.
“There is a lot of technology out there, so to have a chance to be here and actually use it and to hear from other teachers around the state how they use technology in the classroom, is very valuable,” Trump said.
Each day was filled with a busy schedule of working with technology. As an example, one day teachers started out creating a Podcast, a form of audio broadcasting, which they downloaded to their group Edmodo page, which is known as the Facebook for teachers. Then using smart phones and tablets they were able to create QR Codes and learn how to use them in their curriculum. Presenter Glenn Gurley along with NCCAT Center Fellow Peter Julius led the week. Gurley said the Cabarrus County team quickly became part of the professional learning community by sharing throughout the week as they focused on new strategies and applications. The group used “Today’s Meet” as a backchannel communication method which facilitates exchange of ideas and resources in the classroom.
“It was a pleasure to have a cadre of technology specialist from Cabarrus County,” Gurley said. “Cabarrus continues to have a focus on effective instructional technology for their teachers and students. It is evident that it is a priority with their initiatives which include training their teachers on best practices and providing an open filtered network for BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) which greatly increases the technology available for students.”
Freeman said she was already seeing benefits of coming as a group to the seminar. “We were talking about how we got to know each other really well and know the skills we all have much better,” Freeman said. “Some people are good in some areas and some are good in others. It has really worked out well.” The next “Digital Learning Across the Curriculum” program in Cullowhee is scheduled for Feb. 12–15.
For information about registration call 828-293-5202 or 800-922-0482 (NC only) or email [email protected].