Twelve educators and educational leaders from the St. Thomas-St. John district received the President’s Award at the Northwest Council for Computer Education (NCCE) 46th Annual Conference and Expo for their innovative and successful practices of technology use in education. The conference, themed, “Bridging Today’s Capabilities with Tomorrow’s Opportunities” was held March 22-24 in Portland, Ore., and brings together educators of all grade levels to share discoveries and develop solutions to challenges they face while connecting to a global network of education resources.
The Virgin Islands Department of Education has been involved with NCCE since 2014 through sponsorship of the Department’s Territories and Freely Associated States Educational Grant (T&FASEG). NCCE teaches educators how to integrate technology into their classrooms through a train-the-trainers initiative known as Technology Integration to Improve Teaching and Learning (TITL). This year, TITL educators were not only conference attendees, but also conference presenters. They gave presentations on topics, such as working smarter, not harder; educational software; and nurturing technology use in the classroom and for school administrators.
Alice Joseph, Department of Education T&FASEG program director, expressed pride in the employees that attended the conference. “Our teachers presented on relevant and interested topics and demonstrated full knowledge and experience on their topics,” Ms. Joseph said. “As I sat in on the presentations, and in a few instances, I had to stand because the room was full, I felt a sense of pride. I am very proud and do appreciate all of the TITL participants.”
Shortly before the keynote addresses, given by Google’s Jamie Casap and Kevin Carroll, a former Nike executive and founder of Kevin Carroll Katalyst, LLC, NCCE’s president Richard Snyder presented the VIDE educators with the 2017 President’s Award for their significant strides in technology innovation in the St. Thomas-St. John district.
“In 2012, NCCE helped to develop a program that was built to foster leadership in teaching and the effective use of technology,” Mr. Snyder said. “We partnered with a group of energetic teachers that were excited to learn, yet struggled. They struggled with access to technology, they struggled with lack of resources for their students. They struggled with fear and hesitation to try something new. Five years later, this group of educators have become leaders at home and leaders abroad. They have embraced change and modelled growth-mindset in how they teach and learn.”
NCCE is the largest education organization in the Northwest devoted to providing professional development opportunities to educators. VIDE TITL educators have attended 2015, 2016 and 2017 conferences.
VIDE Presenters at the 2017 NCCE Conference:
- Kisha and Terence Corbett – presented “OneNote for Administrators”
- Judy King-Edmeade, Damiana Gonzalez-Williams and Eustacia Steinbergen-Mells presented “Nurturing Technology Use in Your Building Through Coaching, Engaging Professional Development, and Collaboration”
- Renita Rhymer presented “Burst Into Bloomz”
- Peter Wholihan and Leroy Groeneveldt presented “Virgin Islands & New Jersey Student Concerns: Technology and Data Empower Students”
- Donnia Attidore-Meyers presented “Working Smarter, Not Harder with Adobe Spark”
- Astrid Hypolite presented “OneNote: Everything in One Place”
- Juanita Frett presented “Kahoot It”
- Eleanor Francois presented “Using Technology for Formative-based Assessments”
The Department of Education’s Territorial Technology Operations Manager Rodney Hendrickson also attended the conference.
