Team Talk from Home Base

Learning to Make the Most of Home Base

With this issue, Home Base Biweekly Update is launching a new monthly column from DPI staff focusing on their work to support North Carolina schools and educators in making the best and most effective use of the state's suite of digital tools.

By Yanisha Mann

Instructional Improvement System Consultant

I confess: I’m a millennial and a technology native. I believe that technology will change education for the better in North Carolina. In fact, it already is.

Yes, it’s my job to say all that. For the last 13 years I’ve been in education and since July, working for the Department of Public Instruction as the lead for Schoolnet, Canvas and the NC Learning Object Repository, which are all tools included in Home Base. But as a teacher, principal and district administrator, I had the chance to learn first-hand how technology – used in smart ways – really can help make teaching and learning more effective for teachers and students.

Now, as part of DPI’s Home Base team, I’m helping to support educators across North Carolina to make effective use of our technology every day, in virtually every classroom. I believe that all students benefit as a result.

Read more ...

PowerTeacher Pro Implementation Plan

Over the past two months, a group of representatives from various parts of the state worked together to develop an implementation plan for the release of PowerTeacher Pro. Access the full plan here. 

In addition to the development of the implementation plan, we recently administered a statewide survey regarding participation in Cohort I of the PowerTeacher Pro release.

This first cohort will be rolling out PowerTeacher Pro at the start of the 2017-18 school year and will soon begin receiving targeted professional development and technical assistance. 

If you have any questions about the implementation plan or the rollout of PowerTeacher Pro, please contact Hunter Huffman at 919-807-3633 or hunter.huffman@dpi.nc.gov.

Truenorthlogic

NCEES Webinars

Please check out the NCEES Wiki for all of the upcoming webinars scheduled for this school year.  We encourage educators to register and learn more about the NCEES System.  The NCEES Webinars and Office Hours are scheduled on Tuesday afternoons.  See webinars below:

NCEES Webinar: Teacher Leadership Standards

Tuesday, March 28, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

April 2017

NCEES Webinar: Executive Standard 7 - Micro-Political Leadership

Tuesday, April 4, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

NCEES Webinar: Teachers/Support Staff End of Year Process

Tuesday, April 11, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

PD System: Management and End of Year Activities

Tuesday, April 18, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

Educator Effectiveness Office Hours

Tuesday, April 25, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

Professional Development Courses

Mark your calendars! Our Spring session of facilitated online courses opened on Monday.  Below is the list of instructor–facilitated online courses being offered by Educator Effectiveness.  Our facilitated courses provide the opportunity to interact with peers and an instructor along with high-quality professional development.  They combine the flexibility of working from anywhere at any time, and the benefits of working with a cohort of peers.

All courses will start Monday, April 3. Go to DPI's Online Professional Development website for more detailed information about courses.

• Building and Sustaining Professional Development (6 weeks, 1.0 CEU)
• Connecting with our 21st Century Learners (5 weeks, 1.0 CEU)
• Digital Literacies in the K-12 Classroom (7 weeks, 1.5 CEUs)
• Effective Digital Strategies for Teaching and Learning in the K-12 Classroom: A PD MOOClet (6 weeks, 2.0 CEUs)
• Introduction to Data Literacy (5 weeks, 1.0 CEU)
• Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects, Part 1 (5 weeks, 0.5 CEU)
• Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects, Part 2 (7 weeks, 1.0 CEU)
• North Carolina Teacher Standards and Evaluation Process (6 weeks, 2.0 CEUs)
• Responsibilities of the 21st-Century Educator (7 weeks, 1.0 CEU)
• Seize the Data Part 1 (7 weeks, 2.0 CEUs)
• Universal Design for Learning 1: UDL in the Everyday Classroom (6 weeks, 1.5 CEUs)
• Universal Design for Learning 2: UDL in the Everyday Classroom (5 weeks, 1.0 CEU)

Discover Schoolnet

There was no "“Wired Wednesday” last week, but hopefully you or your colleagues have attended one of the many conferences occurring in this month to gain more Schoolnet knowledge! 

Schoolnet has been a hot topic as we have just renewed our contract for the 2017-2018 school year. Yay! 

Don’t forget to visit your NC: Home Base Schoolnet Professional Learning Plan for resources to help make the most of Schoolnet.

Our next scheduled webinar is on Mar 29, and this will be a very helpful session for those with EOG/EOC courses wanting to provide more targeted instruction at the end of the school year.

Remember to check the splash for updates and submit concerns to your district representative if a help desk ticket is required.

Quick Tips

Classrooms for Teachers

Do you need to know if students are struggling with a specific items on your last classroom test? Go to Classrooms, student performance, item analysis. This will allow you to analyze your test by each item on the test. You will then be able to re-organize your data, sort, and determine what misconceptions students may have about the questions they are asked.

Classrooms for Leadership

In the Student Performance section of the Classrooms, you will also notice you can see the same teacher data. As leadership, you can also look at any benchmarks in the “School and District Data” tab for item analysis reporting. This can help you to determine if the questions you used “meet your mark” for assessment.

Upcoming Professional Learning

Check with your district level Schoolnet lead (click here). They will determine if they have the staff to provide the professional learning or if they need to request a district training. If the lead can host a district training, please have them contact a DTL Regional Consultant for more details.

Upcoming Webinars

Wed, Mar 29, 3:30-4:30 p.m.

Click here to find information from past postings.

Still need help? You may also have your LEA/District Schoolnet Lead contact the Home Base Support Center through the Remedy web portal https://nc-myit.us.onbmc.com or (919) 807-4357.