 Home Base at CCES 2019
INNOVATIVE PATHWAYS TO PERSONALIZED LEARNING
March 18-21, 2019
This conference merges the best of Home Base Symposium and Collaborative Conference for Student Achievement (CCSA) by:
- Providing educators and leaders relevant, research-based strategies to affect short- and long-term change in adult practices that foster innovative practices for student success.
- Providing support staff with professional learning and resources for the daily operations and needs of school communities.
- Supporting student and educator growth through the dissemination (or sharing) of data-driven strategies and resources.
- Recognizing and encouraging the collective contribution of communities of education stakeholders in individual and community-wide growth.
Early Bird Registration for the 2019 Connecting Communities of Education Stakeholders (CCES) conference opens Jan. 4, 2019, and continues to Feb. 1, 2019. All teachers, student services personnel, principals, superintendents, parents, school administrators, community and business representatives are invited. The new registration options provide additional flexibility for schools and districts. Visit the Participant Registration webpage for more information.
Conference location:
Sheraton Greensboro Hotel & Koury Convention Center
3121 West Gate City Blvd., Greensboro
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Marvin R. Pittman - 2019 NC Champions for Education Awards
Do you know someone who demonstrates an extraordinary commitment to student success? Someone who exemplifies leadership in education? Someone you believe has made a significant impact on students in North Carolina?
Consider them for the Marvin R. Pittman Champions for Education Awards. Categories for the award include: Teacher, Administrator, Support Staff, Volunteers
The Department of Public Instruction wishes to recognize those individuals during the 2019 Connecting Communities of Education Stakeholders Conference (CCES).
Please take a moment to nominate that deserving teacher, administrator, support staff or volunteer. Any individual supporting student success across NC is eligible for this award. Visit the CCES Champions Award page for information on submitting a nomination, nomination criteria, selection criteria, and application process.
Completed forms are due no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 4, 2019.
Winners will be notified on Feb. 18, 2019. All winners will receive an honorary conference registration.
Contact cces@dpi.nc.gov for questions or additional information.
 Home Base Maintenance This Weekend
Home Base maintenance is scheduled for this weekend, Dec. 14-17. Both PowerSchool and Schoolnet will undergo maintenance activities.
Home Base will be brought down Friday, Dec. 14 at 5 p.m. and returned to service no later than Monday, Dec. 17. Once maintenance is complete, a message will be sent to notify users that the application is up and available for use. If there is a delay in bringing up the system, users will be notified.
Questions or comments pertaining to this change in schedule may be addressed to home_base@dpi.nc.gov. Stay apprised of all Home Base planned maintenance periods by visiting our 2018-19 Home Base Maintenance Schedule.
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Announcing the Navigator: The online marketplace for NC work-based learning resources
NCDPI, in partnership with the NC Business Committee for Education (NCBCE) and with support from Fidelity Investments, is announcing the creation of the Navigator, an online marketplace that makes it easier for North Carolina educators to integrate work-based learning resources into their classrooms. On Dec. 12, educators were given access to the Navigator via NCEdCloud.
The Navigator platform operates like an online shopping experience, only everything on it is free. The inventory is made up of employer-offered, work-based learning activities, ranging from guest speakers to apprenticeships. Educators can search by keyword, county, or by using any number of filters including career clusters and age of audience.
The Navigator brings employers and educators together to increase real-world learning opportunities for students. Employers post opportunities, which we call resources. Educators log on and shop for those resources. Students gain increased access to work-based learning opportunities. And everything is free!
The Navigator Icon now appears in the NCEdCloud IAM Service Applications screen (RapidIdentity Portal). The primary resource NC educators will find on the site at this point is access to Students@Work (job shadowing / worksite visit) opportunities.
Starting in January, there will be a roll-out of guest speaker, career competition, and career fair resources.
In February, there will be new pages added to focus on NC jobs data and the integration of NC job opportunities. In March, the focus will shift to summer camp and internship opportunities.
(Note: All employers are vetted by the North Carolina Business Committee for Education.)
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 Job Postings:
Regional Digital Teaching and Learning Consultant
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is seeking applicants for two Education Program Consultant IIs (Working Titles: Northeast and Western Regional Digital Teaching and Learning Consultants) for our Digital Teaching & Learning Division.
This division's mission is to collaborate to empower leadership, build educator capacity, and foster partnerships to support success for all learners. Its vision is that every public school student in North Carolina will graduate from high school with the ability to be globally competitive for work and postsecondary education and be prepared for life in the 21st century.
This posting closes Dec. 26.
Please submit your application online at: https://goo.gl/Wk8sFA
Digital Teaching and Learning Director
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is seeking applicants for an Education Program Director II (Working Title: Digital Teaching and Learning Director) for our Digital Teaching and Learning section under the Deputy Superintendent of District Support. The primary purpose of Digital Teaching and Learning (DTL) is to provide public schools of North Carolina the digital and instructional resources and services needed to support DPI's and the State Board of Education's goals and objectives.
This posting closes Dec. 26.
Please submit your application online at https://goo.gl/VGJixv
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 Canvas Teacher Spotlight
How Canvas Helps Teachers Collaborate, Curate, and Create
District: Johnston County Schools
School: Career & Technical Leadership Academy
Teacher: Travis Towne
Grade Level: High School Social Studies: American History, Civics, World Issues
Project: How Canvas Helps Teachers Collaborate, Curate, and Create
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Travis Towne, high school social studies teacher at the Career & Technical Leadership Academy (CTLA) in Johnston County, recently earned his doctorate in education after completing his dissertation focused on “Exploring the Phenomenon of Secondary Teachers Integrating the LMS Canvas in a Blended-Learning Course.”
Travis champions Canvas not only as a beneficial resource for students and parents, but also as a helpful tool for teachers. He emphasizes that Canvas does not replace face-to-face instruction, but it helps teachers collaborate, organize resources, provide rich feedback, and think creatively and strategically about their course design. For example, math teachers at his school have collaborated to build a remediation course in Canvas to differentiate instruction for students. Travis shares his American History and Civics courses with a colleague teaching the same courses, dividing responsibilities for content organization, curation, and creation. And the teachers in his school have collaborated to create and facilitate a Canvas freshman orientation class. PACK Time is a required course for all freshmen and is used to help students learn essential technology tools, writing skills, and note-taking strategies. Teachers have co-designed the course to ensure that students come to them empowered to be successful.
Through the interviews and focus groups he conducted for his doctoral research, Travis found that teachers who use Canvas feel that it improves student learning. Those interviewed also reported that they felt they were better teachers because Canvas helped them to be more organized and think through their course design, answering questions such as, “How am I presenting and organizing this information?” Teachers have also expressed that Canvas allows them to be creative. Travis personally enjoys embedding LTI tools and other interactive resources, including Digital Breakouts.
Travis says that Canvas is especially beneficial to students who have extended absences, providing them access to instructional resources and assignments so they can continue learning outside of the classroom. He also discusses how Canvas can be used to integrate Universal Design for Learning strategies and reports that one of the highlights of his research was talking to a special education teacher about how Canvas can be used to support students with special needs.
Travis is passionate about helping his colleagues find success with Canvas and advocates for tiered teacher training as well as individual coaching and support. He promotes content-specific training so teachers can collaborate and see exactly how Canvas supports their individual needs and desire for learning.
Finally, he is an advocate for creating custom Home Pages and integrating images and graphic representations in his course navigation. (Having a wife who is a graphic designer and often creates custom images for him certainly helps with that.) We want to congratulate them both on the beautiful courses he has designed for his students.
 
End of Semester Considerations for Canvas
As we near the end of your first semester, we wanted to share a couple of reminders with you.
Term Settings:
Please do not change PowerSchool-created term dates in Canvas. Changing these dates in Canvas will cause the sync with PowerSchool to fail (and may conclude student enrollments). All changes to Term Dates should be made in PowerSchool and synced to Canvas. If you have changed your term dates manually in Canvas, please contact Canvas Support.
Need to give teachers an extension? You can change the Teacher and Student Access Dates. To learn more, view our Canvas Guides, How do term dates, course dates, and section dates work in Canvas? and SIF - Setting Term Dates and Enrollment End Dates.
Multiple Grading Period Settings:
Do teachers need extended access to the grade assignments? Adjust the close date for each grading period accordingly. More information about grading periods can found in the Canvas Guide, How do I add Grading Periods in an Account?, and the Close Dates for Grading Periods Release Notes.
You may also want to share our Beginning and End-of-Course Checklist and Canvas and PowerTeacher Pro Grade Passback Presentation with your teachers at they prepare for second semester courses.
 Schoolnet Storyteller - Quick Tips for Third Graders
Short Assessments Help Inform Instruction
District: Wilson County Schools
School: B.O. Barnes Elementary School
Teacher: Da’Zyna White
Grade Level: Third grade
The third grade team at B.O. Barnes Elementary School collaborates to create short assessments in Schoolnet to prepare students for the “different approaches to take to how the questions could be presented at any time, especially during state testing.” Da'Zyna shares that quick assessments allows her to “analyze the frequently missed questions among the class and create groups allowing students to work through their thinking and come to the correct answer.”
As a general rule, Da'Zyna emphasizes the importance of keeping the assessments short, less than 10 questions or two passages. The short assessments not only benefit students, but the instant feedback also allows her to quickly change her instruction by knowing “who to target, with what and what questions to review.”
Thank you Da'Zyna for sharing your quick tips for Schoolnet. We would love to hear from other educators on how they use Schoolnet. Please fill out this brief form to nominate an educator at your school/district to be featured in future newsletters.
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January Schoolnet Webinars
Join us as we dig into Schoolnet data! These hour-long webinars will focus on the robust reporting and analytics available in Schoolnet.
- Jan. 16 at 10 a.m. or 3 p.m.
- Jan. 23 at 7 p.m.
To register for a webinar, please visit: bit.ly/ncschoolnetresources
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