DTL INSIDER
1. Welcome Back, PSUs!
2. NC Adopts New Digital Learning Standards for Students
3. DLCs for Teacher and Administrator Courses
4. Public Records Law
5. NCSLMA's Conference
6. DTL Workshops Provided by Educators on Loan
7. Personalized Learning Regional Meetings
8. NC Educator Effectiveness System
9. Learning.com
10. #GoOpenNC
11. PowerSchool Upgrade 12. Schoolnet Upgrade
13. NCwiseOwl Celebrating 20 Years in NC Public Schools!
14. SketchUp Pro
15. On the Horizon
16. Stay In Touch! Stay Informed! Stay Connected!
Welcome Back, PSUs!
We hope you had an amazing summer. The Digital Teaching and Learning Team are excited about starting a brand-new school year, so get ready to dive into digital learning.
Over the course of this summer, many changes were made in staffing and application upgrades. Let's get started with an introduction to our new-hires.
Digital Teaching and Learning Gets New Leader
Dr. Vanessa Wrenn
Vanessa Wrenn has joined the Department of Public Instruction as the new director of the Division of Digital Teaching and Learning (DTL) after 22 years of experience working as an educator and administrator. She is focused on innovative approaches to teaching and learning in the digital age, especially broadening equitable access to quality digital resources and also blended instruction and personalized learning.
Prior to joining DPI, Wrenn served in Granville County Public Schools as the director of digital teaching and learning, chief technology officer, director of career and technical education, and online learning. During her time as director of digital teaching and learning with Granville schools, Wrenn led the implementation of the digital learning plan, device equity, infrastructure expansion, and the development of digital learning competencies for teachers and administrators. She has earned CETL and CeCTO certifications and maintains National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification in career and technical education. Wrenn engaged educators at all levels in innovative models of professional learning and strategic planning to support digital age teaching and learning.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead Digital Teaching and Learning,” Wrenn said “I'm truly excited about the impact of the DTL community, serving the state, expanding the value of personalized learning and showcasing the importance of the digital age learning voice on important issues facing public education."
A North Carolina native, Wrenn began her career as a career and technical education teacher, where she was awarded NCACTE Marketing Teacher-of- the-Year. She earned a bachelor’s begree and a master of science in curriculum and instruction from North Carolina State University, and she holds a doctorate in education from Liberty University. Wrenn has developed and directed blended and online schools, which leverage innovative practices in digital-age learning. Wrenn said she is committed to superior customer service to all public schools and school transformation through digital teaching and learning.
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New Trainer Joins DTL Team
Tessa Parker Hine
Tessa Parker Hine, a professional learning specialist, comes to the Digital Teaching and Learning team with 13 years of customer service and IT experience, six years of PowerSchool experience, and an associate of applied science in computer information technology.
Hine previously worked on the DPI service desk, supporting many applications, including PowerSchool, NCEES, NCID, UID, IAM, and others. She is PowerSchool, PowerScheduler, PowerTeacher Pro, and Frameworks certified.
She has also obtained several IT certifications from A+ to Microsoft certifications, and is currently working on a Google for Education certification. During her six years on the DPI service desk, she progressed through the ranks from tier 1 to tier 2, and most recently Technical Team lead.
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New Northeast Regional Consultant
Julie Gurganus
Julie Gurganus recently joined the DTL team as the Northeast Regional Consultant. She spent her last 7 years at the Northeast Regional School of Biotechnology and Agriscience (NERSBA) in Jamesville, NC as the Director of Technology/Testing/CTE. Prior to that position, Julie spent 21 years with Washington County Schools (WCS). While at WCS, she served as a Career and Technical Education middle school teacher, Instructional Technology Facilitator, Coordinator of Instructional Technology and Media Specialist.
Julie earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Business Education as well as received her Library Science Certification at East Carolina University (ECU). She also earned her National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification in Library Media. Having lived and worked in the northeast region all of her life, Julie is excited about the opportunity to serve the districts, schools and, ultimately, the students in the northeast region.
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NC Adopts New Digital Learning Standards for Students
We are excited to share that the NC State Board of Education adopted the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for students. Please see the press release to learn more about this action at https://www.iste.org/explore/press-releases/north-carolina-adopts-iste-standards-students. Our division looks forward to providing support for 2020-2021 standards implementation.
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DLCs for Teacher and Administrator Courses
Each of the Digital Learning Competencies courses for Teachers and for Administrators has been updated this summer. Changes were primarily made to address any old or broken links. Access the DLC course materials through Canvas Commons, Google Drive documents (linked here for Teachers and here for Administrators), and as Common Cartridge files (linked here for Teachers and here for Administrators).
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Public Records Law
Recently, Emily Sweitzer, Records Management Analyst, NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, presented to technology directors at the Sandhills Regional Education Consortium meeting regarding public records law. Her presentation slides are accessible at bit.ly/ncrecords, and a webinar recording is available at https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/5952880597839448071
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NCSLMA's Conference
SAVE-THE-DATE
The NC School Library Media Association's October conference at Winston Salem’s Benton Convention Center is right around the corner! District library media leaders, please be sure to save the date for the directors’ meeting on October 2 at 4:00 p.m, in Ardmore 2 (Embassy Suites).
During this meeting, Guilford County Schools’ library media programs will be spotlighted, NCSLMA board members will share about the organization’s activities, and the Division of Digital Teaching and Learning will provide information about state-level initiatives such as NC’s Digital Learning Standards for students. We hope to see you there!
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DTL Workshops Provided by Educator(s) on Loan
Contact your Educator on Loan for the Northwest, Southwest, Piedmont Triad and Western regions to schedule professional development workshops specifically designed to support educators, specialists and administrators in effective integration of technology into classroom instruction. New offerings for personalized learning, GoOpenNC and the new NC Digital Learning Standards for students are available.
Take advantage of our high quality workshops by sending an email to Stacy.Lovdahl@dpi.nc.gov. All North Carolina public and charter schools are eligible to use these services at no cost to the district or school. Visit our Google site for session descriptions, calendar availability, and other program details at https://sites.google.com/catawbaschools.net/eol-pd/home.
Personalized Learning Regional Meetings
Please join the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction this fall for an exciting opportunity to connect with practitioners from across the state as we explore Personalized Learning and what it can mean for your district or charter school. Each of the regional events will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
During this time, teams of educators will be guided through:
- An understanding of the working definition of personalized learning (what it can be and what it is not),
- An alignment of current efforts and approaches in your district or charter school, and
- Discussion and planning for the next steps for personalized learning implementation through strategic plans and continuous improvement plans.
Each public school unit is asked to send a team of 2-3 staff to participate, so please consider those individuals who are influencers or key decision-makers in your district or charter school. Suggested participants may include those from Academic/Curriculum, Digital Learning or Technology, and a school-level leader.
Registration is open and can be accessed at bit.ly/PLFall2019Registration. Please have each participant complete the registration. Contact Emma Braaten with questions or for additional information at emma.braaten@dpi.nc.gov.
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NEW for NCEES!
Google Site now has...
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Beginning of Year Orientation resources!
- NCEES system and policy Webinars for 2019-2020
- New AP 10-session series to check out!
- More on developing Local PD Webinars coming up!
More about NCEES…
- NCEES provides a platform where all the pieces of a professional development plan can connect with one another including evaluations, observations and improvement plans.
- Local control of NCEES is part of the Home Base suite of tools. For access to this and other Home Base tools, have your finance officers (LEAs) and principals (charters) opt-in to Home Base for your district/school.
- Our Public School Units (LEAs/Charters) utilize the North Carolina Teacher Effectiveness System (NCEES) to engage, learn, support and measure competencies through professional development and staff evaluation.
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 NCDPI DTL is excited that 46 Title I PSU’s are participating in NCDPI’s K-12 Digital Learning Initiative. Fall funding will be going out soon to those participants.
While the K-12 Digital Learning Initiative sign-up deadline has passed, districts that would like more information on Learning.com may contact Michelle Spence (mspence@learning.com). For a free two week trial click here: https://info.learning.com/evaluation.
Here is a list of Learning.com features:
- EasyTech - a complete online digital literacy curriculum that provides an engaging way to teach essential digital literacy skills through interactive lessons, application exercises, discussions, and quizzes;
- Inquiry - a supplemental curriculum that takes a project-based approach to integrating digital literacy into instruction with ready-to-go, technology-infused projects for all core subjects;
- Digital Literacy Assessment - assessments that provide real-time data to quickly determine students’ grasp of digital literacy concepts;
- Training - workshops and a vast array of on-demand resources such as webinars, downloadable recordings, and online content designed to address schools' and districts' unique instructional goals.Watch for communications for upcoming Regional Training Events to be held in October.
- Customer Support Team is available 8am-8pm ET:
- Support Website: https://support.learning.com/
- PHONE: 800.580.4640 x2
- EMAIL: support@learning.com
- LIVE WEB CHAT: Click Here to Start
For more information about the current K-12 Digital Learning Initiative please click here https://homebase.ncpublicschools.gov/applications/learningcom.
#GoOpenNC
The #GoOpenNC team has been preparing for the launch of the platform in time for the second semester of the school year. Part of our summer work was preparing for our first round of Curriculum Review Academies. North Carolina teachers from around the state spent part of their summer break diving into the #GoOpenNC platform and aligning over 2,000 additional resources to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. Building a community of expert users across the state is very important to a successful launch, and we look forward to a second round of Curriculum Review Academies this fall.
Technically speaking, much of the work this summer has been spent on planning platform enhancements based on feedback from our pilot and early engagers. Coming soon to #GoOpenNC:
- North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards and Digital Learning Competencies for Teachers and Administrators are being added to the site so we can align professional development resources within the platform.
- The support widget on every resource page is being redesigned to allow users to flag a resource for inaccurate content alignment, copyright concerns, and/or broken links within the resource.
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The North Carolina Quality Review Rubric will replace the current Achieve rubric to evaluate resources for quality and alignment.
We value your partnership in building a community of practice for Open Educational Resources and, as we move closer to a statewide launch, there will be additional opportunities for professional development around the platform and community building as well as implementation resources your school or district can use to continue the conversation. If you have any questions, please reach out to goopennc@dpi.nc.gov.
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PowerSchool Upgrade!
Upon your return, you are experiencing a recently upgraded PowerSchool application that features many new enhancements to help make your work-life much easier. For the first time since the inception of PowerSchool in the state of NC, we are running the latest version of the application and have plans to remain no more than 6 months behind the release of the newest versions. Details of changes included in this upgrade may be viewed in PowerSchool 19.4.2.0 release notes.
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Schoolnet Upgrade!
Over the summer, Schoolnet was also upgraded to version 21.0. New in this version is an easier search process to find assessment items and create answer key only tests. More information about the new version can be found in the release notes.
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NCWiseOwl Celebrating 20 Years in NC Public Schools!
NCWiseOwl has a new look as we celebrate 20 years in NC schools - 1999-2019! The site now includes more defined buckets for finding resources. (Check out the new areas - General Reference, Reference Centers, eBooks and Interest Collections.) The site has been closely aligned to content and also includes application graphics, descriptions and inline help tutorials. Specifically, NCWiseOwl includes:
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General Reference Grade Leveled Encyclopedias and Databases - Britannica, EBSCOhost Explora, Gale in Context
- 14 Centers - Literature/Language Arts, Publications, Social Studies, Science, Health, Careers
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Interest Collections - Magazine, news, and journal articles on over 30 categorized interest topics
- Over 11,000 in K-12 Collections
- Over 250,000 classics, short stories, poems etc.
- Downloadable - Read Aloud
- Aligned by grade levels and subject areas
- Available for use at school and home
Stay tuned for more as we celebrate and bring NCWO closer to our students and teachers while supporting personalized, inquiry-based learning! www.ncwiseowl.org
SketchUp Pro
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's Digital Teaching& Learning team has a Statewide SketchUp License Grant program that provides free licenses of SketchUp Pro for public school units in North Carolina. For licensing information, please contact Jill.DArrough@dpi.nc.gov.
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On the Horizon
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Hour of Code - Dec. 9 - 15, 2019
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Digital Learning Day - Feb. 27, 2020
- NCTIES - March 4-6, 2020
- Connecting Communities of Education Stakeholders Conference (CCES) - April 6-9, 2020
- Digital Learning Progress Rubric - June 30, 2020
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Stay in Touch! Stay Informed! Stay Connected!
The Digital Teaching and Learning team is dedicated to communicating the latest in digital teaching and learning strategies, research, professional development, and inspiration. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to get connected to the latest news.
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