We are excited to announce that, even among many school closures, we’ve awarded our EdTech grant for March! For this month, we’re happy to present the award to Ed Mondragon, who heads up the Career and Technical Education department in the Granite School District in Salt Lake City, Utah! Like most teachers, Ed is now searching for ways to make distance learning as meaningful as possible—not only for students, but for the teachers he works with as well.
Ed has been part of his district’s commitment to providing children with computer science education in all grades. He’s always been aware of the focus on developing courses, camps, and clubs for students to get as much exposure to coding as possible, but he realized something was missing when it comes to helping prepare educators to teach kids these increasingly important skills. So, Ed recommitted to this sustainable computer science infrastructure in the Granite School District, which also includes teacher education.
For this project, Ed is focusing on the sustainability aspect and knows that a long-term program cannot be built overnight. In starting out, he'll be introducing educators to the physical elements of computer science, allowing them to see, feel, hear, and touch them (if possible). He has, however, temporarily shifted all of his instruction into digital formats due to schools closing. He is determined to keep teaching, however, and his goal is to provide equity to teachers at all grade levels.
The training program Ed is currently developing will be their first that's completely district wide. He wanted to make sure that the tools the teachers would be using were durable and easy to learn—both for teachers and for students of all ages, so he has requested Edison Robots as part of his award. Ed’s hope is that he can still use his workshops to connect with teachers albeit virtually and, in turn, help them understand how coding activities can have a positive effect on their instruction.
Ultimately, Ed hopes computer science education becomes accessible for students from all walks of life, especially those with socioeconomic differences. He also hopes to bring teachers throughout the district together to build common curricular projects that'll incorporate various resources. There are over 65,000 kids in the Granite School District with a real wide range of demographics. These children speak over 30 languages across more than 80 schools, making the potential impact of Ed’s project monumental.
Ed may have to begin his program online but has the resources to transition to in-person instruction once it's possible. The trainings will take place after school and throughout the summer so teachers won't miss class time for professional development. Initially, Ed hopes to ensure these grant materials help mitigate barriers and ensure that every instructor enjoys equitable opportunities. They'll learn to bring coding into instruction into the classroom and, ultimately, build knowledge on educational resources and concepts.
Eventually, Ed will help teachers throughout this district create standardized activities and assessments for evaluating student knowledge, skills, and abilities. Once he introduces educators to coding with the Edison bots, Ed also hopes to pique their interest in additional areas of coding, like teaching with the micro:bit V2, Raspberry Pi's, and even drones. Ed is also helping these teachers prepare for computer science courses rolling out in every Utah school by 2022-23. Because funding for this recently passed, it is important to him to hit the ground running.
We congratulate Ed on being this month’s grant recipient and wish him luck on this very impactful project! If you would like to apply for our grant for the month of April, you can find that application here. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for additional updates and submit an application for April’s award by April 20!