2020 News Stories
FCIT launches free online course series to support K-12 teachers through virtual instruction
TAMPA, Fla. (April 23, 2020) — The Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT), in partnership with USF Corporate
Training and Professional Education, has launched the first in a series of fully-online
professional development courses to help support K-12 teachers in virtual teaching
environments.
The first course, “Using Student Assistants During Online Instruction,” launched this week and explores techniques teachers can use to effectively leverage
the support of student assistants in an online setting. Consisting of short sessions
of approximately 30 minutes to one hour, the course is self-paced and can be completed
at a time that fits best into teachers’ busy schedules.
Nate Wolkenhauer, assistant director for FCIT, said this course is the first of many
free or low cost courses the center will launch to support K-12 teachers and their
students. The vision for the project is to help educators better navigate online learning
environments and empower them to effectively use strategies that work for themselves
and their students.
“Our goal in creating these professional development offerings is to keep teachers
in mind at every phase of development,” Wolkenhauer said. “As a teacher, I have sat
through so many professional development sessions that are extremely time-consuming
and attempt to cram in more information than possible in the time provided. Our courses
are meant to make teachers experts in one specific skill as opposed to providing a
little bit of information on a bunch of different, loosely connected strategies.”
Housed in the USF College of Education, the Florida Center for Instructional Technology provides professional learning, digital content, and technology integration evaluation
services to schools and districts worldwide. The Center’s free resource websites average
over two million hits per school day from nearly 200 countries and territories. FCIT
hosts a variety of resources such as iTeach Professional Learning courses, the TIM Tools suite of technology integration evaluation tools and the College of Education’s iTeach Lounge.
For more information and to register for the course, visit USF Corporate Training and Professional Education’s website.