Diocesan Teachers Benefit from Technology Training

By Linda Busetti
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 1/31/02)

Many diocesan teachers have attended free workshops on integrating technology and the Internet into the classroom through The Comcast Technology Academy at the Arlington Career Center. In November, the Comcast Foundation and Cable in the Classroom announced a $100,000 commitment to fund the Academy for the 2001-2002 school year.

Comcast Foundation, the cable company’s chief source of charitable support to non-profits, has allocated the grant money to continue technology training for teachers in Washington and Virginia.

"Instruction at the Academy is outstanding," said Marlene Tennier, principal of St. Ann School in Arlington. "I encourage all my teachers to take as many classes as possible. Most of them have gone to at least one class," Tennier said. She explained that the workshops count toward "technology points" required for school re-certification. Tennier took a PowerPoint class offered at Comcast’s "state-of-the-art" facilities. "They let you bring your own PowerPoint projects to work on in class," she said.

St. Ann first-grade teacher Pat Landry and teaching assistant Kathy Kingsford attended The Comcast Technology Academy recently. Landry was particularly impressed with a workshop about resources on the Internet and how to use video clips for class presentations. "It was exciting to see how much is available to educators," Landry said. "The instructors are absolutely wonderful and the facility is very well-equipped." Landry said she "definitely" plans to attend future classes at the Career Center, noting its convenient location.

Nelda Thomas, a resource teacher at Blessed Sacrament School in Alexandria, attended an evening workshop on "Inspirations" software, a CD-ROM for idea organization. "The workshop helped to solidify what I already knew. It confirmed that we would want to buy the software for our school," she said. Thomas "highly recommends" the hands-on workshops and is eager to take another. Thomas was among diocesan teachers attending a workshop at the Career Center when Senator George Allen and FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, of St. Mary Parish in Alexandria, visited there recently.

More than 2,100 area teachers have taken advantage of the free hands-on workshops on Internet literacy, surfing the Web for educational resources, incorporating video into classroom assignments and creating PowerPoint presentations to make lesson plans more creative and interactive.

"This partnership with Cable in the Classroom and Comcast gives teachers a wonderful opportunity to learn about educational resources and tools available to them through broadband technology that will assist in meeting curriculum standards," said Diane Tuppeny-Hess, executive director of the Comcast Foundation.

"Cable in the Classroom represents an investment of $2 million a week by the cable industry to enhance the resources of teachers, students and schools. Over 8,400 local cable companies provide free cable hook ups and free monthly service to 80,000 schools, reaching 41million students," according to Comcast.

For information on workshops in Virginia go to http://cic.comcastnews.com/index.asp.

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