Need edtech help? ‘You just have to ask’ Indiana eLearning director says

If you need help on edtech from neighboring institutions, whether they be higher ed, K-12 or private businesses, sometimes “you just have to ask,” says Candice Dodson, the eLearning director with the Indiana Department of Education.

“Sometimes it’s just getting people in the room and making those connections,” she says in a recent video interview with EdScoop. “It’s amazing who will step up.”

Dodson pointed to her department’s work with the Toyota Foundation, which she said she reached out to and soon learned the two shared a common goal around developing a technologically-minded workforce.

Toyota is concerned about where its future engineers will come from if schools aren’t adequately focused on technology, Dodson said. Now she said the two are working together to ensure science, technology, engineering and mathematics education is built into curriculums from as early as kindergarten.

“How do we redesign instruction so that we’re allowing students to have opportunities to be creative and problem solve and be persistent?” she said. “Those kinds of skills that we know — both in the workplace and beyond — are needed. So I just have been thrilled with that everyone coming to the table, pushing their sleeves up, saying ‘What do you need?'”

Candice Dodson on her department’s recent edtech initiatives:

Dodson on her top priorities:

Dodson on edtech trends she’s watching:

These videos were filmed and produced by EdScoop at the 2018 State Educational Technology Directors Association Leadership Summit in Arlington, Virginia.