It is giving every student an opportunity to learn at higher levels in ways some never imagined.

On this episode of the Supercast, we talk with companies igniting curiosity in the classroom with the use of technology, technology which is bringing better education opportunities for students, enhancing what teachers teach, and impacting education in some incredible ways.

Audio Transcription

Talon Hatch:
Even some of these younger kiddos as young as third grade, they're already building websites with HTML.

Matt Linford:
It creates this environment where tools like Skill Struck, tools like Adobe, can all come into one course of a kid and the kid can engage with these various content and curricular resources in one space.

Casey Nuttall:
Getting them in as early as possible on some of these tools to prepare them for the future.

[Music]

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are giving every student an opportunity to learn at higher levels in ways many never imagined. On this episode of the Supercast, we talk with companies igniting curiosity in the classroom with the use of technology; technology which is bringing better education opportunities for students, enhancing what teachers teach, and impacting education in some incredible ways.

[Music]

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking with Jared Covili, the grand poohbah, the grand marshal of UCET, but also the administrator over Digital Teaching and Learning in Jordan School District. It is always a great way to mark this time of year by coming to talk with you at UCET, Jared.

Jared Covili:
It's the end of winter. We're moving into spring, so what better time to talk Ed Tech?

Anthony Godfrey:
You can smell hope in the air. There's sunshine out there. It's a beautiful day.

Jared Covili:
It could be power cords and things.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's right. We're going to have three guests on that are partners with Jordan School District. Talk with us about those three.

Jared Covili:
Yeah, so today you're going to be listening to three different partners that work with us in the Ed Tech department. You've got Skill Struck, who represents a group that works primarily with our K-6 computer science group. Each of our elementaries has a computer science leader that works with the kids, helping them integrate not only computer science projects, but also computational thinking. So, Talon Hatch will be here from Skill Struck with us. And then we've got Casey Nuttall from Instructure, and our District is kind of an Instructure district. We use a lot of different products from them, but primarily most of you in the audience will know them as Canvas. So that's our learning management system that we use to connect students to their homework and to turn in assignments and do assessments. For us on the back end, it is the way that we do a lot of our grading and a lot of our assessment of students and what they're learning. So that's Instructure. And then our third partner that we're going to hear from today is Matt Linford from Adobe. Probably a lot of you have driven past the Adobe office on I-15 but wondered kind of what's going on up there. Well, they're a great educational partner of ours, and they provided all of their software to all of our students and teachers from K through 12. So that's a big part of what we do. And they're a great partner that we work with, not only at UCET, but throughout the year.

Anthony Godfrey:
Again, thank you for making this opportunity available to so many and for being the mascot mayor, grand poohbah, and grand marshal of UCET. Long may you reign.

[music]

Anthony Godfrey:
So, let's start by talking with each of you. Just introduce yourself. Tell us who the company you're working with and generally your connection with education.

Matt Linford:
So, my name is Matt Linford. I'm with Adobe and I am actually the engagement manager that covers the state of Utah including a lot of what we do within the Create Utah program. So my role is just to really support districts and make sure that they have what they need.

Casey Nuttall:
Yep, and then I'm Casey Nuttall. I'm with Instructure. I'm a regional sales director for Instructure. So kind of like Matt, I work with the state of Utah in every LEA in Utah on how they utilize Instructure platform tools to engage student learning, to increase student outcomes, and really to be a tool to use to facilitate the education for Jordan School District.

Talon Hatch:
And I'm Talon Hatch. I'm part of Skill Struck, a Utah-based company. We work with the school district on computer science education. So, we work particularly with a focus on the elementary schools and how they're utilizing computer science to enhance learning and increase computational thinking for all your students. So, we really enjoy that and I'm just a regional partnership. I work with all the different partners throughout the state of Utah and helping districts do what Jordan's doing so well.

Anthony Godfrey:
For it for those parents who are listening, most of you probably did not benefit from the work of these three folks because in the last ten years there's been a lot of progress, a lot of movement forward, and education changes rapidly in the right direction, giving more personalized learning opportunities for students and different levels of support for teachers. I mean it's really exciting the level of creativity that's possible because of the support that your three companies give us. So let's talk about Skill Struck's connection with computer science at the elementary level, which for some people just sounds kind of crazy that we start that early. But that's exactly when we ought to be starting. Talk to us about what that looks like.

Talon Hatch:
Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. So, we love working with the District on that part. The larger part of what it stemmed from is about four and a half, five years ago, the state created the Utah Computer Science Master Plan. Obviously, with the growth of tech in our state and the legislation, the USBE came together and said, "Hey, we need to support our schools in making sure that every kid K through 12 is getting access to high-quality computer science curriculum, resources, and professional development for teachers." And so they actually created a grant program where districts could collaborate with other partners like Skill Struck and throughout the state in creating a plan of “this is what computer science is going to look like in our district,” to make sure that every kid has access. So, we really love working with Jared and Tracy in your district and seeing what does that vertical alignment look like at each school, across each grade level, so you can ensure that even as long as, like you said, as kindergarteners, they're engaging with the standards from the state and really getting that technology foundation that is so critical in the digital world that we live in.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a very hands-on, very concrete STEM education from a very young age and really it comes down to problem-solving.

Talon Hatch:
Exactly.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I also think there's customer service and empathy built into that because you are programming for an end user, and if you can't put yourself in their place, you aren't going to be an effective programmer.

Talon Hatch:
Exactly, and the beauty of what the District's doing is throughout this curriculum is they're doing computer science with computational thinking, those problem-solving skills, the basics of coding. But beyond that digital literacy, digital citizenship, keeping all within one platform so these students can really be strong stewards of technology regardless of what path that they end up taking. The nice part is they're getting a really strong foundation in the elementary already where we work with a number of the junior highs in the District as well, and the teachers are coming to us and saying, “hey, these kids are knowing way more than they did a few years ago,” and they're having to level up their game. That was the whole plan of the master plan is we would need to level up what we were doing with technology in the classroom.

Anthony Godfrey:
Kids are pretty amazing and teachers are amazing and when you put great tools in front of them, you really can be blown away by the results.

Talon Hatch:
Oh, I mean I was just talking with one of your teachers. A shout out to Colleen Pepper over at Falcon Ridge. She's one of the teachers, the STEM teachers, that takes and teaches Skill Struck weekly across all grade levels of the school. So she's seen every class, every student, are coming to her once a week for about, you know, 45-50 minutes. She was just sharing with me even some of these younger kiddos as young as third grade, they're already building websites with HTML. They're already learning text-based coding with JavaScript. A lot of teachers are always saying, “those third graders can't do it that young,” and they're always shocked when they start excelling and they go fast and go way beyond what we give them credit for. It's exciting.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thanks for your support and making that possible. Stay with us. When we come back, we’ll talk with Instructure and Adobe about how they are impacting the student and teacher experience in Jordan School District.

Male voice:
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Sandy Riesgraf:
Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgra...

Episode 306: Unlocking Student Potential with Technology