ABOUT US

MISSION STATEMENT... To increase and facilitate knowledge using technology for teachers and positively effect student learning in the classroom.

Our Objective... To make available to educators, user-friendly professional development online courses that integrate technology in a collegial atmosphere using PBS TeacherLine's asynchronous learning.

HISTORY WITH PBS TeacherLine in Florida

WBCC-TV, Cocoa, and WLRN-TV, Miami collaborated since the inception of the PBS TeacherLine projects in Florida which began  in June 2002.   Initially, we were funded by a grant to provide the PBS Teacherline online courses only to our local school district(s)--Miami-Dade County Public Schools (WLRN-TV Licensee for the South Florida broadcast area) and Brevard County Public Schools ad Brevard Community College, (WBCC-TV  Licensee for the television broadcast area). From the start, we realized that it would be state-wide in the future. Although the two stations are geographically 200 miles apart on the east coast of Florida, and initially served very different markets, we immediately collaborated on co-hosting facilitator training workshops, presentations within their districts, and also to external districts/organizations, and shared expenses to present a unified PBS TeacherLine front at statewide conferences such as the FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference),  FCTM (Florida Council of Teachers of Mathematics) , and FACE (Florida Association for Media in Education) conferences in Florida--anywhere--we shared exhibit space, marketing resources and personnel.

ONLINE ENROLLMENTS - FLORIDA

  WLRN-TV serves the entire state of Florida and identify the entire state of Florida as their joint state/regional coordination service area which  includes  Puerto Rico.             

Florida Master Digital Educators to Receive

Online Professional Development  

Miami, FL- January 31, 2007 - PBS TeacherLine, the Florida Digital Educator Program and the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Instruction and Innovation have partnered to provide online professional development courses to Master Digital Educators in the state.

This joint effort is a part of a statewide program that aims to improve the integration of technology across the K-12 curricula for enhanced student learning. "The partnership with PBS TeacherLine is an important part of our ongoing statewide initiatives to provide teachers with the tools and training they need to enhance student learning through technology integration, especially in math and science," said Kate Kemker, bureau chief of the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Instruction and Innovation.

"PBS TeacherLine courses offer just-in-time professional development and align with the skills and programs that Florida's digital educators need."

The courses will be offered locally by WLRN, PBS' member station and PBS TeacherLine provider in Miami. Veteran teachers from Florida who have earned a master's degree and have been trained in online course facilitation and community-building will lead participants through these courses. 

Through funding from the Florida Department of Education, PBS TeacherLine online professional development courses will be offered free-of-charge to a cohort of teachers in the Master Digital Educator Program, an extension of the Florida Digital Educator Program. A statewide professional development initiative, the Florida Digital Educator Program helps teachers use instructional technology in ways that support project-based learning and require students to use higher-order thinking skills necessary in today's global economy.

The PBS TeacherLine courses are to be made available to Florida's digital educators through the ISTE Capstone Certificate Program as well as courses in instructional technology and instructional strategies that are specifically designed to prepare teachers to facilitate online courses.

The ISTE (International Society for Technology In Education) Capstone Certificate Program is a series of research-based, online professional development courses enabling teachers to demonstrate their mastery of ISTE's National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T).

For more information about PBS TeacherLine, visit www.pbs.org/teacherline. To learn more about the Florida Digital Educator Program, visit http://etc.usf.edu/fde.

Past News Release---

In May 2004, Miami Dade Schools in Miami and school districts in New York and South Carolina participated in a year-long scientific study of how the online courses impacted teaching and student learning.  The study, requested by PBS TeacherLine to document this impact, was completed by Hezel Associates, LLC, a research and evaluation firm in Syracuse, N.Y, www.hezel.com, in association with The Education Alliance at Brown University Brown University.  

 It was presented to the USDOE in September 2005.  The research group plans to continue their scientific study of the courses more extensively during the next five-year grant period.

Currently, the initial 30 television stations continue as marketing representatives for the PBS TeacherLine courses with the USDOE.  They encourage PBS TeacherLine to become self-sustaining during this new five-year grant period.  The courses are reasonably priced and offer in-service and graduate credit.   Teachers can complete the six-week courses anywhere, anytime in an asynchronous learning environment.  Go to http://floridateacherline.org  for information or contact PBS TeacherLine of Florida at 786-275-0803.

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For more information, please contact Mary Kemp from WLRN’s TeacherLine at (786) 275-0803 or at mkemp@wlrn.org.