PSS celebrates 9th year of educational technology program

The CNMI Public School System hosted its 9th commencement ceremony for the Educational Technology Training Program, or Ed Tech, last June 14 in a virtual ceremony that saw the participation of 105 program participants, Ed Tech instructors, school administrators, PSS key management, and members of the Board of Education.

The EdTech Program is a year-long training program that consists of five 45-hour certification courses that delve into topics revolving around technology to support teaching and learning. Throughout the year of learning, participants explored the diverse suite of Google tools to support teaching and learning, discussed the importance of empowering students to be proactive digital citizens, and examined student-centered applications to produce a variety of products such as multimedia presentations, infographics, and dynamic videos.

During the virtual ceremony, Dr. Bobby Cruz, director of Instructional Technology & Distance Education, said, “The goal of the Educational Technology Training Program is to empower our amazing educators with the technology tools to transform teaching and learning. This has been a year of trial and tribulation for everyone, both personally and professionally. …Despite these challenges, educators from across the CNMI have decided to forge on challenging themselves to learn and grow to advance learning for all of our children.”

Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada and Board of Education chair Andrew Orsini were both in attendance to celebrate the accomplishment of the graduates. Both leaders shared a joint message of pride for the hard work and commitment of all Ed Tech participants from both the private and public schools to grow as professionals and embrace the role that technology plays in supporting learning in the 21st century.

Lorraine Catienza, Distance Education Program manager, said, “We continue to refine the program with our amazing Ed Tech Instructors to improve the quality of learning for the professionals we serve. Our goal is to continue to employ transformative use of technology to support teaching and learning, to prepare our students to meaningfully participate and succeed in an increasingly tech-driven world. Our educators are the key to making this goal a reality, so we continue to invest in them.” (PR)