Tech Connect February 2025

As we step into February, a month often associated with themes of love and connection, it's a great time to reflect on our shared commitment to enhancing student learning through technology. This month’s newsletter is packed with exciting updates, resources, and tips designed to support you in your teaching journey. Let’s embrace this month of connection by sharing ideas and supporting one another as we continue to integrate technology into our educational practices. Thank you for your dedication and enthusiasm—happy reading!

Over the last several days, we have had staff members experience issues with missing emails that are being sent to them. Please check your Trash Folder in your email and make sure that there is nothing there that you have not put there! If you are seeing things going directly to your Trash Folder without coming to your Inbox first, please check your emails filters!

To check your email filters in Gmail, open your inbox, click the settings gear in the top right corner, select "See All Settings," then choose "Filters and Blocked Addresses" from the menu at the top; this will display all your current filters where you can edit or delete them as needed.

Key steps:

• Open your Gmail inbox.
• Click the Settings Gear icon in the top right corner.
• Select "See All Settings" from the dropdown menu.
• Choose "Filters and Blocked Addresses"

Microsoft’s Reading Progress and Reading Coach are innovative educational tools designed to enhance reading fluency and literacy skills by seamlessly integrating AI-powered technology into Microsoft Teams for Education. Reading Progress enables students to record themselves reading passages, providing automated feedback on pronunciation, accuracy, and fluency metrics across multiple languages, while giving educators detailed insights into individual and class performance. Complementing this, Reading Coach offers personalized, adaptive reading practice through AI-generated stories, targeted word practice, pronunciation support, and motivational elements like badges and interactive story features. Available through Microsoft 365 Education, which all DCS employees have access to, these tools empower educators with actionable data and engaging learning experiences that make reading practice more interactive, personalized, and accessible for students of diverse learning needs, ultimately supporting literacy development in both classroom and home environments.

Reading Progress how-to article

We have fielded a lot of questions recently about the future of Schoolnet, especially when we transition to Infinite Campus next school year. Schoolnet is NOT associated with PowerSchool. It is a standalone that is housed within NCEdCloud and will not be going away when we switch over to Infinite Campus.

Generative AI can be used to create interactive lessons in several innovative ways, enhancing student engagement and learning outcomes:

1. Virtual Laboratories and Simulations: Generative AI can power virtual labs and simulations, allowing students to conduct experiments and explore scientific concepts in a safe, interactive environment. These simulations can adapt in real-time based on student inputs, providing a truly immersive learning experience.
2. Adaptive Learning Platforms: AI-powered platforms can create personalized learning paths for each student, adjusting the difficulty and content of lessons based on individual performance and learning styles. This ensures that each student receives a tailored, interactive learning experience.
3. Gamified Learning: Generative AI can transform lessons into engaging games, making learning more enjoyable and interactive. These games can adapt to student progress, offering challenges that match their skill level.
4. Role-Playing Simulations: Teachers can use generative AI to create interactive role-playing exercises where the AI assumes the role of historical figures or industry experts. This allows students to engage in dynamic conversations that deepen their understanding of the subject matter.
5. Multimodal Learning Experiences: Generative AI enables the creation of seamless, multimodal learning experiences that integrate text, images, audio, and video. This creates more immersive and engaging educational content that caters to different learning preferences.

** BEFORE USING ANY GENERATIVE AI PLATFORM WITH STUDENTS, PLEASE CHECK THE DCS AI DASHBOARD FOR TERMS OF SERVICE **

Sue Tobin - suetobin@davidson.k12.nc.us

Allyson Medlin - amedlin@davidson.k12.nc.us

Libby Moretz - libbymoretz@davidson.k12.nc.us

** Libby is out on Maternity Leave until Mid-March, please contact Sue or Allyson **

Listed below are the schools that each of us serve - please feel free to reach out to us!