Cape Hatteras Secondary School

Dare County Schools' On The Horizon video segment now airing on DCS TV features ExplorNet - a staff development resource for teachers that promotes seamless integration of technology into the classroom.

"Seamless integration" simply means that technology is a tool in instruction. For instance, a teacher may ask his students to refer to a designated website that discusses migrant labor, or go to United Streaming Video to view a clip of Caesar Chavez giving a speech - all without interrupting the natural flow of the lesson. The goal of seamless integration is to use the resources available to enhance the lesson, as naturally as picking up a calculator in algebra class.

To give teachers the expertise they need to master integration of technology into their classrooms and lesson plans, teams of DCS teachers have trained or plan to train in ExplorNet. In the newest edition of Dare County Schools' On The Horizon, First Flight Middle School Technology Coordinator Landra Cartwright and Cape Hatteras Elementary School Technology Coordinator Diane Brown form their own team in an interview with Ken Mann to explain what ExplorNet is all about.

In the segment, viewers will learn that ExplorNet is a model for curriculum delivery that helps teachers meet the challenge of reaching every student, every day. Using the QTL™ (Quality Teaching and Learning) model, ExplorNet blends the use of technology with proven teaching strategies and brain based learning research.

QTL™ programs dovetail with Dare County Schools' technology vision: "As we navigate through the 21st century, Dare County Schools will utilize technology to enhance the quality of teaching and to positively impact student learning and achievement." To make this happen, teachers must be equipped themselves to bring students into the workforce of the future; and DCS is using the research-based ExplorNet to strengthen and broaden its teachers' instructional methods relating to technology.

"During training, the teachers are the students and the QTL™ instructor models for the teacher how to incorporate the things they learn into the classroom," explains Cartwright in the video. "Our teachers go back to the classroom with real projects and techniques that they can start using right away."

ExplorNet's Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning are described as the classroom of the future.

CHES' Diane Brown is a strong advocate of ExplorNet. "It's amazing how our teachers become invigorated, refreshed and energized after attending ExplorNet. In my experience, teachers who attend come back with ideas that seem to add to the already wonderful lessons that they are teaching," mused Brown. "We have good quality teachers in Dare County, who are willing to embrace new methods of teaching and who are willing to share what they know with each other. ExplorNet gives them the opportunity to do just that. Other teachers see what is working and want to use it. Their enthusiasm is, for lack of a better word, contagious!"

Cartwright purports that DCS technology training is the key to the success of ExplorNet training. "We require our teachers to complete 20 hours of technology staff development each year. We are teaching a different kind of student than we taught 10 years ago. The kids are comfortable with technology, they have grown up with it and are adventurous when it comes to using technology," said Cartwright. "Our goal for teacher training is to provide our faculty with technology skills to effectively use the students' comfort with technology to advance their success as life-long-learners."

"The success of a school technology program contains many pieces that must work together for the benefit of the students," concludes Cartwright. "ExplorNet is a major component in Dare County Schools' plan for helping teachers to change the way they deliver instruction and move into the 21st century."

The DCS TV ExplorNet segment can be viewed on the internet at the QTL/Explornet website. The link is http://www.qtlcenters.org/K12/News/dare-video.htm.