
Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative
The Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative promotes pedagogical shifts in digital learning environments and engages educators at all levels, providing research based, job-embedded models and approaches for strategic planning and professional development with the belief that students deserve access to equitable personalized learning experiences. The members of our dedicated team are educational leaders who have extensive experience in strategic planning, leadership support and development, data-driven decision-making, and professional development planning and design – all as they relate to digital learning programs. All the professional development designed is customized and tailored to fit educators’ unique and current needs in schools and districts.
Upcoming Events
Events Series
Updates
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Online Professional Learning for Educators Now Open for Fall Registration
Free high-quality online courses for educators are now open for registration for the fall 2019 session, which starts on October 1. The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation is offering three...
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Digital Learning Collaborative: Get online! It’s story time! Let’s talk about literacy and equity
Friday Institute Research Associate Dr. Patricia Hilliard shares how educators are filling gaps in reading achievement and access to books with creative solutions.
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Digital Learning Collaborative: Screen time in school: Good, bad, or to be determined?
When a concerned parent asks Digital Innovation Coach Dr. Patricia Hilliard how much screen time her child will get when her school 'goes digital', Dr. Hilliard starts to examine how digital learning contributes to any potential harm associated with screen time.
Selected Resources
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Access to Opportunities: A Student-Centered ApproachCase StudyThe Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University’s College of Education conducted site visits at four schools (Ed Tech High School, Washington High School, P.S. Jones Middle School and John Small Elementary School) in Beaufort County, North Carolina. Beaufort County Schools (BCS) is a rural school district located in the southeastern part of the state with 14 schools and 6,673 students. Our team interviewed teachers, students and administrators in Beaufort to learn how BCS are providing equitable learning opportunities for all students.
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Effective Coaching: Insights From the FieldCase StudyThis story from the field was developed by the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University to capture stories of instructional coaches from across the state that have participated in the professional learning offerings provided through the North Carolina Digital Learning Initiative.
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HillRAP – Research-Based Program in the Context of Local SchoolsCase StudyHill Learning Center, an education nonprofit serving K-12 educators and students, helps students with learning differences and attention challenges to become confident, independent learners. In the fall of 2016, Hill Learning Center (Hill) launched the East Durham Learning Collaborative (EDLC) to inform the development of the Hill Learning System and HillRAP Digital (app delivery of HillRAP) as a platform to help meet the literacy needs of students in high poverty schools and to explore new delivery models within the Hill Reading Achievement Program (HillRAP).
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Personalized Learning in Charlotte-Mecklenburg SchoolsCase StudyPersonalized Learning in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools aims to develop the whole child and empower them to take ownership of their learning by providing them with multiple pathways to demonstrate mastery learning in order to be successful and productive 21st-century citizens in an ever-changing world." This vision is grounded in the district’s four cornerstones of its PL initiative: 1) whole child, 2) student ownership, 3) mastery learning, and 4) paces, playlists, and pathways.
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Supporting Learner Variability in the Classroom through Micro-CredentialsWhitepaperEducators welcome an incredibly diverse set of students into their classrooms daily. Every student brings a unique background, set of experiences, interests, strengths, and challenges. The role of the educator is to understand this variability and account for it while teaching complex curriculum in a way that each student feels supported and successful in school. Accomplishing this is not easy. This is why understanding learner variability is key for educators—it empowers them to make intentional choices designed for each learner.
Selected Projects
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Coaching Digital Learning: Cultivating a Culture of Change MOOC-EdThis course allows participants to learn along with colleagues from other schools and districts to enhance their digital learning content knowledge and further develop coaching strategies to enhance and transform student and educator capacity.
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Future Ready Schools InitiativeThe goal of the initiative is to maximize digital learning opportunities for students and to help school districts move quickly toward preparing students for success in college, a career and citizenship.
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Leadership in Personalized and Digital LearningA capacity-building program designed to meet the professional learning needs of principals as they transition to digital and blended learning.
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Learning DifferencesThis series of learning opportunities is designed to build educator capacity to address diverse learning needs across the educational system.
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Learning Differences MOOC-EdThis MOOC-Ed introduces the idea of learner variability and then digs more deeply into three specific ways our learning differs: working memory, executive functioning skills and learning motivation.
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Micro-credentialingBringing competency-based approaches into educator preparation, credentialing and professional development by developing a series of micro-credentials for teachers, coaches and administrators.
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NC Digital Leaders Coaching NetworkThis program provides access to personalized and sustainable opportunities centered around pedagogy and digital learning.
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North Carolina Digital-Age Learning Initiative Professional Learning ProgramsOur professional learning programs provide innovative models and approaches for personalized, blended, and digital teaching and learning to build capacity, develop leadership, facilitate strategic planning and coach educators.
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Professional Learning InstitutesProfessional learning institutes provide educators, coaches and leaders with the knowledge and resources necessary for planning and implementing successful digital learning initiatives.
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Professional Learning OpportunitiesProfessional development geared toward the knowledge and skills necessary for planning and implementing innovative digital learning initiatives.
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Students LEADThis student-focused course is based on the idea that we all learn differently. During this course, students learn about their own learning and advocate for it as they define success for themselves.
People
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Dr Mary Ann WolfDirector of the Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative (PLLC)Team Lead
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Laura AlbrechtResearch Assoc
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Emmy L ColemanSenior Research Scholar
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Alex M. DreierInstructional Design Lead
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Theresa GibsonAssociate Director of PLLC Strategic Development
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Patricia HilliardResearch Assoc
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Nancy MangumAssociate Director of Digital Learning Programs
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Brittany Palmer MillerDigital Learning Coach
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Shayla RexrodeResearch Scholar
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Jaclyn Bell StevensResearch Scholar