Schools are under increasing pressure to implement the Common Core Standards and to develop students’ career and college readiness skills.

Methacton School District, located in a suburb of Philadelphia in southeastern Pennsylvania, is no different. The district is made up of just over 400 staff and more than 5,000 students. Methacton implemented a comprehensive professional development solution to address the challenge of differentiation in technology instruction for educators.

Download this case study to learn how Methacton found a solution that has helped align technology and curriculum which results in increased teacher support and student engagement.

Atomic Learning announced the early availability of the new Atomic TechCore solution at the ASCD Conference on Saturday in Philadelphia, PA. The Atomic TechCore solution was developed in response to district needs to address the technology components embedded in the Common Core State Standards.

Several states have not yet adopted the Common Core standards, but all students will be influenced through textbook changes, professional development planning and shared curriculum resources. For the first time, an eighth grade student in Tennessee will be required to learn the same curriculum as a student in California, Wisconsin, or Florida.

Dr. Scott McLeod gives his analysis of how poor technology leadership from administrators may lead to poor overall leadership in this article. This includes not allocating for sufficient professional development, limited technical support, inadequate planning for software purchases, and many other problems which plague technology initiatives within schools.

Recently, the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Education outlined a Digital Textbook Playbook. Though the entire text is 67 pages long, it is a must-read for any district on how to integrate digital textbooks in the classroom. The format makes the reading much less painful than it sounds!

Key points of focus in the Digital Textbook Playbook include:

Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA has recently partnered with Atomic Learning to provide online training in conjunction with the campus’ migration to Blackboard 9.1 software implementation next spring. Through this partnership, VCU can smoothly integrate Atomic Learning tutorials with the direct linking feature to provide campus-wide training in one convenient online location.

Colleen Bishop, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Director of Learning Systems says, “By partnering with Atomic Learning, we are able to provide access to Blackboard tutorials and support, while extending the reach of our helpIT Center and askIT Knowledge Base.”

Atomic Learning will provide online software training, support and integration resources to simplify technology use campus-wide for VCU. In addition to Blackboard training, both instructors and students will be empowered with 24/7 access to training on over 205 applications and over 50 assistive technology programs relevant to campus and individual technology needs and goals.