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For Educators by Educators

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At WHRO, we believe that children in Hampton Roads deserve to benefit from the ideas of educators throughout the region, which is one reason our Consortium for Interactive Instruction (C.I.I.) was formed way back in 1984.

The C.I.I. is a group made up of representatives from both public and private schools, including each of WHRO’s 19 owner school divisions, who come together to manage the collaboration of instructional technologies among schools in Hampton Roads. One of the main priorities of the C.I.I. is to organize special interest forums throughout the year to facilitate communication and provide professional development opportunities for educators across the region.

At their annual business meetings, C.I.I. representatives determine what educational technology topics are the most relevant and invite experts on those topics to present at WHRO. Teachers, principals and technology specialists from schools that participate in the C.I.I. are welcome at no cost and encouraged to join. This school year, the C.I.I. conducted a total of 10 special interest forums.

What exactly are the hot topics in education, you ask? One area our educators were eager to discuss was “gamification,” or using video game design and game elements in class to motivate students to learn. Panelists presented on how playing and creating games, merging programming with game design, and even playing Minecraft can lead to engaging and meaningful learning experiences.

Another popular subject was makerspaces in education. A “makerspace” is defined as a creative, DIY space where people can gather to create, invent and learn. Our C.I.I. group went off-site to tour 757 Makerspace, a community workshop and prototyping center in Norfolk, and then met back at WHRO to explore how educators are turning libraries, classrooms and after school programs into makerspaces. They even took part in a sample makerspace project by using everyday objects to create balloon cars.

The C.I.I. has been committed to transforming education by advocating the most appropriate uses of technology in the classroom for over 30 years, and thanks to the representatives from our owner school divisions, these special interest forums are leading that transformation.

To learn more about the C.I.I.’s role in education and view a full list of forum topics, check out our C.I.I Special Topic Forums page.