WHRO Education received the Innovation in Education Award, recognizing its work to advance learning through technology, educational programming and innovative approaches to reaching students and educators.
The Innovation in Education Award was presented by Innovate Hampton Roads. Each year, the organization recognizes people and organizations across categories spanning a variety of industries, as well as regional leaders.
Innovate Hampton Roads works to foster the growth and development of the innovation and technology ecosystem in Hampton Roads by educating entrepreneurs and business leaders, ensuring their access to essential resources, and developing connections within the business community to create synergistic partnerships.
WHRO Public Media's digital learning initiatives include the development of thirty high-quality, standards-aligned online courses, including an extensive collection of interactive, instructional assets that are integrated into eMediaVA , WHRO’s statewide digital teaching resource repository.
Each SOL-aligned, textbook-independent, full-year course includes multimedia lessons, interactive activities, formative and summative assessments, instructional videos, and downloadable classroom resources.
"By ingesting these digital assets into eMediaVA, WHRO enables teachers to access individual learning objects for use in settings other than online instruction—face-to-face, blended, and flipped classrooms," explained Elmer Seward, Vice President of Education Services.
"These individual learning objects can be used for intervention, enrichment, and personalized learning without a learning management system or an entire online course. This approach maximizes instructional flexibility while extending the value and reach of every digital resource developed," he said.
Teachers have found that instead of spending valuable planning time scouring the web, they can quickly find high-quality videos, interactive content, assessments, and instructional activities that engage students and meet their specific needs.
Last year, Virginia teachers accessed eMediaVa resources more than one million times. One teacher in Franklin County shared, “I always look at eMediaVA as one of the first resources to offer, teach, or find resources to integrate.”
"Rather than viewing online courses as standalone products, WHRO reimagined them as dynamic collections of instructional resources that can be adapted to various instructional settings," Seward said. "Serving as the hub of a consortium of school divisions, WHRO has increased their return on investment by creating content once and sharing among all. That impact becomes broader as WHRO makes all of those digital resources available to every teacher in Virginia for free."
WHRO is proudly owned by the 21 school divisions in the southeastern Virginia region.
Learn more about the many educational resources that WHRO Public Media provides to educators and families.