Press Releases

Read to Achieve: Understanding the Foundations of Learning

What does the Excellent Public Schools Act mean for teachers and students? This was the theme of the New Literacies Collaborative Spring Symposium co-sponsored with the NC Department of Public Instruction at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation yesterday.

International Partnership: Bridging to Beijing

This week undergraduates from the College of Education are traveling to Beijing, China to complete their student teaching requirement. As they take on the challenge to learn to teach in a classroom abroad, this trip highlights the success of the global initiative in the College. However, this is just one piece of a multi-dimensional partnership that bridges education from Raleigh to Beijing.

Common Core Transitions Education

North Carolina is among 45 states that have adopted new national standards that seek to make education in the United States more uniform, through a system called the Common Core Standards.

Sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, these standards were developed to create a consistent set of objectives for K-12 education between states.

Beijing Royal School Students Visit North Carolina State University

Chinese students from the Beijing Royal School visited North Carolina State University as part of a tour of U.S. higher education institutions. As part of the BRS Winter Camp tour, fifteen students from Beijing Royal School (BRS), collaborated with the NLC. Wake County’s Centennial Campus Middle School (CCMMS) join in the activities to share their cultural connections with the BRS students.

BRS Winter Camp 2013 was held at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation on Friday, February 1, 2013.

Wrap up video: http://animoto.com/play/yGCDwALqAgGdWdG1BSZw3w#

Collaborating to Increase Partnership: Summit on US/China Education

Leaders in business, education and policy engaged in an open dialogue about how North Carolina has progressed in Chinese cultural programs and to discuss collaborating to increase partnerships at the 3rd Biennial Summit on US/China Education held at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation on September 6, 2012.

Igniting a Spark: 2012 New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute

Teachers and administrators from North Carolina attended a collaborative institute that encouraged them to Inquire, Collaborate and Createwhile focusing on how literacy is changing as a result of emerging technologies. The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation hosted the New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute for a week-long experience that created challenging and engaging learning opportunities for the teachers, administrators and their future students. This year, the Institute collaborated with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction through their Impact V project, an ongoing effort to prepare teachers in 13 school systems to use emerging

A Roadmap for Increasing Student Digital Literacy

Researchers at North Carolina State University examine this issue in a white paper recently released with contributions from Dell and the North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction addressing the redefinition of literacy skills that allow for student success in today’s digital world and what this means for teachers.

Technology is driving change in how one digests information and communicates. Educators are working to answer two important questions: What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century? How do teachers cultivate digital literacy for themselves as well as their students?

 Global Issues Seminar:Education in the 21st Century

This panel addressed key issues involved in preparing students and teachers with the knowledge, skills and perspectives to succeed in an increasingly global society.

Panelists: Dr. Jayne Fleener, Dean, College of Education, Dr. Hiller Spires, Professor & Senior Research Fellow, Curriculum, Instruction & Counselor Education, Ms. Megan Landwehr, International Education Program Coordinator, Office of International and Distance Education Alliance-IDEA, Ms. Katie McMahon, Principal, Wiley International Magnet Elementary School, and moderated by Dr. Heidi Hobbs, Director, Master of International Studies, School of Public and International Affairs

Want to Read Abraham Lincoln's Telegrams? There's an App for That!

Dr. Lee was featured in the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation news.

A new history application for the Apple iPad, Lincoln Telegrams, produced by NC State faculty and graduate students is now available as a free download.  The application includes 88 digitized telegram memos written by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864, along with historical annotations presenting analysis conducted by NC State students.

Thinking Locally, Reaching Globally with the New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute

NLI 2011 featured in the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation news.

Teachers from North Carolina and China attended a collaborative institute that encouraged them to Inquire, Collaborate and Create with innovative inquiry projects that have global significance. The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation hosted the teachers in a week-long experience that helped them understand the affordances of new technologies for learning.

New Literacies Institute Inspires 21st Century Teacher Leaders.

New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute 2011 (NLI 2011) featured in Reading Today Online.

The Friday Institute at North Carolina State University was the site of the fifth New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute from July 25 to 29, 2011. The event was organized around the theme “Inquire, Collaborate, Create: New Literacies for Teacher Leaders.” NC State professors Hiller Spires, Carl Young, and John Lee, along with other presenters, used innovative instructional techniques to showcase ways that digital tools can create challenging and motivating learning opportunities for teachers and students.

Chinese Students Visit NC State

Chinese students from the Beijing Royal School visited North Carolina State University yesterday as part of a tour of U.S. higher education institutions.

The Friday Institute (FI) and Wake County’s Centennial Campus Middle School
(CCMS) hosted the twenty-three 10^th and 11^th grade students and their teachers. The Chinese students used various technologies in their experiences at Centennial Campus Middle School and in sessions with professors from the College of Education,” said Dr. John Lee, NC State associate professor of social studies and middle grades education.  “We were all impressed with the energy and creativity of the Chinese students.”

Starting local to go global

The Global Issues seminar series hosted an event Tuesday, Sept. 13 regarding Education in the 21st century where panelists commented and answered questions.

Co-sponsored by the School of Public and International Affairs and the Office of International Affairs, this seminar featured four panelists: Dr. Jayne Fleener, Dean of the College of Education; Dr. Hiller Spires, Curruculum Instruction & Counselor Education, Professor & Senior Research Fellow, Megan Landwehr, International Education Program Coordinator, Office of International and Distance Education Alliance-IDEA; and Katie McMahon, Principal of Wiley International Magnet Elementary School.

New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute in Beijing

North Carolina State University sent a delegation from the College of Education to China last month to lead an educational institute, which resulted in an international partnership.“It is very exciting to explore with our Chinese partners fundamental changes in curriculum delivery through a new literacies lens,” stated Dean M. Jayne Fleener, College of Education. “Partnering with a K-12 school creates a unique opportunity to impact education at all levels through teacher professional development and student learning opportunities using 21st century learning tools.”

Adventure Awaits in the Science Classroom

Crystal Island is an educational science video game for elementary school students, and its ability to teach and engage is taking the science lesson to a new level.

New Literacies Takes on Massachusetts

Preparing teachers for online literacy skills required for 21st century teaching is an ambitious goal for a week-long training session. However, that is exactly what education experts from the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation (FI) did last week at the Massachusetts New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills Highlights Friday Institute and New Literacies Collaborative

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills recently listed the Friday Institute and its New Literacies Collaborative project as two exemplars of best practices in their updated Milestones for Improving Learning & Education (MILE) Guide.

New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute Inspires Teachers To Go Digital

The New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute was held at the Friday Institute from July 12 – 17, 2009. The weeklong institute entitled, “New Literacies, Inquiry, Equity: Teacher Leaders for a New Educational Era,” focused on how a new literacies approach to education that leverages emerging digital tools can create challenging and engaging learning opportunities for students and teachers. Forty-eight teachers from across the country (and China) came together to share ideas, learn from leaders in the field of new literacies, engage in project-based inquiry, and answer the question: What will you contribute as a new literacies teacher leader?

Literacy Educators Gather to be Inspired by Global Scholars

On July 15, a group of 75 literacy educators gathered to hear Australian scholar, Dr. Brian Cambourne, speak on natural language learning. The group was comprised of members of the New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute, which was a week long intensive workshop experience held at the Friday Institute; literacy faculty from NC State's Elementary Education Department and UNC Chapel Hill's College of Education; and members of the Capital Area Writing Project , which for 26 years has provided professional development for teachers, held at NC State's College of Education. International guests included two teachers from Shanghai, China and two professors from New Zealand.

"Game On! Getting Serious with Serious Gaming

Everyone knows that little Johnny loves going home after school and getting to spend some time playing video games. But what if Johnny could get his game on at school? And what if the game’s content actually furthers his education? That idea is what researchers, tech-savvy parents, teachers and video game developers around the world are scrambling to figure out. Is it possible to use video games as teaching tools in school? And if so, how would it work?

Dr. James Lester, professor of computer science at NC State, and Dr. Hiller Spires, professor of curriculum and instruction at NC State, have devoted nearly 15 years to that very question. They’ve been awarded numerous grants over the years to research how gaming in the classroom could work.

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