Welcome to i3DigitalPD. We’re very excited to be starting a professional development adventure for something that we feel so deeply and dearly about – online and blended learning. With more than 15 years in the business seeing the growth and expansion of blended learning to individualize and personalize instruction, I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities for my daughters (who love soccer) and the future of education.
It was spring of 2000 when I started creating my first online course. It was for 8th grade math students who had not earned credit, thus could not be promoted into high school. Actually I was there to assist others in create courses as well – learning the tools, best practices, and creating knowledge objects and training for other teachers to perfect their craft and courses. Since the beginning, I was always looking to help others. Even today that is what we’re doing at i3DigitialPD.
Starting a business, after years in education, in much like starting a new online or blended learning program in your schools. The planning process in not all that much different. You start with a goal.
- Why are we changing things?
- Why do we need to change?
- What do we hope to accomplish with making this change?
For us the goal is to help other create quality online and blended learning programs. After working with thousands of teachers and hundreds of schools to create online and blended learning classrooms and programs, we’ve seen it all – some good, others who definitely needed more planning and preparation and lots in between.
Having attended the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) annual conference for years, sharing Clark County School District’s goal of 100,000 students in an online and blended learning environment – from building district online courses, preparing teachers and administrators for a new learning environments, and working with vendors and systems integration, we felt it was time to expand our reach and help others. Thus… Why we are changing things.
In November 2014, at the iNACOL conference, so many of the attendee were looking for quality professional development on the planning and preparing process – not the point and click of a software deployment. We heard a cry for help. Thus… Why we need to change.
So… here we are today – hoping to meet the challenge of providing quality professional development and support our fellow educators in establishing online and blended learning programs. We have programs for teachers, administrators and content designers. Our goal is to support the backbone of a quality program, by supporting the people that make the biggest difference in students’ life. Thus… What we hope to accomplish with making this change.
My questions to you: What are your goals? How can we help?
Kim Loomis
i3DigitalPD, Founder