REMC Powers Up Mich. Teachers With EdTech

The Regional Educational Media Center (REMC) Association of Michigan, a nonprofit organization that supports PreK-12 teachers, has launched a new initiative to help educators enhance their teaching skills through tech-centered learning resources.

With the influx of technology in schools over the last several years, teachers and students can create learning experiences that previously were not possible. With the “Power Up Teaching and Learning” initiative, REMC is aiming to give PreK-12 educators a wide range of free professional learning and classroom resources on how technology can improve and enhance their teaching practices.

The initiative covers the following topics:

• Curriculum and Content Development;
• Digital Leader;
• Effective Communication;
• Learning Environment; and
• Meaningful Data.

In addition, each topic area includes overview videos, guidebooks, slide decks, templates, professional learning activity documents, and toolkits for designing additional professional learning curricula to further support the topic.

“It’s a comprehensive suite of ready-to-use tools and materials to help teachers implement educational technology to enhance or even reimagine their teaching practices,” Melinda Waffle, a REMC professional learning coordinator, said in a testimonial.

The tech education resources are offered online, in-person, and blended formats to offer teachers more flexibility in their professional learning experiences. The learning materials available were developed in collaboration with Dell Technologies Professional Learning Services.

“Power Up was the largest such project we had ever tackled in such a short window of time,” said Waffle. “Without the support of Dell Technologies and Advanced Learning Partnerships, we’d be much more limited in the professional learning and resources we could provide.”

The REMC Association is a statewide network of 28 local Regional Educational Media Centers operating through Michigan’s Intermediate School District (ISD) structure.

“As a nonprofit, we have to operate as a lean organization,” REMC Director Sue Schwartz said. “That makes it all the more challenging for us to support Michigan’s education community that stretches 450 miles from Detroit to the northern tip of the Upper Peninsula.”

She explained that providing these ed tech resources in various formats and at no cost to educators helps bridge the geographic disparity between schools. There’s no login or paywall to download them. Additionally, users can copy, adapt, and customize the materials if it’s for non-commercial purposes.

The Dell Technologies Professional Learning Services team helped expand REMC’s “capacity to turn ideas into reality, such as our new Technology Support Essential Services course for Level-1 IT professionals in Michigan’s ISD,” Waffle said. “Now we can provide more timely, consistent, and higher-quality resources … to better deliver on our mission and beliefs.”