CTE Professional Externship Carl Nelson - Social Studies Teacher Thurston Middle School Laguna Beach, CA
Sales Manager - Online Educational Testing Systems Date: January 28, 2010 Site: Sales Meeting at Cal State Fullerton and Mac Workshop in Northridge, CA Industry Contact: Jill Florant, Sales Rep for Daskala
The Product Daskala is a company that sells online testing to schools Tests are taken on the internet and provide teachers with immediate “smart” feedback Tests are tagged with information that will guide teachers how to help students do better These “diagnostics” are very important in helping struggling students learn what they did right or wrong Teachers can build tests or use math tests with “expert diagnostics”
Education & Experience Jill Florant - B.S. Industrial Engineering, Stanford University 6 Years Education Sales at IBM 8 years Sales at Cisco Systems In depth knowledge of computers and software engineering High level experience with Sales Familiarity with selling to schools Able to interface with engineers, teachers, and administration
The Job Getting the Word Out Making partners Constant communication with schools and school districts Make sales calls to schools and their district offices Visit teachers and principals and others involved in testing students Promote technology in education Making partners Working with schools that already use Daskala Interact with universities who are connected to local schools Work to get online tests into schools Form partnerships with other technology companies Apple, IBM, HP, and other computer firms
Training / Troubleshooting The Job Daily Routine Frequent updates to the CEO of the company Regular visits to schools around California Networking with teachers, principals, administration, friends and connections in Education jobs and Technology jobs Touching base with teachers to see how testing is working Updates necessary to make sure testing is a success Help teachers to use tests to increase student achievement Training / Troubleshooting Working with company engineers to ensure online tests are successful Guiding teachers on how to use online tests in the best way Attending technology workshops to work with other companies
Lessons Learning about an interesting new educational technology New ideas about how student testing should work Interfacing with college professors that work with online testing You can see how things might change drastically in the future Interesting look at the business world vs. education Business seems to be way ahead technologically, and education is trying to catch up Highlights Attending an Apple workshop Great technologies to be used in classrooms New strategies for using technology in the classroom The iPad just came out and we received new information about it Met fellow teachers in Los Angeles Unified School District using Daskala online tests with success
How Can I Incorporate this new knowledge? Enhance my own online assessments Use this new product or at least try it out Understand how students learn and the need for valuable feedback after an exam Share new knowledge / technology with colleagues at school Collaborate on future online assessments in school Professional Learning Communities Gain appreciation for the cost / difficulty / importance of integrating technology into education