White House honors education technology ‘Champions of Change’
The White House honored on Thursday 10 ConnectED “Champions of Change” who use creative approaches in technology to enhance learning for students in communities across the country.
This past June, President Barack Obama launched the ConnectED Initiative to connect 99 percent of America’s students to the digital age through next-generation broadband and high-speed wireless in five years.
Read about this year’s ConnectED “Champions of Change.”
“This is not just about wiring schools; it’s about changing students’ lives,” Obama said. “It’s about using technology to give students a chance to learn at their own pace, whether they’re catching up on a subject or moving ahead to the next level. It’s about giving teachers a better data set so they can see exactly what’s working and what isn’t for particular students. It’s about unleashing a new market for educational devices and apps that will create jobs and spur innovation.”
He continued, “And it’s about supporting outstanding, innovative educators like our Champions for Change. Because of their work in North Dakota, young people with autism are using educational apps to discover abilities that they didn’t even know that they had. In Colorado, preschoolers have now obtained access to a digital discovery center that helps them to get a great education from the earliest age. In Georgia, students at an after-school technology club are learning skills that are going to help them succeed in college and throughout their careers.”
