Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Episode 291: The Digital Generation Redefining a Love for Learning
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Episode 291: The Digital Generation Redefining a Love for Learning
They are teachers doing groundbreaking work, redefining what traditional learning looks like in the classroom.
On this episode of the Supercast, we explore the history of digital learning, how it’s impacting students today, and how teachers are seeing big benefits, using all of the new technology now at their fingertips.
Audio Transcription
Kelli Cannon:
It’s just really fun to see how far education has come.
Megan Dahlgren:
So to be able to take this and learn and see how it's grown from Oregon Trail to you know whatever, however you're using it in your classroom now.
Kelli Cannon:
There are old programs that they used to actually print out and hand out to the attendees and there are topics like WordPerfect and AOL.
[Music]
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are supporting teachers in doing groundbreaking work, redefining what traditional learning looks like in the classroom.
On this episode of the Supercast, we talk with a Digital Learning Specialist and an Instructional Coach to explore the history of digital learning, how it's impacting students today, and how teachers are seeing big benefits using the technology that is now at their fingertips.
We're here at UCET in the UEN Homeroom Podcast Studio talking about how UCET impacts your practice and we're talking now with Kelli Cannon. Tell us a little bit about your role in Jordan School District, with UCET, and how being at UCET and being involved has impacted your practice.
Kelli Cannon:
Okay, so yeah, my name is Kelli Cannon. I am a Digital Learning Specialist in Jordan School District and I'm also a UCET Board member. This is my third year on the board and I love everything about UCET. My first UCET conference was my first year of teaching, 2014. It feels like a long time ago. When I think about that time I think we didn't even have laptops. So we had desktop computers and people were just kind of like sitting on the floor with like the first generation iPads trying to learn things and do things and just how much the conference has grown in the last 11 years has been just really fun to see. Just the impact that technology has had on education.
Anthony Godfrey:
So when someone comes to UCET what sorts of things will they learn about in breakouts and keynotes and in talking with vendors?
Kelli Cannon:
Okay, so the way we have the UCET Conference sorted out right now is in strands. In the strands there are different topics so there's like a robotic strand, and there's a tech basic strand, and a tech advanced strand, and so there's a little something for everybody here. There's also leadership and coaching because we have a lot of instructional and digital coaches as well who want to improve their practice. Then coming into this vendor hall as I look around I see a lot of tech companies. This year our theme is “Authentic Intelligence” and it's a little– like we say it's a little bit cheeky to AI in a way. There are so many AI vendors here and how AI is really shaping the landscape of education in Utah right now.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us more about what “Authentic Intelligence” means. Why that theme?
Kelli Cannon:
So when we were sitting around at our– we planned these conferences a year in advance. So we were sitting around in our meeting last July and we said “We know AI is gonna be really big it's not going away, so what can we do to kind of play off that theme?” So we said, “Let's use AI, but when we say Authentic Intelligence we mean how can we use AI or keep the human skills in a technology-driven world?” So we're still looking for that human input. I think that's what keeps teaching like personalized and relevant is having that human interaction.
Anthony Godfrey:
I really think artificial intelligence propels human intelligence instead of replacing it. It's a way to enhance it to support it and to build a foundation. Kind of clear the easy stuff out of the way so we can get to the real deep thinking.
Kelli Cannon:
Yeah, I agree.
Anthony Godfrey:
Instruction is really at the heart of this right? I mean it's technology-focused but it really comes down to teaching and learning.
Kelli Cannon:
Yeah, I agree. Something that we really like with AI and something we've been talking a lot about in our district is how AI, particularly school AI, has really personalized learning for each of our students. And how we've been able to use AI as a thought partner and not just, you know, putting students in the space or with a chatbot but really making sure that they are learning, and growing, and making it relevant to them. Like you mentioned to offloading some of those administrative tasks so we can have more time to work with the students which is what really matters.
Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely. If you go back in time to the 2014 Kelli and you compare her with the 2025 Kelli, how has UCET changed the way that you look at education and teaching generally?
Kelli Cannon:
Well, I remember that year I met my new team. I got hired like a week before school started right out of college. They gave me this big huge stack of worksheets and they said this is our math for the year. I was like “Oh wow, okay, packets, worksheets, books” and I mean of course those things have their place but now I look at just the many opportunities that we have with technology and because of technology to teach in a different way and make it last. These are what our students now they spend a lot of time on devices and a lot of time on the internet and technology and so this is like what they're used to. So students of ten years ago compared to now are completely different.
Anthony Godfrey:
So I love how you switched it from you ten years ago to students ten years ago.
Kelli Cannon:
Sorry.
Anthony Godfrey:
Which is really the focus. No, you're right. You're right because you have to think about what world are students coming from. What's their day-to-day experience and how do you tap into that to make sure that education is as effective as it can be?
Kelli Cannon:
Agreed.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us about a Digital Learning Specialist for those who don't know. What is your role in the district? What exactly do you do to help support our teachers?
Kelli Cannon:
Yeah, so there are about eight of us and we have about ten to fifteen different schools that we visit every month and we try to spend extended time there. We meet with instructional coaches and digital coaches, we hold tech trainings, we also do a lot of professional development in the district office. We love everything tech-related. People are always emailing– just don't call us because we don't use our phones very well. I don't know how to transfer a phone call, figure that out.
Anthony Godfrey:
It's an archaic skill. It's an archaic skill like writing a check. Nobody needs to do that anymore.
Kelli Cannon:
What is that?
Anthony Godfrey:
Right, exactly. Exactly.
Kelli Cannon:
Yeah, and so also part of my role is I work with computer science. I help train our computer science rotation leads and I get to do STEM and robotics and help them do lessons and train on tools. So it's just a really fun and unique job to have.
Anthony Godfrey:
As I walked in I saw the “Eras” booth. The “UCET Eras” booth with lots of technology over the years. I felt really comfortable standing between the '80s table and the ‘90s table. That felt really good to me. Tell us about the “Eras” booth.
Kelli Cannon:
Yeah, okay. So about a year ago “Taylor Swift The Eras” was really popular so that's kind of what started it, right? Taylor Swift through the eras. I've always listened to her music since I was a teenager and so I thought, “Wouldn't it be fun to go back in time and use that and see what's changed?”
I've learned a lot in the last year. The original UCET committee was UCCE, which I can't remember that stands for. It's like Utah Coalition for Educational Technology, like that, and it was formed in 1980 out of Mike Bailey's master's project which I thought was really interesting to see a master's project grow into something this big. Just going through the history and seeing where they started out. Just you know a few people or maybe a high school auditorium with a hundred people to where we are today in 2025 with 1600 teachers here. And just the amount of vendors and moving even from high schools, to Provo, to the Salt Palace. Like every year we keep growing. So we're really excited to just keep incorporating technology.
Then as far as the “Eras” booth, what we have is since we started in the 1980s we have a table for each decade. I've asked people to donate old technologies so we have old Apple computers, and we have floppy disks. In the 80s and 90s we have a VHS, which I just found out stands for Video Home System. There were some things over there though I didn't know what they were so I had my Gemini, my Google Gemini app, open yesterday I took a picture of it and I said “Google, tell me what this is and what year it was made” and it explained it to me.
Anthony Godfrey:
Using new technology to understand old technology. that is a thing of beauty.
Kelli Cannon:
Then in our 2020 era, we have a face shield that someone used during teaching of course. I think this one wasn't used but it's just really fun to see how far education has come. There are old programs that they used to actually print out and hand out to the attendees, and there are topics like WordPerfect and AOL. Then you know as we go through it's changed a bit.
Anthony Godfrey:
Is there a CD over there for 1600 free hours of AOL in a particular month?
Kelli Cannon:
There's a floppy disk.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, that's great. It was really cool to look through the eras. And I actually think it's very instructive because as you look I think we're always looking forward. What's new? What's next? How can we get better? But we have to pause and look back and see our progress and see how far we've actually come. It was it was really nice to reminisce through the technology and really think about how far we've come. So bravo on all the work that you're doing and on the eras tour that I got to take through the UCET history.
Kelli Cannon:
Thank you so much.
Anthony Godfrey:
All right, good luck with your presentation.
Kelli Cannon:
Thank you.
Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, more on digital learning in Jordan School District.
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.
Break:
It's giving busy parents a little more peace of mind when it comes to their students getting to and from school. We're talking about Zonar MyView. It's a mobile app meant to enhance the school bus transportation experience for students and their families. The app allows parents to check on their child's school bus location and the estimated time of arrival at the bus stop each day for pickup and drop off.
If you want to join the thousands of parents already using the app, it's easy. All it takes is a few simple steps. First download the Zonar MyView app from the App Store or Google Play. Then visit auxiliaryservices.jordandistrict.org/zonar. That's where you'll find the school access code and directions on how to enter your student's unique ID and learn how to create an alert zone around your child's drop-off and pickup locations.
Let the Zonar MyView app help you stay on top of things knowing when a bus might be running a little late and when to get your kids going or head out to meet them at the bus stop. It's one more way for us to better connect with you.
Anthony Godfrey:
We're now talking with Megan Dahlgren who is an Instructional Coach at Rosamond Elementary. Tell us a little bit about being an instructional coach for those who don't know what that is.
Megan Dahlgren:
Oh my goodness, so this is actually my first year as an instructional coach. I'm super excited about it. So my job is to go in and work with the teachers to help improve their instruction.
Anthony Godfrey:
This is now a full-time position. For a while, we had a few hours here a few hours there that we paid people to work after school, but I'm really proud that we are able as a district to have a full-time instructional coach in every elementary school and to have coaches in every secondary school. Every person in this world needs a coach of some sort to help them get better at what they're doing. You know the thing is LeBron James has a coach, Tiger Woods has a coach.
Megan Dahlgren:
Michael Phelps has a coach.
Anthony Godfrey:
All the greats have a coach. Caitlin Clark has a coach. They all have coaches. They all have coaches over the years who have helped them become better and even when they're at the top of their game they want to be a little bit better. They want to maintain and the same is true of teachers.
Megan Dahlgren:
Absolutely.
Anthony Godfrey:
Everyone needs that coaching cycle. Everyone needs that support. So tell me about UCET. How does UCET support you as you support teachers and improve instruction and outcomes for students?
Megan Dahlgren:
So I first attended UCET years ago when I was just a teacher, and I came back from that to my classroom and I said “Oh, I want to try this and this and this.” It was when AI, as I think about it, it was when AI was just getting started in education there was a math– an adaptive math game– that I put into place. Or program, it was gamified, and then also a program that would listen to kids read. And I'm like “Oh, that's what Amira is now” so this is like a forerunner to Amira. I remember taking them back and feeling “Oh, I want to use these.” I could use one because it was free and I couldn't use the other because it cost money.
So now here, I think I have a good grasp on what a lot of the programs are. So here for me as an instructional coach, where I'm also a digital coach, but I have a teacher that I am doing a coaching cycle with right now and it's for an ML student. So as I was going through the list of different presentations those were a couple that really stuck out with me, is how I can use the programs and digital technology to help these MLs. So I'm excited to learn and be able to take that back to her and say “Oh, what if we try this, and this, and this.” So that's one of my big focuses as I'm here over the next two days.
Anthony Godfrey:
For those listening, an ML is a multi-language learner.
Megan Dahlgren:
Yes.
Anthony Godfrey:
So you're helping a teacher meet the needs of someone who's learning English at the same time that they're learning their native language and learning all of the subjects throughout the day.
Megan Dahlgren:
Yes. I can't even imagine being in that situation and so whatever we can do to help. I mean I spent time last week putting together little flashcards that will help her with vocabulary and things like that. But it's like “Oh, what can we use technology based that could help her as well.” Anthony Godfrey:
I'm really grateful that you do this work. What you just described is exactly, I think, why it's great to be a teacher in Jordan School District because of the level of support. I love hearing your enthusiasm when you learn about something new even years ago “Okay, I gotta get this. I gotta put this to use. And how can I help this teacher help this ML student?” I just love that energy that you bring to it.
Megan Dahlgren:
Can I just say something? To my dad's credit, my dad was an educator and he got his master's in instructional technology from Utah State University in the 70s. So I literally have grown up with technology. We had an old Apple 2e so I had it in my home literally my whole life. So to be able to take this and learn and see how it's grown from Oregon Trail to you know whatever, however you're using it in your classroom now. So a tribute to my dad who was instrumental in bringing the internet to a small school in Wyoming.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us your dad's name and where did he teach?
Megan Dahlgren:
His name is Mike Roberts and he taught in Bighorn, Wyoming. So little town, I think each graduating class was between 20 and 30 students.
Anthony Godfrey:
That’s a lasting impact. I'm sure many students remember him and the impact he had on them.
Megan Dahlgren:
Yes. it was. It was amazing. Then he was able to take that and bring photography from a dark room to digital photography. Using that for students and having high school students build websites in the 90s and so it was it's really huge. He's my inspiration to loving technology.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, that passion and that curiosity is carried through in your work now so I'm sure he's very proud of that. It's awesome
Megan Dahlgren:
Thank you. It’s a lot of fun. I love it. I love that even though I'm an instructional coach I can still be teaching. Just yesterday I did a little Google Tips and Tricks with some teachers at my school, those who came. It was my little tech bite as I call it. So I provide treats and come and so it's still my opportunity to be teaching even though I'm a coach.
Anthony Godfrey:
I love that, I love that. Well, it's such an important role. Thank you very much for doing it and hey for everything from Oregon Trail to the things you're teaching. The Oregon Trail had its virtues you know, opaque projectors and the like. I'd like to talk to your dad about that old stuff. Anyway, thanks for everything you're doing now and like I said, just for the caring and passion that you bring to it.
Megan Dahlgren:
I love it. Thanks for the opportunity to be here.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.
(upbeat music)
View all episodes
By Jordan Supercast
4.7
4141 ratings
They are teachers doing groundbreaking work, redefining what traditional learning looks like in the classroom.
On this episode of the Supercast, we explore the history of digital learning, how it’s impacting students today, and how teachers are seeing big benefits, using all of the new technology now at their fingertips.
Audio Transcription
Kelli Cannon:
It’s just really fun to see how far education has come.
Megan Dahlgren:
So to be able to take this and learn and see how it's grown from Oregon Trail to you know whatever, however you're using it in your classroom now.
Kelli Cannon:
There are old programs that they used to actually print out and hand out to the attendees and there are topics like WordPerfect and AOL.
[Music]
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are supporting teachers in doing groundbreaking work, redefining what traditional learning looks like in the classroom.
On this episode of the Supercast, we talk with a Digital Learning Specialist and an Instructional Coach to explore the history of digital learning, how it's impacting students today, and how teachers are seeing big benefits using the technology that is now at their fingertips.
We're here at UCET in the UEN Homeroom Podcast Studio talking about how UCET impacts your practice and we're talking now with Kelli Cannon. Tell us a little bit about your role in Jordan School District, with UCET, and how being at UCET and being involved has impacted your practice.
Kelli Cannon:
Okay, so yeah, my name is Kelli Cannon. I am a Digital Learning Specialist in Jordan School District and I'm also a UCET Board member. This is my third year on the board and I love everything about UCET. My first UCET conference was my first year of teaching, 2014. It feels like a long time ago. When I think about that time I think we didn't even have laptops. So we had desktop computers and people were just kind of like sitting on the floor with like the first generation iPads trying to learn things and do things and just how much the conference has grown in the last 11 years has been just really fun to see. Just the impact that technology has had on education.
Anthony Godfrey:
So when someone comes to UCET what sorts of things will they learn about in breakouts and keynotes and in talking with vendors?
Kelli Cannon:
Okay, so the way we have the UCET Conference sorted out right now is in strands. In the strands there are different topics so there's like a robotic strand, and there's a tech basic strand, and a tech advanced strand, and so there's a little something for everybody here. There's also leadership and coaching because we have a lot of instructional and digital coaches as well who want to improve their practice. Then coming into this vendor hall as I look around I see a lot of tech companies. This year our theme is “Authentic Intelligence” and it's a little– like we say it's a little bit cheeky to AI in a way. There are so many AI vendors here and how AI is really shaping the landscape of education in Utah right now.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us more about what “Authentic Intelligence” means. Why that theme?
Kelli Cannon:
So when we were sitting around at our– we planned these conferences a year in advance. So we were sitting around in our meeting last July and we said “We know AI is gonna be really big it's not going away, so what can we do to kind of play off that theme?” So we said, “Let's use AI, but when we say Authentic Intelligence we mean how can we use AI or keep the human skills in a technology-driven world?” So we're still looking for that human input. I think that's what keeps teaching like personalized and relevant is having that human interaction.
Anthony Godfrey:
I really think artificial intelligence propels human intelligence instead of replacing it. It's a way to enhance it to support it and to build a foundation. Kind of clear the easy stuff out of the way so we can get to the real deep thinking.
Kelli Cannon:
Yeah, I agree.
Anthony Godfrey:
Instruction is really at the heart of this right? I mean it's technology-focused but it really comes down to teaching and learning.
Kelli Cannon:
Yeah, I agree. Something that we really like with AI and something we've been talking a lot about in our district is how AI, particularly school AI, has really personalized learning for each of our students. And how we've been able to use AI as a thought partner and not just, you know, putting students in the space or with a chatbot but really making sure that they are learning, and growing, and making it relevant to them. Like you mentioned to offloading some of those administrative tasks so we can have more time to work with the students which is what really matters.
Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely. If you go back in time to the 2014 Kelli and you compare her with the 2025 Kelli, how has UCET changed the way that you look at education and teaching generally?
Kelli Cannon:
Well, I remember that year I met my new team. I got hired like a week before school started right out of college. They gave me this big huge stack of worksheets and they said this is our math for the year. I was like “Oh wow, okay, packets, worksheets, books” and I mean of course those things have their place but now I look at just the many opportunities that we have with technology and because of technology to teach in a different way and make it last. These are what our students now they spend a lot of time on devices and a lot of time on the internet and technology and so this is like what they're used to. So students of ten years ago compared to now are completely different.
Anthony Godfrey:
So I love how you switched it from you ten years ago to students ten years ago.
Kelli Cannon:
Sorry.
Anthony Godfrey:
Which is really the focus. No, you're right. You're right because you have to think about what world are students coming from. What's their day-to-day experience and how do you tap into that to make sure that education is as effective as it can be?
Kelli Cannon:
Agreed.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us about a Digital Learning Specialist for those who don't know. What is your role in the district? What exactly do you do to help support our teachers?
Kelli Cannon:
Yeah, so there are about eight of us and we have about ten to fifteen different schools that we visit every month and we try to spend extended time there. We meet with instructional coaches and digital coaches, we hold tech trainings, we also do a lot of professional development in the district office. We love everything tech-related. People are always emailing– just don't call us because we don't use our phones very well. I don't know how to transfer a phone call, figure that out.
Anthony Godfrey:
It's an archaic skill. It's an archaic skill like writing a check. Nobody needs to do that anymore.
Kelli Cannon:
What is that?
Anthony Godfrey:
Right, exactly. Exactly.
Kelli Cannon:
Yeah, and so also part of my role is I work with computer science. I help train our computer science rotation leads and I get to do STEM and robotics and help them do lessons and train on tools. So it's just a really fun and unique job to have.
Anthony Godfrey:
As I walked in I saw the “Eras” booth. The “UCET Eras” booth with lots of technology over the years. I felt really comfortable standing between the '80s table and the ‘90s table. That felt really good to me. Tell us about the “Eras” booth.
Kelli Cannon:
Yeah, okay. So about a year ago “Taylor Swift The Eras” was really popular so that's kind of what started it, right? Taylor Swift through the eras. I've always listened to her music since I was a teenager and so I thought, “Wouldn't it be fun to go back in time and use that and see what's changed?”
I've learned a lot in the last year. The original UCET committee was UCCE, which I can't remember that stands for. It's like Utah Coalition for Educational Technology, like that, and it was formed in 1980 out of Mike Bailey's master's project which I thought was really interesting to see a master's project grow into something this big. Just going through the history and seeing where they started out. Just you know a few people or maybe a high school auditorium with a hundred people to where we are today in 2025 with 1600 teachers here. And just the amount of vendors and moving even from high schools, to Provo, to the Salt Palace. Like every year we keep growing. So we're really excited to just keep incorporating technology.
Then as far as the “Eras” booth, what we have is since we started in the 1980s we have a table for each decade. I've asked people to donate old technologies so we have old Apple computers, and we have floppy disks. In the 80s and 90s we have a VHS, which I just found out stands for Video Home System. There were some things over there though I didn't know what they were so I had my Gemini, my Google Gemini app, open yesterday I took a picture of it and I said “Google, tell me what this is and what year it was made” and it explained it to me.
Anthony Godfrey:
Using new technology to understand old technology. that is a thing of beauty.
Kelli Cannon:
Then in our 2020 era, we have a face shield that someone used during teaching of course. I think this one wasn't used but it's just really fun to see how far education has come. There are old programs that they used to actually print out and hand out to the attendees, and there are topics like WordPerfect and AOL. Then you know as we go through it's changed a bit.
Anthony Godfrey:
Is there a CD over there for 1600 free hours of AOL in a particular month?
Kelli Cannon:
There's a floppy disk.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, that's great. It was really cool to look through the eras. And I actually think it's very instructive because as you look I think we're always looking forward. What's new? What's next? How can we get better? But we have to pause and look back and see our progress and see how far we've actually come. It was it was really nice to reminisce through the technology and really think about how far we've come. So bravo on all the work that you're doing and on the eras tour that I got to take through the UCET history.
Kelli Cannon:
Thank you so much.
Anthony Godfrey:
All right, good luck with your presentation.
Kelli Cannon:
Thank you.
Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, more on digital learning in Jordan School District.
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.
Break:
It's giving busy parents a little more peace of mind when it comes to their students getting to and from school. We're talking about Zonar MyView. It's a mobile app meant to enhance the school bus transportation experience for students and their families. The app allows parents to check on their child's school bus location and the estimated time of arrival at the bus stop each day for pickup and drop off.
If you want to join the thousands of parents already using the app, it's easy. All it takes is a few simple steps. First download the Zonar MyView app from the App Store or Google Play. Then visit auxiliaryservices.jordandistrict.org/zonar. That's where you'll find the school access code and directions on how to enter your student's unique ID and learn how to create an alert zone around your child's drop-off and pickup locations.
Let the Zonar MyView app help you stay on top of things knowing when a bus might be running a little late and when to get your kids going or head out to meet them at the bus stop. It's one more way for us to better connect with you.
Anthony Godfrey:
We're now talking with Megan Dahlgren who is an Instructional Coach at Rosamond Elementary. Tell us a little bit about being an instructional coach for those who don't know what that is.
Megan Dahlgren:
Oh my goodness, so this is actually my first year as an instructional coach. I'm super excited about it. So my job is to go in and work with the teachers to help improve their instruction.
Anthony Godfrey:
This is now a full-time position. For a while, we had a few hours here a few hours there that we paid people to work after school, but I'm really proud that we are able as a district to have a full-time instructional coach in every elementary school and to have coaches in every secondary school. Every person in this world needs a coach of some sort to help them get better at what they're doing. You know the thing is LeBron James has a coach, Tiger Woods has a coach.
Megan Dahlgren:
Michael Phelps has a coach.
Anthony Godfrey:
All the greats have a coach. Caitlin Clark has a coach. They all have coaches. They all have coaches over the years who have helped them become better and even when they're at the top of their game they want to be a little bit better. They want to maintain and the same is true of teachers.
Megan Dahlgren:
Absolutely.
Anthony Godfrey:
Everyone needs that coaching cycle. Everyone needs that support. So tell me about UCET. How does UCET support you as you support teachers and improve instruction and outcomes for students?
Megan Dahlgren:
So I first attended UCET years ago when I was just a teacher, and I came back from that to my classroom and I said “Oh, I want to try this and this and this.” It was when AI, as I think about it, it was when AI was just getting started in education there was a math– an adaptive math game– that I put into place. Or program, it was gamified, and then also a program that would listen to kids read. And I'm like “Oh, that's what Amira is now” so this is like a forerunner to Amira. I remember taking them back and feeling “Oh, I want to use these.” I could use one because it was free and I couldn't use the other because it cost money.
So now here, I think I have a good grasp on what a lot of the programs are. So here for me as an instructional coach, where I'm also a digital coach, but I have a teacher that I am doing a coaching cycle with right now and it's for an ML student. So as I was going through the list of different presentations those were a couple that really stuck out with me, is how I can use the programs and digital technology to help these MLs. So I'm excited to learn and be able to take that back to her and say “Oh, what if we try this, and this, and this.” So that's one of my big focuses as I'm here over the next two days.
Anthony Godfrey:
For those listening, an ML is a multi-language learner.
Megan Dahlgren:
Yes.
Anthony Godfrey:
So you're helping a teacher meet the needs of someone who's learning English at the same time that they're learning their native language and learning all of the subjects throughout the day.
Megan Dahlgren:
Yes. I can't even imagine being in that situation and so whatever we can do to help. I mean I spent time last week putting together little flashcards that will help her with vocabulary and things like that. But it's like “Oh, what can we use technology based that could help her as well.” Anthony Godfrey:
I'm really grateful that you do this work. What you just described is exactly, I think, why it's great to be a teacher in Jordan School District because of the level of support. I love hearing your enthusiasm when you learn about something new even years ago “Okay, I gotta get this. I gotta put this to use. And how can I help this teacher help this ML student?” I just love that energy that you bring to it.
Megan Dahlgren:
Can I just say something? To my dad's credit, my dad was an educator and he got his master's in instructional technology from Utah State University in the 70s. So I literally have grown up with technology. We had an old Apple 2e so I had it in my home literally my whole life. So to be able to take this and learn and see how it's grown from Oregon Trail to you know whatever, however you're using it in your classroom now. So a tribute to my dad who was instrumental in bringing the internet to a small school in Wyoming.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us your dad's name and where did he teach?
Megan Dahlgren:
His name is Mike Roberts and he taught in Bighorn, Wyoming. So little town, I think each graduating class was between 20 and 30 students.
Anthony Godfrey:
That’s a lasting impact. I'm sure many students remember him and the impact he had on them.
Megan Dahlgren:
Yes. it was. It was amazing. Then he was able to take that and bring photography from a dark room to digital photography. Using that for students and having high school students build websites in the 90s and so it was it's really huge. He's my inspiration to loving technology.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, that passion and that curiosity is carried through in your work now so I'm sure he's very proud of that. It's awesome
Megan Dahlgren:
Thank you. It’s a lot of fun. I love it. I love that even though I'm an instructional coach I can still be teaching. Just yesterday I did a little Google Tips and Tricks with some teachers at my school, those who came. It was my little tech bite as I call it. So I provide treats and come and so it's still my opportunity to be teaching even though I'm a coach.
Anthony Godfrey:
I love that, I love that. Well, it's such an important role. Thank you very much for doing it and hey for everything from Oregon Trail to the things you're teaching. The Oregon Trail had its virtues you know, opaque projectors and the like. I'd like to talk to your dad about that old stuff. Anyway, thanks for everything you're doing now and like I said, just for the caring and passion that you bring to it.
Megan Dahlgren:
I love it. Thanks for the opportunity to be here.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.
(upbeat music)
More shows like Jordan Supercast
View all
The Viall Files
25,000 Listeners
followHIM
10,435 Listeners