Digital transformation often begins with your search for the right tool or some ideal platform that will serve all of your needs. How often does it start with a conversation about what those needs actually are?
New Teacher Center’s Chief Operating Officer Arthur Mills IV has been on a digital transformation journey for some time now. He’ll tell you that asking “Why are we doing this?” and “What do we want to achieve?” is what allows digital transformation to help you reach your intended impact.
New Teacher Center (NTC) addresses inequities to ensure that every student has access to the best educational opportunities. They provide pre-K–12 teachers and school systems with tailored training and improvement services. NTC has already helped nearly two million students through its work with more than 25,000 teachers in over 400 districts across the United States. When NTC wanted to serve even more people, they took on a challenge: deliver professional coaching to teachers digitally without sacrificing quality or personal connections while achieving scale as efficiently as possible.
In the following video, Arthur explains why this process allowed an even richer dialogue with NTC’s constituents and why he sees it as a legacy for his organization. He also discusses the importance of NTC’s vision in guiding each step of their digital transformation.
As Arthur points out, digital transformation should empower individuals to do their best work. NTC had already established robust one-on-one coaching for teachers. Their digital transformation was initially planned around responding to feedback from their partners on how to improve the tools they use in schools every day. Their digital platform helps them scale their successful coaching model without losing the personal touch that makes their professional coaching so effective. Having a platform in place that allows the teachers they serve and their own employees to do their best work will make it easier for NTC to respond to the obstacles that COVID-19 has presented. It lets them address new challenges to teachers and students, an impact that has always been at the heart of their mission.
NTC’s program now features a blend of online and in-person learning with a focus on “training the trainer.” The online learning platform is not just a set of didactic texts and videos followed by quizzes; NTC designed tools to help educators plan success, such as an ongoing self-assessment rubric, a road map for teachers to create objectives and define their theory of change, and a “GPS” to outline actions that would drive those outcomes.
All of these tools were accompanied by concise but effective implementation supports, including links to current podcasts and video simulations allowing the viewer to chart their own course. NTC also now has the capability for mobile integration of classroom review, activities, and coaching. This digital platform has become the backbone for their efforts to grow their footprint with both current partners and prospects.
As Arthur learned, there is no “final destination” when it comes to digital transformation. It’s an ongoing opportunity to increase their impact.
Keep learning
Using Online Learning to Scale Your Impact
Arthur Mills IV joined leaders from OneGoal and ICIC to discuss how online learning scales their impact and analyze the influence of COVID-19 on digital strategies.
