A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Nortel: Teacher Training Program

Nortel created its Teacher Training Program to help address the computer technology needs of North Carolina local school teachers. Beginning in 1991, Nortel volunteers have spent Saturdays training teachers and administrators at the company's Research Triangle facilities. The program started by working with one local school system at a time; a full-time project manager was added in 1997 in order to expand the scope of the program and reach teachers from other parts of the state. This expansion allows teachers from across the state to register on an individual basis at no cost. More than 3,800 teachers have been trained since the program's inception.

The curriculum has grown to meet the demands of teachers who need to know much more than basic word processing and spreadsheet development. The present course offerings include more than 16 courses in both Macintosh and PC environments. Some of the more popular courses are PowerPoint, Excel, PrintShop, World Wide Web, Networking, Upgrading/ Troubleshooting Your PC, and FrontPage. Nortel's program will soon equip teachers with advanced techniques for navigating the World Wide Web and using the other applications to integrate computer technology into their daily instruction. As teachers became more familiar with the Web, networking and Web page design were added to the curriculum.

The key to the success of the program must be attributed to Nortel's employee volunteers. More than 40 employees are involved on a regular basis to deliver these courses on Saturdays at the company's local Technical Education Center. Many of the volunteers helped develop and write training manuals that could be given to the teachers at the end of their classes. These manuals were custom-designed to match the needs of the education community. As the program grew, Nortel hired external writers to keep up with the demand for new course offerings.

The program is now positioned to be a major factor in North Carolina's education reform efforts. The program offered has been approved for Continuing Education Credit as part of North Carolina's teacher certification requirements. As a result of this approval, Nortel will be able to train 1,300 teachers per year. The Nortel Teacher Training Program plays a key role in the development of North Carolina's teachers as they prepare the leaders of tomorrow—today's children.

Contacts:

Edgar D. Murphy, III
Community Relations Manager, Public Affairs
Nortel/Northern Telecom
4001 East Chapel Hill-Nelson Highway
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
919-992-3045

Anna Marrow, Project Manager
Nortel/Northern Telecom
Teacher Training Program
marrowal@nt.com

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[Mattel Foundation/Alliance for Technology Access: Family Learning Program]

[Cisco Systems, Inc.]