Instructional Technology

QUEST is a 5-day long, standards-based professional development program comprised of a training curriculum aligned to state standards for both students and teachers. Offered in an on-site classroom laboratory, this hands-on training truly models the ideal teaching environment that blends the student curriculum, the national educational technology standards for teachers, the best of new and existing technologies, and research-based instructional strategies.

The QUEST training curriculum is designed to meet the individual needs of adult learners. Working as individual, in content are groups, and in school team configurations participants partake in hands-on, interactive activities that address the ISTE national Educational Technology Standards (2000).

The content of the QUEST curriculum is drawn straight from the North Carolina Standard Course of Study (NCSCoS) in Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. Using a professional development "for teachers, by teachers" model, QUEST facilitators are classroom-trained teachers who guide participants through model lessons in each curriculum area. All model lessons are curriculum-based and utilize the best of schools' new and existing technologies to enhance students' understanding of curriculum concepts.

As a part of the 5-day QUEST training, participants will learn how to combine multiple technologies and instructional design theory for the purpose of developing their own integrated technology lesson plans and units.

The QUEST program was developed by Dr. Amy Holcombe, Guilford County Schools, with funding from an Enhancing Education Through Technology Grant from No Child Left Behind legislation in August 2002.