Overview
Thinkfinity is a free, comprehensive digital learning platform designed to improve learning in traditional settings and beyond the classroom by providing high-caliber content and professional development needed to improve student achievement anytime, anywhere, at no cost.
Benefits to Florida Schools
Florida Digital Educators (FDE) partnership with Thinkfinity ensures that teachers and students seamlessly use technology as a tool to accomplish tasks through higher-order thinking skills within a disciplined study so that students will succeed in the global community. The program provides:
- access to rich technology resources, such as lesson plans, activities, and content.
- content-driven activities and resources to engage the digital student.
- educator training on the effective use of technology in the classroom to impact student achievement.
Role of the Florida Digital Educator program:
- provide statewide training on Thinkfinity for districts
- develop and manage a certified Thinkfinity trainer network
- alignment of Thinkfinity resources to state goals and objectives
For more information on Thinkfinity in Florida, contact Kris Mathews
August 5th, 2009
USF College of Education Receives $60,000 Grant From Verizon to Provide Training for Teachers to Use Innovative, Free Online Resources at Thinkfinity.org
Verizon's Thinkfinity.org Also Offers Free Educational Resources for Parents, Students and After-School Programs
(Tampa, FL)—The USF College of Education announced today that it has received a $60,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to raise awareness and train teachers to use the free educational resources available on Thinkfinity.org.
Thinkfinity.org is the Verizon Foundation's free, comprehensive Web site containing more than 55,000 educational resources, including standards-based, grade-specific, K-12 lesson plans, online educational games, videos and other materials provided in partnership with many of the nation's leading educational organizations.
Verizon's Thinkfinity.org offers elementary through high school teachers resources across eight academic disciplines, from science to English to mathematics, to improve student achievement. Thinkfinity.org is designed to help teachers gain access quickly to high-quality online resources.
"A major goal of our Florida Digital Educator iniative is to increase awareness of high-quality digital content for classroom use. This partnership with the Verizon Foundation allows us to expand our efforts in this respect and we are particularly pleased to have made this connection with the eleven premier content provider organizations participating in the Thinkfinity program," said Roy Winkelman Ph.D., Director of the Florida Center for Instructional Technology.
In addition to providing standards-based resources from the nation's leading educational organizations, Thinkfinity.org also offers a free, robust professional-development program for teachers and trainers.
The grant announced today establishes a new network for the state of Florida in order to create awareness of Thinkfinity resources, activities and training opportunities. This plan is compatible with the existing programmatic goals of the Florida Digital Educator program, which focuses on sharing tools and resources for classroom teachers and students for seamless integration of technology and transformation of the learning environment.
The statewide rollout of Thinkfinity resources will initially focus on the existing network of Master Digital Educators (MDE) and key district personnel across the state of Florida. The MDE's are located in over 40 counties and key district personnel of all 67 counties will be invited to participate. These individuals will disseminate Thinkfinity resources to inservice educators and administrators.
FCIT's unique position within the University of South Florida College of Education, will also enable the program to work with undergraduate students in pre-service education courses to create a pre-service education model that may be used by other Florida institutions of higher education, with a particular focus on the community colleges across the state.
"Whether it's an English teacher looking for resources to spark a love of reading in a student, or a parent seeking a convenient and user-friendly educational activity to stimulate the mind of a young child, Thinkfinity.org will help them quickly and easily find the information needed to improve student achievement," said a Verizon spokesperson.
Content for Thinkfinity is provided through a partnership between the Verizon Foundation and 11 of the nation's leading organizations in the fields of education and literacy: the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Reading Association, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National Center for Family Literacy, National Council on Economic Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Geographic Society, ProLiteracy and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, supports the advancement of K-12 education through its educational Web site, Thinkfinity.org, and fosters awareness and prevention of domestic violence. In 2007, the foundation awarded more than $67.4 million in grants to nonprofit agencies in the United States and abroad. The foundation also matched the charitable donations of Verizon employees and retirees, resulting in $25.1 million in combined contributions. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation's largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered more than 3 million hours of community service since Verizon's inception in 2000.
For more information on the foundation, visit www.verizon.com/foundation.
