By James Branch
jbranch@newstopicnews.com
Oct 26, 2018 7:42 AM
The Education Foundation of Caldwell County is starting to create programs that will offer teachers hands-on training with new and emerging technology.
Three rooms in the Angel Center, a building the foundation has on Ashe Avenue near Willow Street, will be set up as classrooms, Executive Director Pat Triplett said. Each room filled with different technology: One will have Apple products, another will have all PC products, and the third will have Google products.
Each class of five teachers will be led by one instructor. What they learn will change based on emerging technology.
“Because it (technology) does change so often we are going to have to keep up with new and innovative things to offer,” Triplett said.
The current obstacle the foundation faces is getting strong enough Wi-Fi to cover the entire building.
“We have really good signal in some of the rooms, but then some are not very strong,” Triplett said. “So we really have to work on making the house really strong so we can get all these pieces of equipment hooked up and working.”
The foundation is working with Caldwell County Schools technicians to provide better Wi-Fi to the building, Triplett said.
The building was given to the Education Foundation by the family of Anneal Triplett Ledbetter, a retired teacher who died in December 2015. The family wanted to name the building the Angel Center to commemorate Ledbetter, who collected angel figures.
“Mrs. Ledbetter not only collected angels, but she also was one, and the family wanted it called that,” Triplett said.
Reporter James Branch can be reached at 828-610-8723