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William & Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation

Amplifying Teaching and Learning Through Technology

We commit to supporting the ever-changing needs of educators and searching for solutions to the most enduring challenges in education in North Carolina and beyond. The Friday Institute’s scholars, researchers and educational practitioners are uniquely positioned to amplify teaching and learning through innovative technologies and strategies. Leveraging our intellectual and technological capital, we make breakthroughs in education that empower educators to change the world.

AI with the Friday Institute

At the Friday Institute, we are working with educators and educational leaders to leverage AI for deeper learning, support teachers and students in effective uses of AI, ensure equitable access in how AI is incorporated into education and conduct research on AI integration in instruction. Our recent 4-part webinar series served 562 educator participants.

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LASER Institute

The Learning Analytics in STEM Education Research (LASER) Institute is an NSF-funded professional development program for early and mid-career researchers focused on the use of advanced methods including deepened knowledge of learning analytics, proficiency with new computational tools and methods, and connecting scholars with researchers and experts in the field. The LASER Institute has created a vibrant learning analytics research community whose cross-institution collaboration on grant proposals, papers, journals, book chapters, presentations and conferences has contributed to the growing field of learning analytics.

142 scholars

have attended the LASER Institute program for researchers who want to deepen their knowledge in learning analytics

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ZSpace STEM Lab

Using zSpace®, an innovative virtual reality technology, the Friday Institute created and implemented a variety of science lessons in Vance County, North Carolina. By 2020, our Innovations in STEM Education Research team had brought this technology to all 8th graders, about 230 students, at two Vance County schools.

zSpace uses 3D, haptic enabled technology to allow students the opportunity to explore science concepts.

North Carolina’s K-12 Cybersecurity Program

The Friday Institute’s role in the K-12 Cybersecurity Program is to create, maintain and manage tools that inform and automate cybersecurity functions for North Carolina public schools, provide strategy and expertise, and train and disseminate information to help schools connect to the internet efficiently and securely. Along with the other program services and resources, the Friday Institute plays an instrumental part in the protection, detection and responses for K-12 institutions across North Carolina. Over the last three years, 200,000 educators have completed over a half million cybersecurity training modules facilitated by the Friday Institute and have received 1.9 million phishing simulation emails.

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Two participants sit at a table in a room filled with people at various tables. They are talking to each other over laptops and papers at their table.

Friday Institute Facilitates Training of 1,100 Educators to Teach Computer Science in Every Middle and High School in North Carolina

Over the last four years, the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) have worked together to support districts in adopting computer science classes in middle school and high school. Since 2017, the Friday Institute has trained over 550 new computer science teachers in introductory computer science courses. A three-year $1.8 million grant from NCDPI gave the Friday Institute the ability to expand its computer science teacher professional learning program so every middle school and high school in North Carolina has a highly qualified computer science teacher.