“Coal Miner’s Daughter” Hawks Digital Learning | tultican

“Coal Miner’s Daughter” Hawks Digital Learning | tultican

“Coal Miner’s Daughter” Hawks Digital Learning

By Thomas Ultican 12/8/2020

The last Democrat and first woman to serve as Governor of North Carolina, Bev Perdue, has become one of the nation’s leading advocates for digital learning. She presents herself as a simple country girl from a poor family, but doesn’t mention that her coalminer father became a rich mine owner by the time she was in college. She is known as a powerful political and financial operative with connections that go all the way to the incoming Biden administration.

Creating a New Career

Governor Perdue does have a background in education. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in History, she taught kindergarten in 1970-71, ninth grade 1971-73 and high school 1973-74. She then returned to school where in 1976 she earned a Doctorate in Education Administration. Her thesis was focused on education gerontology.

After earning the education doctorate, she worked in long term care and geriatric services. In 1986, she ran for the North Carolina House of Representatives and won. Four years later she won a state senate seat which she held for a decade before making successful runs for Lieutenant Governor in 2000 and again in 2004. This all positioned her to become North Carolina’s first female governor in 2008.

For Perdue, the wheels flew off the campaign bus in 2012. She was facing tanking polling numbers when members of her 2008 campaign pleaded guilty to finance violations. Greensboro businessman Peter Reichard, the finance director, pleaded to a felony and lawyer Julia Leigh “Juleigh” Sitton, a fundraiser for the campaign, pleaded to a misdemeanor in order to avoid a felony charge. Perdue soon announced she would not be a candidate for Governor in 2013.

The June following her exit from the Governor’s mansion, the Newsobserver.com reported, “Former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue has recently CONTINUE READING: “Coal Miner’s Daughter” Hawks Digital Learning | tultican

NANCY BAILEY: Learning Management Software: Necessary Tool, or Wasteful Cash Cow in the Time of Covid-19?

Learning Management Software: Necessary Tool, or Wasteful Cash Cow in the Time of Covid-19?

Learning Management Software: Necessary Tool, or Wasteful Cash Cow in the Time of Covid-19?

By Darren Victory

One thing is clear: Teaching in the age of COVID is no picnic. Teachers, students, and caregivers are struggling to navigate the ongoing crisis in ways that preserve their emotional and physical health. It all feels so chaotic, so disorganized, and at times so… impossible. No wonder wine sales have shot through the roof!

Organization and consistency are difficult to come by when you’re suddenly thrust into the unknown. When I hear from frustrated teachers and caregivers, I often picture a fish (I know, I know… stay with me), swimming upstream against the rapids, racing alongside millions of other fish in a frenetic fight to somehow forget everything it knows about the river in order to build a new home on the shore. Confusing. Terrifying. Overwhelming. But certainly not organized and consistent.

The answer? We need tools to keep us organized, right? We need tools to track student progress, communicate with caregivers, collect student work, etc. Wouldn’t it be nice if a company could offer a solution?

*cue trumpets* Enter the mighty Learning Management System (LMS for short, because education desperately needs more acronyms, initialisms, and other such CONTINUE READING: Learning Management Software: Necessary Tool, or Wasteful Cash Cow in the Time of Covid-19?