Apple Distinguished Educator Collaboration
Without question, the aspect of my professional career in which I am most proud, is my affiliation with the Apple Distinguished Educator program. I am proud that I have been invited to two regional institutes, two global institutes and one regional academy to welcome new ADEs. Contrary to some perceptions, the ADE program is not a simple yearly tech conference. We continually collaborate throughout the year both face to face and online. Sixnce 2013, I have steadily raised my rank within the Apple Distinguished Educator global online program via my steady contributions and collaboration. This is a closed community because we openly discuss the good, bad, and in-between aspects of our attempts to integrate Apple Technology in our classrooms and schools. Of course, we spend significant time discussing non-Apple and non-technical trends in education as well.
After seeing the benefits and positive momentum of increased collaboration during 2016-2017 school year, I chose to elevate my efforts this school year. It really is one of the best ways for me to learn online. I love the resources that Apple shares with almost as much as the discussions surrounding these resources by passionate educators. In August of 2017, I entered the top 10 of all ADE online collaborators within our community. As of the last day of February, 2018, I am ranked #75 of 2,784 ADEs and Apple employees in the ADE Community.
What you will see in the screenshots below is that there are 20 ADEs per page. When sorted by status, level, I am the 15th-highest ranked ADE on Page 4. Other highly-ranked members in this community organize conferences and are ISTE keynote presenters, Apple Education employeers, or are Regional Advisory team leaders. I have a lot of growth to make in my career, but this is an indicator of my level of contribution, collaboration, and continual learning within the Apple Distinguished Educator program. I feel it is important to say that I have spent less than 30 minutes of total work time within this community during this school year, except for some occasional requests for help from my fellow ADEs.
