ASSISTments training set for Nov. 12 at ECU

Teachers and administrators from eastern North Carolina will gather at East Carolina University Nov. 12 to learn how to use the ASSISTments learning technology, an intelligent tutoring system that offers students individualized help on basic concepts while providing teachers with assessment data.
The training is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Room 337 of the Flanagan Building on campus.
Participants may earn two continuing education credits and a stipend of $100 by attending the Nov. 12 event, joining in four additional hours of online instruction and working individually for a minimum of 10 hours to prepare and carry out lessons using ASSISTments.
Instructors for the event include Cristina Heffernan, co-founder of the technology and a math teacher, and Christine O’Connor, a certified teacher trainer and 8th grade teacher. Participants will experience ASSISTments from the students’ and teacher’s perspectives, working through lessons and later studying the data generated from their activities.
ASSISTments was developed by Dr. Neil Heffernan, associate professor in computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He created the program to help failing students in his math class while he was working with Teach for America.
The program is now customizable to any subject area. It is free and available at www.assistments.org.
The event was organized by ECU’s Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education in the College of Education, through a partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ECU and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
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