As we launch into a new year, we are asking for your input on our Educational Resource Survey. Let me tell you why.
This year, 2023, will see Curriculum Trak completing our second decade of serving faith-based schools. We began with about three schools and around 50 teachers in 2003 (the same year MySpace was founded). Today, we are serving around 1100 schools and nearly 50,000 educators around the world. When we consider those numbers and the people behind them, we are amazed… astounded… and really humbled.
In those two decades a lot has changed for our company. Not just in how our mapping platform works but also in the services we provide to schools. Perhaps the biggest change we have seen is how schools and educators network with other educators. MySpace has been replaced by Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest (in that order according to the Digital Trends in Education Market report of 2019, and a lot has changed since then too!). New organizations, agencies, networks – social and otherwise – have come and gone, and in some ways educators may be more connected than ever. So, what they look for in their planning and instructional platforms and resources has also changed. We have done our best to stay ahead of that curve. In our early days, most schools and educators were connected to a few key networks. These days, it would be hard to itemize the number of networks an educator has access to – social or otherwise. That seems to have impacted how educators seek out the information, support, and inspiration they need to do their job, serve their students, and find satisfaction in their profession.
Of late, we have observed that Curriculum Trak is being perceived and used differently as well. There has been an almost organic shift from viewing and using Curriculum Trak as an online tool for planning to viewing the growing number of users as another professional network. More and more, we are seeing Curriculum Trak users looking to others for ideas, support, and even inspiration, and not just for curriculum planning! Reviewing and sharing maps and units is beginning to morph into sharing ideas and practices. And we are here for it!
As we look toward our next decade, we are asking ourselves the question we have asked ourselves regularly since 2003 – What more can we do for faith-based educators? One of the answers (of the several we hope to share with you in the coming months and years) goes back to the changing nature and number of network educators want to foster for their professional growth. We believe this is driven by the need to cut through the noise and the plethora of options an internet search may provide to find tried and tried colleagues, thought leaders, consultants, vendors, and resources focused on faith-based education. While we may Google answers to basic factual questions, we are more likely to ask someone we know and trust to recommend a product, service, or even a good takeout menu. In the exploding age of information, we seem to be leaning on our networks for things that matter most.
For that reason, Curriculum Trak is seeking to collate educational resources that focus on faith-based educators. We are asking members of our growing community, people we know and trust, to recommend consultants, vendors, resources, or other influencers and thought leaders whom others in our community should consider. People in the Curriculum Trak network are always looking for recommendations around teaching and learning (a very broad umbrella), and we are happy to provide a resource of high-quality connections, with your help!
So, if you have a few minutes, please think about people, companies, consultants, or other types of service providers you have found to be helpful to your educational efforts in recent months and share them with us through the Curriculum Trak Educational Resource Survey. We will appreciate your support of the Curriculum Trak network in this way, others will benefit from your suggestions, and you may find ideas that will be helpful to your practices as well.
Then, stay tuned for some of the other exciting networking opportunities we have planned for 2023 and beyond!
