Ballico teacher goes to head of class for e-Learning

Joanna Conrado has been honored by a state organization for her efforts in computer-assisted learning in the classroom.

Conrado, a fourth-fifth-grade teacher at Ballico Elementary School, was named the “e-Learning Educator of the Year” by Walnut Creek-based Computer-Using Educators. The statewide organization has 6,000 members who are teachers, school administrators or information technology professionals.

Bryan Ballenger, Ballico-Cressey School District superintendent, is proud of Conrado, who also is the district’s information technology person and technology coach.

“This is very much an honor for her,” said Ballenger, who nominated her last summer. “It’s an extra-awesome experience for her to be selected.”

The district, with 347 kindergarten through eighth-grade students in northern Merced County, is close to paperless now. It’s in its third year of instruction strictly through computer programs, not textbooks, Ballenger said.

Conrado has been a teacher for 17 years, six of them in Ballico, along with stints in Gustine and at Merced’s Our Lady of Mercy School. She fully embraces computers as the educational tool for the future.

“I couldn’t see going back to the way I used to teach,” Conrado said.

Kindergarten students use Samsung tablets; first- and second-graders use Windows Netbooks; and third- through eighth-graders are issued Samsung Chromebooks.

Conrado said computers allow individualized instruction.

She said she can customize programs based on the needs of individual students, speeding up lessons and adding more challenging requirements for more proficient students while tailoring the same material to students who are less advanced.

Today’s students are more computer-savvy than many adults who are more afraid of technology, Conrado said. Students get computer logistics figured out quickly, sharing what they have learned with their peers.

“They (students) become educators themselves,” Conrado said, “and the teacher becomes more of the facilitator.”

This story was originally published January 15, 2015 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Ballico teacher goes to head of class for e-Learning."