Kentucky Connected Educator Jason Reeves

Dr. Jason Reeves Union College 

In what ways are you a connected educator?

As Dean of the Educational Studies Unit at Union College, I never seem to be “unconnected” as an educator. LinkIn, Skype, Google Docs, Twitter feeds, Facebook updates, and online newspapers and periodicals greatly advance the work of the faculty and staff in our Unit. We work very hard to model our technology expectations for our program candidates.

How does being connected impact your practice in schools/classroom?

A critical component of our Teacher as Leader preparation model is preparing our candidates to integrate technology usage in their future classrooms through avenues that spark creativity, engage all students, and provide authentic student achievement data. These advantages of technology usage are foundational to the success of a teacher leader blending pedagogical and clinical knowledge bases in a “real world” P-12 classroom.

How does being connected impact you as a professional?

The impact has been incredible. The world, both real and online, continues to open itself up in ways that most never believed imaginable. For educators, this type of environment is both exciting and very rewarding since we thrive on ways in which to continuously improve our abilities to connect with students.

What advice or resources would you recommend to colleagues interested in becoming connected?

Take the first step now! There are many ways that a person can become connected. I am sure it won't be your last step once you see how eye-opening being connected can be.

Bio: Dr. Jason Reeves is currently the Dean of Educational Studies and Assistant Professor of Education at Union College in Barbourville, KY. In addition to his roles at Union College, Dr. Reeves is a member of the Continuous Assessment Review Committee and Board of Examiners Team for the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB). Dr. Reeves also serves as a trained  teacher educator program accreditation reviewer for the national Council of Accreditation for Educator Preparation (CAEP).