West-Mec Hosts First Ever Virtual Networking Event for AZ CTE Teachers

Western Maricopa Education Center (West-MEC)–a public career technical education district–is pleased to announce the first virtual networking event for Arizona Career Technical Education (CTE) teachers. 

The new online learning environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged educators and school districts. The West-MEC Curriculum & Instruction (C&I) and Professional Development (PD) departments worked together to host 158 CTE teachers in the first ever Statewide virtual networking event. 

On July 30th, CTE teachers and stakeholders from around the state came together virtually to share best practices and troubleshoot challenges for the upcoming school year. Teachers heard from ADE, the Arizona Curriculum Consortium, and ACTEAZ about statewide efforts and resources for online learning. They then collaborated in industry clusters to glean ideas from fellow educators, other districts, and ask topical questions regarding their programs and credentialing. 

Program sessions were facilitated by West-MEC C&I and PD professionals. Arizona Department of Education (ADE) CTE Program Specialists then led attendees in specialized 90-minute breakout sessions. Participants joined a collaboration group from like industry backgrounds to collaborate on resources and strategies for teaching CTE in an online format. 

West-MEC continues to develop new ways to engage our local community through virtual offerings. For more information about Professional Development opportunities, both virtual and in-person, please visit https://pdcircle.west-mec.org/.