Cultural Investigation and Digital Representation for Educators (CIDRE)
CIDRE is a professional development program for educators offered by faculty in the College of Education at NC State. The goal of the program is to prepare educators to better integrate cultural lessons into teaching through the aid of media and technology to ultimately build greater cultural understanding among students in their classroom or institution. The program is funded by the Triangle Community Foundation's Borchardt Fund which underwrites costs for Triangle-area educators (Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake counties) to participate in professional development and two weeks of international travel in a designated host country. Saturday classes are held at NC State before and after traveling abroad. Further classes, group excursions, and free time in the host country, allow educators to conduct investigations into cultural themes tied to their teaching area, practice digital representations of those themes, and reflect on effective approaches to teaching culture with their peers. Past programs have emphasized cultural themes in England (2011, 2013-14), Finland (2016), Sweden (2017), Czechia (2018-19), Germany (2022), and Austria (2023) for 170 educators. Our summer 2024 program will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the application for our summer 2025 program is open through 12/31/24 (location to be announced here).