November 2024 Member Spotlight

Dr. Candice L. Coppock, CETL®

Dr. Candice Coppock, CETL®, is the Executive Director of Information Technology at Richland School District One (SC). The district serves about 22,000 students in 48 schools.

1.  How long have you been a member of CoSN? 

“Since 2021”

2.  Why did you join CoSN? What do you enjoy about being a member?

“I joined CoSN for several reasons. The first is because I am a new leader in the field of Information Technology (especially being a female in a predominately male industry). I was looking for ways to learn more about the "information" side of technology, since I my background is in instruction, and, as a teacher, the focus was on instructional technology. The second was to become more involved again in leadership opportunities with organizations. My favorite part was being embraced so quickly with the organization and the connections I made so quickly."

3.  How did you get into the field of educational technology?

"I was asked by my principal at Blythewood Middle School if I would be interested in teaching in one of the district’s ITEC classrooms with a SmartBoard. The former district, in which I worked, had classrooms that focused on integrating technology and had one-to-one technology (desktop computers). At the time, I had no idea what this SmartBoard thing was and thought..."Why not?" This was the early beginning of one-to-one technology and we were using Blackboard for delivering content and the devices were definitely not going home. I got bit by the technology bug. I fell in love with the fact that I could take my students to places, as a Language Arts teacher, that I would never be able to do in real life. I also loved that I could put in their hands, resources, that I would not be able to do otherwise. I jumped in headfirst in learning everything I could about applications that I could use with my students and ways in which they could demonstrate their learning. I realized that the possibilities became endless with using technology to teach my students and for them to demonstrate their knowledge of learning new ways of communicating."

4. What CoSN committee are you a part of?

"2024 Driving K-12 Innovation Advisory Board and Professional Learning Committee (second year)."

5.  What does your daily work entail?

"My daily work can look different from day-to-day, but my role is to make sure that my staff have everything they need to do (and sometimes that means just paving the way for them to get the obstacles out of their way) to make our district technology function from phones to computers, and everything in between. However, often times daily, I can be found working with my leadership team, coaching staff, collaborating with various departments within the district, working with principals, answering emails, working with students/our field technicians/application support team members, strategizing with the Executive Team, and working in our help desk ticket system to assist staff."

6.  What emerging trends or technologies in education are you most excited about, and why?

"Like everyone else, I believe I am very much still excited about Artificial Intelligence. It is still so exciting to me, as a leader, in learning how I can use it in my work, but how it can be used to improved teaching and learning practices. There is so much to learn and new ways to implement it."

7. What is your favorite Book/Movie/TV Show?

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

8.  What are three words you would use to describe yourself?

“Relentless, passionate, and tenacious"

9.  What is your favorite Fall activity or hobby?

"Since my husband and I got married in the fall, I would have to say celebrating our anniversary."

Nominate yourself or another member by filling out the questionnaire.