Author

Bruce Friend
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Director - SAS Curriclum Pathways

Bruce Friend is the Director of SAS® Curriculum Pathways®, an award-winning education resource that provides online lessons, engaging tools and activities at no cost to educators around the world. As a member of the SAS Education Practice leadership team, his work is focused on the SAS Institute’s vision for transforming education and helping students and teachers utilize technology for more engaging and successful teaching and learning experience. Bruce has spent the past decade working in the field of online learning and digital content. He is a national pioneer in helping to establish the country’s first statewide online program and has been the chief administrator of two state virtual schools. Prior to joining SAS, Bruce was the Vice President of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL); a non-profit organization that provides support to students, parents, and online learning programs. Friend serves as a special advisor on educational technology issues for local and state leaders throughout the country as well as serving on advisory boards for several education programs and schools. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Distance Learning Association serving in the role of Vice President, is on the advisory board for the K12 education division of the Software & Information Industry, and represents SAS on the education committee of the world Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Among Friend’s honors and distinctions: He was recognized for the “Most Outstanding Achievement by an Individual: K-12 Education” by the United States Distance Learning Association. Friend is a two-time recipient of the Florida Principal Achievement Award and was the Florida Virtual School Teacher of the Year. He earned a M.Ed. in educational leadership from the University of Central Florida and a B.A. in Social Science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Bruce Friend 1
National Governors Association prioritizes education

Education, and more specifically the topic of workforce development, was key committee discussion this weekend at the Annual Meeting of National Governors Association in Biloxi, MS. Chaired by Governor Heineman (NE), the education committee discussed the critical need in our country to retrain workers for 21st century jobs as well

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Classroom tech: Listen to the kids!

My job allows me to travel around the country visiting different schools and speaking to teachers and students about their use of technology in the classroom. What I hear and see concerns me. The “technology” I see being utilized as part of instruction in traditional brick and mortar classrooms amounts