Colleagues and friends are remembering the energy and passion of the Evansville educator who died in a north-side car crash last week.
Candice Dodson dedicated her life to fortifying what has become a foothold in pandemic-era education – virtual learning. Dr. Jason Roseberry worked with Dodson when he was a young educator and then again when he joined an education-oriented tech firm. He remembers Dodson this way:
“She was the mascot of e-learning, we lovingly refer to her as the mother of elearning. She is the one that made it all happen. I always felt that we were on the verge of discovering that thing that was going to make everything work, technology that would have equity and impact. That fire is contagious, to have the chance to work with someone that is that excited and passionate…that’s why you see the people across the state who are in mourning now.”
Until last year, Dodson was director of eLearning for the Indiana Department of Education. In May 2019 she began working with education technology professionals from all 50 states as the executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association or SETDA.
Dr. Jason Bailey worked with Dodson for 17 years both in Evansville and at SETDA, where he witnessed Dodson’s passion and dedication to learning through technology:
“That was her spirit, she knew that blended digital education gave schools the flexibility to do amazing things. She cared deeply about kids and having tremendous opportunities. She saw how technology lit up their eyes and gave information where students wouldn’t otherwise have it.”
For the past few months, Dodson had been working with Roseberry on a digital resource called the Indiana e-Learning Lab. The site is a free, virtual hub for educational content and support for teachers educating during a pandemic. The project is funded in part by the Indianapolis e-Learning Fund.
Claire Fiddian-Green is a founding member of that fund and a former Indiana State Department of Education colleague of Dodson’s. Green was unable to give a comment but did release a statement saying, “Now more than ever, we feel Candice would want us to honor her legacy by ensuring that students across Indiana receive high-quality digital instruction as schools, students, and families navigate challenges associated with COVID-19.”
Roseberry says it seems Dodson was always driven by her passion for Indiana educators. He says she was excited to first launch an e-learning lab in Indiana and then take the model to other states.
“With all due respect to every other state, you know she is from Indiana, in her mind it’s going to work here and then she was already talking about how we can support educators outside of Indiana. So the marching orders I have in hand are to make sure we rock this in Indiana but then we need to give every educator in the country a chance to use this.”
Tragically, Dodson’s e-Learning Lab launched Wednesday, the day she died.
Both Bailey and Roseberry say the state and the nation have lost a great educator and innovator but more than anything so many people have lost a great friend.
“She just was constantly wanting to make a difference – you think, ‘who is like that all the time?’ but she is, or she was. She cared more than anyone I know.”
