The Tennessee Grow Your Own Center has announced the upcoming launch of BuildWithin, a centralized, cloud-based platform designed to enhance and track on-the-job learning and streamline workforce development for teacher apprenticeships.
BuildWithin offers a comprehensive suite of features tailored to teacher apprentices enrolled at four-year universities, as well as the educator preparation providers, school districts and teacher mentors who support them:
- Comprehensive Support: A single, cloud-based collaboration space where apprentices can interact with key stakeholders involved in their program.
- Competency Tracking: Tools to monitor on-the-job competencies to track learner progress in mastering key skills.
- Reporting: Access to real-time data through integrated reporting dashboards.
- Communication Tools: A centralized location for apprentice and mentor discussions on progress and key milestones.
- Administrative Efficiency: Streamlined administrative tasks and secure management of personal information, including digital form filling and integration with RAPIDS 2.0 — the U.S. Department of Labor’s system for managing registered apprenticeships.
- AI Chatbot: Immediate access to knowledge, problem solving, guidance, certification preparation and wellness support through an AI chatbot.
“BuildWithin represents a significant step forward in continuing to address K-12 educator workforce challenges in Tennessee,” said Erin Crisp, executive director of the Tennessee Grow Your Own Center. “This platform will enable us to partner with education preparation providers (EPPs) and local education agencies (LEAs) to improve the quality of our teacher apprenticeship programs and effectively monitor data that will allow us to continuously enhance the apprenticeship experience.”
Pilot programs with select school districts and EPPs have been successfully completed, with a full roll-out of BuildWithin planned for later this fall.
Stephanie Brennan, Grow Your Own program coordinator at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and a pilot user, shared her enthusiasm.
“Having BuildWithin will benefit all stakeholders in teacher apprenticeship,” she said. “It is a great tool for apprentices and mentors to upload evidence and track competencies. LEAs and EPPs get to see in real-time how apprentices are progressing. I’m excited to continue to use this tool!”
To support the launch, BuildWithin will offer live training sessions and open office hours for educator preparation providers, local education agencies, teacher apprentices and mentor teachers to onboard and receive platform training. Teacher apprentices will also get help signing their apprenticeship registration forms. Additionally, user guides and tutorials will be available to assist with training and implementation.
The Tennessee Grow Your Own Center will also be available to provide ongoing support throughout the implementation process, ensuring all participants have the resources they need for success.
Additional communications about these user training opportunities will be provided in the coming weeks.