Monday, June 15, 2015

TAKING CLASSROOM TECH USE TO THE NEXT LEVEL: SPECIFIC TRAITS FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL IMPACTS

Session Overview

We have lots of technology floating around our schools and classrooms, and while this is a good thing given the digital age in which we now live, we often find that our technology-related efforts are not paying off as hoped. One reason for this is because we don’t have a great way to think about what’s occurring when we see students and teachers using technology for learning and teaching purposes.

What’s happening in your school? In your classroom? Are currently used technology integration frameworks helping you (or other educators) transform learning? Are the tech integration models currently in use specific enough to guide you (or other educators) through the process of improving their use of technology? Is increased student engagement the most important aspect of technology transformation? Or is a deeper investigation of the pedagogy behind the activity important?
Technology integration should be purposeful. Push past the typical response to digital activities in the classroom that focus on student engagement and instead evaluate whether students are truly using higher-order thinking skills, learning core aspects of a specific discipline, and using technology in the most powerful and transformative ways.

Session Objectives

In this session, educators will
  • Participate in a lesson review and discussion using a technology integration framework (TRUDACOT) that guides teachers in thinking critically – and purposefully – during the design and planning stage, resulting in powerful technology integration.
  • Use the TRUDACOT discussion protocol to modify existing lessons to ensure students are truly using higher-order thinking skills, learning core aspects of a specific discipline, and using technology in the most powerful and transformative ways.

Session Resources

Sign up for the July 22nd PD Session here.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Free, easy-use tools for bridging the gap between busy teachers and tech-savvy students

This coming Tuesday, June 10, I am conducting a professional development session for K-12 teachers. The following is information related to the session.

Session Overview

Every year students become more tech savvy. And every year teachers struggle to keep up. It’s hard to take time out of busy schedules to learn how to create a class Web page and keep it up to date with a calendar of events, homework assignments, class projects, useful links and other important information.

Fortunately, the latest communication and collaboration tools are far more natural to use than traditional Internet technologies. These tools provide teachers with an effective way to bridge the technology gap and embrace the kinds of tools their students already use.
In this two-part, hands-on session, attendees will create classroom resources and activities with easy-to-use, engaging communication and collaboration tools.

Session Objectives

Part 1: Attendees will be guided through the step-by-step process for building an easy-to-use and easy-to-manage classroom Website and blog, providing a new resource for communication.

Part 2: Attendees will create classroom activities using a wide array of simple-use tools, delivering interactive and engaging contexts for communication and collaboration.

Session Resources

  1. Session pretest
  2. Wendy Cowan's Symbaloo Linkhttp://www.symbaloo.com/mix/wendycowanspdmix
  3. The Teacher Website