Like every professional instructional support staff member, I have earned my certificate of completion for the SAISD Cybersafety web-based training course. The course is offered through the District’s learning management system, ePath, that enables participants to start, pause, and complete the WBT course online from a computer with Internet access (e.g. home, work, library). The online course takes about 20 minutes to complete.

This course is the first of several that are being shared that can be delivered online via the Web. Others include FERPA (live in ePath) and Securing Confidential Data (in production).

A copy of the weekly memo sent to campus principals is shared below:

As a result of a federal mandate, school districts have to certify their staff and students have had learned about CyberSafety and Digital Citizenship. Part of the San Antonio ISD District Technology Plan calls for technology-based professional learning opportunities for administrators, teachers, librarians, and professional instructional support staff at campus and district levels. One of these professional learning opportunities–mandated by the federal government in its requirements for public school districts to receive eRate funding–is to learn more about CyberSafety and Digital Citizenship.

Both cybersafety and digital citizenship are important performance indicators in the state mandated technology applications TEKS (TA:TEKS), No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards for Students, Teachers, and Administrators. To meet the eRate requirements necessary, the Office of Instructional Technology & Learning Services (ITLS) has launched a CyberSafety web site that incorporates rich lessons, video tutorials for both teachers and students.

The mission of the CyberSafety initiative in SAISD is to promote cyber-awareness and education for all San Antonio ISD students. To achieve that goal this school year, as mandated by eRate funding requirements, the following schedule has been put in place:

Please review expectations expectations for dates (table removed from this blog entry).

WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE?
Please discuss this information and the options available with your campus and/or district professional staff under your supervision. At the campus level, this includes any and/or all of the following staff: Principal, Assistant Principals, Vice Principals, Campus Instructional Coordinators, Classroom Teachers (including Physical Education, Special Education), Counselors, Teacher-Librarians/Media Specialists.

At the District level, this includes Curriculum & Instruction Senior Coordinators and their teacher specialist teams, as well as Instructional Technology & Learning Services (ITLS) professional staff.

IS THE EPATH CYBERSAFETY COURSE NOW AVAILABLE?
Yes, the ePath CyberSafety Course is now available and can be completed at any time, from home and/or work. For campus-based staff, here are some suggestions to smooth completion of the 20-minute online course; you are urged to put the following suggestions into practice:

• Avoid waiting until the deadline to have staff complete the ePath CyberSafety Course with included assessment. As principal, you are able to review your campus staff’s professional learning transcript in ePath. A video reminder on how to do that will be available online at the CyberSafety Web Site.
  
• The administration window for the needs assessment is November 2, 2009 through March 5th, 2010. The needs assessment is available online via ePath.
• Administer the assessment during Faculty Meeting time. It is a 20 minute assessment that should be completed by each professional instructional staff member individually.
• Since this needs assessment only takes 20 minutes to complete, and requires a computer per teacher, consider using computer stations in your computer lab(s) and library. The needs assessment can also be taken from any computer—on or off campus—with high-speed Internet access.
• Encourage those uncomfortable with using technology to pair up with staff who are more comfortable. While each will take the assessment individually, they can also lend a helping hand.
• If a teacher fails to successfully complete the assessment, they may retake the course.
  
• It is important to note that this needs assessment may not be used for PDAS appraisal purposes.
• Rely on campus technology representatives to facilitate all professional instructional staff to take the online assessment.

Should you have any questions, please contact Miguel Guhlin in the Office of Instructional Technology Services at 527-1400.

Fall2009 Hide

Interesting article on online teaching and classroom change…here are my highlights:

• Innovate: Online Teaching and Classroom Change: The Trans-Classroom Teacher in the Age of the Internet
  • Online Teaching and Classroom Change:

    The Trans-Classroom Teacher in the Age of the Internet
  • Is an online course in such-and-such subject more or less effective than a face-to-face course in the same subject?
  • those who teach online leave the familiarity of the face-to-face classroom for the uncharted terrain of the online environment, whose constraints and affordances often lead to very different practices. The trans-classroom teacher who moves between the two environments, transferring ideas, strategies, and practices from one to the other, is a mental migrant. The transformations—of the teacher and of the course—that occur in these migrations and the two-way interactions between face-to-face and online teaching are the focus of this study.
  • most VHS teachers also teach face-to-face courses in their own schools at the same time that they are teaching online, and second, VHS requires that all its teachers prepare for teaching online by taking a demanding professional development course—delivered online—on the pedagogy of online teaching (Pape, Adams, and Ribeiro 2005).
  • As part of their professional development, new VHS teachers either create new courses or, with increasing frequency as the catalogue is built, take ownership of existing courses by adapting them to fit their own knowledge base and teaching styles.
  • VHS professional development emphasizes student-centered teaching; collaborative, problem-based learning; small-group work; and authentic, performance-based assessment.
  • only a third were familiar with the principles of backward design.
  • As teachers adapt their courses for the online environment, they are forced to reexamine the course design, reconsider curriculum strategies, and make many decisions about what to take out and what to keep, what to add and what to substitute.
  • finished courses are the result of intensive reflection and look very different from the courses they have been teaching face-to-face. As one VHS teacher described it, “By developing my course, I have had the opportunity to introspectively analyze what I am teaching, why I teach the way I do, and how I can change and improve my communication with students” (quoted in Pape, Adams, and Ribeiro 2005, 125).
  • kinds of changes that might be expected in the move to an online venue
  • online (Internet-based) readings
  • group projects or assignments
  • adding whole-class discussions
  • debates, and peer reviews
  • respondents required their students to use the discussion forums, and almost all reported that their courses included multiweek projects (98%), collaborative group work (95%), and peer reviews (84%), while 69% reported that they had their students complete multimedia assignments.
  • As teachers migrate to the online environment, they find that a whole host of issues—including teacher-student and student-student communication, the extent and nature of reflection, student accountability, and assessment—must be approached differently than they are in the face-to-face classroom.
  • Teaching the online course led these teachers to develop ways to communicate with students they could not see, to find ways to know if they were meeting their students’ needs, and to assess whether, and what, students had learned.
  • How do teachers teach without personal communication? In the online environment, teachers struggled to work out ways to reach and evaluate students when they could not interact with them face to face on a daily basis
  • How do teachers provide instructions that are clear enough? Online teachers also contended with a slightly different issue in terms of teacher-student communication: how to provide instructions that were sufficiently explicit that students could follow them.
  • How do teachers know when their students are confused? In face-to-face classrooms, teachers know if their students are confused by their questions or by the looks on their faces, but in online courses this type of just-in-time assessment has to be done through text, which presented some challenges
  • How do teachers get all students to participate? These teachers were concerned about making sure that all students participated in the discussions and that student-student communications, particularly in the discussion forums, were meaningful learning experiences
  • How do teachers manage pacing and scaffolding? Some of the respondents were concerned with the loss of flexibility in course organization that was the result of planning an entire course ahead of time (a VHS requirement) so that they could not adapt on a just-in-time basis to the student population. This concern surfaced in their descriptions of their struggles with how to pace the course, how to break it into manageable pieces, how to provide scaffolding, and how to organize groups
  • How do teachers know if students are learning? Many teachers were concerned about how to assess whether their online students had learned what the teachers wanted them to learn
  • 75% of the 158 responding teachers who taught both online and face-to-face reported that teaching online had a positive impact on their face-to-face teaching
  • The most frequent changes (defined as those made by 60% or more the respondents) involved course design or redesign, including eliminating lessons that now seemed poorly designed, designing or redesigning lessons using backward design principles, and adding lessons or units from the online course.
  • The second most frequent set of changes (those made by between 40% and 60% of respondents) involved the transfer of a range of strategies learned from teaching online to the face-to-face classroom, most of which revolved around fostering better communication. These strategies included changing how groups were organized, requiring class contributions from all students, providing more timely feedback, providing more written instructions, using class time more efficiently, and providing additional ways to communicate with students.
  • Those who reported making the most changes taught math, science, social science, and foreign languages, while those teaching computer science or programming reported making the fewest changes. English language arts, art, and art history teachers were in the middle of the ranks of changers (Exhibit 9). It seems possible that the teachers in the first four disciplines made the most changes either because these are particularly difficult subjects to adapt to the online environment and so require a lot of rethinking (math, science, foreign language) or because the online environment opens up the range of resources available (i.e., social science, which was primarily history)
  • four areas were class participation, independent learning, questioning techniques, and metacognition/reflection.
  • In online classes, full participation in discussions can be mandated by requiring a certain number of posts each week or by requiring that students respond to one another’s posts. The teacher can easily monitor the quantity and quality of the participation, including who is participating, when, and how often.
  • To be successful in online courses, students need to be self-motivated, well-organized, independent learners; at the same time, taking online courses can help students develop these characteristics.
  • teaching online led to a subtle but potentially far-reaching shift in their attitudes toward their face-to-face students, as teaching online made them realize that they could require more independent work. This realization was accompanied by a shift to a more learner-centered pedagogy in the face-to-face classroom
  • Questioning Techniques
  • To work well, online discussion forums need thoughtful facilitation, including careful attention to how questions are asked. Teachers wrote about how they imported what they had learned about asking questions into their face-to-face classrooms. They also wrote that they were now more confident using open-ended questions with their students and were less likely to provide answers. Others linked this shift to larger changes in pedagogical approach, including a reduction in the amount of time spent lecturing and a shift to a facilitator role
  • Another affordance of the online environment is the time for thought or reflection allowed by the asynchronous nature of the discussion forum. Although posts can certainly be composed off the cuff, in general the fact that they are written and often graded forces students to think before they write. In addition, well-constructed questions can lead to reflective answers.
  • there is as yet little research on the effect of teaching online on teachers and even less on how teaching online can shape teaching in the face-to-face classroom.
  • the trans-classroom teacher’s migratory journey to and from the online classroom can transform that teacher’s face-to-face classroom practice in subtle and important ways.
  • Can we, and should we, find ways to develop more trans-classroom teachers or to make nascent trans-classroom teachers more so, by encouraging more teachers to teach in both venues and by encouraging online teachers to reflect on the changes they make when teaching online? Can we, and should we, deliberately find ways to encourage the transfer of successful aspects of online pedagogy back to the face-to-face classroom, capitalizing on what these trans-classroom teachers have learned by treating them as resources for their face-to-face classroom counterparts?
  • This research, exploratory though it is, suggests that giving more teachers the opportunity to teach online, as well as deliberately encouraging those who do teach online to share what they have learned with their fellow classroom teachers, provides an opportunity to strengthen teaching in both environments.
  Note: This article was originally published in Innovate (http://www.innovateonline.info/) as: Lowes, S. 2008. Online teaching and classroom change: The trans-classroom teacher in the age of the internet. Innovate 4 (3). http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=446 (accessed September 27, 2009). The article is reprinted here with permission of the publisher, The Fischler School of Education and Human Services at Nova Southeastern University.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

No tags Hide

No tags Hide

Note: The following is one of several entries related to my work in learning how to teach online as part of the Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN). In the Office of Instructional Technology & Learning Services, 4 team members are learning to facilitate online courses. To achieve that, they are participating in a TxVSN.org approved professional learning session offered by the Harris County Department of Education (HCDE). The HCDE’s 6-week series is known as “Online Instructor Training” or OIT for short.

As this article on online learning accommodations points out, “new delivery methods for education create new challenges to our assigned role in assuring access for students with disabilities” (DAIS Online Toolkit). Being responsive and supportive of students with special needs is required by law. This is shared in the information cited below:

No person shall, by any reason of his or her disability be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in any services, programs, or activities of an entity covered by the law…Under Section 504, children with disabilities must be educated with their nondisabled peers “to the maximum extent appropriate,” and “removal . . . from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.” (Read Source).

This is important because virtual learning opportunities are now one of the benefits to students. But how can virtual learning be an option for students who have special needs or learning disabilities? One possibility is that students with temporary disabilities can have their needs met (consider Brian Crosby’s class interaction with Celeste, a homebound student). One of the key points that is often missed when discussing the needs of special needs students is the social aspect of learning. These social aspects have to be explicitly taught. As a result of communication with students, “positive group formation” and learning can occur (Read source). It is also important to accommodate for student learners with disabilities. To ensure participation for the student learner, it is important to provide an accommodation or supplementary aid/service necessary. Learning disabilities may be defined as a disorder in one or more basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written. This disability may manifest itself as an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical cal­culations (Source).

The left-thumb blogger is afforded the opportunity to publish to a global audience. This reminds me of autistic Carly, a student who, when given a computer, was able to express herself in ways NEVER imagined autistic students could communicate.

Strategies afforded by new web technologies allow students that have learning disability to side-step their “different ability” and learn via various media (e.g. podcasts, videos), as well as be engaged in creating their own content using a variety of tools (e.g. VoiceThread.com, ShowBeyond.com). For students that second language learners, or English Language Learners, we can see that tools like ShowBeyond.com are helpful; consider this example to build vocabulary in target language. Additionally, other accommodations might include the following as mentioned in the previous source:

• giving a student extra time on an exam
• providing hard copy or online model assignments
• coordinating phone numbers or e-mail addresses for classmates who will share class notes
• providing training in assistive technology
• making class notes available on the Web
• planning clearly-designed Web formats
• planning both auditory and visual learning and testing options

(Click on the link for clearly-designed Web Formats…very helpful!).

To be responsive to a learner’s needs, the facilitator needs to take advantage of the entire toolkit of multimedia tools available, providing multiple learning opportunities that bypass a disability that might be focused on listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling or involve mathematical calculations. By embedding rich choices for content review and creation, this becomes an opportunity for students to learn with each other in a way that is specific, or differentiated, for them–all by design.

No tags Hide

Note: The following is one of several entries related to my work in learning how to teach online as part of the Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN). In the Office of Instructional Technology & Learning Services, 4 team members are learning to facilitate online courses. To achieve that, they are participating in a TxVSN.org approved professional learning session offered by the Harris County Department of Education (HCDE). The HCDE’s 6-week series is known as “Online Instructor Training” or OIT for short.

In my Online Instructor Training (OIT) class through the Harris County Department of Education (HCDE), during synchronous discussion, the topic came up of misbehavior in online classes. It was a topic I hadn’t spent a lot of time reflecting on since I work with adult learners. I definitely agree with the author cited at the link above:

A well-organized class and a syllabus that clearly lays out the requirements, procedures, and other aspects of the class are necessary elements. In regard to interaction, the instructor also does much to set the tone for the class, and how well one provides feedback is also a critical factor. Training for instructors should address how to organize and manage an online class so as to reduce the odds of miscommunication, and should also help instructors recognize and manage difficulties when they arise.

If an adult learner “misbehaves,” I know exactly what to do: 1) Re-direct; 2) Direct contact; 3) Remove; and if necessary, 4) Contact his supervisor.

With children, though, the contacts appear to be more subtle. Clear expectations up front are critical no matter what the age of the learner. This is why I was grateful to Jeanie Cole (HCDE) for her suggestion that I visit the Florida Virtual School to view these policies:

• Drop/Withdrawal
• Code of Conduct
• Academic Integrity
• Grading and Final Exam
• Privacy
• Expulsion
• Bullying and Harassment
• Eligibility, Residency and Age
• Placement Priority

While each of these has to be adapted, developed for one’s own situation and community, it’s nice to know that we’re not starting from scratch. I encourage Texas districts that have addressed these items to share their policies with the rest of us!

No tags Hide

free video player & video platform - interactive video, online video solution: video player, video editor - kaltura
wordpress video - wordpress plugin for integrated video on video blogs, and video tools  

Friday, September 25th marks the beginning of the Be Cyber Safe! website which will be used among teachers throughout  San Antonio ISD to promote appropriate online behavior and cyber safety. The curriculum was created with written consent from CyberSmart!, who is recognized as using standards-based lessons aligned with national and state technology and information literacy standards. Through the use of  the CyberSmart! curriculum we will prepare students to safely use the Internet for communication, creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving.

The Be Cyber Safe! website has both a vision and a mission statement which includes educating all San Antonio ISD students on the importance of being responsible digital citizens. The site includes: curriculum links, expectations, standards, parent tips, online safety tips as well as other teacher resources.

Teachers who have already used lessons from the site considered the lessons, “easy to use without or with the Internet” – Ms. Angel Clark, first grade teacher. While teachers felt at ease with the organization and flow of the site, students loved the lessons they were being taught stating, “We have to be safe and it taught us how.”  We are looking forward to the district-wide use of the Be Cyber Safe! website.

No tags Hide

This is a friendly reminder that the first CTR Meeting of the 2009-2010 school year is taking place on Friday, 09/25/2009!

Check out the Fall, 2009 Workshops! You can see them here:

No tags Hide

Differentiating instruction for student needs is not new to education, but what does differentiating instruction for the 21st Century learner look like? The Virtual Learner Series initiated its first Differentiating Instruction with Technology online course facilitated by Stephanie Correa, Instructional Technology Facilitator. The course was developed to provide educators with resources which would enable them to become more aware of the 21st Century skills students need to succeed and how to integrate those skills into classroom experiences. The week-long course provided teachers with an opportunity to:

1. Develop and/or adapt a lesson integrating technology
2. Collaborate with other educators around the district in a discussion forum on differentiating instruction with technology
3. View sample lessons which illustrated technology integration
4. Read various research-based articles on technology integration
5. Explore various educational resources available for infusing technology and curriculum

Preliminary Feedback is below:

Was this course worth your time, as an educational professional, to complete?

On average, about how much time did you spend DAILY working on the course content, responding to discussions, and time online within the course?

What was one thing that surprised you about the course?

• The information learned about differentiating instruction and how technology addresses the various learning styles.  Also, being able to revisit the site…very cool!
• The videos were great and very beneficial.  Even with the articles I found myself making a copy and putting them in binder like I did in college

Did online course development meet your needs? How would you have improved it?

• Yes, it met my needs.  I think I enjoyed this better than attending workshops.  Here, you have the opportunity to read the lessons, postings, and think about what you would like to say.  Usually in a workshop you are only have a limited amount of time to work with others and you don’t get as much out of it.  That’s just my opinion.
• I liked the way the course content was organized.

What else would you like to share about the course content, course facilitator, and the fact that you can earn CPE/GT hours online?

• I think that the opportunity to earn GT hours online is indispensable. I cannot tell you how many times that I check  ePath to see what is available for GT credit only to discover that there is nothing listed or that it conflicts with staff development already scheduled. This is a great way to get your credits without having to sacrifice time with students during the class day or after school.
• I enjoyed the class; the facilitator was very prompt and professional on her responses. I think that is an excellent opportunity for those of us who have a family to learn and comply with the required courses.
• Good information pertaining to the class.  Stephanie Rocks! Love earning GT hours.
• I enjoyed it and the facilitator was very knowledgeable.  Truly helpful.
• This class was beneficial it reminded why I  became a teacher.  Again the video and articles were great.

If you could say one thing to other SAISD educators about your online learning experience, what would it be?

• Learning is an ongoing process, take advantage of the opportunity to take a class while you are still in bed in your PJ’s.
• I would recommend it!
• Online learning can fit into many different schedules and give you the opportunity to learn in between teaching!

At the end of the course, educators were able to leave with not just a lesson plan template, but with a wide array of valuable resources at their disposable for the upcoming school year.

Administrators, OnlineLearning, Principals, ProfessionalLearning, Summer09, Technology, Writing Hide

One way to look at how technology can impact teaching and learning is to take a look at it through students’ eyes. Here’s a look from K-12 by Cheryl Oakes.

Cheryl Oakes is a blogger from Maine and is a life long learner and looks for the positive impact that technologies have on learners and adventurers in our school environments.

Be sure to read the complete entry (click on the title below).

• Through my Students’ Eyes » Moving at the Speed of Creativity

  • Through my Students’ Eyes
  • 
    
  • Hello, this is my first day in Kindergarten and I want share what happened in my day. My teacher used a flip video and filmed us as we said our name and our favorite color or number. Then we all got to watch the video, I even learned some names of my classmates. I was shy at first, but I asked my teacher if we would watch the videos again and she said each day she would record something we did such as learning about the calendar or numbers or learning our letters
  • In first and second grades our teachers set up our classroom computers so we can report on the weather at our school. He introduced us to another school where students have very different weather. Then, he showed us on Google Earth where we live and where our new school buddies live.
  • Welcome to third grade where we are using VoiceThread as our book talk. I liked drawing my picture of Chapter 3, my teacher posted it and now my friends are leaving me a message about what they think. I can leave messages to my friends too. When I tell my Grandpa he will leave me a message as well.
  • My favorite research kid site is Facts4ME . Two retired teachers started this site and when I get done with my project I am going to email them to tell them how easy their site is to use.
  • Finally, in 5th grade I get to work on my own blog at ThinkQuest. It is a closed site only teachers and other schools can view the pages. My teachers share more about Digitial Citizenship and how to be safe and I get to practice as I make my own blog pages and share with my friends. My favorite thing to do is ask survey questions and look at the answers my friends give back to me.
  • In 6th grade our projects involve
  • podcasts we made about our FolkTales
  • I could share these with my friends and family.
  • In 8th grade my teachers have us answering questions in our forum in our Moodle site and we also work in a Ning. When we work online it is like we aren’t even doing school work. I like it best when I can share with my friends outside of school, we keep working on school work when we don’t have to.
  • In 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade my friends and I are in constant communication, even though we can’t bring cell phones to school, we do. I like to stay in touch with my friends during the day and I send quick text messages so I can find out what happens in their class. We take pictures of our classrooms and put them on Facebook. We take video with our cell phones and post them to YouTube. Oh, that is one great thing, our school doesn’t block YouTube, the bad news, they still block Facebook.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

No tags Hide

View video (click on image above)

In 2007, San Antonio ISD sought out ways to enhance professional learning for cohorts of educators. In the first 2 cohorts of the Technology Integration Lead Teacher (TILT) program (video 1 of PBS | Video 2 | Video 3) Instructional Technology Services team members realized the power of online professional learning. The first partnership was with PBS TeacherLine, which played a key role in defining the TILT Program and then in providing critical Online Facilitator Training (OFT) for Instructional Technology team members. Since the collaboration began in the fall of 2007, two cohorts of San Antonio teachers have been nominated and enrolled in the PBS TeacherLine program as part of the initial stages of the initiative. In 2009, with our second partner, SAISD switched to a customized 10-week program for the online learning component using the LOTI Connection’s Lead Teacher Program. Cost has decreased from initial $95K to $54K (sometimes less) per cohort (view spreadsheet). Testimonials appear online at http://itls.saisd.net/lead

Since SAISD began facilitating online professional learning through TILT, there have been approximately over 130 participants in online professional learning. More online learning opportunities are scheduled to begin in Summer, 2009. Our course management system is Moodle. We chose it because it was a free, open source system that has global support in education.

eLearning Course Offerings for Professionals and ParaEducators

Note: The following courses are under development (takes about 24 hours per course) and are listed in order of priority with completed courses topping the list. All courses available for download are in ZIP format and can be restored to active moodle install.

1. Completed Courses
   1. Online Course Template (152K)
      
   2. Virtual Learner Series
      1. Introduction to Online Learning (not available for sharing; undergoing content modification) – This course helps you ascertain whether you are ready for online professional learning. First time online learners often struggle with time management, technical issues, and the shock of learning online. The IOL course tries to ease you into this and help build confidence. This course is a pre-requisite for ALL online learning courses offered in SAISD by Instructional Technology Services and is highly recommended.
      2. SAISD Blogging Course (127.8 meg) (uses the Apple Blog Server and includes video tutorials) – This is an introductory course on using blogs in the classroom! You’ll have an opportunity to explore how many educators around the world are using blogs, podcasting, as well as various forms of copyright, to transform how they approach teaching, learning and leading in their specific situation. You will create your own blog and learn how to add content to it. You will also be expected to join the global learning conversation by building your own academic learning network! Participants need to be prepared to work at least 1 hour, if not more, per day on this course during the 5 day session.
      3. Electronic Gradebook and Attendance Tracking System
      4. iDataPortal - This online course will guide administrators and teachers through the format of the iDataPortal Database. As well as provide real-world opportunities for sharing, learning and enhancing your on-campus data collection.
         
      5. Online Literature Circles – This online course will guide you through the setup and monitoring of a Moodle for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection as they read, discuss, and respond to books via collaboration on SAISD’s Online Literature Circle pages. Teachers will make connections between present classroom strategies and learn how this Web 2.0 tool helps students gain deeper understanding of what they read through structured discussion and extended written and artistic response using technology in realtime communications.
      6. Digital Storytelling – This online course will guide you through development of digital stories, how they might be used in the classroom, as well as introduce you to various free tools available. Free tools include MS PhotoStory, iMovie, and Voicethread.com.
      7. Using Technology to Differentiate Instruction – This course will explore the application of technology to the design of instructional materials and activities that make the learning goals achievable by individuals with wide differences in their abilities to see, hear, speak, move, read, write, understand English, attend, organize, engage, and remember. Note: This course may be provided through the LOTI Connection.

No tags Hide