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