instructional technology network
tri-county educational service center

Registration is open for the winter session of online courses offered through eTech Ohio.

Options are available in number of subject areas. A broad range of technology any non-technology class options are included. I’ve heard generally good things from folks who’ve taken the courses, particularly the Autism Spectrum Disorders topic.

Courses run 4 - 10 weeks in length. The course fee is $50. Graduate credit is available for an additional cost. Prior experience with online coursework is not necessary.

The course categories include:

• 21st Century Skills (1)
• Assistive Technology (5)
• Education and Academic Content Standards (4)
• Education and Technology Integration (3)
• Educational Management Tools (2)
• Mathematics (including the OMAP series) (3)
• Science (including the OSCI series) (3)
• Social Studies (including the SSIO series) (2)

The deadline for registration is December 18, 2007.

www.free.ed.gov

There is a wealth on information available on the websites for government agencies. However, given that there are so many of them (agencies, that is), hunting down good stuff can be hard to do, especially for students who have less experience with search skills, or even a limited ability to scan through materials.

This site brings the resources of well over 60 different organizations together in one place. As described on the site’s “About FREE” page:

“FREE makes it easier to find teaching and learning resources from the federal government.

“More than 1,500 federally supported teaching and learning resources are included from dozens of federal agencies. New sites are added regularly.

“FREE is among the most popular K-12 websites maintained by the U.S. Department of Education because of the many great resources being offered by participating federal agencies.”

The major subject groupings include:

• Arts & Music
• Health & Phys Ed
• Language Arts
• Math
• Science
• World Studies
• U.S. History, including
  • Business & Work
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Famous People
  • Government
  • Movements
  • States and Regions
  • Wars
  • Other History & Social Studies
• U.S. Time Periods

Receive free.ed.gov resource updates via their RSS feed at: http://www.ed.gov/free/free-rss.xml

PBS Kids Go! “Don’t Buy It: Get Media Smart” helps students understand the ways in which people and products are often portrayed by the entertainment and advertising media.

“Children spend the majority of their days consuming mass media. On average, children spend four-and-a-half hours a day using television, video games and computers. Yet children are not provided with the tools needed to evaluate and analyze the media messages they see.”

The site is interactive and visually interesting. Teacher and parent guides are included, as well as bios of a few “Teen Heroes” who are noted for their roles in combating media issues they perceive as harmful. This a great resource for addressing the evaluation of communications as outlined in the tech standards.

Find the site online at http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/.

Target audience: Grades 3-5

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