instructional technology network
tri-county educational service center

Several educators from Tri-County Area schools and agencies are presenting to conference attendees at next week’s annual educational technology conference in Columbus. On tap at the conference is (and let me know if I’ve missed anyone):

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Krista Fitch, Technology Coordinator, Hillsdale Local Schools
Technology on a Shoestring
Interactive whiteboards, interactive video distance learning (IVDL), and student response devices (TurningPoint) are on the endless list of how technology can be used to engage students in learning. But who pays for it? Learn how rural Hillsdale Local Schools has resourced state-of-the-art items through grants and collaboration.
Monday, February 4, 10:45AM

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Ben Spieldenner, Ashland High School
PDAs–A New Set of Tools for Teachers and Students
Participants will learn how to integrate PDA’s (Personal Data Assistants) into their classroom. Resources for funding and the purchase of hardware and software will be provided, as well as sample lesson plans and how to create mobile work stations for students. The presentation will explore the real-life application of this mobile technology and the benefits of having a handheld computer.
Monday, February 4, 1:45PM

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Chad Lemon, Tri-County Educational Service Center
Panel Discussion: Approaching Technological Literacy: Design & the Designed World
Technological literacy & STEM are significant issues in our students’ education for the future. We will discuss the core ideas of technological literacy, important policy, and trends related to this area. We will also address some of the significant challenges experienced in trying to address this material in present educational models. Panelists: Dick Dieffenderfer, Bob Claymier and Mike Miller.
Tuesday, February 5, 8:00AM

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Rebecca Furlong, Technology Resource Teacher, Wooster City Schools
Prepare and Present Data Better With Excel
This session will help users of data learn formatting techniques to deliver a clear and understandable message. Raw data can be easily transformed into useful information through the use of Excel. Learn best practices, tips and tricks that will help you make the most of the mounds of figures sitting on your desk right now!
Wednesday, February 6, 8:00AM

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Chad Leggett, Technology Resource Teacher, Wooster City Schools
Google Sketchup–3D Drawing and Creation
Google SketchUp is a wonderfully FREE program that students and teachers can use to create 3D objects (chairs, tables, cars, buildings, etc). This easy-to-use software can be shared and exported to numerous other formats and programs. While the program can be used by the novice, it also offers the high-end user plenty of opportunities.
Wednesday, February 6, 1:00PM

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Rebecca Rosecrans, TCCSA
Podcasting: Who, What, Where, Why and How?
Who is podcasting? What is a podcast? Where do I find podcasts? Why would I podcast? How do I make a podcast? All these questions will be answered in the session. With very basic equipment, anyone can podcast once they learn–what to say, how to record it & where to post it. A resource handout will be provided during this session–listing podcasts to listen to & resources needed to make your own.
Wednesday, February 6, 1:00PM

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Brad Carr, Ashland High School
Student Video Contest Display
Wednesday, February 6, 9:00AM-1:00PM

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Invitation for Guest Authors

If you’re planning to attend the conference and have some notes and highlights you’d like to share, I’d like to invite you to guest author a post for the Instructional Tech blog. Contact me for details.

There are more resources on the web than any one person can possibly keep up with - that’s why we need organized collections like those at www.ohiotreasurechest.org and www.d3a2.org to help sort it out. The great part is that there’s that much material, the bad part is that it’s easy to overlook great stuff.

One such resource is the Library of Congress (LOC) website - www.loc.gov. It’s really not possible to write an exhaustive post on the breadth of the resources on the LOC site. The “Selected Resources for School Librarians and Teachers” guide alone lists 37 specific collections.

The scope of resources includes such items as:

• historical collections
• veterans history
• an international section
• prints and photographs
• children’s literature
• poetry for American high schools
  
• terrorism studies
• copyright information
• a map collection of “Places in the News!“
• and LOC webcasts.

This is to name only a small handful.

As a starting point, let me point you to three items from the site:

1. LOC Teachers’ Page: www.loc.gov/teachers
2. Selected Resources for School Librarians and Teachers (PDF): memory.loc.gov/learn/educators/handouts/school_lbn.pdf
3. Handouts: memory.loc.gov/learn/educators/handouts

With Google Docs’ presentation tool (docs.google.com) you now have the ability to publish presentation slides online within your webpage. This means that your students could view slide sets without the need to download them and launch them in PowerPoint, a tool which they may or may not have. This could be great for sharing student work, archiving lecture notes, or even publishing daliy announcements.

If you’re not familiar with Google Docs, an online suite of tools similar to Office, check out this quick video from CommonCraft. Basically it’s free, go-anywhere word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.

In the following embedded presentation, I’ve outlined the steps to uploading existing PowerPoint slides to your site, including examples for SchoolPointe CMS, WebEdit, POW-PAK, and Moodle (sorry, but it doesn’t appear to work with Progress Book at this point). Email readers may need to visit this post online to see the slides.

While these examples discuss how to load your existing files, you can also use Google Docs to build original presentations from scratch.

This fall I had the opportunity to sit on a meeting detailing the importance of using digital technologies appropriately as an education professional.

While the presentation was very well-intended, it seemed that a number of my teacher colleagues left with sense that there is no safe way to professionally use technology and that doing so will most certainly cause you to find yourself in trouble and unemployed.

In hopes of bringing a little clarity, I’ve gathered the input of a number of folks with insight into the topic to compile responses to some of concerns I’m aware of and the resulting misunderstandings.

1. “Do not use school email from home.”
You may use your school email from home, but remember that the exact same rules/policies apply to use of this email system whether from home or from school. The same is largely true for other online district resources.

2. “Do not use school email for personal use.”
Many district policies allow for “incidental use” of school email for personal use, so long as it is not occurring when you should otherwise be working (check your district’s policy).

A clear distinction must be made, however, for content that is obscene or is otherwise inappropriate, as well as use of school email for side-business purposes. These are definitely prohibited.

It is, however, a good practice to have a second email account for personal use. Public records laws could cause an otherwise personal message to be made public and your employer is well within his/her rights, legally and ethically, to read the contents of your school email. Your employer does not have the same rights to your personal email account without a court order.

The best rule of thumb I’ve heard for using any email system, employer’s or your own, is to never write anything in an email that you wouldn’t write on a postcard.

3. “Computer records will be used to prove your guilt.”
This is absolutely true. However, computer records, just like any other good documentation, could be used to prove your innocence. The same could be said of phone records and other electronic communications.

Always use your school email for communication with parents and students and retain copies of that communication.

4. “Using your school email at home allows the authorities to take your home computer.”
If you are investigated for serious misconduct, there’s a reasonably good chance your computer would be taken whether or not you accessed school resources from home.

5. “A social network profile will prevent you from getting hired, or will cost you your job.”
It is true that some employers review Facebook, MySpace and similar sites for information about current and future employees.

It is best to think of this as an addendum to your resume. Your content and contacts provide the employer with a unique insight into your character. Always try to give anything you publish online a second reading, considering how an employer might see you based on the content.

The public has a very different expectation of teachers than others. It’s best to be conservative in whatever you publish. For example, though you may be legally permitted to consume alcohol, a photo of drinking on your site (or even a friend’s) could cause you grief.

6. “Having a social network profile opens you up to impostor pages.”
This can occur whether or not you have your own page. It could be argued that having your own page would make it easier for someone to determine that one profile is real and that the other is the work of someone with poor intentions. On the otherhand, a parody of your actual site would then be possible and may be legally protected.

7. “Social networking causes inappropriate relationships with students.”
This is a slippery slope kind of thing. It’s generally a bad idea to “hang out” socially with your students outside a professional context in the real world or the virtual world.

The approach that mental health professionals use may be a good guide here. It’s good to have healthy, trusting relationships with clients, but clear boundaries must be established and adhered to. You can look at some of the examples of misconduct referenced by the Associated Press in recent articles and see that often before inappropriate actions took place, other normal boundaries for teacher/student relationships had first been crossed. Set boundaries and stick to them.

8. “Blogging is an inherently bad idea.”
[BTW, chances are you're reading this via a blog post.] In my opinion, there are two important things to factor in here: first, remember the public expectation of you as a teacher, and second, don’t bite the hand that feeds you (i.e., if you talk negatively about your employer, you’re putting yourself in jeopardy). Don’t try to hide behind an anonymous blog, it will only work long enough to give you a false sense of anonymity before you’re outed.

Speaker and author, Doug Johnson of Blue Skunk Blog is states it well:

How do you decide what to publish on your blog: praise locally; complain globally. Complain all you want about educational issues, but do it in a global sense. Don’t complain about your boss or school on your blog. Your employer can discipline you for it in some cases. Keep your comments about what’s going on in your school positive and highlight the good stuff.

It is important that teachers feel informed and comfortable enough to explore the technologies that are making a big impact on our society and our students. I hope this provides you with a greater sense of clarity as you explore and use these valuable technological tools.