instructional technology network
tri-county educational service center

If you’re looking for some professional development options during the summer that don’t even require leaving the house, take a look at the online professional development offerings from state edtech partners, PBS and eTech Ohio. These courses cover a wide variety of subject disciplines and both course providers offer graduate credit options through multiple universities.

WVIZ/PBS TeacherLine
(http://www.wviz.org/edsvcs/teacherline/TriCountyModules.asp)

• Spring HQT session begins April 7. $300
• Summer/Summer HQT Session I begins June 10. $200/$300
• Summer/Summer HQT Session II begins July 1. $200/$300
• Registration for TeacherLine courses available up until the course begins

eTech Ohio eLearning
(http://www.etech.ohio.gov/programs/elearning/)

• Summer registration deadline: April 23. Courses begin June 15. $50

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.

Elementary teachers are invited to take part in a four-session course on technology integration. The class will focus on a few emerging practices and critical issues for the classroom. Sessions begin in late January.

Focal topics include age-appropriate search strategies and resource validation, communications and publication tools, and classroom resources. The target group is approximately grades 2-6, although anyone interested in these topics is welcome to attend. The full course is offered at each of three sites and is open to teachers from throughout the area.

Dates and locations:

Montgomery Elementary, Ashland City Schools
Mondays, 1/28, 2/11, 2/25, & 3/10. 4:00-6:00

Smithville High School, Green Local Schools
Wednesdays, 1/30, 2/13, 2/27, & 3/12. 4:00-6:00

Holmesville Elementary, Southeast Local Schools
Thursdays, 1/31, 2/14, 2/28, & 3/13. 4:00-6:00

8 hours of seat time (0.8 CEUs) are available for in-class participation. An additional 6 seat hours, for a total of 1.4 CEU’s, can be earned through participation in online extension activities (recommended). No prior experience with online coursework is necessary for success in this class.

Arrangements are underway with Ashland University to make credit available to those who are interested (both in-class and online participation are necessary to earn graduate credit).

To register, call Chad Lemon (x. 238) or Paula Berry (x. 257) at 330-345-6771, or send email to tesc_lemon or tesc_berry.

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Have a scheduling conflict but would like to participate? Please contact Chad at the ESC. Your input will be taken into consideration as future sessions are added or changes occur.

Image citation: Shareski, “Preparing for podcasts.” Shareski’s Photostream. 14 Aug 2007. 19 Dec 2007 <http://flickr.com/photos/shareski/1143901914>.

Deadlines for the winter sessions of two online professional development partners are approaching.

Basic computer skills and internet access are really all that are necessary for taking part in an online course. One of my favorite features of online course is the ability to work at the time of day that best meets my family’s schedule. Please contact me at the ESC if you have any questions or concerns about whether online learning is a good fit for you.

TeacherLine

Deadline: January 1, 2008 for $20 “Early Bird” discount (promotional code: Early Bird)

Winter I Session begins: January 21, 2008
Winter II Session begins: Feburary 11, 2008

Teacherline is a series of facilitated online courses produced by leading educators, education institutions and companies in alignment with national standards. The video-rich, learn-by-doing courses are a combination of content and methodology and are accessible via the Internet. They are individualized, self-paced and sequential at various skill levels.

Courses are available from each of these categories:

• Science
• Technology
• Instructional Strategies
• Reading/Language Arts
• Math

Visit the TeacherLine site for more details.

eTech Ohio

Deadline: December 18, 2007

Winter Session begins: January 27, 2008.

See my earlier post on this for more details.

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.

By way of eTech Ohio:

“eTech Ohio is seeking applications for competitive professional development grants in the amount of $20,000 each to teachers in grades 9-12. These grants will support the creation and use of electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) in Open Source Portfolio (OSP).

As part of this two-year grant, school building(s) within a district may apply for up to $20,000 with a plan for utilizing ePortfolios to integrate technology and support state academic content standards. At most, one building per district may be awarded a grant.

Grant information, including the Request for Proposals, is available online at http://www.etech.ohio.gov/go/CompPD. For questions or more information, please contact Sandra Paxton.

There are a handful of qualification requirements and applicants must have the support of several individuals in the district (specific roles).

I encourage interested teachers to consider applying. Keep in mind, that $20K is bound to attract several applicants. You’ll need to think creatively and follow the RFP guidelines to the letter in order to stand out to the grant readers.

If you’re interested, contact your tech coordinator and/or district’s curriculum specialist to begin setting the wheels in motion - this is also helpful to avoid competing applications from the same building. As always, I’m glad to assist in this process as well, so contact me too!

Tri-County ESC is offering a technology integration class series targeted toward middle and high school grades teachers.

During the 4 face-to-face sessions participants will explore topics such as:

• information literacy
• presentation skills
• online publication media
• online learning environments and best practice (e.g. Moodle)

Complementing the face-to-face sessions, is an online component to the course designed to foster continued learning opportunities and participant dialogue between sessions. This blending of instructional delivery allows time to not only learn about featured topics, but also to develop and try new skills in a supported environment to encourage real integration experiences.

No prior experience with online coursework is necessary.

The course is available at any of four locations in the area, and each site is open to teachers from neighboring Tri-County districts.

Course locations and dates include:
Black River Education Center (BREC) Media Center, Black River Schools
Thursdays, 9/20, 10/4, 10/18, 11/1
Time: 3:30-5:00p; Last session 3:30-6:00p

Loudonville High School, Lab 101A, Loudonville-Perrysville Schools
Wednesdays, 10/10, 10/24, 11/7, 11/14
Time: 3:30-5:15p; Last session 3:30-6:00

Rittman High School Computer Lab, Rm 117, Rittman Schools
Tuesdays, 9/25, 10/9, 10/23, 11/6
Time: 3:00-4:45p; Last session 3:00-5:30

Waynedale High School Computer Lab, Southeast Schools
Tuesdays, 10/16, 10/30, 11/13, 11/27
Time: 3:00-4:45p; Last session 3:00-5:30

A similar course experience for elementary grades is planned for sometime after the holidays.

Register online at event.youresc.k12.oh.us or call the ESC office at 330.345.6771. One hour of graduate credit is available through Ashland University.

The Ohio Treasure Chest, a website created by the tech staff at North Canton City Schools, contains a wealth of standards-organized resources as well as curriculum connections, lesson plans, and assessments.

Thousands of resources have been identified by other educators as being useful tools for teaching many of the indicators in each grade level. I’ve also identified connections between technology indicators and those in language arts, science, social studies, and math to help determine where these concepts may already be addressed across the curriculum.

Those of you who’ve visited the collection before, will be glad to see the site has a new web address: www.ohiotreasurechest.org.

I encourage you to visit the Treasure Chest and take a look around.

Staff handout: http://www.ohiotreasurechest.org/otc4staff.pdf

Parent Flyer: http://www.ohiotreasurechest.org/otc4parents.pdf

The registration deadline for the Fall session of eTech Ohio’s online Professional Development courses is tomorrow, Tuesday, August 21. Courses start September 23.

A broad range of tech and non-tech courses are available with a cost of around $50. Graduate credit is available through several state universities for an additional fee.

For full details, see the eLearning - Online Professional Development page at eTech’s website.

Not ready this session? Registration for the Winter session will begin in mid-Fall.

About this resource

Intended first and foremost for educators in the Tri-County ESC Service Area, the Instructional Technology Network blog is a resource for information, news, events, highlighted articles and emerging practices in instructional technology delivered to you in a tech-friendly, teach-friendly format.

About the author

Chad Lemon is an Instructional Technology Consultant with Tri-County Educational Service Center in Wooster, Ohio.

Keeping up to date

There are at least three easy ways to keep up to date with articles added here.

• Option 1: Stop by often.
• Option 2: Subscribe via RSS feed. Pageflakes, Google Reader, and Bloglines are just a few ways to do this.
• Option 3: Subscribe via email. Look for the “Subscribe by email” option to get updates in your Inbox. We use a service called Feedburner to do this.

How often will updates arrive?

The goal is to add useful content as often as possible. Some weeks, this may mean an update as often as once a day, while on slow news weeks or busy ESC weeks, it could mean as few as once every week or two. Hopefully it will never be so much as to overwhelm and never so little as to make you wonder if we’ve forgotten you.

Is this useful stuff?

Hopefully, yes! Keep in mind though that the usefulness of the content will depend on your area of teaching responsibility, general interest, and skill level. We’ll try to make sure you don’t have to guess what makes a particular item useful through clear descriptions and categorizations.

Your Two Cents

We’d love to hear from you. Comments are open, although moderated to screen for spam and other objectionable content. If you have something more substantial that should be broadcast to the community in its own article, send me an email at the ESC and we’ll see what we can arrange.

Where’d the Instructional Technology Network Discussion Forum go?

Well, after a good pilot run, it seemed that a format that came directly to your doorstep would be a better fit for your busy schedules. Blog comments still allow folks the opportunity to participate in dialogue, while getting the word out a little easier.

Content Disclaimer

Use your head. A lot of resources will be referenced here over time. Some will be carefully reviewed, while others will be simple references to something that seemed like a good idea. Always, always, always preview any resources before using them with or recommending it to students. If something that seemed like a good idea turns out to be objectionable in hindsight, please, by all means, bring it to my attention so any necessary changes or deletions can be made.

Help! Please?

Instructional technology consultation is a service of Tri-County Educational Service Center. You are invited to contact the ESC for technology integration support. In most cases, this is available to teachers in Tri-County’s local and exempted village districts at no extra cost. ESC services are also available outside our home districts through special arrangement.