Wednesday, June 25, 2008
WOW--tons of very valuable information . . . so much to remember. Our main "strand" is "on-line communities." So far we've had a lot of discussion around the resources we need, what best practices are, and some of the roadblocks we encounter. We are in the process of learning how to use many teacher tools like Moodle, websites, wikis, iChat, and Skype. We are currently concentrating on making blogs and have formed a collaborative blog to complete our assignments. Pretty cool! Tonight's assignment is to create one or two blog "posts" and "tag" them with certain pre-designated tags so we can better understand how that is important in the management of our vast quantities of information over time. So here's my first post . . . and on to tomorrow!
My District's Year One Tech Standards
For those who asked, here are my districts "Year One Tech Standards" that all staff were expected to meet. Some of these items had to be performed in front of an administrator or approved "tech-expert" who could sign you off on them, and some were items that were a part of a two-part "task" that had to be completed and sent via e-mail attachment to one of the approved people listed above. There was also a "Technology Quiz" that satisfied the rest of the requirements. All of the items below are designated as such.
Check-Off Standards:
-Able to turn computer on and off effectively using energy saving features.
-Can use drop-down menu functions effectively.
-Able to turn volume up and down; and, mute the computer.
-Maintains computer by keeping area and computer clean.
-Able to create, save, and manage files and folders.
-Able to copy and paste from within a file and to another file.
-Able to use grading software (Web 2 School or other) to effectively complete progress reports and quarterly/trimester grades.
-Able to organize an address book and create mail lists and other groupings.
-Can access and use e-mail account from any Internet access point on any computer.
Quiz Standards:
-Knows the parts of a computer and what they basically do.
-Understands technology vocabulary.
-Knows basic Internet vocabulary (i.e. URL, IP, browser, search engine, etc.)
Knows how to enter URLs and has an understanding of the parts of a URL.
Task Standards:
-Can utilize a word processor to create formal documents
-Able to use spreadsheets to organize data and create graphs and charts.
-Can access e-mail through the Internet.
-Can evaluate the authenticity and appropriateness of a website.
-Knows and can teach the methods of citing information from the Internet.
-Can manage an e-mail account.
-Can create, save, send, attach, and forward messages.
Now realize that these standards were developed by a committee made up of administrators, teachers, and tech staff over a period of time and had never been implemented before. If you'd like to talk with me about the successes/failures of our first year implementation of this, I'd be more than happy to do so.
Check-Off Standards:
-Able to turn computer on and off effectively using energy saving features.
-Can use drop-down menu functions effectively.
-Able to turn volume up and down; and, mute the computer.
-Maintains computer by keeping area and computer clean.
-Able to create, save, and manage files and folders.
-Able to copy and paste from within a file and to another file.
-Able to use grading software (Web 2 School or other) to effectively complete progress reports and quarterly/trimester grades.
-Able to organize an address book and create mail lists and other groupings.
-Can access and use e-mail account from any Internet access point on any computer.
Quiz Standards:
-Knows the parts of a computer and what they basically do.
-Understands technology vocabulary.
-Knows basic Internet vocabulary (i.e. URL, IP, browser, search engine, etc.)
Knows how to enter URLs and has an understanding of the parts of a URL.
Task Standards:
-Can utilize a word processor to create formal documents
-Able to use spreadsheets to organize data and create graphs and charts.
-Can access e-mail through the Internet.
-Can evaluate the authenticity and appropriateness of a website.
-Knows and can teach the methods of citing information from the Internet.
-Can manage an e-mail account.
-Can create, save, send, attach, and forward messages.
Now realize that these standards were developed by a committee made up of administrators, teachers, and tech staff over a period of time and had never been implemented before. If you'd like to talk with me about the successes/failures of our first year implementation of this, I'd be more than happy to do so.
A collection of resources
This is a collection of resources I have picked up over the years. I collected them and placed them in a "NoteTaker" notebook, and then converted it to a webpage. This was a couple of years ago before I discovered "del.icio.us" and now I use it to share resources with the teachers in our school district.
Web Page Resources
Web Page Resources
A new road block
As going through presentations another road block not mentioned yet is how training is provided
we need more "time" and training... however we need focused.
need to sort out ability of teachers to match what they need not cookie cutter them all into one thing
we need more "time" and training... however we need focused.
need to sort out ability of teachers to match what they need not cookie cutter them all into one thing
needs
Time, time, time. And common time for collaboration. I need to be able to sit down and figure out with teachers how the technology available best fits the content. If I never see another powerpoint, I will be a happy woman. I'd like to see us have time to figure out how to make the walls come down - contact a British classroom, for example, to see how they learn about the American Revolution.
A boot for work a slipper for play
The blog allows for showing different format
- Can have Video (show/see)
- Can have Audio (hear/see)
- Can have Web (interactive environment)
Best Practices Resources
I LOVE using http://go2web20.net as a resource for those pieces that allow you to make technology a part of the process rather than an end product. For example, catchvideo.net allows you to download Youtube videos to your desktop so you don't need to worry about the filter at school. Or Hotchalk, which is a central location for NBC news archives.
Class Pic from Tuesday
Aren't we a productive bunch? More pics on flickr, SutterView photostream, tagged summertech08.javascript:void(0)
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