Instructional
Technology Meeting
Model
Schools Program Report
Marianne Hart
DATE OF MEETING: 4/24/08
TIME: 3:10 – 4:30 p.m.
LOCATION: MS/HS Media Center
The main goal of the Model Schools program for this year has
been “Technology Planning for the 21st Century.” As a participant in the subcommittee for 8th
Grade Literacy Assessment, I have worked on revising the 2007 assessment. The
committee has also been reviewing commercial assessment products for upcoming
years. I am very excited about Tech Steps.
TechSteps can
be used to develop K-8 student technology literacy. TechSteps is built on the
National Education Technology Standards for Students (NETS*S) and the work of
the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. “The TechSteps curriculum includes a
set of electronic activity books for each grade level. Using these guides,
students are launched into real world applications such as Word, Excel,
PowerPoint and Internet Explorer. Here they learn new technology skills as they
work through meaningful Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies
activities. Authentic assessment is possible because students are building
their own information products using real-world software applications.” I would like to demonstrate how this program
could be used to provide technology literacy curriculum and the required
assessments for state and federal compliance with the Enhancing Education
Through Technology program and NCLB.
The
Model Schools meeting in Canton, started with the movie, Did You Know 2.0. We then viewed and discussed it on the Shift
Happens Wiki.
While we
were on the topic of wiki’s we looked at how a wiki can be used as a
training/professional development model. (See
Monroe 1 BOCES Wiki)
Our website review also included the newly revised Hot Chalk site. The site was highly rated by
everyone in attendance, but had similar features to Moodle.
“HotChalk is an innovative online
service that provides ground-breaking learning management capabilities to
schools and teachers worldwide. HotChalk is “content agnostic” and built to
work with educational content from all your providers including textbook,
supplemental and assessment publishers. HotChalk enables curriculum supervisors
and teachers to develop and manage curriculum, and deploy digital content in
classrooms and to the home while supporting enhanced communication with
students and parents”
We looked
at SKYPE,
down-loadable software that allows you to talk to anyone else in the world with
the SKYPE software – FREE!! “Make calls from your computer - free to
other people on Skype, cheap to phones and mobiles across the
world. The sound quality is great, and so is the video! - keep
it running all day, and it’s like you’re in the same room as the person on the
other end.” I recently attended a workshop from home while using SKYPE. (It is
my favorite way to communicate with my daughter and granddaughter on Long
Island.)
Google for Educators has
many interesting options for teachers, Google Earth & Sky, Google Docs and
Sketch-up. As Model School Site Administrators we have been using Google Docs
to revise the 8th Grade Technology Assessment. There are lots of new
classroom activities for using these tools with students.
Another interesting web site that was shared was the Net Day Speak Up site. The annual Speak Up survey, “the largest annual national survey of K-12 students, teachers, parents, and school administrators, asks about the use of technology and science resources to prepare students for the 21st century. The 2007 online survey collected authentic, unfiltered views and ideas from over 367,000 education stakeholders representing schools in all 50 states, bringing the total of survey participants to over 1.2 million over the past 5 years.”
“Speak Up 2007 revealed a growing “digital disconnect” between students and their teachers and parents about the role of technology for learning, and how well schools are doing to prepare students for the jobs of the future. This disconnect is evident in the fact that 66% of school administrators, 47% of teachers, and 43% of parents say “local schools are doing a good job preparing students for the jobs and careers of the future,” but over 40% of middle and high school students stated that teachers limit their use of technology in schools. Forty-five percent of middle and high school students indicated that tools meant to protect them, such as firewalls and filters are inhibiting their learning.” (http://www.tomorrow.org/docs/Press%20Release%20Apr%208%2008.pdf)
The last but certainly not the least web site that we reviewed was the unique 21st Century initiative by Nortel LearniT and One Laptop Per Child. This program delivers the XO laptop computer and teacher resources to every child.
The
link to the Assistive Technology Expo held in Albany on May 15, 2008 is http://www.atexpo2008.com/
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Links to
the MSP websites discussed:
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1.
Student Technology
Literacy Survey/Assessment http://www.techpt.org/index.php
http://www.iste.org/inhouse/resources/asmt/msiste/index.cfm?Section=NETS_OTA
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2.
Teacher Technology
Literacy Survey/Assessment |