Feb 8, 2016

Technology PDAs

We are incredibly excited to be hosting another round of technology PDAs starting the week of Feb. 15th!  These four session courses (spread over four weeks) are a great way to learn and implement instructional technology tools.  If you are deciding on which Professional Development opportunity is right for you, read on!






Using Technology to Engage and Inspire Your Students

Elementary (Jason Nourie) & Secondary (Sean Mullins)
 Using a Variety of Resources to Create Interactive Units of Study
Secondary (Amber O'Day)
  • Focused on incorporating new technologies into your lessons.
  • Increased emphasis on how to set up and use the technologies discussed.
  • Focused on incorporating new technologies into your lessons.
  • Increased emphasis on planning entire units of study infused with technology.

In each of these PDAs we will be exploring many of the new resources available to our teachers and students.  Here is a short list of these exciting resources.
  • YouTube.  Sure, you could just put YouTube videos on your CMS/Classroom for kids to watch...but did you know all of the other advantages YouTube brings?
    • You can upload your own videos, control their privacy, organize them into playlists, and easily share/embed them for your students.
    • You can use YouTube as a full fledged web-based video editor.
    • YouTube can be a nice replacement for Movie Maker and Photostory for your students!
    • Students can upload their own videos (and easily share them with you) to their YouTube account and control their privacy.
    • Using Hangouts on Air (more on that in a second), you can record your lessons and automatically upload/share them through YouTube.
    • With tools such as VideoNot.es and Zaption you can add collaborative notes or insert questions and track responses to YouTube videos.
  • Google Add-ons/Extensions/Apps.  These tools are associated with Google in some form or another and add functionality to an already amazing suite of programs.
    • DocAppender: Individualized peer feedback using Google Forms
    • Orange Slice: Rubric grading in Google Docs
    • Highlighter Tool: Quick identifying of areas in a Google Doc through labeled highlights
    • Flubaroo: Automatic grading of Google Form responses from students.
    • LucidPress and LucidChart: A Publisher replacement and charting/diagraming tool.
    • Twisted Wave: A web-based audio editor (Audacity alternative).
  • Google Hangouts.  Learn how to communicate with your colleagues efficiently through instant messaging and video conference.  This is great for PLCs!  You can even record your video conference sessions, which makes creating lessons on video a snap.
If you are interested in incorporating technology into your lessons to augment your instruction, sign up today!
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