Educational Technology Newsletter

June 2011 EdTech News

2011-06-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome
Thanks to all of you who have attending our EdTech Leadership Meetings throughout the year(s). Your dedication and expertise are so very much appreciated! I hope your summer is filled with exciting adventures!

Events and Professional Development

June 8 or June 16, 2011 Getting Started with iPad Workshops
3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Soto Street Lab,

2151 N Soto St

Los Angeles CA 90032

(also June 9th at Valley Region EL #6, Panorama City or June 15th at Peary Delta Center in Gardena).
Description from the website:

FREE Professional Development Seminar hosted by LAUSD EdTech and presented by Apple Education

In this 90 minute session we'll cover:

Using the on screen keyboard, including editing tools like cut, copy, paste, and undo
Connecting to wireless networks
Installation of the LAUSD Root SSL Certificate
Connecting to your LAUSD.net e-mail account
Presenting with the iPad and your VGA projector
Apple's Free “Find my iPad” service
Using Apple's Safari Web Browser
Recording Video with iPad 2

Please visit the website for directions on registering for this workshop.

Update: June 9, 2011 SMARTBoard User Group - Canceled
~~4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Stevenson Middle School~~
~~Join us for the final UserGroup meeting of the year. Learn some great tips on using the SMARTBoard in the classroom. If you are planning on attending, please let me know.~~

June 10, 2011 Apple iPad Webinar
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
From the list Email:

Our seminar host is Michael Wells, Director of Technology for Vallecitos Union School District. He will describe a variety of factors that have made the iPad program a powerful way to use Apple’s innovative technology to transform teaching and learning.

By the end of the seminar, you will

Understand how iPad devices are providing rich, interactive content - apps, books, internet browsing, video and media tools.
Hear techniques and tools for managing iPad content.
Learn from an early adopter how the iPad is redefining teaching and learning through a personalized, highly engaging approach for students and teachers alike!
Participate in a live chat for Q&A.

Click on the registration link to reserve your space!
============
Register URL: <http://edseminars.apple.com/event/4656>

For assistance, email
appleeducation@apple.com
============
PDF Flyer

June 11, 2011 iFest 2011
8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mulholland Middle School
Come join us for the first ever iFest, a conference on Mobile/Tablet Technologies.

From the website:

If you have an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or a droid, join us for a day of learning. These mighty devices are changing the world! Let's figure out how to make them work for education. We will have sessions about personal use, best classroom practices, how to set up sets of iDevices, ePublishing, Classroom Responders and lots more. Click HERE to register.

I hope to see you there. It's going to be fun!

August 2-3, 2011 SMART Content Creation 2 Day Seminar
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. LA County Office of Education
Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity! From the email from Angela Folendorf, Education Consultant, SMART Technologies:

Thanks to our gracious hosts at the Los Angeles Office County of Education, we are able to offer this free two day seminar. Please send this opportunity out to your intermediate/ advanced teachers. Space is limited to 100 spots.

Description:

Enhance your ability to create professional and interactive SMART Notebook lesson activities. During this seminar you will learn tips and tricks for using SMART Notebook software’s interactive tools and Lesson Activity Toolkit. You will create lessons that can be shared with educators and uploaded to the SMART Exchange.
SMART’s experts will be on hand throughout the seminar to guide and assist in your lesson creation. You must bring a laptop to create lessons. No laptops will be provided onsite. We also encourage you to bring any curriculum materials you might need, such as teacher guides and supplemental materials.

The seminar is open to intermediate and advanced SMART users. Complete the application by Tuesday, July 5, 2011. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance by Tuesday, July 12, 2011. Participation in both days of the seminar is required.

Lunch and parking will be provided. Dress code is casual.

Dates and Location:

LACOE Ed Center West 606A
12830 Columbia
Downey, CA 90242
08/02/2011 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM
08/03/2011 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM

Cost: free

Target Audience: Classroom Teacher

Registration: http://ito.lacoe.edu/workshops/registrant_create.pl?workshop=253

Technology Gems

Twitter
If You Were on Twitter by Scott McLeod
This post really gets at what Twitter is all about, and why it can empower teachers with collaborative learning opportunities for themselves, like no other tool. Click on some of links to see the wealth of information you can find in just one day!

Google
A Google a Day - One new question is asked a day. Search the web to find the answer, then submit. A great tool for all learners!
Google Scribe - This site uses predictive text to help writers complete words and phrases. An excellent classroom tool!
Google Apps Training Programs
This resource helps you to become an expert in Google Apps for Education. (Our student MyMail system is a Google Apps for Education program.) The Google Apps Training Program consists of online curriculum, qualification exams, and certified trainer status. Study the curriculum, pass the exams, then apply to become a Google Certified Trainer! Even if you don't desire to become a Google Certified Trainer, the curriculum on this site is excellent for anyone who would like to learn more about this powerful suite of tools that you can use in your classroom.

InfoGraphics
InfoGraphics as Creative Assessments by Kathy Schrock This site is a rich resource for learning how to use Infographics as creativity tools and assessment tools in the classroom.

Horizon Report K-12
The third annual Horizon Report K-12 is now online. This report predicts the trends in educational technology and how those might affect the classroom. The major trend to watch in the near future is: MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES. How will we use these in the classroom? How can we best engage the learner? These are questions that need to be addressed. This article by Daniel Donahoo explains it well.
The image below is a chart analyzing the Higher Ed Horizon report, which has been published since 2004. This chart comes from jochen_robes on Flickr. It looks like the predictions from the past Horizon Reports are all fairly accurate! (Click on the image to see a larger chart.)

Have a great summer, everyone!

May 2011 EdTech News

2011-05-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

On April 30, teachers and students in LAUSD came to the Los Angeles Convention Center to present to over 3,000 educators, administrators, community members and parents how they are learning with technology. Thanks to all of you for making this such an amazing event! Some teachers have shared sites of student published work. Here are some of the examples of outstanding work that our students presented at InfoTech. Bravo! Visit the entire page at: http://www.scoop.it/t/infotech-2011

Events
SMARTBoard Users Group - May 12th, 4:00 - 5:30 Stevenson Middle School
Join us this Thursday for our May SMARTBoard Users Group. Educators support each other as they are learning to use the SMARTBoard in the classroom. Please share this with colleagues at your school. Please download the flyer for distribution.

EdTech Leadership Meeting - May 19th, 4:00 - 5:15 San Miguel Ave. Elementary School
Our last EdTech Leadership meeting of the year will take place next Thursday, May 19th. Bring your favorite application and strategies to share. I'll be sharing what I know about "the cloud" and storage solutions. Come join us as we learn from one another. Thanks to Carlos Gómez and Andrea Johnson, principal, at San Miguel Ave. Elementary for allowing us to meet at their school.

LAUSD and iPad Best Practices Workshops throughout the district!

Click on the COURSES tab
·      Click on CLASS OFFERINGS
·      Select EdTech under PROGRAM and click SEARCH
·      Locate and click on LAUSD iPad Best Practices
·      Click on the orange ENROLL NOW button
·      Look for an email confirmation for session information

From the course description:

... and with thousands of apps on the App Store, you’re sure to find the perfect one. From math games to vocabulary flash cards to anatomy visualizers, there’s an app for every subject...

But how do you manage and deploy these apps? What about configuring a classroom set of Apple mobile devices to use your LAUSD wireless network? What about getting a volume discount on purchasing apps? Join Apple Education Sr. Systems Engineer Dave Douglas for an in-depth look at planning and deploying and managing iOS devices on your LAUSD campus or department.

Workshops are from 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Soto Street Lab (Near the Local District 5 Offices) May 16, 19, or 26
Peary Delta Center (Near Peary Middle School) May 23
Valley Region Elementary #6, May 25

To fully benefit from this session, it is strongly recommended that you bring an iPad to use during the demonstration.

Grant Opportunities
Money Monday, filled with a wealth of grant resources, is published regularly on LACOE's Instructional Technology Outreach site. Access the latest edition by visiting http://moodle.ito.lacoe.edu/consortia/ Click on LAUSD and login with guest as both the username and password.

Tech Gems
Flip Camera Alternatives
Now that Cisco has terminated the life of our beloved Flip Camcorder, what are the contenders for pocket video cameras? Here are two articles that mentions some worthy replacements:
12 Fabulous Alternatives to the Flip Camera in Education
Flip Alternatives: 5 Great Pocket Videos
How are educators using pocket video cameras in the classroom?
10 Uses of a Flip Video in Education
Forty Interesting Ways to Use Your Pocket Video Camera in the Classroom

Digital Citizenship
Common Sense Media recently published an article on digital citizenship called, How Rude! Manners for the Digital Age While the target audience is parents, there are useful tips for educators to share with students as well.

Digital Media - Scoop It
ScoopIt allows you to create an attractive online display of web resources (like the InfoTech publication). Add news and RSS feeds and easily allow this tool to capture and curate resources that can then be used for research. This would be a great tools for students to use to gather resources from social media and news resources.

iPad Resources
I've recently updated my iPad site at http://ipadsinschools.weebly.com I've also been bookmarking some amazing iPad resources lately. Check them out at http://www.delicious.com/janstearns/ipad You can sort the iPad resources by adding tags like "apps", article, or research.

More April 2011 EdTech News Updates

2011-04-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

Some Important Events and Information

Events

InfoTech 2011

Please join us for LAUSD's InfoTech 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Saturday, April 30th, from 9-1. There are many wonderful student presentations and teachers who are ready to share best practices with you. It's the best way to learn new ways to use technology in the classroom, by learning from others. Parking is free. Please see http://infotech.lausd.net for more information.

Video Conferencing Made Easy - Free!
Attend a 3 hour free workshop on video conferencing with one or two other team members from your school and receive a free video-conference unit to use at your school to connect with the world! Sign up early, as this first-come, first served workshop is filling up quickly! There are 2 locations and dates to choose from: May 7th at South Gate Middle School and May 21st at Mulholland Middle School. Both workshops are from 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. You can find out more information and register at http://www.classroomvcmadeeasy.org/
Please share the flyers for this opportunity with your colleagues:
Workshop at South Gate Middle School on May 7th
Workshop at Mulholland Middle School on May 21st

The Great American Teach In - on May 10th
From Chris Lehman on the Huffington Post:

These days, it seems like everyone is talking about how to fix education. Open the paper, turn on the news shows, and you can see billionaires, businessmen, union leaders, former superintendents, and even the occasional teacher and parent talking about how we have to fix our schools. There is, however, a powerful constituency that is missing from the dialogue:
The kids.

From the website:

What is the Great American Teach-In?
A day to remind ourselves and our students that citizenship means asking questions, finding answers and standing up for what you believe in... and that education must mean that too.
Every classroom, every student, every school... draft a declaration of educational rights.

Join students and educators everywhere to post your declaration of rights in education. The site has resources like essential questions with prompts, plans, and icebreakers. Join and let your student voices be heard!

I don't know if I really want to make a connection here, but ...:

Be Heard School Grant!
From the website:

The Be Heard School Grant recognizes the importance of being heard in the classroom. Voice amplification is an effective, affordable, and measurable tool for improving teaching and learning for all students in all subjects. Research has also shown that classroom voice amplification can dramatically reduce special education referrals (up to 40%)

Grant Details:
- Calypso will be giving away $35,000 in portable microphone systems
- 1 school will receive 30 portable microphone systems
- 3 schools will receive 3 portable microphone systems
- No installation required! Just plug in and use!

Application Deadline: May 20th, 2011

Click here for more information and to submit a Be Heard application
Apply Now!

Other Grants

Money Monday, filled with a wealth of grant resources, is published regularly on LACOE's Instructional Technology Outreach site. Access the latest edition by visiting http://moodle.ito.lacoe.edu/consortia/ Click on LAUSD and login with guest as both the username and password.

Tech Gems
Apps
LAUSD's own Mathew Needleman has created two outstanding tools to aid students in reading:
Reading Remedies, an app for the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch

From the web page:
Diagnose areas of potential reading difficulty and support beginning readers with Reading Remedies!

Quick and easy assessments you can conduct in each of six areas of literacy: rhyming, blending, segmentation, fluency, and word attack.

Suggested follow-up activities to teach specific skills in each area as well as complete lists of sight words, common prefixes, suffixes, and vowel combinations are included.

Fluency Timer, for Mac OS 10.5+
Record, playback, and save one minute fluency readings. This tool can really help students boost their fluency levels. Studies have shown that this type of process can boost fluency levels significantly. This is a great tool for the busy teacher who wants students to get that extra support that digital tools can offer.
Check out these and other outstanding resources on Mathew's website at http://opencourtresources.com/

Collaboration
CoSketch - This collaborative tool allows learners to work together on a whiteboard-like environment. Background images can be uploaded for annotation. It also has support for using Google Maps as a background. Work can be shared by weblink or can be embedded elsewhere. The best part? It's free!

Comic for the Day

The question this comic makes me ask is:

How are we changing the learning environments in our schools to include these types of tools? How about you?

Contact Information

Janice Stearns
EdTech ITAF, liaison in support of Local Districts 5 and 6
janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

April 2011 EdTech News

2011-04-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

Video of the Month
Will Richardson from TedxNYEd. To view within the firewall, go to http://www.youtube.com/ and sign in with your LAUSD single sign-on, then return to this page. Be sure to catch all the compelling presentations from TedXNYEd 2011. They are great!

Happenings

EdTech Leadership Meeting
Our April 21st meeting is canceled due to the fact that Spring Break is that week for many of our traditional calendar schools.
Our last meeting of the year will take place on May 19th at San Miguel Ave. Elementary School from 3:45 - 5:15. I hope you all can attend!

SMARTBoard Users Group
Our April SMARTBoard Users Group will meet Thursday, April 14th, from 4:00 - 5:30 at Stevenson Middle School. This is a great opportunity to learn with others how to improve your SMARTboard skills. Angela Folendorf, from SMART, does a fantastic job of facilitating the learning opportunities at these meetings to maximize your learning. Come join us!

InfoTech 2011
LAUSD's Annual EdTech Conference is happening on Saturday, April 30th at the Los Angeles Convention Center. More information can be found by visiting http://infotech.lausd.net

InfoTech District Employee Registration: Walk-in registration is available for parents, students, educators, and guests on the day of the event. Registration will be located in the Parent Summit/InfoTech Registration kiosk in the South Hall.

A heartfelt THANK YOU! to the following teachers and their students in Local Districts 5 and 6 who will be showcasing their work and amazing projects! I hope you attend InfoTech to learn from these outstanding teachers and their students and all the teachers and students throughout the district!

Local District 5

Carver Middle School

Melissa Alvarez - Convincing Evidence (Comic Life)
Harold Oakley - Technology Menagerie (Photoshop, Flash, Digital Comic Books)
John Stephens - Technology Menagerie (Claymation, PSA, Virtual Tours, Movies)
Ernest Jamison - Number Properties (PowerPoint)
Kenneth Udeh - Family Theme Park - Systems of Equations
Leonard Walker - Geometry In The Real World and Earth Science Concepts
Emebet Berhanu - Evolution (Comic Life, PhotoStory)
Jose Acosta - Illustrate the composition and structure of the atom using the periodic table (Comic Life)
Hussain Mayaki - Atoms, Rounding of Atomic Numbers
Lorelei Triche - What's the 411?
Pedro Melo Perez - Linear Systems - (PowerPoint)
Jose R Herrera - The Percent Proportion Applications
Johnson Liu - Long & Short Term Effect of Drug Use - A Comic Life Study

Hollenbeck Middle School

Tony Semaan - iSTEM in Action
Monica Guerrero - The Truth About Robots
Ngay Tang - Propellants & Combustion
Michael Johnson - The Final Frontier (Final Cut and iMovie)
Emily Jaffe - Finding the Right Triangles (digital images)
Miguel Mendivil - Mathemmaticious
Gerardo Morada - Scratch the Anime (Scratch and Anime Studio)
Joanne Lingad - I. Am. Done. With. Poster Boards! (Google Sites, Glogster, mixed media)
Claudia Flores & Kat Czujko - Poster Boards are so Old School (Google Sites and Symbaloo)
Cindy Mata - Connecting World History & AVID Through Technology (Google Tools, Animoto, media)
Cesar Castellanos -Visual Vocabulary/"I Am" (PowerPoint)

Orthopaedic Hospital Medical Magnet

Penelope Valdez - Book Trailers

Local District 6

Middleton Ave. Elementary

Leo Hargreaves - Expressing "Response to Literature" with Technology
Lissett Rodriguez - Persuasive Ads

Montara Ave. and Montara Ave. Magnet Elementary

Sonia Maravilla and Silvia Leon - Showcasing our Heritage - (PowerPoint, Digital Storytelling)
Gisela Guzman - Discover How to Heal an Illness with a Folk or Scientific Medicine (video, iMovie)
Dora Muñoz-Andrade - Summarizing and Making Connections with VoiceThread
Kate Weber - Our Heritage: Folk Remedies of Our Families (VoiceThread and iMovie)
Anne Lanoix Labat - Animal Habitats (VoiceThread)
Felyce Thomas - Earth's Inner Space (iMovie and media)
Maria Aguilar - The Solar System (Prezi)
Constantine Haramis - Robotics and More (Mindstorms Robotics and more)
Jorge Alfaro, Jr. - Comic Life in the Classroom
Patricia Escalante - Prezi, Glogster, Google Docs and More!

San Miguel Ave. Magnet Elementary

Carlos Gomez - Pumas on the Prowl (iMovie, iWeb and other tools to make a broadcast)

South Gate Middle School

Mike Albert - Classroom Blogs

Southeast Middle School

Laura Ramirez - Comic Life for Math and Science
Sandra Beltran-Mata - Project Based Learning in the Library
Patricia Encarnacion - Interactive Learning (SMART's Notebook and PowerPoint)
Natalie Young - Technology Projects from Room 312
Cristina Vazquez - Endangered Species and the Biomes in which They Live

Bell High School

Stacia Salanoa and Elizabeth Clark - Book Trailers - BHS students promoting library books

Maywood Academy High School

Walter Hamilton - Network Administration/Design Certifications & 3D Game Programming

Bravo to all of you for bringing your students to experience this amazing event!

Professional Development

Inspire Summer Academy (Elementary) - July 17th to July 22nd (Application extended but let them know ASAP if your school team is interested)

This institute provides elementary educators with innovative instruction focused on integrating engineering learning into the elementary classroom. See this flier for more information. Each member of your team will need to complete the online application. (Thanks to Vicki Grant for this information!) http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LGLGKPL

Workshops from LACOE
Register for some great and affordable workshops at the LA County Office of Education.

Mobile Learning Experience
Are you interested in mobile learning? Check out Tony Vincent's reflections on the Mobile Learning Experience Conference taking place now.

Tech Gems

For our Teacher Librarians and all of us who will miss them... terribly! Who Among Us is Explicitly Tasked with Helping Children Learn to Teach Themselves? by David Warlick

How Much Data is That? An Infographic on how much data are bits, bytes, megabytes, terabytes, etc. . Shared by Laurie Yen. Thanks!

Komputers4RKids - A place to recycle older computers to re-purposed for our children, and to get them out of landfills. Contributed by Kate Weber. Thanks, Kate!

My Tweeted Times - I use Twitter to connect with very smart educators from around the world. Time doesn't permit me to always read the gems that come in from Twitter every day, but I can get the most outstanding tweets from all the people I follow using tools like The Tweeted Times. Each morning, I open this up like a newspaper and delight in all the wonderful resources. Follow some really smart educators on Twitter and create your own Tweeted times. Here's mine.

Storage - As you probably know, Amazon just came out with a storage plan, the Amazon Cloud Drive, that gives you 5GB free to store anything you wish. It's great to always have access to your favorite music, using this tool. I recently published a resource post with many other online storage options you might find useful.

FriendFeed - For a stream of my online resources, check out http://friendfeed.com/jstearns This is a stream of all my bookmarks, tweets, blog posts, and Google Reader shares on the web. I really like how FriendFeed aggregates everything into one stream. I find that useful. However, since FriendFeed was recently purchased by Facebook, one never knows what kind of future life the tool will have. Still, I recommend it for its simplicity and usefulness.

Contact Information

Janice Stearns
EdTech ITAF, liaison in support of Local Districts 5 and 6
janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

February 2011 EdTech News

2011-02-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hello All,
Happy February to all of you. Below are just a few of the edtech news tidbits for the month of February.

Video of the Month
PBS will be airing a new series on television called Digital Media: New Learners of the 21st Century. Check your local stations for the most recent broadcast. (I'm recording it Monday, Feb. 14th, on Channel 58.) There are plenty of great videos to watch at the site, as well.
What implications are there for our classrooms when students come with new literacies that need cultivating?

Watch the full episode. See more Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century.

EdTech Leadership Meeting

Our next meeting is next Thursday, February 17th, from 4:00 - 5:15. We will meet at:

South Region Middle School 2B
Media and Arts Academy (The academy is located on the second floor.)
6411 Orchard Ave.
Bell, CA 90201
Thanks to Principal David Manzo, Coordinator Delia Castillo, and teacher Liseth Bendaña for allowing us to meet at their school!
Please bring a tool, best practice, or tip to share at our meeting. Our meeting is all about learning from one another. Last month's meeting is archived here, where you can find a wealth of great tools. I'll be sharing some free word cloud generators that are especially useful for ELL students.

There will be no March meeting, due to the CUE conference. (I'll be in Palm Springs.)

LAUSD News and Events

InfoTech 2011 - LAUSD's annual student led edtech conference, Infotech, will take place on Saturday, April 30th. Please begin thinking of the projects your students will be presenting. The site and registration will be available soon.

Microsoft's Innovative Education Professional Development - April 12th and 13th
Attend Microsoft's 2 Day Workshop to become a Microsoft Innovative Teacher. Not only will you learn about some great software programs and resources, but you have time to prepare to bring what you learn to others. These 2 documents will give you more information:
Overview and Invitation
Overview PowerPoint Presentation

Free Thinkfinity Workshops at LACOE
Thinkfinitiy.org is a resource with a wealth of resources aligned to content standards from a variety of sites. Learn about Thinkfinity in a 2 hour workshop, or attend the 4 hour workshop to become a certified trainer. Below are the fliers that contain more details about each of these opportunities.
2 hour informational workshop - Feb. 24th 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. at LACOE
4 hour Thinfinity Trainer Workshop - April 21 - 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

SMARTBoard User Groups
Our first SMARTBoard User Group for LD5 and LD6 went very well. We hope you can join us for our upcoming meeting on Thursday, March 10th at Stevenson Middle School. You can download a flier here. Please share with colleagues. Our collaboration site is: http://bit.ly/sbug56 Additionally, Local District 1 also has a SMARTBoard User Group that meets on the 3rd Thursday of the month (February 17th). You can download their flier here.

Grants and Funding
Each week, LACOE publishes available grants in their Moodle space. Visit http://moodle.ito.lacoe.edu/consortia/ and login as guest.

Tech Gems

The 2011 Horizon Report came out this week.
This report, while predicting edtech trends in higher education for the next 5 years, has many implications for K-12 as well. I find it interesting that the key trends involve increased use of mobile technologies, cloud based solutions, and how the nature of collaborative learning is shaping the design of learning opportunities. I don't think educators in either K-12 nor higher education can ignore the implications of what is to come. This is definitely a must read!

Open CourseWare - There's an App for That!
It's encouraging that so many quality open courseware resources are now coming to mobile devices. Students can now enjoy the following resources on their iPad, iPodTouch, and iPhone. I would think that these resources will be coming to other mobile platforms in the near future.
The Khan Academy App
MIT OpenCourseWare App
iTunesUniversity App

Skype in the Classroom
Skype, a free videoconferencing tool, has officially opened a site where teachers can join and find other teachers with whom they can connect via video-conference around a selected content area. As more and more teachers join this site, the better and more resourceful it can become. Join Skype in the Classroom to access lesson plans, resources and to make connections with other Skype using educators. You will need to have a Skype account.

In case you missed it, catch the important news and information posted at the end of January.

Several January Announcements

2011-01-24T14:38:00.000-08:00

Here are a few things that just can't wait until February:

For Elementary Schools

The Arcademics study
A web based company, Arademics, is looking for 3-5 elementary schools district-wide that would be interested in participating in a study on the effects of using their program to learn math, compared to not using their program. The study is being conducted by the National Science Foundation. Several teachers from each school will be asked to participate in the study for about 2 hours a week for several weeks. They would be compensated by a small stipend. Also, the school could use the subscription until the end of this school year. Please see the flyer listed below for more information. Please contact me before Thursday, January 27th at 10:00 a.m., if your school is interested in participating.

Download the informational flyer.

If you’d like to learn more about Arcademics, Bob Sprankle interviewed the CEO of the company on his podcast last year: http://bobsprankle.com/bitbybit_wordpress/?s=arcademic and here is his write-up from a few years ago: http://www.hotchalk.com/mydesk/index.php/geek-for-the-week/208-game-on-in-edit

DB Primary Learning Platform
The DB Primary Learning Platform is a complete learning management system for elementary students.

Please read this flyer for more information.

If your school is interested, they will be able to get a free subscription until the end of the year, if you contact them before January 31st.

Middle School
Computers For Youth Program
If you want your students and their parents to have computer access at home, this program might be good for your school. It includes parent training, a computer for the home of each participating family, and software for the computer. There will also be some kind of reduction in paying for internet access at home.
Application deadline: February 18th 2011
Here's the information on that program:
Informational Flyer
Application

Middle School and High School

Google Global Science Fair 2011 - Ages 13-18- Submission Deadline - April 4

Great opportunity for students to compete globally in a collaborative science fair. Check it out!

All Grade Levels

Doodle 4 Google - Deadline - March 2, 2011
Let your students design a Google logo on what they would like to do someday...
http://www.google.com/doodle4google/

SMARTboard User Group

Are you just starting to use the SMART Board? Would you like to get together with other educators from around the district to share lessons, tips and tricks, and best practices? We are starting a SMART Board user's group. We'll meet monthly (sometimes virtually), The first SMART Board User Group (or SBUG) meeting will be Thursday, February 10th, at Stevenson Middle School, from 3:30 - 5:00. All educators are welcome. Please share with your colleagues. Here's a flyer to download and share.

Money Mondays Grant Announcements from LACOE

Visit http://moodle.ito.lacoe.edu/consortia/ and click on LAUSD with guest access to find the grant information.

From our meeting on January 20th. These are the resources that were shared at our meeting. Thanks to all who attended. It was great!
We hope you can join us on February 17th. More details to follow.

EdTech Leadership Meeting This Thursday!

2011-01-18T20:13:00.000-08:00

Please come to our EdTech leadership meeting this Thursday, January 20th, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. at Montara Ave Elementary School . Michelle will share how students are using Prezi and Glogster. Please be prepared to share a new tool or best practice. It's the best professional development ever, since we learn from each other. It's great fun and the best way to learn - together! Please invite your colleagues. We always welcome new friends. As always, our fine cuisine of goodies, plus great conversation, will keep you going for that extra hour!

A special hanks to Ms. Cortez, principal, and Ms Ngai, tech. coordinator, for allowing us to meet in the lovely computer lab at Montara!

Montara Ave. Elementary School
10018 Montara Ave.
South Gate, CA 90280

See you there!

EdTech News for January 2011

2011-01-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone!
I hope this year is filled with happy moments and rewarding experiences for you and your students!

Please try to come to our EdTech Leadership meeting on Thursday, January 20th, at Montara Ave Elementary. More details below.

This compelling presentation uses the audio from Sir Ken Robinson's talk, Changing Educational Paradigms, with wonderful animation by the RSA Animate Team. In this talk, Sir Ken Robinson talks about the future of education, what needs to change, and why.

EdTech Leadership Meetings

We haven't had an EdTech Leadership meeting for such a long time! Our next meeting will be on Thursday, January 20th, at Montara Ave. Elementary School. Michelle Ngai has graciously allowed us to meet in Montara's computer lab. Hope to see you all there! Michelle has offered to show us how to use either Prezi or Glogster. It's going to be great! Please be prepared to share some tool or best practice. It's the best professional development ever, since we learn from all who attend. It's great fun and the best way to learn - together! I hope to see you there! Please invite your colleagues. We always welcome new friends and colleagues.
When:
Thursday, January 20th, 4:00 - 5:15
Where:
Montara Ave. Elementary School
10018 MONTARA AVE
SOUTH GATE, CA 90280

District News and Events
This news comes primarily from LAUSD's Educational Technology Blog

LAUSD's Online Learning
Online learning is a great resource that many secondary schools throughout LAUSD are beginning to use. There are many models for implementing online learning at your school. Credit recovery and advanced placement courses are among the many needs that online learning can address. You can browse the types of online courses available here. Several professional developments for the facilitators/teachers of the Apex online credit recovery classes are scheduled during the month of January. (Please visit the Learning Zone and search courses for "Educational Technology.") If your school is interested in or have questions about LAUSD's online learning, please contact me.

LAUSD Speak Up!!!! Due date: January 21, 2011

What is Speak Up? From their website:

The Speak Up National Research Project provides participating organizations with a quick and easy way to collect authentic feedback from your students, teachers and parents on important education issues - and to ensure that the voices of your stakeholders are heard loud and clear in Washington DC and your state capitol.

This data will be available for use in early February.
To take the survey, go to…
http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2010
Click on one of the four buttons that are set up for US participation:

Students (all grades K-12)
Educators (includes surveys for teachers, administrators, librarians and tech coordinators)
Parents (in English) or Parents (in Spanish).

Pull down state menu and select California.
Enter school name (just really need first few letters).

A list will come up with school names – it most cases it will be just one option - click on your school name.

Enter secret word: lausd

Click to take the grade appropriate survey for you: K-2, Gr 3-5, Gr 6-8, Gr 9-12

Microsoft bliink: a web design contest…

…will be open for student registration beginning January 5, 2011.

Students will:

Dream big about how technology can make the world a better place
Learn more about the power of technology to solve real-world problems
Receive Microsoft Expression® Studio professional software at no charge
Develop career skills in design, technology, and communication
Create a website to communicate their learning and creativity
Be excited about the opportunity for local and national recognition
Work hard to earn prizes that include Xbox 360 and Kinect
Feel pride and accomplishment in their success and learning

Blink is open to U.S. students ages 13-19 participating in teams of two to four.

Students can submit projects created in or out of class.

Contest Registration begins January 5, 2011. Submission deadline dates in early March vary by state.

Visit Expression For Educators for free Expression Studio learning resources.

Inquire about receiving Expression Studio software free of charge for your school: innovativeteachers@microsoft.com

Students can download Expression Studio free of charge for their personal PCs at DreamSpark.

Complete details will be posted in mid-December, 2010, on the Bliink website.

Email questions at innovativeteachers@microsoft.com .

Free Live Meetings sessions to learn more about the contest and Expression Studio.

Introduction to bliink - The Expression Web environment - Creating sites from a template

Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 7:00 PM EST

More about bliink- Creating a new site with layers

Thursday, Jan 13,2011, 7:00 PM EST

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 7:00 PM EST

Creating Dynamic Web Templates (DWT)

Thursday, January, 20, 2011, 7:00 PM EST

Make sure the Office Live Meeting client is installed before the meeting: connecting from outside the Microsoft network

For more details on connecting contact: innovativeteachers@microsoft.com

Good luck to your students in Microsoft bliink 2011!

Thinkfinity Online Course

The California K-12 High Speed Network (K12HSN) will be offering several FREE Thinkfinity Train the Trainer sessions in 2011. If you are interested in becoming a Thinkfinity Trainer, please sign up for one of our face-to-face trainings OR register for Thinkfinity’s six week online course.

Registration for the Thinkfinity Trainer Online Course will close on January 10, 2011.

Make sure you register early!

If you are not interested in our Trainer Program but would like to learn more about Thinkfinity, we invite you to sign up for a free webinar.

Click here for the Thinkfinity Webinar Schedule or visit www.thinkfinity.org.

LAUSD's Infotech

Mark your calendars. LAUSD's annual student-led technology conference will take place on April 30th, 2011. I hope you and your students are planning great projects to share! More information will be coming soon.

Professional Development

User Groups

SMART Board User Group

iPAD Administrator's User Group

Many educators are now beginning to use iPads in classrooms and schools all around LAUSD. If you are an iPad using administrator, you might be using your iPad to do some tasks common to many other administrators. Let's get together and share ideas, apps, and best practices to learn from one another. If you are interested, please fill out this form.

I'll put together a social space, organize a place to meet, and bring some food for our first meeting!
I'm beginning to put together some online resources on iPads at http://ipadsinschools.weebly.com/

Workshops

Los Angeles County Office of Education's Instructional Technology Outreach program offers a wealth of workshops at a reasonable price. Check out the listings on their website.

Conferences

EdCamp OC - January 15th, 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p,m. - Costa Mesa, CA
This is the first Southern California EdCamp. Educators from all around get together to talk and share with one another in an informal, unconference environment. Since there are no "formal" sessions, you can suggest a topic you are passionate about, share what your students are doing, and learn from everyone else who is attending. I think this will be a great learning opportunity. I hope to see you there. For more information and to register, please visit http://edcampoc.eventbrite.com/

CUE - March 17th - 19th - Palm Springs, CA
California's annual Computer Using Educators conference is coming soon! Join thousands of other educators to learn and network at one of the finest educational technology conferences in all the nation. This is a great experience for all who are passionate about using technology as a learning tool in the classroom. For more information and to register, please visit http://www.cue.org/conference/

ISTE - June 26th - 29th - Philadelphia, PA
The International Society for Technology in Education will host their annual conference this year in Philadelphia. I know budgets are tight, but if you can, this is an amazing conference to attend. You will mix and mingle with almost 20,000 other educators from around the world, all passionate about the love of learning and the role that technology plays in that love and that learning. For more information and to register, please visit http://www.iste.org/conference.aspx

Grants and Funding
Mike Leffin, a consultant for the Instructional Technology Outreach program at the Los Angeles County Office of Education, gathers grants and funding resources each month to share with educators. Visit http://moodle.ito.lacoe.edu/consortia/ and click on LAUSD with guest access to find the grant information.

Tech Gems

Google Body

By far, one of the most amazing tools to come out lately is Google Body. You need to be running the latest version of Chrome Beta. This app lets you explore all layers of the human body, from the skeletal system to the cardiovascular system, all in 3D that can be manipulated to turn in many different directions. When you click on a particular part of the body, it becomes darker and is labeled. This is magnificent, and only hints at what will be possible in the near future!

Interactive Guides to Global Issues

Richard Bryne, on his Free Technology for Teachers site, shared this amazing resource on multi-modal guides to current global issues, Interactive Guides to Global Issuses, that offer not only video, but different media such as timelines, text, audio, and graphics. These are issues that are happening now, and not available in textbooks.

Creating a School Website
There are many schools that would like to create a school website, but don't have the staff or time required to create a truly interactive, up-to-date website. I wrote a post that suggests how to use a few different tools to create a website. Please note that these are suggestions only. There are many different ways to publish a school website.

More

You can find most of what I'm learning through my social bookmarks on Delicious and Diigo . Note that Delicious, owned by Yahoo, might be closing down soon. If you have bookmarks there, you will want to back them up by importing them to Diigo or another service. This article, by Wesley Fryer, offers some suggestions for alternatives to Delicious: Delicious Social Bookmarks Going Away - What Shall We Do?

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF)
Educational Technology Branch, ITD, LAUSD
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

EdTech News for September 2010

2010-09-28T15:35:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

Welcome, everyone, to the 2010 - 2011 school year. I look forward to working and learning with you in the coming school year.
I am now an edtech ITAF, working with schools in Local District 5 and Local District 6. I am so happy that I am able to support you with educational technology in your classrooms and in your schools. Please let me know how I may support you.
Thanks,
Janice

Social Media Counts
This updated flash widget by Gary Hayes shows the continuing impact social media has on us. What impact does social media have on your students? How are we using social media to engage students in learning in new ways? After viewing the widget below, consider this: The Case for Social Media in Schools.

EdTech Leadership Meetings
Thanks to all of you who attended our EdTech Leadership Meetings throughout the past years. What an incredible way to learn from one another. We meet on the third Thursday of the month and share tips, tools, and effective learning strategies that each of us are using in classrooms and with staff. I would very much like to continue meeting with all of you For me, it's a learning opportunity like no other. Your expertise, leadership, and collegiality make this the most valuable professional development in which I participate. If you can volunteer your schools and your classrooms for our meetings, please fill out the form below.
Meetings that need a place:
November 18th, January 20th, February 17th, March 17th, May 19th
<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Loading...&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>
Please note that our meeting are from 4:00 to 5:15. All are invited to attend! Please join us. Thanks in advance for volunteering. I'll email you!

Our meeting on October 21st has been changed to October 28th for Learning at Night with the K12 Conference at Humphreys Ave. (Please see below and I hope you can attend!)

K12 Online Conference LAN (Learning at Night) Party- Thursday, October 28th, Humphreys Ave. Elementary School

Hold the date for our first ever K12 Online Conference LAN Party on Thursday, October 28 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. We will watch and discuss exemplary presentations from the K12 Online Conference 2010, eat pizza, and learn from one another. The K12 Online Conference, the free annual online conference that takes totally online, will take place beginning the week of October 18th. We will make the best of these online workshops available for viewing and discussing together on the 28th.
If you plan to attend, please fill out this form:

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Loading...&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

District News

Middle School Digital Citizenship Pilot Project -
Middle School Students - Deadline: Oct. 1, 20 schools will be selected
Common Sense Media is offering a free Digital Citizenship Curriculum to only 20 schools in the district. The curriculum will include support from common sense media, training materials, and a $100 stipend for participating teachers (up to 3 per school). If your school is interested, you can find more information by downloading the flyer: http://drop.io/laedtech/asset/commonsense-cit-pdf
The deadline for applying is October 1st.

The Future Leaders' Summit -
High School Students - October 20th, 9:00 - 11:30 a.m. - Los Angeles Convention CenterThe summit will provide a forum for students to learn about technology, careers, and higher education. The deadline for applying is October 7th. Since there are only 500 seats total available, it’s one of those opportunities that you want to work on right away. Each school can send up to 50 students.

Here’s a flyer with more information that you can share with those whom you think might be interested. http://drop.io/laedtech/asset/fls-invite-09-17-10-pdf If you have any questions, please contact me.

The Riordan Foundation Grant Opportunities
K-5 and K- 12
From Jessica Flores, president of the Riordan Foundation

The Riordan Foundation is having several grant awareness sessions to inform schools about our available grant opportunities. We will especially focus on our SMART Classroom Technology Grant (K-12th Grade) and Classroom Library Grant (K-5th Grade). Listed below are the dates. More information can be found at www.riordanfoundation.org We appreciate you sharing this information with the schools you work with. Riordan Foundation Grant Awareness Sessions

Thursday Sept. 23rd: RL Stevenson Middle School

Monday Sept. 27th: Mac Arthur Park Primary Center

Wednesday Sept. 29th: Johnnie Cochran MS

Thursday Sept. 30th: New Millennium SS

Monday Oct. 4th: Huntington Park EL

Tuesday Oct. 5th: Broadway Elementary

Wednesday Oct. 6th: Haddon EL

Thursday Oct. 7th: Birmingham Charter School

Tentative: Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary School
Please visit http://www.riordanfoundation.org for details.

Professional Development

TELL Conference - October 9th 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m Fee: $35.00 - Awesome conference with top notch presenters and keynotes. Not one to miss!

LACOE's 21st Century Learners Symposium - October 15th, 7:30 - 3:30 - Cal State LA Fee: $110
Join LA County Educators for a day of learning at the 21st Century Learners Symposium. More details are on their website.

Computer Using Educators, Los Angeles Tech Fair - Saturday, November 13th, Culver City High School
This year's conference is called "Teaching at the Speed of Learning". This is a great day of learning. Register today! If you plan on going to CUE in Palm Springs in March this year, sign up for the $55 CUE membership plus registration fee. This gives you CUE membership for only $20 and the conference for $35. What a deal!

Global Education Conference - November 15th - 19th This is the first ever Global Education Conference and will take place totally online. Collaborate and learn with educators from around the world. To find out more information, please visit the Global Education Conference website.

Grants and Funding

Money Monday by LACOE's Mike Leffin. Visit http://moodle.ito.lacoe.edu/consortia/ and click on LAUSD with guest access to find the gran.

Items for FreeBay

Bell HS has some items they would like to offer to anyone who might need them. They are listed below. Thanks to Michiko Sakimoto for organizing these materials and offering them for those that might need them. If you have some technology related items like printer cartridges or other types of equipment that you no longer need, let me know and I will publish them here in this newsletter.

Epson inkjet cartridges available:

Blk S020191 400, 600, 800, 440, 460, 640, 660 ,670, 740, 760, 860, 1160, 2000, 2500
Cartridge Tri S020191 for 400, 600, 800, 440, 460, 640, 660 ,670, 740, 760, 860, 1160, 2000, 2500
Cartridge S020189 for 740, 740i, 800, 800N, 850, 850N, 860, 1160, 1520
Cartridge S020108 for 520, 800, 850
Cartridge T044520 for C64, C66, C86, CX4600, CX6400, CX6600
Cartridge T020201 for 880
Cartridge S020089 for 400, 600, 800
Cartridge T0091201 for 1270, 1280
Cartridge S020110 for PHOTO, PHOTO EX, 700
Cartridge T048120 for R200, R220, R300, R320, R340, RX500, RX600, RX620
Cartridge T007201 for 780, 785 EPX, 825, 870, 875DC, 875DCS, 890, 900, 1270, 1280
Cartridge T005011 for 900, 900G, 980, 980N

Toner (not inkjet) cartridges available:

Cartridge Canon (E-40) for 300, 310, 320, 325, 330L, 330, 530, 550, 770,        710, 720, 730, 740, 790
Cartridge HP-LJ- (06A) for      5L, 6L, 3100
Cartridge HP-LJ- (98X) (5) and (98a) (2)        for 4, 4 Plus, 4m, 4m Plus, 5, 5m, 5N
Cartridge Lexmark (13T0101) for E312, E312L, E310
Cartridge Lexmark (140198A) for Canon EP-E, HP LaserJet Series 4, 4 Plus, 5M, 5N
Cartridge Lexmark (1380520) for 4019, 4028, 4029
Cartridge Sharp (AL110TD) for   AL-1000, 1200, 1300, 1400,1500
Cartridge HP-LJ- (27A) for 4000, 4050
Cartridge HP-CJ-Q600A for 2600
Cartridge HP-CJ-Q7560A for 3000
Cartridge HP-CJ-75620A for 3000
Cartridge HP-CJ-75630A for 3000
Cartridge HP-CJ-75641A for 3000
Cartridge Canon (L50)   for 1060, 1080F
Cartridge Xerox (106R584) for   WC Pro (412, 312)
Cartridge CANON (# unknown)     for ImageRunner 2200, 2800, 3300, 3320
Cartridge Brother OXBTN570 for HL 5140, 5150, 5170
Cartridge Brother (p6-201) for Fax-1010, 1020, 1030, 1170, 1270, 1570, MFC- 1770/1970/1780/1820
Cartridge Ricoh 1160 for Ricoh fax machine

Hewlett Packard inkjet cartridges (NOT for laser printers):

Cartridge #29A for Printer Models 600, 660, 670, 672, 680, 682, 690, 692, 693, 694, 695, 697
Cartridge #Tricolor 49A for 600, 660, 670, 672, 680, 682, 690, 692, 693, 694, 695, 697
Cartridge #Blk 14 for C5011D    ?
Cartridge #Tricolor 14 for C5011D       ?
Cartridge #Tricolor 41A for 820, 850, 855, 870, 1000
Cartridge #04A for              ?
Cartridge #11 for 10, 20, 50, 70, 100, 110, 120
Cartridge #C1816A       for 690, 692, 693, 694
Cartridge #Tricolor C1823A for 720, 722, 890
Cartridge #96 for 5740, 5940, 6520, 6540, 6620, 6830, 6840, 6940, 6980,
100 for 460, 5520, 6540, 6830, 6840, 9800
Cartridge #99 for C4280, C5280, D4145, D4155, D4160, 5440, 5740, 6620, 6830, 6840, 6940, 6980, 9800, 5940, 6520, 6540

Miscellaneous Items

17 Dell Flat Panel All in One Stands - (Work on the PlayStation 2 as well)
Mac-formatted 3-1/2" floppy disks
Logitech Media Keyboards, PS/2, includes USB adapter

Tech Gems

A New Way to Lecture - a great booklet full of web 2.0 tools that will help you engage students in new ways to interact and engage with learning in the classroom.

Prezi for Education - One of the tools mentioned in the A New Way to Lecture booklet, Prezi now has an education account that both teachers and students can use to create and share amazing, interactive presentations created with Prezi.

Free Technology for Teachers blog by Richard Bryne - This blog is full of great free tools that teachers can use in the classroom. Very frequently, Richard updates his blog with new tech gems that all will enjoy using. Subscribe with your Google RSS feed reader and never miss a post!

Free Physics Posters - The American Physical Society will mail two free physics posters to your school.

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
Educational Technology Branch, ITD, LAUSD
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

EdTech News for May 2010

2010-05-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Amazing that it's May already!

Video of the Month: Dan Myer at the New York TEDX Conference on March 6, 2010

Dan talks about how he teaches math in authentic ways!

Catch more amazing TEDXNYEd talks at their website. (These videos are only viewable outside LAUSD's firewall.)

Contents:

Our Upcoming Meeting
District News and Events
Grants and Funding
Professional Learning
Amazing Tools and Resources

Local District 6 EdTech Leadership Meeting - May 20, 2010

Our final EdTech Leadership meeting for the year will take place on Thursday May 20th, 4:00 - 5:15 p.m.
Location: Local District 6 3rd Floor Conference Room - 5800 S. Eastern, Commerce, CA
Please bring some tools to share. Our focus will be supporting the EL learner using technology as a tool. I'm looking forward to sharing ideas with the very best educators in LAUSD!

District News and Events

LAUSD Student EdTech Profile - Due before May 31, 2010
Please encourage those at your school responsible for administering this survey to please finish by the deadline of May 31st. This survey is to be taken by all 5th, 8th, and 11th grade students in the district.

Online Learning - http://onlinelearning.lausd.net

LAUSD offers a variety of online learning programs. Paul Burns, our edtech ITAF in support of Local District 6, will be visiting high schools in Local District 6 to make sure that principals are aware of these valuable resources. If you are teach students in a high school or middle school and would like more information than what you can find on the website, please contact me and I will let Paul know that you are interested.

InfoTech 2010
LAUSD's Infotech took place on Saturday, April 24th at the Los Angeles Convention Center. What a terrifice event. Thanks to the following Local District 6 educators and their students for showcasing at this conference:

Michael de la Torre - Bryson Ave. Elementary School
Pod Touches for Good Health
Lissett Rodriguez - Middleton St. Elementary School
Persuasive Commericals
Constantine Haramis - Montara Ave. Elementary School
From Google Sketchup to Google Groups
Mayda Montes - Montara Ave. Elementary School
The Exciting World of Animals
Michelle Ngai - Montara Ave. Elementary School
BBC NewsMontara's Bulldog Broadcasting Coorporation!
Patricia Escalante - Montara Ave. Elementary School
Google Sketchup
David Billett - Gage Middle School
Unleashing Creativity with the Green Screen
José Nuñez - Gage Middle School
"Sound" Recording Technology
Vanessa Kelterborn - Southeast Middle School
Multimedia Poetry
Michelle Touceda - South Gate Middle School
The Diary of Anne Frank through Music and Pictures
Mike Albert - South Gate Middle School
Viking Radio Podcasts
Xiomara Benitez - South Gate Middle School
The Makings of Life
Silvio Vidal - South Gate Middle School
Public Service Announcements
Steve Scanlan - Huntington Park High School
X-Box Games for HP Students
Kimberly Balala - Maywood Academy
21st Century Booktalks
Walter Hamilton - Maywood Academy
Computer Network Administration and Design

Students and educators showcased their learning and taught others how they used technology in their classrooms. It was outstanding!

Digital Voice Awards- May 22 - Santa Monica High School

Congratulations to Michelle Ngai - educator at Montara Elementary. She and her students will be honored at this event. Kudos to Michelle and her students for a well deserved honor. Her school's podcast is fabulous, as is the showcase of student projects!

Grants and Funding

Money Monday and other grant resources from LACOE

Mike Leffin, a consultant for the Instructional Technology Outreach program from LACOE, provides an amazing resource each month on grants and funding opportunities, called Money Monday. He has begun to post and archive these publications on the LACOE website at http://moodle.ito.lacoe.edu/consortia/ LAUSD educators can log in with a guest account to access the grant and funding resources for this month. On this site, he has also placed grant and funding resources into categories that make searching for a particular type of grant very easy. Check out this new site to find some great grant and funding opportunities.

Professional Learning

ISTE Conference - June 27 - 20 Denver, Colorado
This is the major international edtech conference - the major happening of the year, from the International Society of Technology for Educators. If there's a way you can attend this amazing conference, I highly suggest you do! There are activities and fun learning for everyone!

Google Geo Teacher's Institure - July 21-22 - (Probably at the GooglePlex in N. California)
This free institute sounds amazing. Visit the website for registration details.

From the website: The Geo Teachers Institute is an intensive, two-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's Geo products: Google Earth, Google Maps, and SketchUp, including a focus on features like Mars, Moon and Sky in Google Earth.

ScratchPalooza - May 22 - 10:00 - 2:00 p.m. CalState Northridge
ScratchDay is a worldwide event for everyone interested in the free software out of MIT called Scratch. It's great that there's an event happening nearby!

From the website:
Scratchers – Do you know how to put the pen down and repeat 10 when you receive this message? If you do, then come to Scratch Day and meet other Scratchers. Show off your best stuff and learn new tricks and hints. Enter a project in the Scratchapalooza Challenge and win prizes!
What is Scratch? A versatile media tool by MIT for students (age 7 and up) that helps to enhance logical thinking, math skills and creativity through easy-to-use programming interface. The program is free and students can upload their projects at http://scratch.mit.edu . Scratapalooza will have beginner workshops for people who are just starting out.

Digital Cafe - May 26 - 9:00 - 11:30 LACOE Downey Flyer to Download and Share
Especially targeted to Promethean Whiteboard Users

From the website: Come learn about best-practices and strategies based on Dr. Marzano’s current research. This informational session provides an update on the work of Dr. Marzano who has examined the affect of interactive whiteboard use at different grade levels and across different academic content areas in schools across the country.

LACOE iTell and EL Workshops
Los Angeles County Office of Education offers some very engaging workshops for educators at affordable prices. I'd like to make sure you know about 2 in particular.
The iTell (Integrating Technology for English Language Learners) Workshop (Summer 2010)
During this FREE 4 day workshop, educators will create technology enhanced products that can immediately be used in the classroom to support English Language Learners. Enroll soon as these classes are filling up soon.
Using Technology for Differentiated Instruction - June 25th 9:00 - 3:00 - LACOE Downey
This workshop will give you experience with several tools that help scaffold and differentiate learning for English Language Learners.

Global Ed Conference - November 15 - 19, 2010 - Online
Mark your calendars now for this new conference where all can come together to learn about how to connect globally. The tentative strands include:

from the website: Teachers (professional development, training, etc.), Students (student-led initiatives, exchange programs, service learning etc.), Pedagogy (curriculum, digital citizenship, assessment etc. ), Policy and Leadership (exemplary schools, ICT infrastructure, government initiatives etc.), and Change (peace and social justice, equity, etc.).

Sounds exciting! If you want to volunteer, please fill out the form linked above.

Amazing Tools and Resources

Twitter Tim.es

Twitter Tim.es is a tool that pulls the most popular tweets by all the people you follow and puts them in an easy to read format. This is a great tool to learn about what topics are being talked about on any given day. Sometimes, I don't have time to check all the tweets in Twitter that are passing by, but I can check this site to find out what I need to know more about. Jeff Utecht wrote a great post explaining his experience with this new tool and its impact on his learning: Mining Twitter for Content.
Here's my Twitter Tim.es . What a great way to really harness the power of your professional learning network.

Around the World with 80 Schools

Sylvia Tolisano, aka @langwitches on Twitter, has started a new social network for connecting educators with others who are interested in connecting through Skype, a video conferencing tool. What a great way for students to gain an appreciation of other cultures and geographic locations while practicing their communication skills!
(This site used to be on Ning, but since Ning is now charging for their services as of July 1, this website has moved to a self hosted site using a tool called BuddyPress.)

CoSketch- Online White Board Collaboration

Imagine being able to upload a picture and then collaboratively sketch and add to this picture online with others. That's what CoSketch allows you to do. Simply begin a sketching session, share the resulting url with others with whom you would like to collaborate, and you will be editing together in real time. No registration is required. Drawings can be saved and embedded in websites when finished.

I learned about this tool and many other great tools by subscribing to Kathy Schrock's Mailing List: Sites of the School Days (SOS). Each week, Kathy sends out via email a new terrific resource that you can use in the classroom the next day. This is a great way to learn about new tools on a weekly basis.

Downloading YouTube Videos

This week, I wrote a post about how to download and convert YouTube and other videos using various tools. I thought you might find it useful.

Create Your Own Marvel Comics Comic Strip

This online comic creator is easy to use and very engaging for students. This could be a great motivation for writing for students. No registration is required and finished products can be saved or printed out.

EnglishCentral.com

This website allows you to watch a short video clip, listen to the pronunciation, then use the built in tools to record your own naration. The website grades your pronunciation. This would be a non-threatening way for beginning English Language Learners to practice speaking.
I found this website by subscribing to Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day. This website has so many resources, its a bit overwhelming. However, if you subscribe to his blog, you only get a few posts with links a day - manageable and very rich in resources.

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

EdTech News for April 2010

2010-04-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

iPod Touch in the Classroom by Kern Kelley

iTouch on Prezi

This well done presentation about the iPod Touch in the classroom is by Kern Kelley, an educator in Maine. Kern used the online presentation tool, Prezi.

Upcoming Meetings
Thanks to all who were at our March meeting on collaboration. It was a great conversation and learning shared among all of us. It was so much fun!

Although it seems like we just had a meeting, our April meeting is on Thursday, April 15th, this week! (I am sure the weeks come faster after Winter break. Don't you agree?) It will be at the Local District 6 office at 5800 S. Eastern, Commerce from 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.

For this week's meeting, one topic I'd like to discuss is effective professional development.

I've been thinking a lot lately about professional development and how people learn. I know we are all in the business of facilitating the conditions for learning for students and/or for our colleagues. How do we make learning sticky? Are our workshops effective? How many who attend actually use what they have learned in their classrooms? What are the barriers? What works? What doesn't work?
Many other people are thinking about this too.

Kim Cofino, in her post, The Way of the Workshop, states:
It’s the experience, the collaboration, the creation of something new, the feeling of being on a team, and the satisfaction of actually doing something with your time. It’s what I’d like to call “The Way of The Workshop”

Will Richardson, in his post, The PD Problem, quotes Linda Darling-Hammond’s new book The Flat World and Education:
Short workshops of the sort generally found to trigger little change in practice are the most common learning opportunity for US teachers…A summary of experimental research found that short-term professional development experiences of 14 hours or less appear to have no effect on teachers’ effectiveness, while a variety of well-designed content-specific learning opportunities averaging about 49 hours over a 6- to 12-month period of time were associated with sizable gains.

Hope to see you at the meeting. Please also bring some ideas to share.

News and Events

Infotech 2010 - April 24th at the Los Angeles Convention Center 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Register online at http://infotech.lausd.net for the greatest student-led conference in LAUSD. Students from all over the district will showcase their best work at our educational technology conference.
Thank you to the following dedicated educators and their students from our own Local District 6 who will be presenting at this conference:

Michael de la Torre - Bryson Ave. Elementary School
Lissett Rodriguez - Middleton St. Elementary School
Constantine Haramis - Montara Ave. Elementary School
Mayda Montes - Montara Ave. Elementary School
Michelle Ngai - Montara Ave. Elementary School
Patricia Escalante - Montara Ave. Elementary School
David Billett - Gage Middle School
José Nuñez - Gage Middle School
Vanessa Kelterborn - Southeast Middle School
Michelle Touceda - South Gate Middle School
Mike Albert - South Gate Middle School
Xiomara Benitez - South Gate Middle School
Marivenus Magbitang - South Gate Middle School
Silvio Vidal - South Gate Middle School
Steve Scanlan - Huntington Park High School
Kimberly Balala - Maywood Academy
Walter Hamilton - Maywood Academy

Please attend Infotech and see the amazing work that our students and teachers are presenting. We can all learn from one another! The conference is free, parking is free, and with registration, you get a free lunch and the best, most valuable learning in LAUSD!

LAUSD Student EdTech Profile Due - March 30 - May 31
All students in grades 5, 8, and 11 take the online student edtech profile between March 30th - May 1st.
The website, LAUSD Student EdTech Profiles, has clear directions for administering the survey, video tutorials for students, and links to student accounts for each school. Please share with those at your school who are responsible for administering the survey.

Interactive Whiteboard Class - 1 salary point - Starting April 19th, 2010
Join Manuel Vadillo, instructor for this very valuable class, each Monday for 4 consecutive weeks, starting next Monday, April 14th and ending on May 10th, at SouthEast Middle School. Learn the basics of using an interactive whiteboard in the classroom and develop some tools that you can take back and use in the classroom.
Registration is on the Learning Zone at http://lz.lausd.net The class is under the program, Local District 6. If you search for "smart", the class is easy to find.

Online Conference: Problem Solving with Smithsonian Experts - April 13-14 and April 28-29

Smithsonian historians, scientists, researchers and other experts share their questions, their methods, and their unique way of thinking in an interactive format that welcomes you to contribute your own ideas during this two-part conference. The conference sessions take place in the morning of each of these days, and will be recorded and archived for later listening. This sounds like a terrific opportunity to interact with scientists, historians and other professionals.

60th Annual LA County Science Fair - Wed.-Friday, April 14-16th.
Get all the information about this interactive science fair on their website.

Grants and Funding
Mike Leffin, from LACOE, shares his Money Monday grant resources for April 2010.

Money Monday - April 2010 -

Gems

WolframAlpha for Educators
WolframAlpha is an amazing tool to explore the relationship between words, numbers, concepts, and ideas. On the WolframAlpha website, they explain the tool:

Wolfram|Alpha is a free online computational knowledge engine that generates answers to questions in real time by doing computations on its own vast internal knowledge base. Our long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. This can be valuable to educators in many ways.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/educators

They have designed a resource especially for educators, WolframAlpha for Educators, with ideas on using the tool in different content areas, with videos and lessons to make using this tool with students a rich experience.

Typewith.me
As you know, the collaborative workspace, Etherpad, was purchased by Google several months ago. Since that time, they have released the code so that other could create their own servers using the Etherpad engine. Etherpad is slowly closing their online space. Typewith.me is the best so far of this type of site, since it allows up to 15 collaborators at once. This tool is a quick and easy way to collaborate on text.

More gems are on our social bookmarking site, Delicious, at http://delicious.com/district6

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

EdTech Resource for March 2010

2010-03-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

My Favorite Video of the Month

dy/av : 002 : the next-gen lecturer from Dan Meyer on Vimeo.

Dan Meyer, who created this video, is a passionate middle school math teacher. You'll enjoy the deep reflection and conversation on his blog at http://blog.mrmeyer.com/
He recently spoke at the TEDxEDNY conference in New York. His passion for learning and teaching, and giving learners the opportunity to experience their learning is evident in all he does. Enjoy!

EdTech Leadership Meetings
A special thanks to Jutti Marsh for sharing Thinkfinity.org with us at our February meeting. Additionally, a heartfelt thanks to all of you who come to our meetings each month. You make learning and conversation fun and engaging.

Our next meeting is Thursday, March 18th, 4:00 p.m., at Montara Ave. Elementary School. You will get a tour of the beautiful new lab that Michelle Ngai has built with the vision and help of her school team. You'll enjoy! Thanks to Michelle, her principal, Juana Cortez, and all the staff at Montara, for allowing us to meet there!

Montara Ave. Elementary School
10018 Montara Ave
South Gate, CA 90280
323-567-1451

Workshops/Conferences

Infotech 2010
The best student led conference is just around the corner! Register online at http://infotech.lausd.net There are two ways to attend:

Bring a team of students to present at the conference.
Come to the conference to learn from other educators and students about how they are using technology in the classroom.

Lunch will be served, as well as free parking at the LA Convention Center. For those who bring students to showcase, buses are available. We hope you register and attend!

LAUSD's Best Practices Conference

LAUSD’s First Annual Best Practices Conference - Saturday, March 13th.
Location: Central Los Angeles High School #9 for the Visual and Performing Arts
Best Practices Conference Registration is now OPEN!!!
Click here for The Learning Zone to begin Conference Registration

Go to Courses>Class Offerings>Program>Best Practices Conference>Search

Conference Brochure
Registration Flyer and Directions for Registering

Grants/Funding

YoLink - Win $3000 for Your Classroom
All you need to do to enter this contest is to download Yolink and complete the registration form. Get all your colleagues at your school to do the same, and your school has a better chance of winning the award. The added bonus is that you are now using a very powerful tool to help you search, organize, and create new content from resources, even using Google Docs! All this is free!

We Are Teachers Microgrant (via http://twitter.com/edtech4lausd )
Teachers can submit their ideas to this site. Based on the number of votes the idea gets, it could get awarded $200 and a video camera to document the idea being put into action. From the website:

The WAT Microgrant program puts resources in the hands of teachers who use their creativity, imagination, and initiative to enrich and supplement the quality of their students' education. To win a microgrant, you simply submit your best idea for a teaching project on a given topic and compete for online votes.

What a terrific way to validate thinking outside the box!

Money Monday by Mike Leffin from LACOE
A great collection of grant and funding opportunities for schools and classroom teachers.

Resources/Gems

Montara Ave. Elementary Podcast
Listen to the students at Montara Ave. Elementary. Each week, they produce a weekly announcement for their school, including jokes, vocabulary, celebrations, and updates. It's fantastic. Bravo, students and teachers at Montara Elementary!

The Horizon Report 2010
This annual report, published by the New Media Consortium and Educase, predicts the trends in higher education for the next 5 years in regards to technology. It's a very insightful read as to how educational technology will influence education. Soon, the K-12 edition will be published, but this higher-ed report offers valuable information about educational technology trends in general.

Challenge-Based Learning
What does challenge-based learning look like? How can you implement this in the classroom? Apple Learning Interchange's Challenge Based Learning site has many resources to inform you of the how, what, and so what of Challenge Based Learning. Be sure to read the Challenge Based Learning Research Report published by the New Media Consortium. It's a model we should be doing in our schools! What do you think!

Aviary Now Free!
The powerful, web-based image/audio editing tool, Aviary, is now free - for even the most complex editing tasks. Explore and enjoy!

For Primary Students
The St. Patrick's Day Project - Count and predict the amount of "green clovers" in a box of Lucky Charms, then compare your results with others from around the nation.
This project is hosted by Jennifer Wagner, an outstanding edtech leader. Explore the entire collection of engaging, online, collaborative projects designed specifically for K-6 classrooms. Additionally, teachers can register to be part of the Projects by Jen social network created specifically to talk about the online projects.

The District 6 Social Network
Please join our Local District 6 Social Network, where educators from all over our district are collaborating online. Have conversations about education or share your photos of your latest classroom adventure. This is a great place to make connections with other educators in our district. It's good to see everyone connecting. Come join us!

Collection of Resources
For the latest collection of my resources, visit http://delicious.com/district6 There are many resources in different content areas.

February 2010 EdTech News

2010-02-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

Hello All,
It's hard to believe we are almost half way through February! The time just seems to fly by faster as the year progresses!

Here's some of the news from the EdTech perspective in Local District 6

Upcoming LD6 EdTech Leadership Meetings
Our upcoming meeting is next Thursday, February 18th, 2010. Jutti Marsh is going to lead us in an exploration of Thinkfinity and how it can be used in the classroom. Thinkfinity, formerly known as Marco Polo, is a collection of web resources and lesson plans focused on student learning in all content areas. We'll also exchange some news and resources.

The meeting is tentatively scheduled at the Local District 6 Office, 5th Floor Superintendent's Conference Room from 4:00 - 5:15. (If someone would like volunteer their school to host the meeting, please let me know. We need access to computers for exploring Thinkfinity.)

Upcoming meetings are Feb. 18th, March 18th, April 15th, and May 20th. Hope to see you at the meetings. All are invited to attend.

District/County News

LAUSD EdTech Website http://edtech.lausd.net
This site has the latest updates and news from LAUSD's EdTech branch.
From the LAUSD EdTech Website:

InfoTech 2010 - April 24th, 2010
LAUSD's own student technology fair will again happen together with the Parent's Summit at the Los Angeles Convention Center on April 24th, 2010, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This is a great opportunity to have your students share their projects and their learning with the greater LAUSD community. Even if you don't bring your students, this is a fantastic way to share and learn from other classrooms represented at the fair. Parking is free and lunch will be served to all participants. For more information and to register, please visit the Infotech website.
Student EdTech Profile - March 30 -May 31, 2010
Beginning with the 2009-2010 school year and annually thereafter, all students in grades 5, 8 and 11 should complete the Student EdTech Profile survey during the period March 30 - May 31. The Student EdTech Profile Information page has links to the official bulletin, video tutorials, and other information that will be updated regularly.

LAUSD now on iTunes University
We now have LAUSD content on iTunes University. If you have media content that you would like to add to the following categories, please contact me:

Showcase of Student Work
Instructional Resources
Parents Information
General Information and Broadcasts
Miscellaneous Resources

LAUSD's Online Learning Program
Students have access to a wealth of online course content through LAUSD's Online Learning program. To find out more about this program, please visit the LAUSD Online Learning Program website.

LAUSD's MyData adds Email Tab and Custom Groups
LAUSD's MyData system, that gives access to data for classroom teachers and school site staff, is adding many new features that make the user experience even more valuable.

Email Tab - Now when you log-in to MyData with your single sign-on, you not only have access to a wealth of data about your students, you now have an Email tab that lets you know which of your students already have single sign-on accounts and what the user names are. This information can be exported into a spreadsheet. This is a great benefit for all who create or work with student mymail accounts.
Custom Groups - With the new custom groups application, school administrators can now create customized groups of students for easy viewing in MyData. You can access the website to learn more.

LACOE's Digital Voice Awards Deadline - March 31st
The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) invite K-12 school educators from Los Angeles County to submit exemplary classroom instructional technology projects to the Digital Voice Awards. This is a great opportunity to showcase the student projects from your classroom!

LACOE's Instructional Technology Outreach Workshops
LACOE has a wealth of edtech workshops, including week-long academies that you can attend on off track time. The academies are near full, but you can sign up on the waiting list.

More information will be published soon!

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

December 2009 EdTech News

2009-12-10T12:56:00.001-08:00

Hello Everyone,
I hope your last few days before winter vacation are filled with exciting and memorable learning opportunities with your students. I wish you and your family a very happy holiday season.

Upcoming LD6 EdTech Leadership Meetings
I'd like to thank those who attended our November LD6 EdTech Leadership meeting. Educators travel long distances to join us for the learning. You are a dedicated group of educators who inspire me each and every day! We won't have a meeting this month, since it is such a busy time of year! However, we have a great January meeting planned.

January 2o1o LD6 EdTech Leadership Meeting - January 21st, 2010 - 4:00 - 5:15 Gage MS
David Billett, Technology Resource Teacher at Gage Middle School, will be sharing with us the process to create LAUSD student email accounts and also how his students are using all the Google Apps included with the email accounts to collaborate and engage in authentic learning. Join us on Thursday, January 21, from 4:00 to 5:15 at Gage Middle School. (The meeting this time will NOT be at the Local District 6 office.) David has been an advocate for the LAUSD MyMail system at his school since it began several years ago. The students at Gage Middle School use the system to share and collaborate on documents, presentations, forms, spreadsheets, calendars, and more. David has some useful tips and tricks for us. I hope you can join us.

February 2010 Meeting

We need a place to host our February (Feb. 18th) meeting. Please let me know if we can meet at your school. We need a site with access to computers and the internet, because...

For our February meeting, Jutti Marsh will share the new features of Thinkfinity (formerly known as Marco Polo). Please mark your calendars now.

District and County News

The EdTech Profile
If the staff members at your school haven't already done so, please encourage all of them to complete the EdTech Profile. This survey assesses the technology proficiency of educators at your school and is used for many state and federal funding programs. It's very important that all staff at your school complete it as soon as possible. If someone at your school does not have administrator access to see the progress of those who have taken the survey and to send lost passwords, etc., please contact me.

Intel Schools of Distinction
Applications are now open to apply to be an Intel School of Distinction. Read the requirements and application process online. This year, the main content areas are math and science.

Finalists, Winners and the Star Innovator will all receive a cash grant from the Intel Foundation. Finalists will receive a $2500 grant, Winners a $10,000 grant with the Star Innovator receiving a $25,000 grant. In addition program sponsors will provide products and services to the 5 Winner schools and the Star Innovator.

Professional Development

K12 Online Conference
The most amazing online conference is taking place right now - for free at K12OnlineConference.org The conference presentations began being released last week and continue until this Friday. Each day, 4-5 outstanding conferences are published for you to attend, any time - any where. This year, the quality of the presentations are excellent!
After eagerly watching almost every one of them, I'm convinced we need to use these to help others learn about the amazing learning opportunities available through technology.
Access
All presentations can be accessed by visiting the Schedule page. You can also subscribe to audio/video/text feeds here.
LAN Party
One presentation demonstrates hosting a "LAN Party" for the district, where educators get together to learn and - of course - to eat. I thought it would be great to create something like this for our district. Watch the presentation here: http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=462
and let me know if you are interested in working together to create this for our district.

LACOE Professional Development Workshops
There are many valuable workshops offered by the Instructional Technology Outreach program at the Los Angeles County Office of Education. These workshops look fantastic! Be sure to check out the week long Tech Academies for both beginners and proficient users. These are free to LAUSD educators, and can be taken for salary points during off-track times.

CUE Conference - March 4 - 6
Don't miss California's Computer Using Educator's Conference. This conference has something to offer everyone, from those just starting out using technology in the classroom to experts. Each year I attend, I find new things to learn and new ways to network. I hope to see you there!

Grants, ETC.
Money Monday Michael Leffin from LACOE shares many grant resources. This file contains some great resources for grant seeking.

Grant Wrangler - A place for educators to find classroom grants.

Flip Camera 2 for 1 Offer
Flip is offering 2 Ultra Video Cameras for the price of one through Digital Wish. 2 Flip Video Cameras for $150.

Cool Tools
iPhone/iPod Touch Apps

Dragon Dictation
This app allows you to record, and then converts the audio to text that can be emailed, posted on a blog, or sent via a text message. The possibilities with this tool for students are endless!

StoryKit
Create a story on the iPod Touch with audio, text, and images. Can be shared via email. A great productivity tool.

Cell Phone Tools for Learning

Dial2Do
This application allows you to call in reminders, emails, text messages and more. The service transcribes your audio into text, then emails or posts where it is set up to be shared. Truly an amazing tool that has many uses for the classroom.

iPadio
Record a podcast and publish it for all to hear. This can be done using any phone.

Cell Phones for Learning
Liz Kolb posts many ideas for using cell phones in the classroom. Her blog and weekly radio show are full of great ideas.

Web Resources

ScreenToaster - This free web application captures the computer screen and audio from a microphone to create quick tutorials. This app empowers students to become teachers of what they know. Videos can be shared in many different ways, and downloaded in several different formats.

Common Craft Videos
The folks at Common Craft have added many useful how-to videos to their site, including Web Search Strategies, Electing a US President, Podcasting - all in "Plain English", with very easy to understand explanations.
Below is the video on using Effective Search Strategies in Plain English

Many other great resources can be found at http://delicious.com/district6
Enjoy the holidays!

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

November 2009 PD Opportunities

2009-11-19T04:42:00.000-08:00

Day of Discovery - December 12, 2009
Free day of workshops and learning opportunities, from Discovery Education. Visit https://discoveryed.wufoo.com/forms/lausd-day-of-discovery/ to register and for more information.

K-12 Online Conference - Nov. 30 - December 17th
This year's conference, Bridging the Divide, brings together educators from around the world for a virtual online conference like no other! This is an outstanding opportunity to learn anytime, anywhere. There are many scheduled live events to complement the virtual workshops. Join the ning to participate online.

EdTech News for September 2009

2009-09-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the 2009 - 2010 school year. Looking forward to a fabulous year of learning with you!

Video of the Month

Want to learn more about Creative Commons? Visit http://creativecommons.org/videos/ and also Dr. Lawrence Lessig's video on copyright laws on Ted Talks.

Upcoming Meetings
This year, as in past years, we will be meeting on the 3rd Thursday of each month, beginning in October. Meetings are scheduled at the Local District 6 office, but if anyone would like to volunteer your school for our meeting, we would love to meet there.
I'd like to propose that each of us bring a tool or strategy to share at each of our meetings. The most powerful learning has always been from the sharing of ideas in our meetings.

The focus of our meetings will be how to support learning in our schools. We, as educational technology leaders, understand the why and the what of learning. We feel the urgency of getting collaborative tools into the hands of our learners. I think what we need to learn from one another is the HOW. How do we create interactive, collaborative learning environments in our schools, where everyone is a learner? From this question, we can formulate an essential question that can guide our learning for the year. I look forward to meeting with old friends and colleagues, and I hope we can encourage more of you to come and meet with us this year. Our meetings are informal, but powerful opportunities for sharing and learning.

Meetings
Time: 4:00 - 5:15 at (tentatively) Local District 6, 3rd Floor Conference Room
5800 S. Eastern, Commerce, CA
October 15, 2009
November 19, 2009
January 21, 2010
February 18, 2010
March 18, 2010
April 15, 2010
May 20, 2010

I hope can join us on October 15th!

Local District 6 News

Local District 6 Social Network
Our Local District now has a social network at http://district6.ning.com Please join and add to the conversation and learning there. Your input is highly valued. Together, we can build a community of educators online who can support each other as learners.

Local District 6 Website
Our Local District 6 Website went through a make-over during the summer. Please give your input on what more you would like to have access to on our website.

LAUSD District News and Events

Site Computer Inventory MEM-4170.2
All schools should complete the Site Computer inventory by October 1, 2009. For more information, please refer to the memo.
Note: The site used to update a school's inventory: http://site-computer-inventory.noc.lausd.net/, appears to work only within the firewall.

EdTech Profile
All staff at each school in our local distrit should update their EdTech profiles at http://edtechprofile.org If the principal at your school would like to designate someone to be the administrator for your school, please have him/her send me an email with that person's name. An administrator of the school's edtech profile information can send staff their login information and gather data from the survey.

LAUSD iTunes U
LAUSD is now online on iTunes University. (Please note: This link requires iTunes) If you have content you would like to contribute, please contact me.

EdTech at LAUSD
The LAUSD EdTech WebPage has useful content that is updated regularly.

School Websites
Many schools have requested information on how to update their school's website. There are several great resources available to address this:

iWeb Workshop
On Monday, October 5th, Dave Douglas, Apple Systems Engineer for LAUSD, will be offering a workshop at our Local District 6 Office from 3:45 to 5:45 on developing your school's website using Apple's iWeb software. For more information, download this flyer. This is an easy way for schools to easily update their web presence using free tools and LAUSD's web server.

School Loop
School Loop is offering free websites for all LAUSD schools. This is a fantastic opportunity to create an interactive website for your school. To find out more, please visit the website

Upcoming Conferences

21st Century Learners Symposium - Friday, October 23, 2009 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
LACOE's Instructional Technology Outreach offers this conference to all educators. The cost is $95 per person or $375.00 for a group of 6. For more information, download this flyer.

CUE Los Angeles Technology Fair - Saturday, November 14, 2009 8:30 - 3:30
Paradise Found at Mulholland Middle School. Registration and more information coming soon!
The keynote speaker this year is Ted Lai.

More upcoming conferences and information about them can be found on the Local District 6 EdTech Calendar, which can also be found on the right sidebar of this newsletter.

Geek of the Week (or month...)
Here are my picks. If you have any to share, please leave a comment below. Thanks.

BrainPop
Computers and the Internet
Brain Pop has been offering great content for years for a subscription price. Sometimes, they offer some of their content for free for a limited time.
For the month of September, they have a great section on computers and the internet. This page shows the free sections.
BrainPop ESL
BrainPop ESL is a new service designed specifically for English Language Learners. Since it's in beta, it's free to access. The content already there looks very useful.

Google for Educators
Google has developed a site specifically for educators, filled with online tutorials and lessons in varied curricular areas. It's a goldmine.

Digital Scantron Template by our very own YOUSSEF ELIAS!
Youssef Elias, iMAST coach for the past several years at South Gate Middle School, has developed a digital scantron template for Google Docs that allows you to create a quick quiz for your students and keep a running record of their scores. It's brilliant! Visit the site, download the template to Google Docs, and give his template a great rating! Enjoy!

Teaching Copyright
http://www.teachingcopyright.org/ by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a great place to find lessons and resources about teaching copyright. Teaching Copyright "was created to help teachers present the laws surrounding digital rights in a balanced way." The lessons reflect opportunities for authentic learning for students.

More great resources can be found daily at http://delicious.com/district6

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

April/May 2009 Ed Tech News

2009-05-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

Table of Contents

Meetings
District News
Events and Opportunities
Grants and Funding
Tech Gems

Local District 6 EdTech Leadership Meetings
Our final Local District 6 EdTech Leadership meeting will take place on Thursday, May 21st, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. at the Local District 6 Office, 3rd floor conference room.
We will discuss how social media impacts student learning and also discuss the format and content for future meetings. Thanks to all who have attended our meetings this year. Your participation is sincerely appreciated!
5800 S. Eastern
Commerce, Ca 90040

District News

Smartboard Training
via Angela Folendorf, Education Consultant for Smart Technologies - Southern California

On August 19th-21st, Santa Monica-Malibu USD is hosting Los Angeles' first ever SMART Content Creation Seminar. This free, three day event will focus on learning intermediate to advanced skills to build integrated, interactive lessons. The first day will be all about learning these techniques from the lesson design experts at SMART, and the second and third will be time to build lessons with colleagues. At the end we hope to have 100 lessons to share amongst everyone. Space is limited and we are opening this up to 100 teachers only. There is an application process and some prerequisites which are outlined in the - PDF. Meals and parking are provided.
Content Creation Seminar.pdf

Infotech
Infotech 2009, LAUSD's student led educational technology confererence, was a great success. It was wonderful to watch students teach others about their projects and teachers creating learning networks and making connections to learn from one another. I would like to extend my gratitude to all Local District 6 educators who came to participate and interact with students at this conference. I would especially like to thank the students and teachers who showcased their projects at the conference. You are amazing!

Montara Elementary School
Michelle Ngai - Listen to This!

Gage Middle School
Beth Billett - High Tech Statistics
David Billett - Full Scale Digital Video Production

SouthEast Middle School
Vanessa Kelterborn - Mutltimedia Interpretaion of Poems
South Gate Middle School
Marivenus Magbitang - An Informational Podcast
Silvio Vidal - If I Were President
Mike Albert - Web 2.0 in a History Class
Anne Gonzales - Algebra Readiness, Algebra, and Technology
Xiomara Benitez - Exploring Cell through Different Modalities
Kimberly Cole - My Own Whitman Poetry Reading
Violeta Llamas - Public Service Announcements
Tom Castle - The Use of Sketchup in Design
Tamara Moore - Why Should Califonia Leaders Save Me and My Peers a Spot in College?
Michelle Touceda - Imagining Dystopia: Responding to The Giver
Youssef Elias - IMaST Coach and Inspiration Giver

Maywood Academy High School
Walter Hamilton - Computer Network Adminstration and Design

Thanks to Paul Burns, our EdTech ITAF, for supporting our schools, teachers, and students in Local District 6 who participated in InfoTech.
I took many pictures and recorded lots of audio. I hope to have that published soon.

Events and Opportunities

Google Teacher Academy

On August 5, 2009, a Google Teacher Academy will be held at Boulder, Colorado. The Google Teacher Academy is a FREE professional development experience designed to help K-12 educators get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local region.

Apply now online by midnight, July 3, 2009 to be considered. To apply or find out more information, go to http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html

Instructional Technology Outreach
through the Los Angeles County Office of Education

The ITO at LACOE offers some outstanding professional development at a nominal fee.
Please visit their site to see the variety of rich content offered.
http://ito.lacoe.edu/workshops/

Grants and Funding
GrantWrangler is a very useful resource for finding available grants. Just put in your search terms and the site will return related grants sorted by due date. Here are a few when I put in the search term, "educational technology":

Samsung Techwin America, Application Deadline: June 15, 2009
...offering 50 Samsung 850DX document cameras to worthy applicants based on need.

The Gale Library/Media Connection TEAMS Award, Application Deadline: June 15, 2009
Three winners will receive: $2,500 (U.S.) cash award; Gale products (approximate value $500 U.S.); a one-year subscription to Library Media Connection; and Educator's Professional Bookshelf (approximate value $500 U.S.) from Linworth Publishing.
They will be looking for evidence of:

Collaboration between media specialists and teachers during the 2007/08 school year
Effective techniques that positively impact student learning and achievement
Support received from school leadership
Ability for others to replicate this best practice

Sol Hirsh Education Grants for Meteorology - Deadline, June 15, 2009
The National Weather Association sponsors the Sol Hirsch Education Fund, which offers $500 to K-12 teachers to help improve the education of their students in meteorology. Selected teachers will be able to use the funds to take an accredited course in atmospheric sciences, attend a relevant workshop or conference, or purchase scientific materials or equipment for the classroom.

Tech Gems

New Ways to Search Using Google
Google just released new options for using search in Google. After you search for information, click the Show Options link to find new ways to view your results.

You can now search by time parameters, separate your searches by forums, reviews, or videos, and view search results by looking at a graphic representation on a Wonder Wheel (my favorite), or a timeline. Find more information on the Google Blog.

ExpeditionLitTrips
Educator Thomas Cooper has started a site similar to Google LitTrips, where students use literature about expeditions to create learning projects using Google Earth and other tools. Listen to his recent podcast interview on the Seedlings show to learn more about this and other projects he offers for his students.
Mr. Cooper shares directions and templates to help others get started with similar projects. It's so very exciting that other educators offer support to others to help them get started with such engaging, authentic projects.

Tricking out CoolIris as a Presentation Tool
(above linked post by Alan Levine)
There's been a lot of buzz lately about the Firefox plug-in, Cool Iris, which shows any collection of images, whether it be on the internet or on your desktop as a gallery presentation.Even more cool is that it has the ability to play video as well as display web pages. In order to really appreciate what some educators have done with this tool, download and install the plugin before clicking on the links below.
Alan Levine, Vice President and CTO of The New Media Consortium realized that the Cool Iris plug-in would be an excellent presentation tool that could acheive Presentation Zen. His presenation. The More Things Change, uses Cool Iris as the presentation platform. The presenation is not only visually stunning and information rich, but the post contains a link to helpful tips on how to set up this type of presenation.
Other presenations that are using Cool Iris:
Dean Shareski's 10 Disrutions That Could Transform Your Classroom
Alan Levine's encore presenation: 50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story

All of these presentations are outstanding. What a great tool for classroom use!

Google Earth and Map-a-List
A few months ago, I set out to map all the schools in Local District 6 on Google Earth.
Not wanting to enter all the data one school at a time into Google Earth, I first used Spreadsheet Mapper to create the map, but I found that sometimes the data wouldn't load from the spreadsheet into Google Earth.
I heard that Map-a-List would import data from Google Spreadsheets and export data as a .kml Google Earth/Google Map file. I imported my Excel spreadsheet with school names, addresses, and phone numbers into Google Docs, linked it to Map-a-List, and voila, I instantly had a Google Earth file that I could download. I put in a few links to LAUSD's school pages and some pictures and changed the map pins a little. Here's the Google Earth of all the schools in Local District 6. Please share with all who might find this useful. You can also view the file in Google Maps, but you lose the ability to zoom in on schools, and the schools are not separated according to level.

Around the same time I was creating this file, I listened to the most recent Tech Chick Tips podcast, where Anna (one of the show hosts) shared an experience using Map-A-List with Google Forms with her daughter. Her daughter created a survey to gather data for a map. Anna used the power of Twitter to ask for input on the form. Before too long, over 200 people from around the world had taken the survey. Since the form creates a spreadsheet, it was very easy to input that data to Map-A-List, which then generated a Google Earth map! Imagine using this type of tool with our students! Wow!

I look forward to working with you all in the future.
Janice

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

EdTech News for March 2009

2009-03-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
Here is the Local District 6 EdTech News for March 2009.

Opportunities

Infotech 2009!
Please have your students participate in this outstanding opportunity!
via John Lendhardt, EdTech ITAF

There is still time to register for InfoTech 2009!

You are invited to the 13th annual InfoTech. The theme this year is “Expanding Student Learning.” InfoTech 2009 will take place Saturday, April 25, 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

LAUSD’s Educational Technology is once again partnering with the Parent Collaborative’s Parent Summit and the entire school community is invited to both events! InfoTech 2009 will consist of student showcases and displays from a variety of technology providers.

Teachers throughout LAUSD are expanding student learning through the innovative use of instructional technology. Across subject areas and grade levels, teachers are engaging students with video conferencing, podcasting, interactive white boards, student response devices, computer animation, Web-based applications, and collaborative tools.

Don't miss this opportunity to see over 90 showcases where teachers and students share their innovative use of technology to expand learning.

Teachers interested in participating in the Student Showcase can register online.

For more information and to register, visit: http://infotech.lausd.net

For more information on the Parent Summit, visit http://parentsummit.lausd.net

Acer K-12 Seed Unit Program
Try out a Acer Aspire 1 for 30 days then return it or purchase it at a special reduced price. This might be a good way to test drive the potential of netbooks for our classrooms.

Digital Voice Awards - Entry Deadline - March 31st
Do you have some great multimedia student projects? Enter them into LACOE's Digital Voice Awards. Submit your project to showcase your student work. Entry submission deadline is March 31st.

Tech Gems

Quizlet
An application for creating flashcards, created by MIT student Andrew Sutherland, when he was 15 years old. It's a fantastic studying tool that has collaborative features that make it engaging and powerful. To find out more about this great tool for students, listen to the recent interview with Andrew Sutherland on the Seedlings show #55. It's a great insight into a young man who used his creativity and imagination to create a tool that is used by thousands. This is a great tool and podcast to share with your students.

Conversations.net
This tool is a collection of custom Google Searches for social networks, wikis, social bookmarks, books, and many other web 2.0 tools. This would be a great way to do targeted searches for information.

Into the Book Grades K-4
via Bob Sprankle on his recent HotChalk article:

Developed by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and experienced educators, "Into the Book" centers on the eight research-based strategies for reading comprehension: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating, and Synthesizing.

This looks like a good tool for K-4 students. Before you try it out, read Bob's article at HotChalk that clearly explains how the site works.

Note This in Google Reader
A new tool integrated in Google Reader lets you share just about any item on a webpage by using the new Notes feature. Drag the "Note This" bookmarklet to your browser toolbar and use it to collect and annotate webpages. This collection can then be shared in various ways. To learn more, visit Cheryl Davis's Learning Almanac section entitled, "Note This!".

SlideShare.net
Share your presentations online and even add audio and (YouTube) video. Uploaded presentations can then be embedded in websites, blogs, wikis, or shared via web address.
My recent submission on SocialBookmarks was recently featured on the Education section of Slideshare.

From the TechChick Tips Episode 51 Podcast:

Sc ience Buddies
Students fill out a questionnaire on their interests and focus and this site returns science fair projects suggestions. This is a great way to have students generate ideas for creating projects tailored to their needs and interests. It has useful sections for teachers and for parents also.

Internet ClipBoard http://cl1p.net/
Have you ever just wanted to quickly share a set of files, urls, and pictures with your students? This tool, which requires no log in, allows you to quickly set up a page of resources to share. This could be very useful!

DoGoNews http://www.dogonews.com/
This website, geared for younger readers, has articles of interest for K-5 students. It includes categories in each tabbed section: News, Sites, and Earth, with different ways to read and interact with news. The site encourages submissions from students as well.

These are just a few of the amazing finds from The Tech Chicks, Ana and Helen. Check out their podcast and website for more great resources.

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

February 2009 EdTech News - Updated 2.19.09

2009-02-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

Here is the latest scoop in the EdTech world at Local District 6.

Table of Contents

LD6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings
News and Events
Professional Development
Technology Gems

LD6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings
Thanks to all who attended our January EdTech meeting. We set up professional learning blogs on Blogger and talked about how we could use them in the classroom.
This Thursday, Feb. 19th, we will work on setting up classroom blogs for students, using 21Classes. This online blogging portal seems to be the best overall choice for classroom blogs, K-12. If you won't be able to attend the meeting, there's a great tutorial available for creating a 21classes account published by the Intel Teach Program that you can read or print for reference.
Tutorial for 21Classes.com
Also, below is a great video I found online that shows how to set up student accounts:

We'll also talk about news and upcoming events. Also, if you are coming to the meeting, please bring one cool tool to share with all of us. Please join us from 4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. at Local District 6
3rd floor conference room
5800 S. Eastern
Commerce, CA

Delicious pizza, soda, and candy will be served to give you that extra kick you need after teaching all day...

Upcoming Meetings (3rd Thurday of the month):
Feb. 19th, March 19th, April 16th, May 21st

News and Events
Conferences

Ed21 unConference - Feb. 21st, 2009 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
This Saturday, join us for a discussion on change in our schools. We want to begin to answer the question, "What does it mean to be well educated?" For more details, see my recent blog post. You can join us face to face or online at http://edtechtalk.com/live (starting at 8:30 a.m.).

CUE Conference - March 5-7 Palm Springs, CA
One of the finest edtech conferences in the nation will take place in several weeks in beautiful Palm Springs, CA. If you are going to attend, please come say hi at the CUELA reception on Friday night. Maybe we can all get together and share our experiences before we go back home.
EdubloggerCon
If you can afford one more day in Palm Springs, on Wednesday, March 4th, the EdubloggerCon will be happening. I might be driving down and back for this event, so if someone would like to join me, please let me know. This event is a great way to network with other passionate educators as we learn together how to best engage our students.

Infotech 2009 - Saturday, April 25th - LA Convention Center - 9:00 a.m. - 12: 00 p.m.
This year, LAUSD's student led conference will showcase student work from across the district. We hope you will consider bringing your students to showcase the wonderful projects they are doing in your classrooms that use technology as a tool for learning. This is a great way for all teachers to learn from one another by visiting with classrooms who are sharing their learning. Please register you and your students on the website.

News

K-12 Vouchers
All LD6 schools turned in their K-12 Voucher request before the January 31st deadline. That means that all schools will be in Phase 1 of the delivery from AeryJones, beginning soon. Please have areas where equipment is to be set up prepared. AeryJone will deliver equipment, set it up, and dispose of all packing materials.
If schools want to take advantage of the great packages available through the voucher program, those packages will still be available for a short time for purchase through school funds. Download descriptions and spreadsheet forms from http://edtech.lausd.net/voucher

For Secondary Students:
UCLA Engineering Science Corp Outreach Program is offering several great opportunities for secondary students.

Free Online Tutoring for Math and Science
Enroll for free by registering on the website for free online help with Math and Science.
High School Summer Research Program
This program is now accepting applications for Summer 2009. Students accepted into the program receive a cash stipend.

TakeTwo Video
From their website:

How to Turn a Teenager Into a Global Citizen

Provide professionally shot conflict-zone footage free of charge to high school and college students in the USA and across the globe.

Support them in creating documentaries, shorts, and Public Service Announcements - encouraging them to understand and empathize with their subjects.

Encourage them to take their projects on the road –acquiring valuable leadership skills while educating a broader public on issues of global significance.
Participating schools will complete one small task to help grow Take 2’s infrastructure and undertake at least one advocacy event upon completion of their projects.

This is a fantastic opportunity to help our students make a difference in the world.

Contests
World Math Day - March 4th
Students - ages 5 -18- can register for online math questions and fun - competing against students from around the world. Each game lasts 60 seconds, and students can play as many games as they want. This is great opportunity for students to have fun with math. Register soon for this great event.
World Math Day Video Contest Deadline via TeacherTube for Submission Feb. 20th
Students film themselves preparing for the Math Day Contest and submit it for voting. This contest is almost over, but it might be great to look at videos to get an idea of how to approach this next year!
Doodle4Google Art Contest - Registration Deadline - March 17
Again this year, K-12 students are invited to submit their designs for the Google Home Page Logo with the theme of "What I Wish for the World". Check the Prizes page for details on what students and schools recieve for winning entries. The Grand Prize winner has their entry appear as the Google HomePage logo for an entire day.
This is a fun, authentic project for students.

Professional Development

LACOE, in partnership with LAUSD, is offering 3 levels of CTAP Technology Academies for educators; Level 1 (Beginning), Level 2 (Intermediate), and iTELL (Integrating for English Language Learners).
Participants must be full-time LAUSD teachers or administrators and must be off-track (or on vacation) in order to attend.. There will be no provision for allowing attendees who are currently on-track or working regular time. Participants will receive free registration, course materials, a flash drive and $400.00 compensation upon completion of the Academy. Level 2 Academy participants are eligible to receive 2 salary points. For more information, dates, and locations of the academies, please visit http://ito.lacoe.edu/workshops/
The LACOE/CTAP website also has listing for other classes they offer on using technology as a tool in the classroom.

Ed Tech Workshops – Earn More Salary Credit
LAUSD Certificated Staff seeking further opportunities to earn salary credit as they learn more about ways to engage students using technology can request courses from Ed Tech Workshops at http://www.edtechworkshops.com/ in order to accomplish that goal. Alternatively, teachers can contact David Boin at (818) 785-0164 or david.boin @ edtechworkshops.com.

Tech Gems

That'sNotCool.com
A great site geared for middle school students that will appeal to older and younger students alike about how to deal with online harrassment - especially texting and chatting. Cute sock puppets explore problems like text harrassment, pic pressure, rumors, and when friends need help. I love the Callout Cards that can be printed or posted as gentle reminders to offenders of text and chat good behavior.

Cassopedia
High definition quality videos on science topics. Great resource for free.

Vocaroo
This awesome website allows you to record and then embed audio recordings on the web. You can also share a link to the audio recording. You can do all this without registering, just by simply visiting the website. Teachers are using this in many creative ways to share audio of students with parents and a larger audience. Here's a sample:

Printable Checklist
Sometimes, you just need a quick and easy way to create and print a checklist. This is it!

EdTechTalk
One of my favorite sources of online content is the EdTechTalk Channel of the World Bridges Network. Educators webcast on different nights of the week on different programs. I usually don't have time to participate live, but I subscribe to the podcast and listen on my commute. If you have time to participate live, it's quite an experience. Check their calendar and join in!
A few of my favorite shows include:
It's Elementary - All about using edtech in the elementary classroom. The show's cohost, Mr. Jose Rodriguez, teaches at Humphreys Elementary School in LAUSD
Women of Web 2.0 - This show has wonderful guests and rich conversation every two weeks.
EdTech Weekly - The co-hosts on this show share cool tools and news for the week.

I hope to see you at this week's meeting!

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

January 2009 EdTech News

2009-01-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Local District 6 Educational Technology Newsletter, January 2009 Edition

Happy New Year! With all the budget cuts, it's nice to know that educational technology affords us a way to utilize free and inexpensive tools to engage our students in meaningful, authentic learning opportunities. I encourage you to think of our situation as a challenge and an opportunity to creatively investigate new ways to offer these learning opportunities for our students. Yes, we can!

Table of Contents

Local District 6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings
K-12 Voucher Information
Inauguration Day

1. Local District 6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings
Our upcoming meeting is Thursday, January 15th, 4:00-5:15 p.m. at the Local District 6 Office, 3rd Floor Conference Room.

Agenda:

K-12 Voucher Program

Blogging as an Educator

Besides discussing the K-12 Voucher program, we will work together to set up a professional blog and to connect with other blogging educators. We will discuss ways that educators can use blogs and see examples. For those that will not be able to attend, but would like to learn about and set up their own blog, there is a great introduction to educational blogging at Martha Thornburg's Web 2.0 Wednesday Challenge site.

For more information on upcoming LD6 EdTech Leadership cadre meetings, check here.

This is a voluntary meeting to which all are invited. We have a great time learning together!

2. K12 Voucher Information - Deadline - January 31, 2009
The K-12 Vouchers are now available for schools to use for technology related equipment. (Yeah!) The website with information for all schools is http://edtech.lausd.net/voucher .

The site contains information on the voucher process, information on packages that can be purchased, and a planning spreadsheet that can be used to calculate quantities. Only the principal can log-in to the actual voucher selection order form, which can be used for also finding the total amount of budgeted allotment.

When the principal selects the submit button on the order form, the selection process is finalized. It can not be edited at a later date, so carefully plan the selections before the principal enters them on the form. The deadline for submitting the form is January 31st, so please make this a priority task!

3. Inauguration Day - January 20th, 2009
One of the days that will mark a significant historical event is the Presidential Inauguration that will take place on January 20th, 2009. Many have asked for guidelines for viewing this. Below are some suggestions and resources for this important day.

Suggestions for Viewing, via Dr. Themy Sparangis, LAUSD's Chief Technology Director

Watch the inauguration in groups. Try to assemble students in large common areas such as a cafeteria, library, auditorium, gym, or multi-purpose room and project the broadcast onto a large screen or provide multiple viewing locations in one large room.
Whenever possible use a television or VCR that receives over the air broadcast channels. If the TV or VCR is not connected to a roof-top antenna a set of rabbit ear antenna should work. Test the location of the TV or VCR to assure reception. Some TVs and most VCRs, have an "audio/video out" connection and can be used with an LCD projector to project onto a large screen.
Some schools have cable or satellite service. If so, use that service whenever possible.
If schools want to observe the inauguration over the Internet through any one of the media streaming sites, then they should view them in large groups. It is not recommended to have individual students or employees watch the event online. This will cause an increase in network usage that would exceed the available bandwidth and could cause the stream to be interrupted for all users, spoiling the experience for all. Consider grouping students together (as noted above) or in larger classroom and have the teacher project the inauguration for multiple people to view.

The following should help you if you plan to use the streaming over the
Internet option:

Small schools and elementary schools should consider no more than 10 computers to simultaneously watch the inauguration online.
Middle schools should consider no more than 20 computers to simultaneously watch the inauguration online.
High schools should consider no more than 40 computers to simultaneously watch the inauguration online.

Online Viewing Resources
With the above considerations in mind, here are some resources for online viewing:

Inauguration Day 2009 - This site has a list of sites to view the stream live, as well as suggestions for listening on the radio and on tv.

Some additional streaming sites not mentioned on the above resource

Using My Right Hand - a live stream
LBP Don't Miss a Moment - live stream (has central times listed)

Online Educational Resources

NYC Department of Education has put together an 18 page resource on classroom activities for learning about the Inauguration. It's divided into elementary, middle, and high school resources. via The Innovative Educator blog.

via Samantha Mora (a colleague through Google Teacher Academy - Thanks, Samantha!)

LAUSDnet Kids has some great Inauguration Day educations resources. (Thanks, Diana!)

Kevin Jarrett shares his school's Inaugural Day resources, filled with many great teaching and learning resources.

If you have some more resources to share, please leave them in the comment section below.

More information on grants, funding, and tech gems will follow. I hope to see you at our meeting tomorrow!

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

December 2008 EdTech News

2008-12-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the December edition of the Local District 6 Educational Technology Newsletter!

My Favorite New Video:

The Networked Student, by Wendy Drexler, was inspired by CCK08, a Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course offered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes during Fall 2008. It depicts an actual project done by her high school students.
Are we preparing our students for the networked world of learning? Please offer your comments below in the comment section.

Table of Contents
Local District 6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings
District News
Professional Development
Awards and Competition
Grants and Funding
Technology Gems

Upcoming Local District 6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings
Come join us as we learn together how to use technology tools to communicate, collaborate and create with educators and students both locally and globally in a networked environment.
All meetings will be held at the Local District 6 office, 3rd floor conference room, from 4 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. on the third Thurday of the month.
Local District 6
5800 S. Eastern
Commerce, CA 90040

January 15th, 2009 - Blogging as an Educator
February 19th, 2009 - Blogging for Students
March 19th, 2009 - LAUSD EdTech Services/ Social Networks
April 16th, 2009 - Wikis in the Classroom
May 21st, 2009 - New Media Literacies

If anyone would like to share their learning in these meetings, please let me know. The more we share, the more we learn together.
(Back to Table of Contents)

District/County News

Apple Contract
The Apple contract has now been approved. Schools can purchase Apple products by visiting http://lausd.apple.com/

Microsoft Settlement K-12 Voucher Program
Most all schools will have the opportunity to benefit from the Microsoft Settlement through an equipment refresh program. Vouchers will be in the amount of approximately $22 - $23 per student, based on their ADA. Schools will be able to purchase laptop, desktop, smartboard, and LCD packages. The refresh process will begin at the beginning of the new year and it is hoped that all equipment will be in schools by June 2009. More details on this program will follow.

Infotech
LAUSD's Infotech Student Showcase will be on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 Students and teachers should be thinking about the projects they will be showcasing at this wonderful, student centered event. Mark your calendars and let the fun begin. Students at this year's showcase will have the opportunity to apply to present at the 2010 CUE Conference Student Technology Showcase.

(Back to Table of Contents)

Professional Development

Online Learning

Paul Burns will be offering a series of 2 hour courses on Mondays on services that LAUSD offers for students and educators. Registration for these courses will be available through LAUSD's Learning Zone after the first week in January. Announcement will be made when these are available online.

LACOE
The Los Angeles County Office of Education has a good selection of courses available on using technology as a tool in the classroom.

Tech Academies, both Level 1 and Level 2, are week long courses designed to immerse the learner in 21st century literacy skills that can be used in the classroom. LAUSD employees can take these course during off track time and recieve $400 compensation upon completion of the academy.
Instructional Technology Outreach courses are offered at various locations around the Los Angeles area.

CUE
The annual Computer Using Educators conference, one of the finest educational technology conferences in the nation, will take place this year in Palm Springs March 5 - 7. This is a wonderful way to learn and network with educators from around the state and beyond. Dr. Robert Marzano will be the Keynote Speaker.

ADE (Apple Distinguished Educators) 2009
The application window is now open for applying to become an Apple Distinguished Educator. This is a wonderful opportunity to work with an amazing community of educators dedicated to creating the conditions where 21st century literacies are a priority. Deadlines for application is January 31st, 2009
(Back to Table of Contents)

Awards and Competition

Microsoft Web Design Curriculum, Software, and Publishing Contest
Microsoft is offering free web design software (a site license to Microsoft Expression) and a free semester-long curriculum to all interested high schools who will participate in the pilot curriculum which will culminate in a web design project. The project will begin in January, with the contest finalists being announced at this year's LAUSD Infotech on May 2nd, 2009 The contest will look similar to this website, although the details of the contest dates will be different. More details will be provided as soon as they are available. If you are interested, please let me know.

KLCS Video in the Classroom Awards Competition
Eligibility: all classroom generated video from Grades PreK - 12 and Adult School, produced after March 14th, 2008
Deadline: February 17th, 2009 5:00 p.m
Recomended length of video: 15 minutes or less
Flyer with more information and Application download

(Back to Table of Contents)

Grants and Funding

Intel Schools of Distinction
from the website:

Intel honors U.S. schools that have demonstrated excellence in math and science education as Intel Schools of Distinction. Eighteen schools – three elementary, three middle and three high schools in each of two categories – math and science – will be selected as Finalists, receiving a cash grant for $2,500 from the Intel Foundation. Six winners - one elementary, one middle and one high school in each of the two categories receive $10,000 cash grants and more than $100,000 in products and services from sponsors.

Grant Application Deadline: February 17, 2009 5:00 p.m. PST
For more information and access to the online application, please visit the website.

Toyota Tapestry Grant
from the website

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and the National Science Teachers Association are pleased to announce the 19th Toyota TAPESTRY Grants for Science Teachers program. This year, 50 large grants of up to $10,000 each and 20-32 mini-grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded to K-12 teachers of science in the United States. The categories are Physical Science Application, Environmental Science Education, and Integrating Literacy and Science.

Grant Application Deadline: January 21, 2009 11:59 EST
For more information, please visit the website.

Toshiba/NSTA Exploravision Awards
From the Website:

ExploraVision encourages K-12 students of all interest, skill and ability levels to create and explore a vision of future technology by combining their imaginations with the tools of science. ...
ExploraVision prizes include:

First Prize (4 teams): U.S. EE Savings Bond worth $10,000 at maturity for each student.
Second Prize (4 teams): U.S. EE Savings Bond worth $5,000 at maturity for each student.
Regional Prize (24 teams): A Toshiba notebook computer for each regional winning school, and a special gift for each student, teacher and mentor.
Honorable Mention Recognition

For more information about this opportunity, please visit the website. There will be a special online web seminar on January 14th, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. that will help applicants avoid disqualification. Details are on the website.
Application Deadline: January 28, 2009

More Grants and Funding information can be found at:
E-School News - Grants and Funding - free registration required
Grant Wrangler - My new favorite tool for finding grants.

(Back to Table of Contents)

Tech Gems

Free Rice
This website donate 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program for each question answered correctly to help end world hunger. There are many categories to choose from, including science, math, and art. This is a nice opportunity for students to participate in a noble cause.
Windows Live Skydrive - 25 GB Free Online Storage!
Windows Live seems like the best kept secret (at least to me) around. This free, online storage space not only offers the space, but the ability to organize in folders, and much more. Check it out!

Drawing/Painting Programs - Several free programs I know you'll enjoy:
SumoPaint - Create and edit images with professional quality tools online. No registration required.
SplashUp - Free, online image editor with easy, yet professional tools.
Paintbrush - If you have a Mac, you'll love Paintbrush. This is a desktop application that looks much like the old KidPix, without all the bells and whistles. If you need just a simple drawing tool, you'll be very happy with this application.
Kerpoof - For younger students, this online application is a must. Not only can you draw and paint, but it has a storytelling application as well.

Edublogs.tv
Edublogs.tv allows you to take the url of a YouTube movie and upload it quickly to Edublogs.tv, where it can be watched or shared with others. The movies transfer in only a few minutes, and this is a great advantage if you don't want to download and store YouTube videos locally. It's great for uploading and sharing other videos as well. I've found that the embed feature is not liked by some applications. Hopefully, they are working on that.
Real World Math using Google Earth
This site is full of authentic math lessons and projects that help students use conceptual understanding as it applies to real world math problems.

(Back to Table of Contents)

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

Paul Burns
ITAF, Instructional Technology Branch, in support of Local District 6
E-mail: paulburns (at) lausd.net

EdTech Cadre Meeting - November 20, 2008

2008-11-20T11:26:00.000-08:00

Hello All,
Here are the resources for the Local District 6 EdTech Cadre Meeting, taking place on November 20th, 2008 at 4:00 p.m.

Below this post, you will find a UStream feed and live chat space for those who will be attending virtually. It's not certain whether these tools will work, but we will give them a try....

Introductions and Information: 4:00 to 4:20

Welcome to the educators from the technology committee at Gage Middle School, who will be joining us virtually via video-conference.

Grants and Funding:
CUELA Innovative Technology Mini Grant

Qualification: Current CUELA Member

Award Amount: $250-$1000 + CUE 2009 Conference Registration in Palm Springs

Application Deadline: Friday, February 5, 2009

Riordan Foundation Grants
Deadline: November 30th, 2008

Town Hall Meeting on Microsoft Settlement
Thursday, Nov. 20th, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. at Reed Middle School

Free Trial
NetTrekker - Please contact me for a free trial of Nettrekker

Professional Development

Smartboard Salary Point Class
Independence EL - 11/24, 12/1, 12/8. 1/12 15 hours total - 1 salary point
Register on Learning Zone under Local District 6 Professional Development Program

Online Learning in the Classroom
Eluminate Sessions (Virtual meeting) - 12/8 or 12/15 3:30 - 4:15 Register on Learning Zone under Local District 6 Professional Development Program starting Tuesday, Nov. 24

Infotech Is Coming!
May 2, 2009 Los Angeles Convention Center. Start planning to showcase student work now!

Hands-On Workshop - 4:20 to 5:00
VoiceThread Workshop
http://lavoicethread.wikispaces.com

My Presentation

Voice Thread in the Classroom

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: voicethread)

Discussion and Networking - 5:00 - 5:15

Live audio only stream today (due to bandwidth issues), courtesy of Ustream.tv

Video clips at Ustream

Live online chat, courtesy of Coveritlive

I hope you can join us for great learning with a group of passionate educators.

LD6 Educational Technology News for October 2008

2008-09-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all Educational Technology Leaders,
The October issue of Local District 6's EdTech Newsletter has finally arrived! I hope your new year is going smoothly and you're full of energy and ideas for engaging your students in a new year of learning.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Upcoming Local District 6 Educational Technology Leadership Cadre Meeting for 2008-2009
District News
Professional Development
Grants and Funding
Technology Gems

LD6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings for 2008-2009
All meetings will be held on the third Thursday of the month from 4:00 - 5:15 at the Local District 6 Office (unless someone would like to volunteer their school to host our meeting)

Local District 6 3rd Floor Conference Room
5800 S. Eastern
Commerce, CA 90040

Our first meeting of the month will be Thursday, October 16th.
When: 4-5:15
Where: Local District 6 Office - 3rd Floor Conference Room
5800 S. Eastern, Commerce, 90040

At our first meeting, we'll brainstorm some ideas about upcoming meetings. We'll also share some of the latest news. Please bring an edtech tip, application, or activity to share with all of us. We can have a cool tools and tech tips for the classroom session. Your input is appreciated. Additionally, we'll join in briefly to the fireside chat with Professor Stephen Heppell from the Pre Conference Keynote of the K12 Online Conference. (See details below.)

Upcoming meetings will be Nov. 20th, Jan. 15th, Feb. 19th, March 19th, April 16th, and May 21st. I look forward to an exciting year!

District News and Announcements

EdTech Profile - from Joe Oliver

All LAUSD certificated staff are reminded that the 2008-2009 window for mandatory annual completion of the EdTech Profile ( formerly CTAP2 ) survey closes on October 31, 2008 at 5:00 PM. This survey is completed individually, online and takes approximately 30 minutes. The survey can be completed in a single session or over multiple sessions. Aggregate information from this survey is used to tailor professional development offerings and to study the impact of various grants and initiatives.

Introducing the Dell E-Series of LAUSD Computers, by Arey Jones - Lunch and Learn - November 6th, 1:30 p.m. at South East High School
Join Tiffany Stone from Arey Jones to test LAUSD Dell models in person. Lunch is provided, as well as a chance to win a free Dell Printer. Please RSVP to Tiffany Stone by Monday, Nov. 3rd. Download the flyer for more information.

Professional Development
K12 Online Conference 2008 - Amplifying the Possibilities -
October 20 - October 31
Absolutely the best conference to learn and network with others who are learning about the possibilities of using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. During the two week span of the conference, there will be 40 presentations available in 4 different strands, released throughout the two weeks. The strands are Getting Started, Prove It (research to back up the use of technology in the classroom), Kicking It Up a Notch, and Leadership. There will be live events with the presenters, as well as the culminating 24 hour "When Night Falls", where educators get together from around the world to reflect on their learning. The schedule will have links to each presentation. The podcast channel and rss feeds will allow you to subscribe to the content. Join the fun and learn with global colleagues, anytime - anywhere. There's a guide for first time attendees that's very useful. Please download and print the flyer to share with colleagues.

21st Century Learners Symposium - October 24th - California State University, Los Angeles
California Technology Assistance Project (Region 11) at Los Angeles County of Education, will host their second conference on 21st Century learning. Keynote speakers are Marc Prensky and David Thornburg The deadline for registration for this conference is Friday, October 17th at 5:00 p.m.

CUELA Conference - November 15th, 2008 - Virgil Middle School
This fantastic day of learning will feature great workshops on using tools like Google Earth, Podcasting, Blogging, Digital Storytelling, and so much more. The Keynote Speaker is Robert Craven, Educational Technology Coordinator for the Orange County Department of Education. Robert was formerly the technology coordinator at South Gate Middle School! How wonderful this conference is going to be! For more information and to register, visit http://www.cuelosangeles.org/techfair.php

Grants and Funding
I recently wrote a post on my personal learning blog about Grants and Funding. I hope you will find the information there useful.

Technology Gems

K12 Online Conference
Foremost on my list of gems this month is the upcoming K-12 Online Conference. The learning that can take place there is incredibly valuable, and is a model of 21st century learning - anytime, any place, any pace (Thanks to Liz Kolb for that last part - "any pace"). Please view some of the sessions as they appear, and participate in the live events. It's a free, rich experience that's a wonderful learning opportutnity.
You can now listen to the Pre-Conference Keynote by Professor Stephen Heppel (especially the last 20 minutes!), join him for a fireside chat at 4 p.m. via Elluminate (web conference) on Thursday, Oct. 16th, and scroll to the bottom of the pre-conferernce session page to add to the VoiceThread your reflections on the three essential questions he poses. This is just the start to a wonderful 2 weeks of sustained learning!

Bit by Bit Seedlings Podcast with Liz Kolb
In this podcast, Seedlings show hosts Alice Barr, Cheryl Oakes, and Bob Sprankle have an engaging conversation with Liz Kolb, who did one of the outstanding presentations from last year's K12 Online Conference on using cell phones in the classroom, called Cell Phones as Classroom Learning Tools. This interview is an update on all the new ways that cell phones can be used as learning tools. Liz's philosophy is that we should be using what students have in their pockets as learning tools in the classroom. How many of our schools ban the use of these powerful technologies? This is well worth a listen! Also check out the links in the show notes. You'll be amazed!

StoryTelling Resources Online by Mathew Needleman
Mathew Needleman, an LAUSD literacy coach, Apple Distinguished Educator, and Educational Technology Leader, offers a rich collection of online resources on storytelling in a recent blog post. There are so many ways to engage our students with these resoruces. One of my favorites from this list is BookPals Storyline Online, where members of the Screen Actors Guild read favorite books via streaming video.
Mathew's blog, Creating LifeLong Learners, is a must read for all educators. He has great suggestions for Open Court, digital storytelling, and much more.

Election 2008 Resources
Get your students involved in learning about the U.S. election process. There are many web resources that engage students in many authentic activities to learn about our national election.

I'm looking forward to a great year of learning with all of you!

EdTech Video Conference - August 21st, 2008

2008-08-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

The following message was sent to me by Paul Burns, EdTech ITAF, District 6 liason, about the upcoming video conference on August 21st at Nimitz Middle School on Thursday, August 21st. I hope you can join us.
********************
To All,

I hope all is well with you and you are enjoying any time off you can fit into your schedule.

I wanted to keep everyone in the loop on the series of VTCs the Ed Tech Group will be hosting this year throughout the District. The first one is scheduled for Thursday, August 21st from 3-5 PM in the library at Nimitz MS. Below you will find links to the Ed Tech Reference Guide as well as the flyer for the event.

The email below was sent to all Local District Superintendents.

Please contact any one you feel may benefit from this VTC on the applications that the Ed Tech Group will be supporting and how schools and teachers can take advantage of these applications. With the District's push to move more of our operations to the local district offices, administrators and teachers will need to be aware of the new way our office will be handling requests for video conferencing, face to face professional development, Moodle shells and other on line learning opportunities.

If you know of someone who you think would benefit from this conference, please share this information with them.

We will be hosting other video conferences in the near future on a variety of topics. If you have a location that would like to host one of these, please let me know.

Thank you for your continued support,

Paul Burns
Ed Tech ITAF
Local District 6 Liaison

EdTech Reference Guide
Event Flyer:

EdTech Group VideoConference - Upload a Document to Scribd

Summer Learning

2008-08-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

For those of you on summer break, I hope you are enjoying a well deserved break, refreshed and ready to face another exciting year. For those of you already in the classroom, I hope your year has started well.
I wanted to share some of the wonderful learning opportunities available for your listening and reading pleasure this summer. Grab your iPod (or other .mp3 player) and enjoy!

Free AudioBook Download - The World is Flat

clipped from www.thomaslfriedman.com

Get it while you can! From now until August 4th, you can download a free audio copy of The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. The New York Times columnist is offering this free download of his bestseller book in preparation of debuting his new book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Building Learning Communities Podcasts
In mid July, the Building Learning Communities Conference, hosted by Alan November's group, took place in Massachusetts. This is a small, very intense conference focused on student learning, using technology as a tool. Bob Sprankle, an educator from Maine, has taken the time to record and publish the very best from that conference at his blog and Podcast site, Bit by Bit.
Included in the collection is his very own BLC presentation, Podcasting with Purpose, and the following:
Podcast 67 - Ewan McIntosh's Keynote "Not All Native Wit: From Creativity to Ingenuity"
Podcast 68 - Alan November - "Teaching Zack Webliteracy"
Podcast 69 - John Davitt - "Setting Learning Free - The Difference Engine Runs Again"
Podcast 70 - Joyce Valenza - "Web 2.0 Meets Information Fluency: Designing Projects for 21st Century Learners"
Podcast 71 - Dr. Pedro Noguera's Keynote - "Changing the Culture of Schools: Creating Conditions that Promote Student Achievement"
Podcast 72 - Darren Kuropatwa and Clarence Fischer - "Everything New is Old Again"
Podcast 73 - Follow up to Ewan McIntosh's Keynote
Seedling Podcast #33 - Reflections on BLC

All of these sessions are quality learning opportunities. Thanks to Bob and the Building Learning Communities Conferences for making thse available for us. Subscribe to Bob Sprankle's Bit by Bit podcast and read his blog for some quality summer learning.

clipped from bobsprankle.com

NECC Podcasts and Video Streaming
The National Education Computing Conference has published their podcasts and their video stream to share their conferernce, which took place in San Antonio, Texas in late June, early July.

My Shared Reading
I'm using Google Reader to share my favorite blog posts. It might give you some ideas and also give you a choice of bloggers to which you might want to subscribe.

Please enjoy the warm sunshine and the abundance of quality learning opportunities!

Special May 2008 Edition

2008-05-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
There are a few great resources I wanted to share with you.

All K-5 Schools - Smartboard/Student Response System Matching Grant
The Riordan Foundation is offering a matching grant opportunity to purchase Smartboards, Projectors and Student Response Systems. Please visit the website for more details and access to the grant applications and guidelines. The grant deadline is June 1st, so a quick response is necessary. Since this grant would pay for half of the equipment, it might be a great way to get some very useful equipment for K-5 classrooms.

Laptop Cart Management Presentation
At our May 2008 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meeting, David Billett, Technology Coordinator at Gage Middle School shared some very useful information with us in his presentation on laptop cart management. David manages many laptop carts at his school and had some great recommendations for us.
At the last minute, we decided to stream and record his presentation. I used the built-in camera and microphone from my computer and the free application, Ustream. Except for my head constantly popping into the corner, the recording is okay. If you missed David's presentation, you can see it here:

Part 1

Part 2

You can also watch both videos from the channel I created at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/laptop-cart-management

David has also shared the forms and documents he has created for managing laptops in a school. You can find these documents in our LD6 EdTech Cadre Group at http://groups.google.com/group/ld6edtech If you are not yet a member of this group, please request membership and you will be added to the group.

A Special Note:
Thanks to all of you who have come to our monthly meetings throughout the year. Your support, leadership, and dedication are so greatly appreciated. You all are the best! Thank you!

Grants and Funding
I recently received a correspondence from the president of GrantsAlert.com, Joseph B. Mizereck, letting me know about the resources at GrantsAlert.com He states, "My focus is on helping K12 teachers and administrators find funding for their schools. I would think your readers would appreciate learning about the site."
An educator can search through the various types of grants to find one that matches their needs. There are many resources on different types of grants and funding available . The top section of the front page lists recently posted grants. The bottom section has some useful resources, including a "Good Stuff for Teachers" section that lists funding specifically targeted for classroom teachers. I, too, think you might find this useful.

LD6 Educational Technology News for May 2008

2008-05-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
It's hard to believe that May is here and our school year will soon be ending. It always seems that the year goes by so quickly. I hope your year has been great and that your next year will be even greater!

Table of Contents

Technology Leadership Cadre Meeting - Our Last One of the Year!
District News
Great Opportunities
Grants
Technology Gems

Technology Leadership Cadre
Our last meeting this year will be next Thursday, May 15th., at South East High School. It will be in Devery Rodgers' classroom. Thanks to Devery Rodgers and Vic Pacheco for hosting the meeting at their school. It will be from 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
Our guest presenter is David Billet, technology coordinator at Gage Middle School. He will be sharing some laptop management tips, as well as some other tips for managing a successful technology program. David has left a discussion question for you in our Local District 6 EdTech Group. Visit the discussion to reply. Please add to the discussion.
We will also be doing a round table sharing of how to make our meetings better and what else you might want. Please bring your ideas and share them at the meeting. If you will not be able to join us, but would like to join the discussion, post your ideas in the discussion at our groups site at http://groups.google.com/group/ld6edtech

May 15th, 2008 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
South East High School
2720 Tweedy Blvd.
South Gate, CA 90280

View Larger Map

District News

Site Computer Inventory
Each school site is responsible for updating their site computer inventory as detailed in Memorandum 4170 (mem-4170). The memorandum outlines several ways this can be done. One of the options mentioned is to update the inventory at http://pc-inventory.lausd.net/ . This information was given to all principals several months ago. Please make sure that this has been completed.

CAMSP Science Leadership Institute
There are still a few spaces available for this summer's week long wonderful professional development experience at the Thacher Academy in Ojai, CA. This is available for free to all 4-8 grade science teachers. Teachers will also be able to earn salary points. Join us for an incredible week of learning science for the classroom, using technology as a tool. Download the flyer for more information and registration details.

Great Opportunities

AFI ScreenNation
Come visit ScreenNation, AFI’s (American File Institute's) new video-sharing community for middle and high-school students and the educators who support them. Registration is free. There are scheduled challenges for students around a theme. Students can win prizes for their videos. The current theme is Your Home Town's Claim to Fame. This challenge will accept videos until June 30th, with winners announced on July 15th.
The production tips are wonderful. Here's a video on the basics of conducting an interview:

More tips can be found on the website. I discovered these embeddable videos when reading Joe Brennan's Digital Storytelling Blog post entitled: To Transition or...
He embeds a wonderful video about transitions, those special features that students (and educators) like to (over)use. Read his post for more details.

EdZone - from California's K-12 High Speed Network
From their website: The California K-12 High Speed Network (K12HSN) is offering a comprehensive set of tools to support teaching and learning in California classrooms. This free suite of tools, edZone, currently includes blogging, videoconference scheduling and a file sharing system where educators can upload videos, podcasts, images and documents.
If you have been wondering about where to upload and share your videos and podcast episodes, this sounds like a great place to do so. They will be adding social networking, wikis, and instant messaging this summer. This is a fantastic offering by our California State Department of Education! Registration is free!

My Tech Desk
As I was browsing the above site, I re-discovered MyTechDesk, a free offering from the California Department of Education's TechSets project. This is a free way to manage requests for technical assistance. I know we all use LAUSD's Help Desk, but often, there are many requests that don't require the use of this service. MyTechDesk could help you manage and keep track of all your requests.

Google Teacher Academy
As I mentioned in my last post, Google is once again offering the Google Teacher Academy on June 25th in Mountain View, California. The application is due May 28th. For more information, please visit http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html I hope many of you decide to apply. This is a fantastic opportunity to work and collaborate with outstanding passionate educators with innovative tools.

LACOE's Professional Development
Please take advantage of all LACOE has to offer. There are workshops, week-long institutes, and events that are outstanding. Visit their website at http://ito.lacoe.edu/ for all the great opportunities.

Grants and Funding

From LACOE'S Grants and Funding Page:

ASM International's Living in a Material World
Amount: $500
Target: K-12 Teachers
Deadline: May 25th, 2008
ASM International Foundation's mission is to excite young people worldwide in materials careers. To help teachers bring the "real world" of materials science into the classroom, the ASM International Foundation is awarding 10 grants of $500 each to teachers, K-12.

From E-School News

Save Our History Grants
Museums, historic sites, historical societies, preservation organizations, libraries, and archives are invited to partner with a local school or youth group and apply for funding to help preserve the history of their communities.
Amount: Up to $10,000.00
Deadline: June 6, 2008

Content Meets Technology Sweepstakes from eSchoolNews
In 250 words or less, students and teachers are asked to describe their vision for the role of technology in education. This gets posted on a Google Maps mashup Refer others to the site and get credit for more chances to win.
Amount: Up to $8,500 per classroom of Interwrite Products
Deadline: May 13, 2008 (I know - it's late.)

From my Personal Learning Network
Live Green Teacher Grants
From their site:
What’s your vision for inspiring the next generation of eco-smart, energy aware kids?...
Earn a $1,000 LIVE GREEN grant - 40 grants will be awarded to teachers for the most forward-thinking ideas. In addition, the 40 recipients will be treated to an exciting online professional development program designed to help them reach their school’s specific green initiatives, including a free digital camera to document and share the experience!
Deadline: June 15, 2008

There are a wealth of additional grants at http://www.eschoolnews.com/funding/funding-news/ Free registration required.

Grant Wrangler is another site that lists recent grants for K-12 educators.

Technology Gems
From the most recent Bit by Bit Seedlings Podcast...

Read the Words
A service that will convert text to speech that can be listened to on the website, downloaded as an .mp3 for portable devices, or embedded on a website. This would be a great tool to use with learners with diverse needs, including English language learners.

MooURL
This great online application works like TinyURL to make long web addressess shorter, but you can also personalize them and make them permanent.

From my personal learning network...

Using Google Docs in the Classroom
A great resource for teachers who want to learn to use this great tool.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mathew Needleman, a literacy coach in LAUSD, has created a great video to make you think about education and how we use technology. Enjoy!

I will be posting a special edition in the next few weeks of student projects that people have sent me. Please send me links to the great work you and your students are creating, so I can include it in the post.
Thanks!

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

Paul Burns
ITAF, Instructional Technology Branch, in support of Local District 6
Phone: (213)219-0836
E-mail: paulburns (at) lausd.net

Happy Teacher's Day!

2008-05-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

Today is National Teacher's Day. Here's the good news straight from Google and CUE:

Google Teacher Academy - at the Googleplex
Mountain View, CA
June 25, 2008
--------------------------------------------------------

Applications Due: May 28, 2008
http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html
--------------------------------------------------------

Since today is National Teacher Day, we thought it would be the perfect day to announce that Google's FREE training program for K-12 educators is back at the Google headquarters! Outstanding educators from across the country (and beyond!) are encouraged to apply for the Google Teacher Academy taking place on Wed, June 25, 2008.

Learn more about the program and apply online!

--------------------------------------------------------
Google Teacher Academy
June 25, 2008
Mountain View, CA

Applications Due: May 28, 2008
http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html
--------------------------------------------------------

I hope many of you decide to apply for this amazing learning opportunity. It’s great to surround yourself with such a wonderful community of passionate learners! I highly recommend it as an outstanding experience.

LD6 Educational Technology News for April 2008

2008-04-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the April 2008 Edition of the Local District 6 EdTech Newsletter.

In this edition:

Local District 6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings
Our Teachers and Students at InfoTech 2008
Professional Development
Technology Gems

Upcoming Local District 6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings
Our next Local District 6 EdTech Leadership Cadre meeting will be this Thursday, April 17th, from 4:00 to 5:15 at Local District 6, in the 3rd floor conference room.
5800 S. Eastern, Commerce, 90040

Our agenda includes our guest presenter, Mr. Vic Pacheco, South East High School, who will be sharing how he uses free finance tools like Yahoo and Google Finance to provide authentic learning opportunities for students.

Additionally, Mr. Paul Guenthner, Specialist with LAUSD Online Learning Programs, will also give an overview of online course options for students. This was a topic in our group discussion forum. I know this will be of interest to all secondary teachers, including middle school educators.

If you are unable to attend, I will have a virtual meeting room set up and also will record for later viewing.

I hope you can attend our meeting this Thursday!

Our last meeting of the school year will be on Thursday, May 15th at SouthEast High School.

Infotech 2008
Congratulations to all participants in LAUSD's Infotech 2008. Your work is truly inspirational. Below is a list of participants and links to their work, if available online. BRAVO!

Student Competition
Gage Middle School - Mr. David Billett- Middle School 1st Place Winners! Click here to read the article and see their project.

Other Local District 6 competition contestants include the following teachers and their students at South Gate Middle School:
Jennifer Dodge
Thomas Castle
Tamara Moore
Diana Chhuo

Thanks to all of you for your thoughtful submissions to the Infotech Student Competition.

Student Showcases

Elementary

Montara Elementary
Michelle Ngai - Giving Students a Voice with VoiceThread! Ms. Ngai's fantastic website

San Miguel Elementary
Mariana Espinoza - Podcasting: Myths and Legends of California Native Americans
Carlos Gomez - The Puma Power Podcast Crew-Enhanced podcast based on themes from 4th grade OCR curriculum (Check out all the amazing student work published on this website!)
Roberto Mancilla - Native American Reports

Middle School

Gage Middle School
Francine Avila - Mentos: The Freshmaker
Beth Billett - Mathnology
David Billett - Digital Video Production: Public Service Announcements
Lorena Hernandez - The Best of Things

South East Middle School
Cynthia Walker - Endangered Species Research Report
Tim Schlosser - Independent Study: Using Technology to Explore our Passions

South Gate Middle School
Ann Gonzales - Geometric PowerPoint Presentation
Jose Gutierrez - The Crusades (IMOVIE)
Michelle Touceda - Create a Powerpoint presentation responding to The Giver
Xiomara Benitez - Explorations in Science
Mike Albert - Podcasting in History - Tech! Small Learning Community Podcast (They even podcasted from Infotech!)
Tamara Moore - Integrating Literacy and Technology throughout the Content Areas
Diane Chhuo - DataMyte and My Sweet Quince
Marivenus Magbitang - Explorations in Science Podcast
Tom Castle - Understanding States of Matter through Animation
Jenny Dodge - Iron Filings Newspaper
Edwin Moralia - I want to go to college
Silvio Vidal - Creating Websites using IWEB

High Schools

Maywood Academy
Walter Hamilton - Computer Network Administration and Design (ITC Academy)

South Gate High School
Mailelei Rex - Step 5 on a Whole New Level

A special thanks to Mr. Galindo, our Local District 6 Superintendent, who came to visit students and teachers in the showcase booths. An equally special thanks to all the teachers, administrators, coordinators, coaches, ITAFs, and students for making InfoTech 2008 such an amazing success!

I've posted the photos from Infotech online, but the photos are private. If you would like access to the photos, please leave a comment or contact me, so I can share them with you.

Professional Development

Apple is offering a very special workshop entitled Supporting English Language Learners with Digital Tools on Wednesday, April 23rd from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Pacific Blvd. Elementary in Huntington Park. Registration, a flyer, and details about the workshop can be found on the LAUSD Apple Website.
CaMSP Summer Science Institute will again take place this summer at Thacher in Ojai during the week of July 20 - 25. More information and registration details can be found on this flyer.

Technology Gems

Make an interactive whiteboard with a Nintendo Wii Controller! For less than $50, you and your students can have an interactive whiteboard. Watch Johnny Lee, the inventor of the software that controls this setup, at Ted Talks. For more information on how to make this type of device, visit this site.
Diigo - a powerful social bookmarking tool. Many of you know that I've been an active user of Del.icio.us (social bookarking site) for several years. I've resisted adding a new tool, but the irresistible value of the networking and annotating capabilities on Diigo make it worth considering. Read this excellent blog post by Miguel Guhlin called Diigo Made Simple. Make sure to watch the referenced video on this post by Emily Barney. See if Diigo is right for you. I like it! (I also see it as a potentially powerful learning tool for educators and students.) This is my profile on Diigo, if you want to join, try it out, and be my friend on Diigo. :)
Docstoc - Embed most types of files on a web page or blog. This cool application allows you to display a linked file right on your blog or web page. The file can be interactive (allow comments). There are many different features that are available with this tool.

You will notice that Grants and Funding is missing from this edition. I will publish a separate post sometime next week with all the grants and funding opportunities I can find.

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

Paul Burns
ITAF, Instructional Technology Branch, in support of Local District 6
Phone: (213)219-0836
E-mail: paulburns (at) lausd.net

If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please notify me.

InfoTech is Coming!

2008-04-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

LAUSD's FREE student-centered technology conference will take place this Saturday, April 12th, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Come and see many examples of technology-enhanced student work showcased by students themselves as well as opportunities to participate in workshops, connect with vendors and other organizations, and observe finalists of the student competition describe their projects.
To register, please visit http://infotech.lausd.net/2008/

Many Local District 6 educators and students will be participating in the Student Showcase at Infotech. A HUGE thanks to all of you for your dedication and giving up your Saturday to participate and share with others in LAUSD. You are all fantastic!

Elementary

Montara Elementary
Michelle Ngai - Giving Students a Voice with VoiceThread!

San Miguel Elementary
Mariana Espinoza - Podcasting: Myths and Legends of California Native Americans
Carlos Gomez - The Puma Power Podcast Crew-Enhanced podcast based on themes from 4th grade OCR curriculum
Roberto Mancilla - Native American Reports

Middle School

Gage Middle School
Francine Avila - Mentos: The Freshmaker
Beth Billett - Mathnology
David Billett - Digital Video Production: Public Service Announcements
Lorena Hernandez - The Best of Things

South East Middle School
Cynthia Walker - Endangered Species Research Report
Tim Schlosser - Independent Study: Using Technology to Explore our Passions

South Gate Middle School
Ann Gonzales - Geometric PowerPoint Presentation
Jose Gutierrez - The Crusades (IMOVIE)
Michelle Touceda - Create a Powerpoint presentation responding to The Giver
Xiomara Benitez - Explorations in Science
Mike Albert - Podcasting in History
Tamara Moore - Integrating Literacy and Technology throughout the Content Areas
Diane Chhuo - DataMyte and My Sweet Quince
Marivenus Magbitang - Explorations in Science
Tom Castle - Understanding States of Matter through Animation
Jenny Dodge - Iron Filings Newspaper
Edwin Moralia - I want to go to college
Silvio Vidal - Creating Websites using IWEB

High Schools

Maywood Academy
Walter Hamilton - Computer Network Administration and Design (ITC Academy)

South Gate High School
Mailelei Rex - Step 5 on a Whole New Level

Many other educators and students in Local District 6 are participating in the Student Competition. Those names have not yet been shared. As soon as I have those, I will share them with you.

Also, stop by the workshop I am presenting at 10:00 on Web 2.0.

I hope you can join us on Saturday for a day of learning and fun!

LD6 Educational Technology News for March 2008

2008-03-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the March 2008 edition of the Local District 6 Educational Technology Newsletter.

First, I would like to thank all those of you who were responsible for completing the California Technology Survey in a timely manner. We had 100% completion again this year. Thank you!

Table of Contents

District 6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings
Conferences
Professional Development
Great Classroom Happenings!
Technology Gems

District 6 EdTech Leadership Cadre Meetings
This month, our monthly meeting was canceled due to Spring Break. A growing number of schools in Local District 6 are now on traditional calendars, so meeting during this time would have decreased attendance.

Upcoming meetings:

April 17th, 2008 4:00p.m. - 5:15p.m.
District 6 Office, 5800 S. Eastern, Commerce - 3rd Floor Conference Room
Presenter is Vic Pacheco from South East High School, sharing his learning about using online finance tools to provide authentic learning opportunities for students.
May 15, 2008 4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
South East High School, 2720 Tweedy Blvd., South Gate
Presenter is David Billett, Technology Coordinator from Gage Middle School, sharing his knowledge and expertise about laptop cart management.

Conferences

InfoTech 2008 - April 12, 2008 - Los Angeles Convention Center 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Many thanks to all the teachers who will be bringing their students to participate in LAUSD's student centered conference.

If your students aren't participating this year, this is a great opportunity to attend and learn how other teachers and their students are using technology as a tool in the classroom, attend some workshops and talk with a few sponsors. Read more about InfoTech and register at http://infotech.lausd.net/2008/
TechEd Conference - April 13 - 16, 2008 - Ontario Convention Center - FREE to LAUSD Employees!
Over 250 concurrent sessions. This conference is a K-20 event with over 250 concurrent sessions, keynotes, and exhibitors. Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to attend the conference for free. A $285 value.
NECC Conference - June 29th - July 3rd - Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX
Connect with educators from around the world at the National Education Computing Conference. The experience at this national conference is amazing! An important event happening before the conference that will make the conference attendance all the more valuable is:
EdubloggerCon 2008 - June 28th - Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX
This is the 2nd annual meetup of an international group of educators who share a passion about educational technology. Come to enjoy the conversation and the learning that all who attend contribute. Attendance at this event is free.

Professional Development

FREE Google Docs tutorial on Atomic Learning until May 1st!
Have you wanted to learn about to use the great features of Google Docs, the online word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software (that comes as part of LAUSD Student Mail? Atomic learning is offering its entire suite of tutorials on Google Docs free until May 1st. Give it a try and share with colleagues. These mainly cover the sharing/publication/organization features of the Google applications inside Docs, as well as several tutorials on the word processor. This is a great opportunity.

UPDATE - Free Registration at http://lz.lausd.net

UPDATE Online will be offering: (click on the links to download fliers to share with colleagues)

Approaches and Tools For Developing Web-Enhanced Lessons #55-21-547 beginning March 27
Transforming the Classroom with Project-Based Learning #55-21-549 beginning April 2
Dynamic Documentary Video Projects #55-21-658 beginning May 3
Online Learning Experience (Intro to Moodle) #55-21-611 also beginning May 3
Online Facilitator's Course (for those who wish to teach online workshops) #55-21-654 beginning May 10

UPDATE online courses meet face to face at the beginning and at the end. All other course work is done online. This is a fantastic way to learn - anytime, anywhere.

UPDATE is also offering many face to face courses in the next few months, including video conferencing, webquests, computer basics, PowerPoint, and interactive whiteboards. What a great way to learn and earn free salary points in the process.

Periodic Assessment Salary Point Classes
Local District 6 is offering 2 upcoming salary point courses, Building Quality Learning through Periodic Assessments. All classes will be held at the Local District 6 office, 3rd Floor Conference Room, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Elementary: April 5th and April 19th
Secondary: April 26th and May 3rd

Our first offering of this class with instructors Alex Gomez and Kristi Hayes was fantastic! We hope others can take advantage of this great learning opportunity.

Free registration for these courses is through the Learning Zone. Select Periodic Assessments from the Program drop down menu while in the Course Offerings section.
If you live closer to other districts and would prefer to take the course closer to home, please check this flyer for other district offerings.

LACOE - Instructional Technology Outreach

Workshops
The Los Angeles County Office of Education offers many outstanding workshops. You can see their offerings at: http://ito.lacoe.edu/ Click on Workshops.

For example, for elementary educators there is an outstanding workshop called: Using Technology to Enhance the Open Court Curriculum and Close the Digital Divide, on Saturday, March 29th, from 8:30 to 3:30. This course is presented by Mathew Needleman, an LAUSD school literacy coach and of OpenCourtResources.com. I was able to see Mathew's presentation at CUE a few weeks ago, and it was outstanding. Share this flier with your colleagues.

Academies
LACOE offers 5 day academies to help beginning and intermediate technology using educators learn how to use tools in the classroom. Teachers also receive compensation fees for taking these courses, which have to be taken during off-track time.
Level 1 Technology Proficiency Academy
LAUSD 6-23-08 (06/23/2008 - 06/27/2008)
LAUSD 8-4-08 (08/04/2008 - 08/08/2008)
Level 2 Technology Integration Academy
LAUSD 5-19-08 (05/19/2008 - 05/23/2008)
LAUSD 6-23-08 (06/23/2008 - 06/27/2008)
LAUSD 7-7-08 (07/07/2008 - 07/11/2008)
You can register for these workshops at: http://ito.lacoe.edu/ Click on Workshops.

Podcasting Conservatory, Thursday, October 2, 4-8 PM; Friday & Saturday, October 3 & 4, 2008, 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM at the Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach. Cost: $75.00
An intensive 2-1/2 day workshop for science educators who are interested in learning about podcasting as a new, accessible method to engage students in support of the California Content Standards. Register at http://ito.lacoe.edu/

Summer at Thacher in Ojai: LACOE is offering several opportunities:
The Digital Classroom and the Technology Leadership Academy will take place at Thacher in Ojai from July 27th - August 1. Fee is $1500, but there are contact numbers on the registration that will help you find ways to fund this learning opportunity.

CTAP Technology Academies Trainer of Trainers Institute (ToTI) - 11 positions open for this summer institute at Thacher. July 27th - August 1
Preference will be given to applicants who have completed Level 1 and Level 2 Academies or equivalent and have experience leading professional development workshops. A total of $1000 will be paid to participants upon completion of Institute and follow-up work. Please download this flier for more information.

Great Classroom Happenings!

Web Sites and Voice Thread
Michelle Ngai at Montara Elementary has created a wonderful teacher website which helps facilitate communication and collaboration with the parents of her students. You can find her web site at http://www.ngaiclassroom.meyertown.com Click on the VoiceThread link to find some fantastic ways that her second grade students are using VoiceThread in authentic ways across the curriculum. Fantastic work, Ms. Ngai and students!
Here's an example voicethread her students created about animal camouflage:

If you want some more ideas on how to use VoiceThread in the classroom, visit VoiceThread in Teaching and Learning, where you will find not only ideas and examples, but also some reasons why you might want to use VoiceThread as a tool in the classroom.

Video Conferences

Several teachers in Local District 6 are connecting with experts to speak with their classrooms.

Students in Mr. Albert's classes South Gate Middle School have been communicating with some very impressive guests.

Docents from the Smithsonian Institute, Museum of American Art visited through video conference to share how history has impacted art. The docents shared many interesting artifacts from early in our American history. What a fascinating way to study history!

The California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mr. Jack O'Connell, visited through the PORTS program several weeks ago. Students asked some very thoughtful questions about education to which the Superintendent responded. I hope to get permission to publish this discussion so that you can hear how articulate and thoughtful these middle schools students are.

Assembly Member de la Torre will be visiting with several classes on Monday, March 24th through the PORTS video conference program. Silvio Vidal's class from South Gate Middle School and Roderick Silva's class from South Gate High School will be talking with the assembly member. I hope to record some of these interviews.
Many teachers at South Gate Middle School, including Edie Walker, provide wonderful learning opportunities for their students by connecting with park rangers at various state parks like Anza Borrego and Año Nuevo through the PORTS program, using standards-based lessons to prepare for their virtual trip.

If you are interested in learning how to participate in these types of programs, please take one of the video conference courses offered through UPDATE. Paul Burns and I can help with equipment.

Several students at the International School in South Gate were preparing to travel to New York in an exchange program. Before they visited, they wanted to meet with the students who would be their hosts. We connected through Skype, and the students in South Gate and in New York were able to meet each other virtually before they met face to face. It was a very positive experience.Thanks to the principal, Ms. Guillermina Jauregui and the teacher librarian, Ms. Jazmin Abad, for creating this opportunity for the students.
5th grade students from Ms. Jennifer Conroy's class at Independence and Ms. Tiffany Abad's class at Bryson connected through video conference for a literature circle about the book, Esperanza Rising. They will meet again to discuss the book, The Outsiders. We hope to record the conversation for a podcast.

If you are interested in developing these kinds of exchanges, please contact me. We can arrange a hands-on workshop so you can connect and facilitate this type of conversation and collaboration that extends beyond the walls of your classroom.

Please share the great ways you are using technology in the classroom by either adding a comment to this newsletter/blog or contacting me. I would love to share the great work you are all doing with others.

Technology Gems

From TechChick Tips -Episode 41 - A great podcast I've mentioned before, that has a wealth of wonderful resources:

"What Could It Mean?" Voicethread - http://whatcoulditmean.wikispaces.com/
A collaborative space to share pictures and comments about items of cultural value. A great way to have students experience cultural awareness in an authentic setting. One can contribute images depicting a unique tradition, typical custom, distinctive perspectives, routines, habits and practices and/or listen and add comments to pictures contributed by others.
http://www.panwapa.com/
An interactive website where students (aged 4-7) can explore cultures and global awareness. Created by educators who worked on Sesame Street, this site has several focus areas: awareness of the wider world, appreciating similarities and valuing differences, taking responsibility for one’s behaviors, community participation and willingness to take action, and understanding of and responsiveness to economic disparity. The site has audio and text in several languages, including Spanish.
Check out the Tech Chick Tips website and podcast at http://techchicktips.net/ for more fantastic tools with ideas about how to use them in the classroom. This podcast and website are a great resource.

Google Sky now available through a browser!
Google Sky used to only available from the Google Earth program, that needs to be installed on the computer. The great folks at Google have now made this amazing resource available from a web browser at http://www.google.com/sky/ All the rich resources can now be accessed without having to launch Google Earth. Read more about all the great features at the Google Earth/Maps blog.

Creativity
Here are some tools to spark creativity in the classroom:

LetterPop - Online Desktop Publishing - From the website, it reads, "Use LetterPop to create eye-popping newsletters, actionable presentations, irresistible invitations, beautiful product features, sizzling event summaries, informative club updates, lovely pictures, and a whole lot more." This could be a great way to publish a classroom newsletter or other classroom event, with the ability to print, email, or share with contacts.

Image Generators - Often, a message can be conveyed better with good presentation. Sylvia Tolisano, at her blog, Langwitches, recently wrote a post about image generators for all occasions. With a few easy steps, one can generate images of scoreboards, cereal boxes, iphones, magazine or book covers, etc. Visit her post to find a wealth of resources for generating these types of images for free.

Poster Generator - Glogster - A fun, free way to create posters. The site is open, so exercise caution and supervision when allowing students to use this site.

Image Tools for Mac -
Plasq, fine inventors of Comic Creator, released Skitch as a free (for now) download.
Skitch, which I shared with you a few months ago, is a product that allows you to capture, draw, and share images. I use this product all the time. It's great for quick edits of photo grabs, and has the ability to add text. Right now, in beta, it's a free download. Try it. You'll like it.

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
Instructional Technology Applications Facilitator (ITAF),
LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

Paul Burns
ITAF, Instructional Technology Branch, in support of Local District 6
Phone: (213)219-0836
E-mail: paulburns (at) lausd.net

If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please notify me.

February 2008 - LD6 EdTech News

2008-02-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it's already February? ...

Table of Contents

Upcoming Local District 6 Educational Technology Cadre Meetings
LAUSD News and Events
Professional Development Opportunities
Grants and Funding
Technology Gems

Local District 6 Educational Technology Leadership Cadre Meetings

All meetings are scheduled from 4:00 - 5:15. Attendance is voluntary. All are welcome. I appreciate the dedication of all members of our community who attend and support using tools to engage our students in purposeful, authentic learning.

Our upcoming meeting will be on Thursday. February 21st, at 4:00 p.m in the Local District 6 3rd Floor Conference Room. The address is 5800 S. Eastern, Commerce, CA. Our guest presenter will be Dr. James Alther, Chief Technology Director, Infrastructure Group, who will share information about current IT Infrastructure Projects and other related information about the IT infrastructure in LAUSD. This will be an opportunity to find out information about the technical side of our district that supports our work in educational technology. If you are unable to attend in person, but would like to attend virtually, leave a comment on the blog or contact me through email so that I may send you a link to the virtual Eluminate session. You will be able to listen to the presentation and pose questions through the chat function.

Agenda:
4:00 - Introductions - Discussion of News and Events
4:15 - James Alther - IT Infrastructure at LAUSD
4:45 - Questions and discussions with Dr. Alther
5:00 - Group collaboration/articulation on vision for 21st Century Education

Upcoming Meetings:
March 20th - Local District 6 Office - Guest Presenter, Mr. David Billet - Laptop Cart Management - and more
April 17th - Local District 6 Office - Guest Presenter, Mr. Vic Pacheco - Finance Tools (ie Yahoo Finance, Google Finance) for Authentic Learning
May 15th - South East High School - Topic TBD

Our January 17th meeting was outstanding. Youssef Elias showed us how to use Google Sketchup. Mr. Galindo, our Local District 6 Superintendent, joined our meeting. He is very supportive of engaging students in authentic learning, using educational technology as a tool. We are fortunate to have his support and his passion to engage in the conversation and the resulting plans for how we will use technology in the classroom to help our students learn. Our conversation about 21st century learning continues on our group page. Please join the group to add to the discussion. (The button to join the group is on the right side bar. Enter your email address to request membership.)

LAUSD News and Events

California Technology Survey - District 6 deadline - February 29, 2008
The communication on the details of completing the California Technology Survey was sent to principals on February 5th. This survey must be completed by one person at the school, designated by the principal. 100% completion is required by all schools in the district. The completion of this survey is necessary to qualify for state and federal grants and funding.
The website to complete this survey is:

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/et/rs/techsurvey.asp
Survey Type: School
County: Los Angeles
District: Los Angeles Unified
PIN: [Contact ITAF for PIN]
Password: [Contact ITAF for password]

Each section of the survey may be saved separately, and it is not necessary to complete the entire survey in one visit to the web site. Also, you may return to any previously completed section to make changes. The survey is “completed” when all sections have been saved.
If you have any questions regarding completing this survey, please contact me.
InfoTech 2008 - April 12, 2008 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Los Angeles Convention Center
This year, LAUSD's annual educational technology conference, InfoTech, will take place on Saturday, April 12th. This year's theme is Excellence through Innovation.
Student Showcase
There will be a Student Showcase, where students and their teacher will showcase their projects at booths throughout the conference. The deadline for submitting intents to participate is February 28th. For more information and registration forms, please visit http://infotech.lausd.net/2008/showcases.html
Student Competition
The student competion this year is divided into three groups: elementary, middle school, and high school. Each will submit a short video clip with the following themes:
Elementary: Demonstrate the theme, "Excellence Through Innovation" through the use of Internet resources in the classroom.
Middle School: Predict how a middle school classroom will look and how technology will bring about "Innovation Through Excellence" for teaching and learning in the year 2015.
High School: Show how innovative use of social networking promotes excellence in school-home communication.
There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in each group. For more details, please visit: http://infotech.lausd.net/2008/competition.html
Workshops
There will be workshops for teachers, administrators, and parents. For more details, please visit: http://infotech.lausd.net/2008/workshops.html

Please register and plan to attend and/or participate with students or in the workshops. This is a fantastic opportunity for learning.

Professional Development

Periodic Assessment Salary Point Class - Elementary - April 5th and April 19th 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Building Quality Assessments through Periodic Assessment for elementary teachers will be offered at the Local District 6 office on April 5th and 19th. Please download and share this flyer with your colleagues. It has details on how to register for the class.
If you live closer to other local districts, and would like to take the class closer to home, all local districts will be offering this class. Please download this flyer for when and where this class will be offered in all local districts.
UPDATE Courses through Learning Zone
There are many face to face salary point courses offered over the next few months, including classes on Interactive WhiteBoards, VideoConferences, and Multimedia Projects (Devery Rodgers will be teaching this class beginning Feb. 16th at SouthEast HS). Some online courses in the next few months address English Language Learners, Math, and Data Analysis. Some courses are free while others are for fee.
LACOE - ITO (Instructional Technology Outreach) Courses
ITO offers many workshops, including the week-long Technology Academy, courses on tools like Photoshop, Pixie and more; and the excellent Using Technology to Enhance the Open Court Curriculum and Close the Digital Divide. All of their courses are either free of cost a nominal fee. You can search for them on LACOE's ITO website at http://ito.lacoe.edu/

Grants and Funding

Motorola's Innovation Grant - Deadline - March 1st, 2008
Grant applicants may request up to $100,000
Funding priority will be placed on pioneering programs that:
— Engage students and teachers in innovative, hands-on ways
— Teach innovation and creative problem-solving skills
— Focus on girls and underrepresented minorities
— Engage Motorola employees as volunteers
BP's A+ Energy Grant for K-12 Teachers - Deadline: March 7, 2008
Grant funding in amounts of $5000 to $10,000 will be awarded for innovative classroom, after-school, extra-curricular or summer lessons and projects that center around energy in standards based curriculum.
For more grants and funding resources, visit LACOE's ITO Grants and Funding resource page at http://ctap.lacoe.edu/content/Grants_and_Funding

Technology Gems

Design Contest for Students - Doodle4Google
Imagine designing a winning Google Doodle that would appear on the Google Search Page. Google is holding a contest right now for students in Grades K-12 to design such a doodle. Registration is open until March 28th. Find out more details at the Doodle4Google site.
Great Podcasts

Bit by Bit Podcasts 62 and 61, by Bob Sprankle: Dr. Tim Tyson at the Christa McAuliffe Conference.
I think the work that Bob Sprankle does with his students in Maine and through his several podcasts and blogs (Bit by Bit, Seedlings, TechLearning) is outstanding and I highly recommend you subscribe to all his feeds. In addition to recording his own podcasts, Bob also does something very special by recording the presentations at conferences he attends. At the Christa McAuliffe Conference in November, he had the opportunity to record two presentations/workshops given by Dr. Tim Tyson, former principal of Mabry Middle School. These podcasts are truly inspirational and have the wonderful ability to spark your thinking about teaching and learning in the 21st century.
Recently, I shared these two podcasts with our local district superintendent, Mr. Galindo, by placing them on his ipod. Why don't you ask your principal if they would like some quality listening material on their iPod. You can use these two podcasts plus some of the others I will mention.
Learning in Hand by Tony Vincent
This outstanding podcast invites you to learn how to use iPods as classroom learning tools. I've learned some tricks I didn't know before. The episodes on this podcast are enhanced podcasts, meaning that there are pictures that guide you through the audio lessons.
Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcast by Wesley Fryer
Wesley Fryer publishes quality content every week on his podcast. When you listen to this podcast, it's as if you are attending a quality presentation at a conference. Throughout the past two years, I have learned so much from the amazing work of this tireless educator, while driving to work, listening to my ipod. His content is thoughtful, well developed, and inspirational. His focus on sound pedagogy and authentic learning helps reinforce the notion that it's not about the technology, but about the learning that takes place when students are engaged.
Conference Connections - by Apple Distinguished Educators
Tim Wilson, with a team of volunteer Apple Distinguished Educators, travels around to various conferences and records quality presentations that are published as podcast episodes. There are a rich variety of topics and speakers that are of high quality and depth. I recently listened to podcast episodes about using PowerPoint, Google Earth, and Data Driven Instruction. I highly recommend this quality podcast.

Time Article - How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century
Not new - but a great article written in December 2006 about what students need to know to succeed in the 21st century. A great read. What do you think?
ScreenFlow - For Mac OS X Leopard Users:
A screen capture/screencast application that looks stunning, called Screen Flow. The free version has a watermark, but allows you to experiment to see if it's worth the purchase price of under $100.
Google Spreadsheets now include forms!
When I used to need to create online surveys, I used online services like SurveyMonkey. Now, for simple surveys, Google Spreadsheets (included in LAUSD's student email) has a new feature called forms. You can make a form from an existing spreadsheet, or create one from scratch using a blank spreadsheet. Fill in the information for which you want data, publish it online or email it to others with a click of a button. When the form is completed by others, the results show up in the spreadsheet, without having to share the spreadsheet with others. The resulting data can be published as a graph. Fabulous and powerful! Read more about this new feature on the Google Docs blog.

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
ITAF, LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

Paul Burns
ITAF, Instructional Technology Branch, in support of Local District 6
Phone: (213)219-0836
E-mail: paulburns (at) lausd.net

If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please notify me.

January 2008 - LD6 EdTech News

2008-01-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year and welcome to the January 2008 edition of the Local District 6 Educational Technology Newsletter. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Welcome back to all those of you who are back to school, and I wish I were you - to all those still off-track and enjoying their time off.

January brings lots of exciting news and opportunities. Please share this newsletter with your colleagues. You can subscribe to the newsletter using the navigation buttons on the right sidebar.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Ed-Tech Leadership Cadre Meeting(s)
2. District Announcements and Events
3. Professional Development
4. Grants and Funding
5. Technology Gems

LD6 Ed-Tech Leadership Cadre Meeting
All are invited to attend our meetings. Please share with your colleagues. This is a wonderful opportunity to network and share with others. Our January meeting will take place on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at the Local District 6 - 3rd Floor Conference Room, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
The address is 5800 S. Eastern,
Commerce, CA 90040

View Larger Map

Our agenda will be as follows:
4:00 - Introductions/Sharing by Participants
4:15 - LAUSD News and Events
4:20 - Workshop on Google Sketch-up - by Youssef Elias, IMaST Coach, South Gate MS

Learn how to use this powerful, free tool with your students. Can be used by all grade levels to create and construct learning.

4:50 - Discussion and Conversation about EdTech

Please mark your calendars for future meetings:
February 21, 2008
March 21, 2008
April 17, 2008
May 15. 2008 - SouthEast High School

District Announcements and Events

InfoTech 2008 Date Changed to April 12, 2008!
Infotech, LAUSD's annual Technology conference will now take place on Saturday, April 12th, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, in concert with the Annual Parent Summit.
There will be a student showcase, a student competition, workshops, and vendors. I would like to encourage you to have your students showcase their work at this conference. The opportunity for them to share how they are using technology in the classroom is a valuable, positive learning experience. The Intent to Participate form can be downloaded below. You can fill it out and follow the directions at the bottom of the form to send it in. Also please share with your colleagues. Also included is Memorandum 4058, which contains preliminary information about InfoTech 2008. It has already been sent to principals. As soon as I have more details about the Student Competition and other information, I will share it.
New Self-Service Page for ITD Technical Support Is Now Available
ITD has updated the Self Support Options.
Self-Service & Passwords: This link has information about the new self-service options, including the new Customer Self-Service system. Instructions on how to register for this system and using the features on CSS are available in this section.
In addition, if you need to reset your LAUSD SSO/Email password or activate your account, there is a section for that service as well.
An LAUSD SSO/Email account is required in order to use the Customer Self-Service (CSS) system. This system will replace the older Employee Self Service Option and will be accessible outside the firewall later this month. This new system will be an efficient way to request technical support from the district. You can access it here: http://techsupport.lausd.net/selfservice.htm
New IMAST (Integrating Math and Science through Technology) Coach Positions Open for Application
The Educational Technology Group is accepting applications for coach positions for the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) Integrating Mathematics and Science through Technology (IMaST). There are 3 positions available. These assignments will be for a minimum of 1 year and will be working with middle schools. The candidates awarded these positions must be available at the beginning of the traditional calendar semester in February, 2008. Details on submitting applications as well as requirements, duties and responsibilities for the assignments are available at http://www.teacherplus.info (via Joe Oliver - LAUSD Director of Technology) Deadline for submitting the application is January 23, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.

Professional Development and Learning Opportunities

UPDATE through Learning Zone
There are many free salary point courses available through UPDATE on Learning Zone. Below are some of the courses available through February 2008:
- Inspiration for Effective Writing (Online)
- Smart Ways to Use Interactive Whiteboards Across the Curriculum
- Lights! Camera! Action! (iMovie)
- Computer Basics
- Multimedia Enhanced Language Arts and ESL Instruction
- Click! Using Digital Photography to Enhance Instruction
- Internet Safety with iSafe
- Standards-Based Virtual Field Trips with Video Conferencing
To enroll in any of these courses, log into Learning Zone at http://lz.lausd.net Use your Single Sign-on username and password (same as your email). Click on Class Offerings, select UPDATE in Program drop down box, and click the Search button. There you can select and enroll in classes of interest.
LACOE's Instructional Technology Outreach Program
- For K-12 Science Teachers: Podcasting Conservatory @ the California Science Center
- For K-12 Students: CaliforniaStreaming Digital Photography Contest
- For K-12 Students & Teachers: Digital Voice Awards 2008
  - Contest flyer and guidelines may be found at http://ctap.lacoe.edu/DVAwards
  - Deadline is Monday, April 14, 2008 (Note: Registration opens January 7, 2008)
  - Entry categories available for all instructional technology projects
  - Certificates for all entries; awards for all winners
  - Special awards program on Saturday, May 17, 2008—hold the date!
- Find other great professional development opportunities at http://ito.lacoe.edu/
Online Solar System Course From American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/learn/courses/solarsystem.php
The American Museum of Natural History has added a new online graduate course on the solar system. The course, intended for K-12 educators, uses original essays, videos and interactive media to address the origin and evolution of the solar system, its rich diversity and extreme environments, the research focus of current space missions, and its eventual fate. Cost for course: $445 plus a $25 one-time registration fee. Graduate credit available at an additional cost.
MacWorld Educator Academy - January 16 -17, 2008 at MacWorld in San Francisco
For anyone lucky enough to be attending the MacWorld Expo :-), CUE (Computer Using Educators) will be offering a quality Educator Academy for two days, plus additional hands-on workshops throughout the duration of the conference (January 14-18) Additional information can be found at this website: http://www.cue.org/macworld/
CUE Conference (Computer Using Educators) - March 6-8, 2008 - Palm Springs, CA
This is California's state educational technology conference. It is an outstanding conference, with learning opportunities for everyone. Please join me in Palm Springs for a fantastic learning experience at CUE. Access CUE's website for registration and housing information at http://www.cue.org/
EdubloggerCon West - March 5, 2008 - Palm Springs, CA
This outstanding FREE event, held the day before the CUE conference begins, is an opportunity to share and learn with other passionate educators about the role of educational technology in our schools and classrooms. You don't have to be an edublogger to attend, just have a passion for learning and using technology as a classroom tool. Find more information and sign up at http://www.edubloggercon.com/cue2008
NECC 2008 (National Educational Computing Conference)- June 29 - July 2, 2008 - San Antonio, TX
NECC is a fantastic opportunity to learn and network with other educators about educational technology. This conference is attended by thousands of people from around the world, and is an outstanding learning experience. For more information and registration details, visit: http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2008/

Grants and Funding

Intel Schools of Distinction Award - Application Deadline: Feb. 14, 2008
One elementary, one middle and one high school in each of two categories - math and science - receive $10,000 cash grants and more than $100,000 in products and services from sponsors.
In order to be considered as an Intel School of Distinction, schools must develop an environment and curricula that meet or exceed benchmarks, including national mathematics and science content standards.
Visit the Intel Schools of Distinction website for more information.
The HP Technology for Teaching Grant Initiative is designed to support the innovative use of mobile technology in K-16 education, and to help identify K-12 public schools and two- and four-year colleges and universities that HP might support with future grants. Based on the outcomes of the projects funded through this initiative in 2008, HP may offer some grant recipients additional, higher-value grants in 2008.

Thursday February 14, 2008, 5 p.m. (Pacific time): Deadline for submitting proposals.
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants/us/programs/tech_teaching/index.html
E-School News Funding Site - http://www.eschoolnews.com/funding/
This agency publishes new grant opportunities as they become available. Check the site often for grant opportunities.
Edutopia's Grant Resource Page - http://www.edutopia.org/grantinfo
Edutopia has a comprehensive list of resources where you can find grants appropriate for your school or classoom.
LAUSD's Grants Assistance Unit - Grants Assistance Unit Website
LAUSD has many resources that may help you find grants that fit your needs.

Technology Gems

MyMaps Caucus Watch (via Cheryl Davis - Google Certified Teacher - N. Calif.)
Google Maps has real time maps with data from the recent caucus results:
- Iowa Caucus Map
- New Hamphire
These maps provide a visual representation of the areas of each state and how those areas voted. Click on either Democratic or Republican to see the results. The maps can be viewed in Google Maps or downloaded to Google Earth so that students can add content, such as videos and news articles that pertain to each event. As Cheryl shared, students could investigate speeches and other content to look for patterns and trends. Subscribe to the official Google Earth/Maps blog at http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/ for updates as the election process continues.
Candidate Watch 2008 - by Cheryl Davis - on the Apple Learning Interchange
This amazing project and lesson plan for grades 6 -12 uses 21st century collaborative tools like Google Earth, Google docs, news stories, and blogs to investigate the election process in a constructivist approach. Engage your students in authentic learning using this project.
RSS Feeds from LAUSD
At our November meeting, we discussed RSS and how to use it not only for the classroom but for your own professional development. We set up an aggregator using Google Reader to subscribe to rss feeds. The presentation I used is below. (Some of the links don't work unless you download it.)
| View | Upload your own
Many educators in LAUSD are using tools that have RSS feeds to which you might like to subscribe. Below is a list of those sites and the accompanying feeds. (Thanks to John Rivera, ITAF in Local District 5 for the idea of sharing these.)
District Feeds:
- LAUSD's Educational Technology Blog - by Themy Sparangis - RSS Feed
- LAUSDTalks - a news podcast from LAUSD - only accessible inside the LAUSD firewall
Local District News:
- Local District 6 News and Events - by Janice Stearns - RSS Feed
- Local District 5 Instructional Technology News - by John Rivera - RSS Feed
- Local District 4 Instructional Technology News - by Antonio Hernandez - RSS Feed
- Local District 4 Developing Readers and Writers - by Esther Benjamins-Gass - RSS Feed
Professional Learning Blogs
- Learning Side by Side by John Rivera - RSS Feed
- Along the Way by Janice Stearns - RSS Feed
- Creating Lifelong Learners by Mathew Needleman - RSS Feed
- Coordinator's Office by Jose Rodriguez - RSS Feed
- Open During Construction by John Lenhardt -- RSS Feed
School Feeds
- South Gate Middle School Events - RSS Feed
- Gage Middle School Events - RSS Feed
Please leave a comment if you you would like to share other RSS feeds from LAUSD.

November 2007 Updates

2007-11-29T13:13:00.000-08:00

Hello Educational Technology Leaders,

There are a few news items I wanted you to know about. A full edition of the newsletter will be available at the beginning of December.

Free iMacs!
Are any of you interested in 8 slot loading iMacs (the purple ones)? A wonderful educator would rather donate these older machines to a school that could use them rather than seeing them go to salvage. If interested, please leave a comment or contact me for more information.

Free Outstanding Professional Development Opportunity
Saturday, December 8, 2007 - 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at KLCS-TV
1601 West Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA
Discovery Education, in partnership with KLCS and CUE invite you to an engaging, technology-infused professional development day focused on creative ways to use digital media in the classroom. Learn techniques to inspire your students by maximizing PowerPoint, movie making, Google Earth, iPods in education, and KLCS’s Knowledge Probe. Maximize the resources from Discovery Education’s streaming (a.k.a. unitedstreaming) at schools with this media resource.
Registration is at http://discoveryed.wufoo.com/forms/klcs-day-of-discovery-registration/
Space is limited so sign up as soon as possible.
You can download a flyer that has more information to share with colleagues here.

Attention Secondary School Teachers
Google Open Source Contest for Students (ages 13+)
Google has announced the Google Highly Open Participation Contest, developed to help introduce secondary school and high school students to open source software development and to encourage young people through opportunities in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Prizes include a chance to win t-shirts, cash prizes, and a visit the Googleplex for a day of technical talks. For more details, visit the announcement page at the Google Code Website and the Google Code Blog.
This is a great opportunity for students to participate in some authentic learning opportunities.

Those are the announcements for this week. More news will be coming your way in a few weeks.

Contact Information
Janice Stearns
ITAF, LAUSD Local District 6, Office of Instruction
Phone: (323)278-4903
E-mail: janice.stearns (at) lausd.net

Paul Burns
ITAF, Instructional Technology Branch, in support of Local District 6
Phone: (213)219-0836
E-mail: paulburns (at) lausd.net

If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please notify me.

November 2007 EdTech Leaders Cadre Meeting

2007-11-14T04:36:00.000-08:00

Our November EdTech Cadre meeting is Thursday, November 15th, from 4:00 to 5:15 at the District 6 office, 3rd Floor Conference Room.

5800 S. Eastern, Commerce, CA

View Larger Map

This month, we will be discussing the power of RSS and how it can be used in the classroom and also for your own professional learning. We will explore some different types of aggregators, how different sites publish rss feeds, and how you can use rss to pull information from many different sites into a learning space.

We will also set aside some time to discuss and share District news, events, and ed tech strategies.

I hope you can be there!