Week 13

Infographic

This week we finished up our infographic.  I ended up choosing the App - Snappa.  It only allows you 3 downloads a month though-which stinks when you are first trying to figure out how you need to download the infographic.  Anyway-here it is!

Week 12  

Evaluation Project

This week we were given 3 options to choose from for our Evaluation Project.  We were to then begin the project and create a video on FlipGrid telling our classmates which option we had chosen and the progress we were making on it.  I chose:

This option involves being a part of the Technology Planning Committee at your school. 

"As a part of this committee you are going to be helping to develop the school districts first ever technology plan. This is great news! You have known for a while that your school needs it. However, you have some people on your committee that don't think you need it. You have some people on the committee that were appointed to be on it because of their role with technology in the district. They say this is a waste of time and they don't have time to be involved with something like this. You have other people on the committee that are excited about doing it, but have no idea where to start. The committee chair thinks that a good place to start the process would be to look at what other schools have done. You volunteer to take on this task. 

After the meeting the committee chair pulls you aside and asks you what you think about this being a waste of time. She asks you to see if you can help get the others on board with the entire process.

What are you going to do?"

So I began searching for technology plans for my research.  I found 8 technology plans from across the country.  3 of those plans are from Catholic Schools, which I think is important to take a look at as that is where I teach.  I also wanted to try a different type of tool for my infographic.  I have used Canva before and Adobe Spark.  I found three tools that look interesting.  They are easel.ly, piktochart, and snappa.  

Here are there links in case you would like to check them out!  Next week I will let you know which one I chose.

https://www.easel.ly/     Easel.ly

https://snappa.com/       Snappa

https://piktochart.com/ Piktochart

Week 11 

EdTech Pilot Framework Site

This week we were to explore the website of the EdTech Pilot Framework from Digital Promise.  This site offers Pilot Studies of Educational Technology that schools have completed.  We were to select one Pilot Brief and review it, then post our thoughts on Seesaw.  The Pilot Brief I chose was based on Newsela.

Newsela features stories that are based on current events.  The same story is differentiated into 5 different levels.  Students also can access a quiz and writing prompt.  Students according to the Pilot enjoyed using Newsela and even checked it out when not required to.

The next thing we were to do this week was create a FlipGrid video screencasting from the same website a tool or resource that we thought would be valuable.  I am always looking for new tech tools and information about them.  The tool I chose focused on the DCPS example evaluation rubric.  This rubric allows schools the ability to look at various resources and compare them to each other.  Items such as grade levels, cost, teacher resources, student resources and pedagogies are listed.  You can find this tool here-https://digitalpromise.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/DCPS-Sample-Evaluation-Rubric.pdf

I also found under Tools and Resources a great little gem that showcases new tools of technology. It is called the EdTech Roundup Reviews.  It is located here-http://www.edtechroundup.org/reviews

The last item that we were to complete this week was to access the website-IFTTT web site.   This website stands for If This Then That.  It helps to automate simple tasks. You first connect your app to the site that you want to automate.  I ended up connecting my Pinterest to my Google Sheets.  For every new pin-it will then show up in Sheets-this way I can keep track of my pins faster.

Week 10 

Resources and Infographic

This week we read Ch. 7 and 8 from the book, "The Edtech Advocate's Guide to Leading Change in Schools" by Mark Gura.  These are the final chapters in the book and contain some great resources especially in Chapter 8.  I am going to subscribe to some of the newsletters and articles online as suggested. 

A few suggestions I am thinking about are:

• Edtech Update at www.edtechupdate.com
• Smart Brief on Edtech at www.smartbrief.com/industry/education/
• Free Tech 4 Teachers at www.freetech4teachers.com
• Creative Educator at creativeeducator.tech4learning.com 

A couple of key points that were "WOW" factors for me:

1. "Digital transformation then, is the state of schools changing themselves to better accomplish their goals."

2. "With the advent and adoption of technology, a far greater variety of more elaborate activities are now practical to implement, thus transforming teaching and learning."

One of our assignments this week was to create a "Big Picture" Representation to plot the kinds of edtech resources and practices available and currently in use for ourselves and to share with the community we serve.  Below is my "Big Picture" Representation.

This was not an easy task to accomplish!  First, we were to create a list of items associated with school technology.  Below are my lists of Edtech resources and Practices that I began with.

 

#2 Create a flowchart of how technology is used in schools and how it is integrated into the curriculum. Then I opened the software Canva and became hung up on the word "flowchart" from the directions.  I just couldn't see how flowchart would allow my "Big Picture" idea to work.  I then considered a fishbone diagram and worked on that for a while, but again it just didn't work for me.  I then thought about how technology is learned about by the teacher through the types of Edtech and the practices of Edtech which were already represented in my lists.  I really wanted a diagram more along the line of a Family tree I thought.  I tried to work that representation for awhile-again I just couldn't get it to work.  Then I began creating the Edtech Practices as main areas with the Edtech Resources coming from the different types of Practices. The final "Big Picture" came together. These resources and practices are mainly what I utilize in my K-12 classroom.