Digital Learning Day is Coming!

March 13, 2015

http://www.digitallearningday.org/

As stated in Superintendent Britten's email to staff, it is his expectation that all of our teachers and students are to engage in at least one digital learning activity that day.  What does this mean for you as a GLPS teacher? 

• All teachers and students are to engage in at least one digital learning activity that day.  
• This could be a lesson that is fully integrated with different technology resources, or it could be a short 20-minute lesson that the students are engaged in with technology to support their learning.
• The purpose of integrating technology should be to support, supplement, or extend student learning.  Do not use technology simply for the sake of using technology! 

So, How Can You Get Ready for Digital Learning Day in Your Classroom?

PLAN FOR IT!

Everyone is at different comfort levels with using technology, so it may take some advance planning might be necessary if you are not utilizing it everyday in your classroom.

• Think about ways that technology will support your teaching and student learning.
• Not sure what to do? Do a Google search for "Digital Learning Day" and check out what others are doing.
• Check out the Digital Learning Day website for more information about the day.
• Talk with your team members, other teachers in your building, or others in your PLN to crowdsource some new ideas.
• Revist ideas from Rebel U.
• Using Kagan and/or SIOP in your classroom? The 2014 12 Days of EdTech Cheer was all about using technology to support those programs. Check it out for some new ideas!
• Still not sure? Contact your friendly neighborhood Technology and Media Integration Specialist (Sarah Wood) and she would be happy to help you plan an activity for the day.

DO IT!

Once you have your lesson planned, go ahead and do it! If you are doing something new that you haven't tried or experimented with much before, it might be helpful to give it a trial run in your classroom. This will help alleviate any stress on the actual day.

DOCUMENT IT!

In addition to implementing a lesson, Superintendent Britten is also asking you to document the digital learning and instruction that is taking place in your classrooms.

• Take pictures, videos, capture screen shots and screencasts, or anything else that sums up the digital learning that took place in your classroom.
• Share it on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) with the hashtag #GlpsDLDay.  Make sure you know and check student permissions before posting!
• Want to follow what everyone in our district is doing on social media? Check out this link for the full (public) social media posts with the hashtag #GlpsDLDay https://tagboard.com/GlpsDlDay/search. (Note: Only public posts will show up here - if your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. accounts are private, they will not show up in this feed)

Monthly Tech Survey {January Results}

Last month, we sent out a survey to our staff asking their thoughts and opinions on Rebel U as well as the upcoming Digital Learning Day.  We had a wide range of responses, and we were happy to hear what everyone had to share!

Based on the survey results regarding Digital Learning Day, one thing we would like to clarify is that the Technology and Media Team will not be presenting any professional development on this day.  Digital Learning Day is designed as a day for educators to use technology in their instruction and student learning.  If you would like more information about this day, please click here.

If you are unable to view any of the responses below, a link to spreadsheet of responses can be found here.

2014 #EdTechCheer Wrap Up

Come visit me over at my blog to check out a series of posts on the 2014 12 Days of EdTech Cheer!

1. 2014 EdTech Cheer Wrap Up
2. 2014 EdTech Cheer - Yearly Analysis

Want a sneak peak at some of the charts you can see in the Yearly Analysis post?

Mac Tips: [ctrl+alt+delete] on a Mac

Do you struggle with knowing how many applications are currently open on your Mac? Do you find that sometimes an application will freeze or is unresponsive? On a Windows computer most of us are familiar with the command [ctrl+alt+delete].  This command allows us to see which applications are not responding and close out of them.  On a Mac computer that process is called "force quit". To bring up the "force quit" menu, press [command+option+esc] then select the unresponsive application from the force quit window that appears, and click force quit.

The Apple Support article here goes into a little bit more detail about force quit if you are interested in making Mac experience more efficient.

Monthly Tech Survey {December Results}

Last month, we sent out a survey to our staff asking their opinions on professional development.  We intentionally left this a bit vague and did not focus on specifically "technology professional development," but rather professional development in general.  We received 20 responses and had so many insightful comments about professional development/learning that will definitely help us with future planning!

Listed below are the extended responses we received to our open-ended survey questions.



Another question we asked if the respondents had checked out the 2014 12 Days of EdTech Cheer (an online, self-paced professional learning opportunity).  This question was posed as the 2014 12 Days of EdTech Cheer was currently underway and it was the GLPS Tech Team's mid-year professional development that was open to everyone.  We like to carry the spirit of Rebel U throughout the school year and support teacher instruction and student learning in anyway that we can.  Of the 20 respondents, more than half of them had check out EdTech Cheer (and some were actively participating), which is great news!



So what does this mean?  Well, based on the given responses, we feel as though we are meeting some of the professional development/learning needs of teachers through Rebel U and EdTech Cheer.  Our PD is not just limited to those two events though and we are always open to hearing ideas from teachers and administrators how we can provide appropriate and relevant services to help increase student achievement.  We strive to empower our teachers to feel comfortable with the provided technology resources and want them to feel confident to use those resources with their students.  
As a way of helping our teachers keep track of their professional participation, we are also issuing digital learning badges.  To learn more about how we are using these, please click here.
We always ask for input from our teachers about how we can improve upon our PD to fulfill their needs.  Which leads us to our January Monthly Tech Survey!  We want to know your thoughts about Rebel U 2015 and the upcoming Digital Learning Day.  If you are a GLPS staff member, please check your email for this months' survey!

GLPS Professional Learning {Digital Learning Badges}

Last year our GLPS Tech & Media Team started issuing digital learning badges for participation in professional development involvement.  We used Credly as our service for issuing (free!) digital learning badges.  It was great to share accomplishments with teachers and is a different way for our teachers to display their professional involvement.

So What Does This Mean to You?

Well, this year the TLA Department and the Tech & Media Team are working together to issue digital badges for professional learning participation.  You can look forward to receiving some digital badges in your inbox soon for your participation in professional learning that was provided by the TLA Department or the Tech & Media Team.


I Received a Badge, Now What?

Credly is a service that allows you to reward people with "credits" for participation.  It is a free service and users do not necessarily need to have a Credly account to receive a badge.  Once a badge has been issued to a person, an email is automatically sent to the individual notifying them of their badge, as well as a picture of the badge.  If a user signs up for a Credly account, they then have the options to organize their badges and even embed a collection of badges on a website.

If you are a teacher that has received a digital learning badge - now what are your next steps?

1. You will receive an email from GLPS Tech & Media notifying you of your badge.  If you choose to do nothing with your badges, you are done at this point.  We recommend saving the email though in case you would like to reference it in the future.
2. If you would like to keep track of your badges, we recommend creating an account with Credly (the service we are using for issuing digital badges - it is free to create an account).
3. Once you have created an account, it is helpful if you create a "Category."  This will help you organize your badges and allow you to embed them on your website if you choose to do so.
4. To create a Category, under the Earned section on the My Credit page, click on Categories.  Click on the +Add Category button.
5. Select your badges and place them in a category you created.  Once you create your category and place badges in that category, you will see a button that looks like "< / >" that will provide you with some HTML code.
6. If you would like to show off your badges on your website, simply copy this code and paste it onto your website.
7. After this initial set-up, when you receive a new badge, simply accept the badge from the email (or log in to Credly) and select a category for it to be placed in, and your website will then automatically be updated with your new badge!  If you would like to see an example of how they would be displayed on your website, take a look at Sarah Wood's website to see.

10 Minute Tech Tools - Epic! Books for Kids

Are you looking for a way to access free books from your iPad(s)?  Look no further!  Epic! books has thousands of interactive books that are available free to educators.

To read more about this "10 Minute Tech Tool," check out my blog post here!