New members continue to join the Fremd TechSpot wiki. New content is not really being added at this point, but I have this feeling people are wanting a place of collaborative ownership; somewhere to go to for quick help, general information, or to share their own educational technology tips and discoveries. I blogged a few weeks ago that OneNote can be that personal organizational tool that gets you going everyday. The Fremd TechSpot wiki, on the other hand, can be that place to wander with the comfort of knowing the information found there has been added by our colleagues both close to home and perhaps even in the neighborhood. Colleagues from PHS have caught wind of our wiki and have joined so they can help add to the knowledge base, too.
The wiki is taking on its own structure so be sure to follow it should you want to add a new page. I am promoting some of the more active Tech Coaches to the role of moderator as I know you will enjoy having more freedom to make changes as you see are needed.
Tablet tips will be archived at the Fremd Tech Spot wiki. Summaries of our monthly technology learnings will be kept there as well. I'll even try to do something with the tablet training topics. Less email is more and a more centralized location for information, beyond a static webpage, where true collaboration takes place, could be a welcome sigh of relief for us all.
I hope I'm 'getting' it. Please let me know.
Showing posts with label General tech thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General tech thoughts. Show all posts
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
Off we go!
Staff Development, Late Start, and Institute day plans are all being made behind the scenes as we enter our third week of the school year. I am part of the Technology Staff Development committee that also includes Tony Miller and Eric Wenckowski. We've already met with Lisa Small and will provide her with what we think are most pressing needs of the staff for this school year. So far, we think that Tablet PC training, Web 2.0 tools, and Office 2007 are those top needs. Please think about these topics as I will ask for your thoughts on them at our first meeting in September.
Tablet training felt like 'Tablet draining' for me this summer but the enthusiasm teachers brought to the Phase 1 training sessions energized me each time I met with a different person or small group of teachers. They are excited and eager to continue training so it's up to us to hit a home run and provide the sustained support teachers need to bring the tablet into the classroom and anywhere else learning takes place. Many of you are setting a great example for your teachers, already, by using the tablet when you can with your students or to manage your daily teacher life more efficiently. I am so proud of you!
Phase II training will begin this week (as soon as I get the information out I tried to get send last week!). Please encourage teachers to use the TLC as the location for training. Perhaps a little reminder note in your office or even a cool poster (like Nicole put up in the English office!) will serve to remind teachers of the training they are expected to complete. I will continue to provide training to you and act as a sounding board for you so that you can become a Tablet PC pro. Remember, I'm only a few steps ahead of you so please don't be afraid to show me something you learn about the Tablet PC! I want to learn, too!
The DEG will have updates only a few times a year. Technology Services is going to put in fixes as needed, of course, but major changes, such as those listed in Jeff Butzen's recent email, will occur only a few times during the school year. This will help reduce the amount of time we spend troubleshooting any problems every time a change to the DEG is made.
Please remember to keep a log, journal, blog or some kind of record of your tech duty. This information should be updated periodically and made available upon request of your department chair.
I'm very excited about this school year and look forward to working with you, again!
Off we go!
Tablet training felt like 'Tablet draining' for me this summer but the enthusiasm teachers brought to the Phase 1 training sessions energized me each time I met with a different person or small group of teachers. They are excited and eager to continue training so it's up to us to hit a home run and provide the sustained support teachers need to bring the tablet into the classroom and anywhere else learning takes place. Many of you are setting a great example for your teachers, already, by using the tablet when you can with your students or to manage your daily teacher life more efficiently. I am so proud of you!
Phase II training will begin this week (as soon as I get the information out I tried to get send last week!). Please encourage teachers to use the TLC as the location for training. Perhaps a little reminder note in your office or even a cool poster (like Nicole put up in the English office!) will serve to remind teachers of the training they are expected to complete. I will continue to provide training to you and act as a sounding board for you so that you can become a Tablet PC pro. Remember, I'm only a few steps ahead of you so please don't be afraid to show me something you learn about the Tablet PC! I want to learn, too!
The DEG will have updates only a few times a year. Technology Services is going to put in fixes as needed, of course, but major changes, such as those listed in Jeff Butzen's recent email, will occur only a few times during the school year. This will help reduce the amount of time we spend troubleshooting any problems every time a change to the DEG is made.
Please remember to keep a log, journal, blog or some kind of record of your tech duty. This information should be updated periodically and made available upon request of your department chair.
I'm very excited about this school year and look forward to working with you, again!
Off we go!
Friday, July 11, 2008
New Beginnings, Part II
Honestly, it can't already be a month since I first started this post! Click on the title of this post to read the original....
I am approaching this year as one that will see us playing a bigger role in Professional Development. You are ever expanding your repertoire of technology knowledge and I hope we continue using our monthly meetings as opportunities for further learning. I welcome your comments and thoughts about last year as well as suggestions for this school year. Web 2.0 tools will continue to be used by more and more teachers as they see what other teachers are doing with them in their own classrooms. I would be happy to help you learn about these tools! Please don't be shy at volunteering to share your own expertise!
Tablet PCs will be provided to many more teachers this summer and fall and instruction will fall upon our shoulders. Add to that, Office 2007, and we are already setup for a pretty busy year. So how do we approach Professional Development (PD) to help teachers make sense of it all? I don't see late start days, institute days or even revolving faculty meetings as an answer.
For me, this is an opportunity to step back, slow down, and assess where teachers are developmentally with technology. You and I can jump all over technology and see the benefits but that doesn't mean other teachers will, too.
I truly believe teachers want sustained help with technology. This seems to be the number one complaint from teachers around the US. One day, or one hour snippets of tech may nudge a teacher to investigate but a sustained use by the teacher will not occur unless there is continual support available. The more we can make ourselves available and approachable to teachers, the more we will be viewed as agents of change. One idea is to invoke the All-volving method of PD where a Tech Coach works with a teacher during the entire school year to help the teacher with some aspect of technology. HEHS has used this approach successfully in the past. This idea was also received favorably when I tossed it out there at our last Staff Development meeting in May. (I'll provide more details at our first meeting.) Karl Craddock has suggested that Tech Coaches should rotate to different departments on a daily basis. This is a great idea, too! (How do you feel about that?) Either way, we need to get teachers to realize that teachers exist beyond their own departments who can assist, provide ideas, and walk the talk when it comes to making technology an integral part of their day. These people should be you and me and anyone else who fit this description.
Wes Fryer, author of Moving at the Speed of Creativty, says,
So, we (or is it more me?) have a new beginning. Please let me know your thoughts!
I am approaching this year as one that will see us playing a bigger role in Professional Development. You are ever expanding your repertoire of technology knowledge and I hope we continue using our monthly meetings as opportunities for further learning. I welcome your comments and thoughts about last year as well as suggestions for this school year. Web 2.0 tools will continue to be used by more and more teachers as they see what other teachers are doing with them in their own classrooms. I would be happy to help you learn about these tools! Please don't be shy at volunteering to share your own expertise!
Tablet PCs will be provided to many more teachers this summer and fall and instruction will fall upon our shoulders. Add to that, Office 2007, and we are already setup for a pretty busy year. So how do we approach Professional Development (PD) to help teachers make sense of it all? I don't see late start days, institute days or even revolving faculty meetings as an answer.
For me, this is an opportunity to step back, slow down, and assess where teachers are developmentally with technology. You and I can jump all over technology and see the benefits but that doesn't mean other teachers will, too.
I truly believe teachers want sustained help with technology. This seems to be the number one complaint from teachers around the US. One day, or one hour snippets of tech may nudge a teacher to investigate but a sustained use by the teacher will not occur unless there is continual support available. The more we can make ourselves available and approachable to teachers, the more we will be viewed as agents of change. One idea is to invoke the All-volving method of PD where a Tech Coach works with a teacher during the entire school year to help the teacher with some aspect of technology. HEHS has used this approach successfully in the past. This idea was also received favorably when I tossed it out there at our last Staff Development meeting in May. (I'll provide more details at our first meeting.) Karl Craddock has suggested that Tech Coaches should rotate to different departments on a daily basis. This is a great idea, too! (How do you feel about that?) Either way, we need to get teachers to realize that teachers exist beyond their own departments who can assist, provide ideas, and walk the talk when it comes to making technology an integral part of their day. These people should be you and me and anyone else who fit this description.
Wes Fryer, author of Moving at the Speed of Creativty, says,
To make technology integral to learning, teachers must be able to seamlessly use
technology tools throughout the day as they access, use and share information.
It must become part of the way teachers process and work in their world.
Personal uses of technology are pivotal here, in fact I am sure they are a
prerequisite to higher level uses of technology throughout the curriculum. I
think too many leaders want teachers to skip developmental steps in their own
technology use, and taking that approach is as developmentally inappropriate as
giving a kindergartner an encyclopedia to read instead of a picture book.
So, we (or is it more me?) have a new beginning. Please let me know your thoughts!
Friday, June 06, 2008
New Beginnings
Another year has whisked by with many new educational technology changes being put into place.
The DEG improved in speed, recently, and new features are making it ever easier to do the tasks we used to grudge over in the past. Many new improvments are in the works and teachers are generally pleased with the progress, albeit, slow progress that is being made. I am impressed with the patience teachers exhibit as they absorb every single bit of electron text I send as I report pro-active instructions, or reactive fixes to problems with the DEG.
The Apperson Scanners are another matter altogether. I encourage you read Nicole LaBeau's post on her own and department frustrations with the machines, especially during finals week. I could not write a better essay on this topic. I am hopeful that changes will be put in place either during the summer or during the coming school year.
I have more to write and will continue after I help my daughter get a truck to help her move out of my house to her own dwelling in Lincoln Park this Saturday!
The DEG improved in speed, recently, and new features are making it ever easier to do the tasks we used to grudge over in the past. Many new improvments are in the works and teachers are generally pleased with the progress, albeit, slow progress that is being made. I am impressed with the patience teachers exhibit as they absorb every single bit of electron text I send as I report pro-active instructions, or reactive fixes to problems with the DEG.
The Apperson Scanners are another matter altogether. I encourage you read Nicole LaBeau's post on her own and department frustrations with the machines, especially during finals week. I could not write a better essay on this topic. I am hopeful that changes will be put in place either during the summer or during the coming school year.
I have more to write and will continue after I help my daughter get a truck to help her move out of my house to her own dwelling in Lincoln Park this Saturday!
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