THE Journal — Professional Development
Holt Launches Teacher One Stop
Holt McDougal has launched a new planning resource called Teacher One Stop, similar to Holt's One Stop Planner, offering documents, tools, and multimedia designed for curriculum management on DVD. The launch was announced last week during the FETC 2008 conference in Florida.
(1/29/2008)
Brief: Sally Ride To Keynote TCEA
Sally Ride will deliver the opening keynote address at the annual convention of the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) next week. Ride, a former astronaut and physics professor and current president and CEO of Sally Ride Science, will tackle ongoing issues in K-12 STEM education, including ways in which teachers can encourage students to pursue science in their studies and choice of careers.
(1/29/2008)
FETC 2008: It's All About Community
Education technology took center stage in Florida last week as teachers, administrators and district technology experts gathered at FETC 2008 in Orlando. Podcasting, digital collaboration and Web 2.0 dominated much of the discussion, but security, new and emerging technologies, and environmental education were also major themes.
(1/28/2008)
Tips for Using Chat as an Instructional Tool
Chat software (text or media-based) provides an excellent tool in supporting academic dialog (exchange), critical thinking, and knowledge building. The immediacy of the technology provides students with a direct connection with the instructor as well as other students. While chat software is usually used for "chatting," and, therefore, it has a relaxed and colloquial protocol, with a little thought and planning, it can also be used well to support instruction.
(1/16/2008)
K-12 Online Teaching Endorsements: Are They Needed?
According to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2007), "Research shows that the single most important school-related factor in raising student achievement is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. Today, in the era of high standards and increased accountability, boosting teacher quality is more crucial than ever before" (p. 4). The nature of the 21st-century classroom is rapidly changing. Online education in K-12, also called virtual schooling, is growing at about 30 percent annually (North American Council for Online Learning [NACOL], 2007). With this rise comes an increase in demand for experienced teachers to teach online, which adds another dimension to this issue of teacher quality.
(1/10/2008)
Verizon Awards West Virginia Schools $48,000 for Online Resources
The Verizon Foundation has awarded $48,000 to the West Virginia Department of Education. The grant will be used to provide train teachers in the use of Verizon's Thinkfinity and to raise awareness of the online portal.
(11/27/2007)
WiFi Bolsters Alabama District's 1:1 Tablet PC Program
Auburn City Schools in Alabama has found that a "no strings attached" approach to classroom networking has let new approaches to instruction take flight. The district has deployed a WiFi network to more than 1,000 tablet PC-equipped students and teachers at its junior high and high schools as part of a 21st Century Learning Initiative.
(11/26/2007)
EducationPD Launches Professional Development Portal
EducationPD has launched a new online professional development center for teachers and school staff members. The site, EducationPD.com, provides supplemental resources for existing K-12 professional development programs, including full online courses.
(11/26/2007)
Route 21 Paves the Way for 21st Century Skills
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has launched a new resource focused on providing information and tools for educators for boosting 21st century learning in K-12. Designed as a "one-stop shop for 21st century skills-related information, resources, and tools," the site provides more than 450 individual resources and has attracted about 500 members since its launch last week.
(11/19/2007)
Teacher Site Adds Free Quiz Resources
MeadWestvaco's educator-focused Mead4Teachers site has expanded the range of free resources it's offering for classroom instruction and collaboration. The site recently added gaming resources aimed at classroom learning, as well as forums and news. As part of the launch, MeadWestvaco (the parent company of Mead and other office products brands) is also launching a sweepstakes offering $500 toward the purchase of its products.
(11/19/2007)
Much of Professional Development's Impact on Student Achievement 'Unknown'
The amount of professional development teachers receive affects their students' achievement, but the specifics of that relationship are still sketchy, according to findings from the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest.
(11/15/2007)
Blended Program Supports Preschool Literacy
Teachscape has launched three new professional development series for pre-kindergarten educators and mentors, combining face to face and online learning programs that incorporate access to training content, reporting, and work management applications using Teachscape's Online Program Manager. The programs focus on developing skills for educators teaching literacy skills to preschoolers and fostering environments that promote language learning for principals, mentors, and other education supporters.
(11/5/2007)
21st Century Learning: 'We're Not Even Close'
Without incorporating technology into every aspect of its activities, no organization can expect to achieve results in this increasingly digital world. Yet education is dead last in technology use compared with all major industrial sectors, and that has to change in order for schools to meet the challenges of 21st century learning--this according to a paper released Monday by the State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills at the SETDA Leadership Summit and Education Forum in Washington, DC.
(11/5/2007)
Beaufort County SD Revamps Network for E-Learning
Beaufort County School District is South Carolina is overhauling its network infrastructure to facilitate e-learning applications and to help provide advanced online professional development through the use of streaming video. The district is working with technology provider Extreme Networks and systems integrator Converged Networks on the overhaul.
(11/1/2007)
STEM Equity Gets Boost from NSF
In an effort to explore methods for encouraging females to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), the National Science Foundation has awarded the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) Education Foundation an extension services grant. The grant comes through the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Program and was awarded to implement NAPE's five-year STEM Equity Pipeline project.
(10/29/2007)
KDS Adds 11 Online Professional Development Courses
Knowledge Delivery Systems (KDS) has launched 11 new professional development courses for K-12 educators through Adams State College's Teacher Education Program. Adams State College, in Colorado, is providing one graduate credit for each of the courses, accredited through the Teacher Education Accreditation Council and Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
(10/25/2007)
Can Game Development Impact Academic Achievement?
Electronic gaming has recently been hailed as the great new potential for transforming education. A growing body of research and practice suggests videogames can motivate as well as teach and help users learn. Fewer scientific studies, but just as much potential, exist within the area of student game development. In part 1 of this two-part article series, we look at the foundational reasons for why game development matters in the K-12 curriculum, both inside and outside of school.
(10/25/2007)
ITCC To Bolster STEM Education
Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana this month received a $3.1 million grant from the state's North Central Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative. The grant will be used to enhance STEM education in K-12, higher education, and businesses and will train an estimated 44,000 people in North Central Indiana over the next five years.
(10/24/2007)
PBS Boosts Peer Connection Resources
PBS TeacherLine has expanded its professional development support tools through Peer Connection, a portal tailored for instructional coaches--those who develop and deliver professional development for their peers. It now includes expanded resources in core subjects and instructional technology.
(10/23/2007)
Homework: A Math Dilemma and What To Do About It
The issue of assigning homework is controversial in terms of its purpose, what to assign, the amount of time needed to complete it, parental involvement, its actual affect on learning and achievement, and impact on family life and other valuable activities that occur outside of school hours. I have encountered all of those controversies in my years of teaching mathematics. Math homework is usually a daily event. Unfortunately, many teachers assign most homework from problem sets following the section of the text that was addressed that day. There is little differentiation. For the most part the entire class gets the same assignment. (In fairness, teachers do take into consideration the nature of those problems, which are often grouped by difficulty, deciding which to assign based on the general ability level of students in the class: below average, average, above average, or mixed.)
(10/22/2007)
Test Prep and Math Realities
As another school year is getting well under way, educators are faced with starting the process all over again for preparing students for standardized testing. It's not something that can be put off until the last moment. Failure to pass "the test" sometimes prevents high school students from receiving their graduation diplomas. Elementary students might be retained in a grade. There is the usual dilemma of teaching to the test versus incorporating activities that help students develop 21st century skills valued in the real world.
(10/1/2007)
DoE UMass Dartmouth Grant Targets Math Education
The United States Department of Education has awarded the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth $2 million for a research effort aimed at improving math education. The funds will be used by the university's recently dedicated James J. Kaput Center for Research and Innovation in Mathematics Education to "examine new strategies to excite students about learning math, and increase the number and diversity of students in the math, science, and engineering pipeline," the university reported.
(9/28/2007)
Blackboard, Wimba Partner for K-12 Collaboration Tools
CMS/LMS developer Blackboard has teamed up with Wimba, a provider of collaboration tools for electronic learning, to bring the Wimba Collaboration Suite Express to K-12 schools and districts using the Blackboard Learning System. The collaboration tools will be delivered to current and new Backboard Learning System (including Basic Edition) clients in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
(9/27/2007)
Autodesk Launches Academic Certs
Software developer Autodesk is expanding its certifications to secondary and post-secondary students through its new Autodesk academic certification program. The credential students earn is the same as the professional-level credential but is offered at an academic discount.
(9/27/2007)
FileMaker Releases Free K-12 Training
FileMaker has released a set of training materials for K-12 educators using the company's FileMaker Pro database solution. The training materials, collectively known as "FileMaker Pro Basics," are available free, along with a FileMaker 9 trial edition.
(9/19/2007)
