Certain conditions must exist for schools to effectively use technology to enhance education. The International Society for Technology Educators recommends a combination of essential conditions necessary to create learning environments conducive to powerful uses of technology including:
-Vision with support and proactive leadership from the education system -Educators skilled in the use of technology for learning -Content standards and curriculum resources -Student-centered approaches to learning -Assessment of the effectiveness of technology for learning -Access to contemporary technologies, software, and telecommunications networks -Technical assistance for maintaining and using technology resources -Community partners who provide expertise, support, and real-life interactions -Ongoing financial support for sustained technology use -Policies and standards supporting new learning environments
If you want to determine if your school has the conditions essential for meeting the National Educational Technology standards check out this handy “Essential Conditions for Success” tool which enables you to assess where you are and determine plans to move to where you want to be.
Innovative educators looking for a job where their talents will shine, can apply for a staff developer position working on a Title 2D grant in New York City. These grants are designed to support schools in moving teaching, learning and leading into the 21st Century. Click here to go to the posting to apply for a position.
For Manhattan I am specifically looking for certified NYC teachers with expertise in any of the following areas:
Curriculum Mapping
Digital Video
Writing Workshop / Literacy
Leadership and system change – comfort working with principals and staff on school change in alignment with NETS Standards
Grants are written in accordance with one of three themes:
Leadership and System Change through Technology Innovation;
Educational Leadership in Technology Infusion
System Change of Teaching and Learning through Technology
Innovative Approach to Technology Literacy and 21st Century Skills Acquisition and Assessment
Technology Infusion into Instruction through Professional Development;
Embedded and Personalized Professional Development on Technology Infusion
Pairing and Mentoring Professional Development on Technology Infusion
Expanding Professional Development Opportunities through Online Technology
Data-driven Differentiated Instruction and Learning;
Data-driven Personalized Instruction
Formative Assessment and Adaptive Learning
Performance-based and Innovative Assessment
If you are interested in working under one of the grants, apply here and please comment to this post indicating your intentions. If you apply, in your cover letter sell yourself and your experience. Mention this blog if you are a reader. You may want to read Five ideas for Innovative Educators On The Job Hunt and incorporate some of those tips. I look forward to possibly meeting some of you and your colleagues interested in working on these grants.
Innovative educators are always looking for free or low-cost curriculum and PD resources for teachers. Liana Heitin shares her picks in a recent issue of Teacher Magazine in her Web Sites to Know article where she suggests the following sites:
Innovative educators concerned about ensuring they are taking copyright issues into account when using digital media and 21st century tools might find Teaching Copyrightto be a useful site.Below is the overview of the organization taken from their website.
There's a lot of misinformation out there about legal rights and responsibilities in the digital era.
This is especially disconcerting when it comes to information being shared with youth. Kids and teens are bombarded with messages from a myriad of sources that using new technology is high-risk behavior. Downloading music is compared to stealing a bicycle — even though many downloads are lawful. Making videos using short clips from other sources is treated as probably illegal — even though many such videos are also lawful.
This misinformation is harmful, because it discourages kids and teens from following their natural inclination to be innovative and inquisitive. The innovators, artists and voters of tomorrow need to know that copyright law restricts many activities but also permits many others. And they need to know the positive steps they can take to protect themselves in the digital sphere. In short, youth don't need more intimidation — what they need is solid, accurate information.
EFF's Teaching Copyright curriculum was created to help teachers present the laws surrounding digital rights in a balanced way.
Teaching Copyright provides lessons and ideas for opening your classroom up to discussion, letting your students express their ideas and concerns, and then guiding your students toward an understanding of the boundaries of copyright law.
In five distinct lessons, students are challenged to:
Reflect on what they already know about copyright law.
See the connection between the history of innovation and the history of copyright law.
Learn about fair use, free speech, and the public domain and how those concepts relate to using materials created by others.
Experience various stakeholders' interests and master the principles of fair use through a mock trial.
Teaching Copyright will require your students to think about their role in the online world and provide them with the legal framework they need to make informed choices about their online behavior.
Editor’s Note:I invite readers who have topics of interest to innovative educators to submit contributions.This guest post, courtesy of Julie-Ann Amos is one such submission.Julie-Ann is a freelance writer who covers topics such as online university rankings and reviews, elearning tools, and more.
Everyone has a learning style that is most effective for assimilating and understanding new information. It is interesting to note that most people actually use all learning styles, depending on the specific type of learning they are required to do. There are three basic styles, seeing or visual, hearing or auditory and movement or kinesthetic/tactile.
Finding out what your prominent or predominant learning style is doesn't take a lot of time, but it does take some self reflection. Ask yourself these seven questions to determine what type of learner you are:
When you are trying something new do you learn best by reading about it, hearing someone tell you about doing it or trying it out yourself?
If you would choose to read about it you are more of a visual learner, if you would prefer to hear about it you are a more auditory learner and if you would like to try it yourself you are more of a tactile learner.
If you read information that is new to you do you see visual pictures in your head of the information, do you read aloud to yourself or do you make models or drawings of what you are reading?
Visual learners see movies in their head or make mental images of what they are reading, auditory learners say the words out loud so they hear them and tactile or kinesthetic learners do best with a 3-dimensional drawing or model they can touch and manipulate to understand.
When studying or learning do you like it quiet, tolerate lots of noise or need to get up and take frequent breaks?
Visual learners tend to be able to tolerate lots of noise when they study. Auditory learners are OK with noise if it is related to the material but find additional sound distracting when learning new material. Kinesthetic learners need to get up and move around and take frequent breaks.
Do you tend to color code, highlight or enjoy playing visual games or computer games to learn?
Typically visual and kinesthetic learners are the most likely to manipulate the learning material. Tactile learners often do best with interactive types of games, including the computer. Visual learners naturally use highlighting and color coding to categories information.
When hearing instructions do you first make notes to remember, repeat it back to yourself or immediately jump in and get started?
Visual learners will prefer to take notes and make diagrams to remember what the instructions were. Auditory learners often use word associations and repetition to solidify the information and tactile learners have to actually do the activity to learn the information.
When attending a lecture or presentation do you sit near the front or the back of the room?
Visual learners tend to sit near the front where the most visual information is presented. Auditory learners also tend to sit closer to the front since they are focused on hearing what is being provided. Kinesthetic learners sit near the back since they are often tuned out of visual and auditory presentations. They tend to sit near the back where they can move and "fidget" without drawing attention.
When you are teaching someone something new do you prefer to tell them or draw a diagram or show them how to do it?
Typically most people will assume that everyone uses the same learning technique or style that they do. If you find that you draw diagrams to explain the information to others you are more visual, if you tell them you are more auditory and if you show them you are more of a kinesthetic learner yourself.
There's been much written lately about the importance of online learning. Today's Facebook find is from Miguel Guhlin who in his blog shares the wisdom that comes from reflecting on past successes and mistakes with online course facilitation. Guhlin's post "8 Tips for Successful Online Course Facilitation," provides readers with information about these insightful tips.
Address the logistics of the course in your course materials
Personalize your online learning environment with multimedia
Develop and share materials (e.g. brochures) with potential participants
Set up forums that address the “social dimension” of introducing people and getting to know each other, as well as forums for dealing with technical aspects
Remember to scaffold and support learning conversations rather than dominate them
Don’t be afraid to summarize–also known as landscape–the ongoing conversations periodically
Avoid long discussion posts, as well as posts that feature a lot of questions
Encourage people to discover each other’s strengths and what they each have to bring to the table
This valuable post is suggested reading for anyone interested in bringing this type of innovative teaching and learning to their schools.
Certain conditions must exist for schools to effectively use technology to enhance education. The International Society for Technology Educators recommends a combination of essential conditions necessary to create learning environments conducive to powerful uses of technology including: 
