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10 ways to change the minds of tech-reluctant staff

10 ways to change the minds of tech-reluctant staff
We often hear about tech-savvy educators and administrators who have an array of best practices and whose love for technology is evident. But as anyone who’s ever been part of a school or district knows, not all teachers and administrators are as comfortable or familiar with technology. In a recent “Question of the Week,” we asked our tech-savvy readers: “How do you get tech-reluctant teachers and administrators to use technology effectively?” Here are our readers’ top answers (edited for brevity). 1. Use technology for personal reasons first. “To get educational staff on board with tech, encourage and support them using tech for their non-work purposes. 2. “As a principal, I make time to offer and teach the [professional development] myself. “During the past 12 years, and through all of the technology changes we have encountered, I have found that the most effective way to get others to effectively use technology is by modeling. Related:  digital skills

Professional Development Guides These free instructional guides, formerly known as the Teaching Modules, were developed by education faculty and professional developers for their colleagues. They can be employed as extension units in existing courses or can be used independently in workshops and meetings. Each guide includes articles, links to video footage, PowerPoint presentations, and class activities. We will update these modules over time, and we welcome your suggestions for future topics and feedback. Mountlake Terrace High School: Eeva Reeder (pictured) developed and implemented an architecture assignment for her geometry students in which they design a school and consult with local experts. Project-Based Learning Professional Development Guide Project-based learning, as with all lessons, requires much preparation and planning. Handhelds Go to Class: Teacher Josh Barron and one of his students often go through the strange-looking rite of "beaming" information to each other. Assessment Professional Development Guide

Vital | Transforming lessons, inspiring learning The Technology Learning Cycle The Technology Learning Cycle is a tool that faculty can use to reflect on their own learning about technology. It provides a way to think about how we learn to use new tools and incorporate them into our teaching. The Cycle was developed in the late 1990s at the University of Missouri to help faculty members who were training pre-service teachers in the use of technology. A central premise of this model is that faculty must be lifelong learners with regard to technology. Phases of the technology learning cycle The cycle repeats each time you become aware of a new technology and choose to implement it in the classroom. Bibliography Wedman, J., & Diggs, L. (2001). A tip o’ the hat to Dr. Like this: Like Loading... Related The Allegory of the Scrambled Egg Many tools are available for faculty who want to help students learn more effectively. In "Commentary"

What makes a good teacher as far as technology is concerned? I'm interested in exploring this question, which I have phrased very carefully. I think whether you're a teacher of information and communications technology, or someone who teaches with educational technology, there are some common denominators of what makes the teaching good. These are all my ideas and conjectures; I have stated them as though they are facts purely in order to avoid clumsy circumlocutions. The first requirement is a willingness to experiment and take chances. You never really know whether something is going to work until you try it. For example, I came across a program a few years ago which made commenting on a student's work very easy: it was possible to give comprehensive feedback in only 5 minutes by clicking various buttons. Clearly, it was the sort of 'solution' you may wish to use with one or two special case students, but not with whole classes. Not everything is within the individual teacher's control. A third requirement is for intellectual honesty.

The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2011 — So Far | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... I usually just do a year-end list on Web 2.0 Applications For Education and many other topics, but it gets a little crazy having to review all of my zillion posts at once. So, to make it easier for me — and perhaps, to make it a little more useful to readers — I’m going to start publishing mid-year lists, too. These won’t be ranked, unlike my year-end “The Best…” lists, and just because a site appears on a mid-year list doesn’t guarantee it will be included in an end-of-the-year one. But, at least, I won’t have to review all my year’s posts in December… As usual, in order to make this list, a site had to be: * accessible to English Language Learners and non-tech savvy users. * free-of-charge. * appropriate for classroom use. * completely browser-based with no download required. It’s possible that a few of these sites began in 2010, but, if so, I’m including them in this list because they were “new to me” in 2011. You might want to visit previous editions: Feedback is welcome.

Increases Engagement Communicating in 140-character segments may seem to contradict the goals of generally long-winded academia, but a new study has found that the two are less opposed than one might think. Students in the study who were asked to contribute to class discussions and complete assignments using Twitter increased their engagement over a semester more than twice as much as a control group. The study used a 19-question survey based on the National Survey of Student Engagement to measure student engagement at the beginning and end of a seminar course for first year students in pre-health professional programs. Four sections (70 students) were given assignments and discussions that incorporated Twitter, such as tweeting about their experiences on a job shadow day or commenting on class readings. Three sections (55 students) did the same assignments and had access to the same information, but didn't use Twitter.

Is CALL outdated? Through both my own interest and the influence of my MA course, I’ve been sending out prompts for dialogue on Twitter, on Facebook and in my office regarding the integration of technology in our classes in terms of the familiar (and purportedly outdated) abbreviation CALL (Computer-assisted language learning), which has been met with a polarised set of opinions. Feel free to chime in. My desire for discussion stems from the Bax article, “CALL – Past, Present and Future” (2003), which responds to CALL’s phases put forth by Warschauer & Healey’s “Computers and language learning: An overview” (1998) and develops the concept of technology’s normalisation in the language learning classroom. This discussion is by no means new1, but maybe we’ve been discussing what’s not practical at this point. So integrated into daily life that we don’t consider it special (Source: The New Yorker, 2011) But first, I think it’s warranted to summarise one of Bax’s points. 1984 was a big year for computers

7 Essential multimedia tools and their free alternatives Why spend money on expensive multimedia tools when you can use comparable alternatives for free? They may not be an exact replacement, but how can you argue with the price? PHOTO EDITING: PhotoshopFree: Splashup Photoshop may be the industry leader when it comes to photo editing and graphic design, but Splashup, a free online tool, has many of the same capabilities at a much cheaper price. WEB DESIGN: DreamweaverFree: KompoZer Looking to create your next web site without paying big money for programs like Dreamweaver? VIDEO: Final Cut, Adobe PremiereFree: iMovie, JayCut Many video editors, both novice and professional, use iMovie to create professional-looking videos and an amateur price. AUDIO: ProTools, Adobe AuditionFree: Audacity, GarageBand Audacity is a comprehensive audio editor with many of the capabilities of its costly competitors. SLIDESHOWS: SoundslidesFree: PhotoPeach INTERACTIVE MEDIA: FlashFree: Effect Generator

eLearning 4 Life Lessons from the past, lessons for the future: 20 years of CALL Links checked 19 April 2012 This article was written in late 1996 and published as a chapter in Korsvold A-K. & Rüschoff B. (1997) (eds.) New technologies in language learning and teaching, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France, ISBN 92-871-3255-0. Inevitably, an article like this dates very quickly and there are many revisions in this Web version. Lesson No. 1 focuses on the importance of ongoing training. Lesson No. 2 is full of warnings about regarding technology as the panacea. Lesson No. 3 on choosing the right hardware is less relevant now than it was in the 1990s. Lesson No. 4: I was a bit hard on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Lesson No. 5 focuses on the importance of new ideas - still as valid as ever. Lesson No. 6: I was probably a bit too harsh about "Doing it yourself", as new authoring tools have made life a lot easier for the teacher who wishes to create his/her own learning materials. Lesson No. 7: The Internet has changed immeasurably since this article was written. i. ii.

Ideas to Inspire EmbedPlus - Video editing, chopping, looping, annotations, slow motion, and chapters tool for YouTube embeds and WordPress video plugins Why Curation Will Transform Education and Learning: 10 Key Reasons There is a growing number of key trends that are both rapidly revolutionizing the world of education as we know it and opening up opportunities to review and upgrade the role and scope of many of its existing institutions, (as the likeliness that they are going to soon become obsolete and unsustainable, is right in front of anyone's eyes). George Siemens, in his recent Open Letter to Canadian Universities, sums them up well: 1) An Overwhelming Abundance of Information Which Begs To Be OrganizedThe goal is not (and probably it never was) to learn or memorize all of the information available out there. It's just too much even if we focus only on the very essence of it. The goal is to learn how to learn, to know where to look for something and to be able to identify which parts of all the information available are most relevant to learn or achieve a certain goal or objective.This is why new digital literacy skills are of such great importance. From the New York Times: "...Mr.

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