TechTuesday Offerings Spring 2012
The 2012 Spring Tech Tuesday schedule is here! Please consider attending any of these sessions that interest you. All Eastern Howard employees are able to attend. Dates and times are subject to change as problems do sometimes arise but I will give my best effort to keep all of the listed dates. Any dates with "tbd" listed mean topics are yet to be determined. Any dates with "tentative" listed behind mean plans have not yet been finalized. I will update this list as the weeks go on and I will be moving it to it's own section on the main menu very soon. Locations will be announced as locations allow.....I hope to have locations nailed down upon the corporations restart in January, 2012.
- January 10th Clickers in the Classroom: Would you like to have a better understanding of what clickers are and how you can use them to create custom quizzes and games for use in class? Did you know you can even have your assignments graded using the clicker system, give self-paced tests, and pull in examview tests you have already used in your classroom that go along with your textbook (if the software came with your textbook adoption). Join in this great opportunity to see the clickers in action and gain ideas of how to use them in your own curriculum.
- January 17th Apps for Education and Organization: Come join in this exploration of different apps on the i framework. Looking for an app to sync your notes between your computer and your iDevice? Are you looking for a remote control app so you can log into your computer from your device? Perhaps you are even looking for a way to video chat with you device. We will explore all of these and more interesting topics as we look at both free and low priced apps to help you take control of your device in your life and your classroom.
- January 24th Creating Your Own Class Facebook Page: Whether you are new to Facebook or an old pro, you have something to contribute to the discussion of how to use the service for classrooms. Maybe you don't know how to setup a fan page for your class but really would like to try it. Come join the droves of teachers that are using the online giant for classroom communication in a safe successful way. ***Class canceled due to lack of response***
- January 31st Understanding How the School Network Works: Have you ever wondered how a network works, where your G:/ drive is, or how the magic of settings following you from computer to computer happens? Come geek out with me as I talk about how these things work and some troubleshooting you can do if you are experiencing internet problems either at school or at home for that case. ***Class canceled due to lack of response***
- February 7th Developing Webquests and Digital Curriculum: Webquests have been around for a while and for the longest time lack of technology (rather lack because of expense) has been a major factor for teachers that would like to develop engaging, personal explorations of topics through the use of the web. Those days are quickly disappearing as digital devices are becoming more and more prevalent. Learn how to build a webquest and create one during class that you can use with your students. ***Class canceled due to lack of response***
- February 14th Google Docs and Services in School (A Preview): Do you love Google and all of its googly goodness? Well a lot of schools are moving to Google services and apps to replace some of their more costly programs like M$ Office and Groupwise (actually groupwise is fairly cheap). With Google you can collaborate with other teachers in real time, share calendars and dates as a group, even post videos and pictures for others to download. Are you interested in using Google apps in your department? One day we could very well be able to use these tools with our student body. Come see these tools in action and the potential they have in your daily life and classroom. ***Class canceled due to lack of response***
- February 21st Teacher iPads as Computer Access Devices (tentative): iPads are great devices but wouldn't it be great if you could walk around your room and control your computer with the iPad? You could project on your whiteboard and interact with it without being stuck at a desk or stuck standing in the very front of the room. What a great concept. What about going to a meeting and forgetting an important document on your computer? With some pretty inexpensive (some free) apps you can do both of these things and more.
- February 28th Advanced Websites with Drupal Gardens: Many teachers have started class web pages, Facebook pages, and even wikipages. Would you like to take more control of your web page and create something a little more unique? Drupal Gardens offers a free plan that allows you to build your own Drupal site from premade templates. You can even export your site and host it yourself if you would rather put it on your own server once you are finished.....but there I go "geeking out..." This site is run on Drupal Gardens and is very easy to maintain and add to, if you are up to the task of coming to class and setting everything up to begin with. When you leave you will have a fully functional site ready for daily use. ***Class canceled due to lack of response***
- March 6th Distance Learning With Skype and Facetime: iPads and web cams are great for recording student skits and classroom activities for sharing with parents, but they are also really great for communication. Would you like to have a video penpal class in a different part of the world or would you like to talk with an expert in a subject that lives very far away. Come to class and see how easily you can set up an opportunity like this for your students and get ideas of where to find others to partner with. ***Class canceled due to lack of response***
- March 13th, 14th, and 15th: Moodle...it's a funny word, but a very powerful word as well. Moodle is an online class management system. It is compatible with any internet connected device that runs a modern browser. It can help you to increase participation in your classes and allow students to build their own meaning working at a pace that fits their learning styles. It can allow students to be more self-directed completing tasks in new ways. It can cut down on your workload once you have done the initial setup and transferred over to the digital way of doing things. You can even create online tests and quizzes with Moodle, and if they are multiple choice have them graded. Save paper, save time, save your sanity. Learn what Moodle is and how it can help you in your classroom. Come to this three day (one hour each day) session on learning the basics of Moodle, and leave with a fully functioning site ready to use with students.
- March 20th, 21st, and 22nd: My Big Campus....Please read the example of Moodle above and picture it for younger children in more of a Facebook type layout. Same goals apply.
- April 17th: Levaraging the cloud for productivity. Is your head stuck in the cloud but there are some questions you have about it? What are the benefits of the cloud how can you use it to increase your productivity? From DropBox, to iCloud, to Google docs, Skydrive and beyond, there are a lot of options to consider. What goes on in cloud computing? Come to the session and see exactly what has businesses flying so high and how you can use it to your advantage in your personal and professional life.
- April 24th: Socrative, polling and testing the easy way on mobile devices. If you haven't seen Socrative in action you may want to attend this session. Even if you have this session will give you time to sign up for an account, login for the first time, and create a sample quiz or questionairre to tryout in class. Socrative is an online response system that works from any internet connected device....ie. iPads, smart phones, laptops, netbooks, the microchip receiver I had implanted directly into my brain over spring break, etc.
- May 1st: iPad Apps for next years classroom...Wow school is almost over for the year and it is time to start looking ahead to next year. With the adoption of iPads in grades k-8 and teachers having their own, we really need to consider apps that are useful across the board. Want a glimpse of the possibilities? These aren't your everyday kid based apps. These are apps to get you sharing documents with your students, organize your classroom, and overall transfer to a more paperless environment.
- May 8th: Slide shows and movie clip editing with Microsoft tools. Come piece together something fantastic!
- May 15th The School Google App Domain: Do you love Google and all of its googly goodness? Well a lot of schools are moving to Google services and apps to replace some of their more costly programs like M$ Office and Groupwise (actually groupwise is fairly cheap). With Google you can collaborate with other teachers in real time, share calendars and dates as a group, even post videos and pictures for others to download. Are you interested in using Google apps in your department? One day we could very well be able to use these tools with our student body. Come see these tools in action and the potential they have in your daily life and classroom. We now have our own school app domain, which means you have a school Google account to try out whether you have created a personal account in the past or not.
- May 22nd Peparing Your Files and Computers For Summer Maint: Summer is fast approaching and with that come changes in Tech. Come to this learning event to wrap up the year and get individual help with things like saving bookmarks, backing-up files, and general all around questions.