NEWS FROM TECHTERRA EDUCATION
July 2017
Back to School: Neat Ideas and Tools from ISTE
By, Susan Wells, Founder
Over 21,000 educators, trainers, and others attended this year’s ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference in San Antonia, Texas. The conference attracted visitors to the exhibition hall, Playgrounds, and speaker presentations. As the out-going president of the ISTE Mobile Learning Network and as the founder and CEO of TechTerra Education, it was thrilling to see the scope of this stimulating experience.
Our team hosted Playgrounds, worked MegaShare, manned our TechTerra booth, and sought out tools and ideas that looked like the top picks for educators, trainers, and learners for the year to come.
This year we saw a few new tools that caught our attention. One tool that really stood out for us was the Chibitronics new Love to Code programmable board, Chibitronics Love to Code. We had the honor of hosting Chibitronics’ founder and CEO, Jie Qi, as she trained our team with the new board. Not only did the Love to Code board allow us to code without installing software but we had a lot of fun exploring and creating together.
At ISTE our team was excited to watch the enthusiasm of educators and trainers from all over the world looking for ways to incorporate STEM camp, STEM curriculum, and edtech tools, into their STEM labs and makerspaces. And that’s why we’re here.
TechTerra training connects educators and trainers to tools, standards, and curriculum so that STEM labs and makerspaces will be used to ensure STEM for all. In addition to our training, our after school fall, spring, and summer camps make STEM camp accessible for all learners.
Our training and camps, founded on project-based learning and computational thinking, enable educators to engage and lead 21st century learners to take ownership of their own learning. In our training and at our camps we integrate hand-on experiences with critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity. We want everyone to connect with TechTerra Education to make STEM an everyday reality in their educational setting.
Contact us! For ways to get donors to give you a hand in funding training and camps, take a look at Donors Choose.
The Once and Future QR Codes
QR (quick response) codes are back! These 2 dimensional codes were everywhere a few years ago – in parks, on art, in stores – everywhere. They link the physical world – for example, a sign at a museum -to the digital world – a webpage for ticket sales and information.
QR codes were used for tracking, email, and text. Not too long ago though, they seemed to fall out of favor – at least in the US. Now they’ve made a comeback. The Curious Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code.
The QR code revival in the US can be traced to a few factors. Snap’s CEO found the use of QR codes in China so appealing that he implemented Snapcodes with images and the ability to directly assign a snapcode to a specific website. Spotify, Messenger, WhatsApp (scan a QR code to log in to messaging) followed. It turns out QR codes are a good tool for messaging, website logins, code payment, videos, and - just as we found years ago - for encoding lots of information for the benefit of others. We should expect to see more QR codes as we move forward now that the codes can be directly scanned without the need to download a separate app.
And, in fact, the codes are more appealing too. With inset images and imaginative users this old tool has made a comeback.
We’re glad we invested in QR codes in the early days –this investment continues to pay off today. As an example of our use, we placed QR codes on signs in a reflective Garden as an early project at a local elementary school. These signs can be found throughout the garden and encode the history of the school, the garden, the students, and more.
Now that the codes are even more accessible today than when we first undertook our project, it is great to know that our hard work then continues to matter today.
CAMP TECHTERRA SUMMER CAMPERS ACTIVE and EXCITED BY STEM
Camp TechTerra’s summer camp sessions kept kids and staff busy coding, building circuitry, constructing and directing robots, flying drones, and making creative projects. Campers explored space, building, cyber-spying, bugs and bots, under the sea, cooking and coding, and superheros with lots of fun digital tools.
They made movies with Zu3D stop animation software, created 3D designs, and built code to make their robots take action. They explored with bug bots, cooked and coded, went to space and under the sea with digital tools. They learned by building, took action as cyber spies, and became superheros. They will be ready for STEM at school when the doors open.
This year Camp TechTerra will embed its STEM fall and spring sessions into the school day.
Our goal is to ensure STEM equity for all because we know that while all kids go to school, some kids can’t stay after school for activities. So we’re making our camp sessions with hand-on coding, robotics, 3D printing, and digital storytelling available during the school day for those schools that want an embedded option. To find out more, fill out our “Interest in Camp” form or call us at (919) 519-9097. Bring Camp TechTerra to your kids in 2017!
Our TechTerra Shop is open. You can use our Shop this fall to pay for after-school camps and use our online Registration Form to register your camper. It’s easy to do. If you want to pay by check, you can mail your tuition check to: TechTerra Education, 104R Highway 54 Bypass, #351,Carrboro, NC 27510 (Please make your check payable to: TechTerra Education.)
IN THE NEWS
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Take a look at how to participate in the August 21, 2017 Solar Eclipse.
► Computer Code Jam Finals are August 10, 2017
Follow the world Code Jam finals taking place in Dublin, Ireland.
About TechTerra Education
The TechTerra Education curriculum, inspired and informed by Maker Education and Project Based Learning, was developed by Susan Wells, a national leader in mobile-integrated education and a former public school educator who made ground-breaking advances integrating digital technology into the classroom.
TechTerra Education offers professional development training, school solutions, and tool solutions. We bring our training to you to meet your needs for 21st century learners from ages 5 to young adults. We offer Camp TechTerra through these venues: after school fall and spring sessions, integrated into the school day sessions, and summer camps, for students ages 5 to 14.
Bring STEM equity to your school and help young people better understand the natural world through coding, storytelling, and digital devices.
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