Dawson County Schools Tech Update
Sharing the good news of Instructional Tech in our schools
Instructional Technology Committee News
Some of the capabilities requested are:
• ease of use for students and teachers,
• a simple, easy to understand user interface,
• connectivity to Powerschool for grade reporting and adding students to courses,
• works great on a mobile device and
• has a user interface that is appropriate to a wide grade range of student abilities.
Some of these systems to be reviewed are
• Canvas,
• Itslearning, and
• Schoology.
Please click on the links to explore a bit more.
The committee will meet February 12 to to review product capabilities in vendor presentations through out the day. Evaluation and discussion will be held at the end of the presentations.
Tana Martin demonstrated how to use the built in feature of video conferencing (in GAFE) to hold meeting online. Click here for more info https://hangouts.google.com/
Technology Take Over Days!
The January visits are:
KES-1/7/16;
DCHS-1/13/16;
RVES-1/26/16
Technology Integration Strategies
Here are projects that have been designed for different grade levels and subjects and a focus on implementing a project instead of how to design one. Use this link to access this free resource: http://pblu.org/projects
Google Apps for Education (GAFE) Learning Resources
Google also offers free, online training that you can participate in, at your own pace. Lessons are broken up into building skills to implement GAFE into your classroom. Upon completion and passing an exam, you can earn Google Certification. Explore this website for more information: https://edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com/
A Tip of The Hat!
A Tip of the Hat to Chris Doerrer, DCMS 8th grade ELA teacher who is using Google Photos for his students to make a photo story. Learn more about Google Photos at https://photos.google.com/
A Tip of the Hat to RES First grade teachers and students who are using iPads and the Chatterpix app to create and share facts they collected. Ms. Bearden, RES Asst. Principal reports " They (students) conducted research on Penguins and Polar Bears and wrote an informational paper from the facts they collected. They have created a picture of their penguin/polar bear and recorded themselves reading their paper. The final project will look as if the penguin/polar bear is talking and sharing the paper."
A Tip of the Hat to Kristina Priest at DCMS, using the "flipped" classroom model.
A Tip of the Hat to Cindy Bennett at DCMS piloting Chromebooks and Google Classroom with her students.
A Tip of the Hat to Blayne Gilmer, Special Education teacher at DCMS, implementing Google Classroom.
A Tip of the Hat Kim Derose, DCMS 6th grade teacher, using Twitter to share information with her students, parents and colleagues.
A Tip of the Hat to Tana Martin, RVES Media Specialist exploring Google Hangouts (video chat) during an online meeting with her fellow elementary school media specialists.
A Tip of the Hat to Para-Pros at RES and BMES who train after school, learning more about technology integration.
Tech Tips
Here are some tips to use the power of the Google Chrome Browser (really the best way to use GAFE).
1. Zoom in and out of a Chrome Web page by using the Command and + keys to zoom in and the Command and - keys to zoom out. When in zoom mode, look in the browser address bar and you will see a little magnifying glass icon, click on it for quick reset back to 100%.
2. As you rely more and more on your Google Drive (free unlimited storage for your files and more) make it easier to access by simply adding it as a bookmark to your Chrome bookmark bar. That way you can access it any time you are using the Chrome browser.
3. Here is a tip about scrolling through a long web page, document or window. Simply place 2 fingers on your Macbook trackpad, move up and down, to scroll. There is no need to try to find and use the scroll bars on the edge of the window or page (unless you are using your Smartboard).
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