Naaman Forest High School
Verizon Mobile Learning Academy
Course Description
Taking mobile learning to the next level.
What’s involved?
- An average individual workload of about 2.5 hours per week over 10 weeks.
- Successful completion of at least eight group assignments, including a capstone project.
- Active participation in the VMLA Google+ community during the course. Post-course participation highly recommended.
If we want our Ready 1:1 Initiative to be successful, we must first have a solid understanding of what mobile learning is and what needs to be in place for it to be effective. That’s what the Verizon Mobile Learning Academy is all about.
This course begins with an overview of mobile learning and its real-life classroom implications, supported by hands-on activities designed to help us gauge our school's readiness to undertake a mobile learning initiative. After conducting a guided evaluation of our implementation site based on ISTE’s Essential Conditions, we will receive a presentation highlighting its specific areas of strength and weakness. The course will then offer a springboard of information, ideas and in-depth activities to help us answer the crucial questions that will arise as we go through the implementation process.
The ISTE Standards are woven throughout the activities in this course, with a strong emphasis on teachers, administrators and technology coaches. The course is designed to be completed as a team, with a group from our school that includes teachers, a technology coach and an administrator. We will get the chance to work on each activity on our own before completing it as a team during weekly team meetings. Each team will also meet with an instructional consultant twice a month, and we will have the opportunity to work with other schools’ teams during three academy-wide synchronous online meetings.
Modules Schedule
The VMLA synchronous meetings (1-hour long webinars) will be held three times during the course:
- October 3, 2016 at 5pm
- November 7, 2016 at 5pm
- December 5, 2016 at 5pm
We will also meet with the Instructional Consultant (IC) assigned to our team every other week of the course, during the weeks indicated on the schedule. Each team member is expected to attend all of the whole-group and IC meetings. We can schedule additional meetings with our IC if needed.
Module 1 - Weeks 1-2
- Assignment 1 - VMLA synchronous meeting (October 3, 2016)
- Assignment 2 - Meet with instructional consultant
Module 2 - Weeks 3-4
- Assignment 3
- Assignment 4 - Meet with instructional consultant
Module 3 - Weeks 5-6
- Assignment 5 - VMLA synchronous meeting (November 7, 2016)
- Assignment 6 - Meet with instructional consultant
Module 4 - Weeks 7-8
- Assignment 7
- Assignment 8 - Meet with instructional consultant
Module 5 - Weeks 9-10
- VMLA synchronous meeting (December 5, 2016)
- Capstone project
- Meet with instructional consultant
- Complete capstone project
Mr. A. Mason, M.Ed. Ready 1:1 Instructional Coach
Email: almason@garlandisd.net
Website: www.edtechmason.com
Location: Naaman Forest High School, Naaman Forest Boulevard, Garland, TX, United States
Phone: (972)-675-3090
Facebook: facebook.com/edtechmason
Twitter: @edtechmason