Cracking the Code...

One of the most important functions of Education Technology I have come to realize is preparing students to use Technology in productive ways that will make them successful humans after (and perhaps during) their K-12 educational experience.  I attended a technology club at a high school in our district and was so impressed with the enthusiasm of the students who came to learn and experience writing computer code.

Seeing how excited these kids were to collaborate and create something in this mystifying language was truly inspiring.  While it was extremely cool to witness such enthusiasm for learning, I couldn't help but think about the kind of trajectory these experiences were placing on the students at this activity.  More and more industry is focused on technology and in innovation and engineering solutions that drive the other industries.  Being able to write and manipulate Code has become a skill that is in high demand these days.  Many companies have reported that they have a difficult time finding employees with these skills.  The public schools are now being approached by companies who would like their core instruction to include computer programming.  This means that the tools to learn these important skills have never been more accessible.

Websites like code.org have made lessons that are easy enough for a young elementary student to begin dabbling in the exciting world of computer coding.  Plural Sight is a Utah company that has offered its free educational opportunities to schools in the area.  They came to the technology club activity I mentioned earlier and taught the students.  I'm not a computer programmer, but I know where to find the tools to help kids get started and that is really empowering!

What Can Canvas Do For You?

We are talking about Canvas in all of our secondary schools this year. To help teachers to better utilize this tool in their classrooms, we want to help provide answers to the question:

Why Canvas?

Maximize opportunities to Respond.

Canvas can help you to better understand what your students are learning. You can give students opportunities to share what they know and ask questions when they need help. You can track concepts students aren’t grasping, which assignments they have missed and who needs extra help.

Re-Capture Instruction Time.

Canvas is designed to give you more time to teach and to give students more time to learn. With Canvas you can extend your instruction time beyond your classroom walls and time limits, and students can learn from your instruction materials anytime and anywhere.

SpeedGrader.

Want to cut down on the time you spend grading tests, quizzes, essays and other assignments? Use SpeedGrader in Canvas to grade student work in a fraction of the time while still providing personalized feedback to each student. The SpeedGrader app for iPad lets you take your grade book wherever you go.

Professional Learning.

Teachers can become students in a Canvas course and share ideas and resources across classes and across schools. Canvas is easy to use and can engage teacher-learners anywhere and anytime, so more time can be spent teaching and working with students.

What should you be doing with Canvas now?

Most teachers won’t begin teaching with Canvas until next school year. But for some groups and for those teachers who would like to get started, there are some guidelines listed below. The goal is to help ALL secondary teachers participate in Canvas as a student this year. If you’d like to do more, contact your Ed Tech Specialist.

Click HERE to download a printable copy of this blog post.

A Conference in Your Jammies

There are now several online conferences available throughout the year. However, my favorite still remains the K12 Online Conference which is held in October. The conference consists of recorded presentations (10-20 min. each). 2 to 4 are released daily throughout the 10 day run of the conference.

The theme of the conference this year is Transforming Learning and began on October 14th with a fantastic keynote by Shannon McClintock Miller entitled Transforming Learning....One Voice at a Time.



The 4 strands of this year's conference are: Open Learning, Outside Learning, Leading Learning, and Building Learning.

Last week (the week of October 21st) the first two strands were offered. The latter strands are offered this week (October 28th).

The best thing about this conference is the presentations are all online and you can view them at any time. You can also view presentations from the previous 7 conferences. You can view the presentations at K12OnlineConference.org, click on 2013 and you will see the list of presentations available.

The conference is also offered as an iTunesU course that you can subscribe to in iTunes on your computer, or iTunesU on your iOS device.

So if you are looking for some great learning, join in on the K12 Online Conference you will be sure to find something of value to you.