Maine Learning Technology Initiative

93% of our students are online.    Our students are living in a world of texting, video chats and social networks but many teachers have not become digital ciitzens.     Without an understanding of the digital world our students are living we can not be role models and help them to understand both the promises and pitfalls of their media lives.

Students are often tech savvy but they are not necessarily smart about their use of technology.    Let’s discuss our role in becoming part of the digital world and helping our students to think critically.   The Common Sense Media curriculum will be highlighted as well as ideas to bring it into your school or district.

This webinar will be offered twice, once at 3:15pm, and once at 7:15pm. Please visit the Webcasts Page for pre-registration and additional information about participating in our webinars.

Follow up to Digital Citizenship Webinar

Below are some resources from the Digital Citizenship Webinar:

Common Sense Media
http://www.commonsensemedia.org

Cyberbullying Toolkit from Common Sense
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/cyberbullying-toolkit

Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture

Berkman Center for Internet & Society Youth and Media Project -Intern videos
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/youthandmedia/digitalnatives

YouTube  “Youth and Media-The Vision – Berkman Center
http://www.youtube.com/digitalnatives

Berkman Center Wiki
http://youthandmedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Social Media and Young Adults
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults.aspx

Statistic trends for teens
http://pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Trend-Data-for-Teens/Whos-Online.aspx

Millenials-teen internet use
http://pewresearch.org/millennials/teen-internet-use-graphic.php

Teen trends-online activities
http://pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Trend-Data-for-Teens/Online-Activites-Total.aspx

Digital Literacy – The New Normal?

Students are increasingly turning to a wealth of online resources to answer their information needs and according to Amazon, ebooks are outselling print books.    Join me as we look at how this change necessitates the way we need to teach literacy.   What does it mean to be a digitally literate person and how can you guide your students to find excellent information?  We will also learn how to evaluate these sources and explore some of the unique features of digital information that enable students to be successful in school.

This webinar will be offered twice, once at 3:15pm, and once at 7:15pm. Please visit the Webcasts Page for pre-registration and additional information about participating in our webinars.

Follow up to Digital Literacy Webinar

According to the Pew Statistics, 85% of teens ages 12-17 engage in some form of electronic personal communication including text messaging, e-mail or posting comments on social networking sites.  MLTI survey results from last year found that students communicate on their homework most often through texting and the second communication vehicle was Facebook!

Much of the research I discovered while researching Digital Literacy pointed to a lack of advancement of Digital Literacy instruction in education.

Scale of information:
Students can download books from Project Gutenberg, they can create videos and share them around the world and join blog conversations to bring real world excitement to their learning.
Advantages of Digital Information:
Digital resources have many advantages to the printed text.   The ability to enlarge the print, use text to speech and add visuals enable digital literacy development and supports diverse student learning.

A lot of discussion on the chat during this webinar focused on the need to teach better searching skills.   If students use Google to search they might do better using Google Advanced to limit their searches.

Many of the traditional literacy skills are transferable to Digital Literacy.   Teachers need to help students find and evaluate information from digital print sources and to become producers in this digital world we are living.    Online encyclopedias are perfect way to begin a search for information often with several reading levels, visuals and timelines.   Magazine and Newspaper databases such as Marvel have information that is preselected and reputable and searchable.    Web pages provide a wealth of information but need to be evaluated as to authority and reliability and point of view.

There were a few participants who did not know of the State Marvel databases.    You can get directly in from any school or public library.  From home you have to register (once) and you can just log in with your user name and password or a library bar code.  I have my bar code on a sticky and cut and paste.  If you have an MLTI MacBook there is a spring icon on the dock.

MLTI has partnered with Common Sense Media and has easy lesson plans for K-12 on Digital Literacy that can be adapted as needed for your school.  Visit Common Sense Media and register as an educator.    Look for the lessons under Research and Evaluation.   They come with a creative commons license so you may adapt them as needed.
Digital Literacy Lessons from Common Sense Media:

www.commonsense.org/educator

Ted Talk video:
The Filter Bubble by Ed Pariser

Online Citation Sources:
Easy Bid
Son of Citation Machine

Online Web Evaluation Sources:
Five W’s of Website Evaluation

Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators

Evaluating Webpages: How and Why

“Education Needs a Digital Age Upgrade” Virginia Heffernan NY Times

Learning to Read and Write on the Web Teachervision website

Take a Giant Step: a Blueprint for Teaching Young Children in a Digital Age

Writing, Technology and Teens Pew Research

The Uses of Digital Literacy by John Hartley Google Book

“Books and Literacy in the Digital Age” by Ralph Raab    American Libraries, Aug2010, Vol 41 Issue 8, p34-37

“From Print to Pixel” by Kevin Kelly    Smithsonian Jul/Aug2010, Vol 41, P122-128, 6p

“Teaching Two Literacies” by Joanne Rooney    Educational Leadership, Mar2009, Vol. 66 Issue 6

 

Deconstructed TPCK Diagram

 

Now that folks have been introduced to SAMR and TPACK, its time to talk about how practitioners can apply what we know. The question might be, “How can I look at my curriculum and put SAMR and TPCK into practice in my classroom?” And, of course, we will ponder how technology can aid in the improvement of teaching and learning by giving a closer look at the tools that MLTI and the web have to offer. Finally, we will check out one more example of “building a ladder” of classroom practice and discuss how it might be applied to revamping lessons or units you already use.

 

This webinar will be offered twice, once at 3:15pm, and once at 7:15pm. You may find it useful to read some additional information about participating in our webinars; you can click here right before the start of the webinar for quick access.

When designing teaching projects using technology, it is important to employ frameworks that enable the best selection, planning, and use of the tools available. The SAMR and TPCK models have proven themselves in use in Maine’s classrooms and around the world. In 2010, over two thirds of Maine teachers familiar with the models found that they played a crucial or important role in their work.

In this webinar we will review the basics of the SAMR and TPCK models, using new examples that reflect evolving priorities and projects in Maine schools. We will also see how to use them in practice, introducing the concept of the “SAMR Ladder” — a concept that we will extend and develop further at our October 27 webinar.

This webinar will be offered twice, once at 3:15pm, and once at 7:15pm. You may find it useful to read some additional information about participating in our webinars; you can click here right before the start of the webinar for quick access.

Today’s Poster Session Schedule — please note changes (*) — Session Descriptions

Exploring Co-Teaching & Content Integration	Searles Hall – Room 126
Hands On History : Primary Documents, Oral histories & Connecting to the Community	Massachusetts Hall – 3rd floor seminar*
Maine OER Team Projects: Learnings, OER Sites, and Exploration	Searles Hall – Room 115
Free, High-Quality Online Science Resources for Your K-12 Classroom	Searles Hall – Room 313
Math Snacks – using technology to meet the needs of students	Searles Hall – Room 314
Multiplicity self-portraits using Acorn	Druckenmiller Hall – Room 20*
NAEP Data Explorer – Investigate the Questions Tool	Kanbar Hall – Room 109
Providing Challenged Writers The Tools to Success	Hubbard Hall – Room 22*
The Thousand Word Project-Maine Artists Inspire Literacy/Technology Skill	Druckenmiller Hall – Room 24
Vital Signs	Kanbar Hall – Room 107

Today’s Agenda
Wednesday July 27

7:00 – 8:15	Breakfast at Thorne Hall
8:30 – 10:30	Cohorts meet
9:30	Coffee/Water/Fruit break
10:45 – 12:00	Keynote at Daggett Lounge in Thorne Hall Steve Midgley, Deputy Director of Education Technology at the US Department of Education – Keynote Speaker National Education Technology Plan: A random walk through the implications and opportunities for technology in education
12:00 – 1:00	Lunch at Thorne Hall
1:00 – 2:00	Poster Session – What’s a poster session? Poster sessions are brief one hour sessions covering a variety of topics.
2:00 – 5:00	Cohorts meet
3:30	Water/Soda/Cookie Break
6:00 – 7:30	Dinner at Thorne Hall Lobster Dinner (A steak and vegetarian option is also available) outside of Thorne Hall (near Chamberlain) (If you did not purchase a lobster dinner ticket, you can still bring your dinner outside to the back)

Over 150 educators gathered for the MLTI Summer Institute at Bowdoin College. Cohort groups began their three-day intensive workshops, and we finished the day with some fantastic keynote speakers, students Hannah Potter, Yarmouth HS and Chris Jones, Oak Hill HS. In the audience were not only the Institute participants, but senior officials from the Ministries of Education from 12 different Caribbean nations. All were treated to Hannah’s inspiring work connecting Maine teenagers with Iraqi teenagers through her web site, ANewView. Chris Jones followed up with an engaging presentation about how MLTI inspired and provided him the opportunity to become a software developer, and a part of an international software development team. You can learn more about Chris at MrChrisJones.com and Phireware.com

More photos from the day…

Read more…

The 8th Annual MLTI Conference was a great success! Over 1000 participants converged on the UMaine’s Orono campus for a day devoted to inspiration and information. Highlights of the day included four powerful student voices in Block 1 – Joe Lien of Poland High School, Hannah Potter of Yarmouth High School, Chris Jones of Oak Hill High School, and Mike Rodway of Telstar Middle School. These student presenters held the attention of Commissioner of Education Steven Bowen and the 1000+ conference attendees as they made clear what can be done when the potential of the MLTI is fully leveraged. Don’t be surprised if you hear from these four – they have compelling stories to tell, and know how to get a message across. Visit the Student Conference Webpage and click into Block 1 and follow links for each to learn more about these amazing young Mainers, and visit other parts of the conference web site to learn more about this incredible event.

Maine DOE Newsroom

• 1,100-plus celebrate MLTI at UMaine
• Sharing a ‘new view’ through MLTI
• From MLTI student to international programmer
• Using MLTI to learn through video

Mark your calendars! The date has been set for next year, the 9th Annual MLTI Student Conference Thursday May 24, 2012

 

There were great discussions and resources from participants who joined us on May 12th for the Cyberbullying and Your School Webinar.  My thanks to Rebecca Randall for joining us and giving us good advice on cyberbullying and talking about the Common Sense Media programs for schools.  Common Sense has an elementary and middle school curriculum and will have a high school curriculum available in the Fall.  You can contact me at teri.caouette@mlti.org for more information.

Representative Don Pilon was not able to join us due to a vote on health care.   Don Pilon  is not the only legislator who is concerned enough about cyberbullying to sponsor a bill.  Please check out the National Conference of State Legislatures site which lists several states that have enacted legislation.
http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=12903

Added Resources from participants:

Book, Stop Laughing at Me by Jodee Blanco (also a speaker)

The book The Bully by Paul Langan as a school/community read on Cyberbullying

An article in The Healthland http://healthland.time.com/2011/02/08/do-popular-kids-bully-more/

Reference sources from our webinar:

Common Sense Media (sign on as an educator to get material for lessons)
http://www.commonsensemedia.org
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
www.cyberbully.org
Cyberbullying Research Center
www.cyberbullying.us
Stop Cyberbullying
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/
MPBN Maine Lawmakers Propose Measures to Combat Bullying  2/11/2011
http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/15157/Default.aspx
Confronting Cyberbullying by Peter Levy THEJournal  5/2/2011
http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/05/02/confronting-cyberbullying.aspx

Articles from Marvel         Academic Research or Eric

Cyberbullying
By: HOLLADAY, JENNIFER.
Education Digest, Jan2011, Vol. 76 Issue 5, p4-9, 6 p.

High-Tech Cruelty
By: Hinduja, Sameer; Patchin, Justin W.. Educational Leadership, Feb2011, Vol. 68 Issue 5, p48-52, 5p

Assessing Middle School Students’ Knowledge of Conduct & Consequences
And Their Bhaviors regarding the Use of Social Networworking Sites
By: Kite, Stacey L.; Gable, Robert; Filippelli, Lawrence. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, v83 n5 p158-163 2010. (EJ893199)

Cyberbullying and Other Student Technology Misuses in K-12 American Schools: The Legal Landmines
By: Conn, Kathleen. Widener Law Review, 2010, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p89-100, 12p

Cyberbullying at School: Good Practice and Legal Aspects
By: Marczak, Magdalena; Coyne, Iain. Australian Journal of Guidance & Counselling, Dec2010, Vol. 20 Issue 2, p182-193, 12p; DOI: 10.1375/ajgc.20.2.182

Drama is the term HS students often use for cyberbullying
Advice for schools:

Review and update existing policies
Implement an education program in your school.

Use creative ways to raise awareness, like public service messages
Have older students teaching younger students importance of using technology in ethical ways.

Peer mentors for students
Role playing to create empathy
Schools need to learn ways to de-escalate

Teacher Advice to Students:

Ignore the bully

Save evidence

Change your privacy settings

Tell trusted friends and adults

Stand up to the offender and if that is not possible, befriend the target and help him/her advocate.

 

School systems in Maine and all over the United States are dealing with issues related to Cyberbullying.  It is deeply affecting our students and learning environments.  Join me and my guest Rebecca Randall from Common Sense Media at the 3:15 webinar as we look at this issue and give practical advice on how to deal with it in your school.

At 7:15 Representative Don Pilon will also join us to speak about the bill he is sponsoring LD 980, “An Act to Prohibit Cyberbullying in Schools”  Please come with your questions for Rebecca and Representative Pilon.

Select the webcasts tab from the top menu, then scroll down to April 26, 2011 and select the time interested to be directed to registration.

Great big thanks to Nadene Mathes, who took us through the projects she has been working on with her First Grade students, connecting with students in Europe and collaborating on some excellent work. Her work really exemplifies the power of connecting with other classrooms and teachers: her students got to experience life in a culture separate (but similar!) to theirs; they exhibited excellent digital citizenship skills and picked up many good habits that will sustain through their school careers.

Please check out the sites where you can see the work of Nadene’s students:

http://booksmakefriends.blogspot.com/

http://myfriend-thebear.blogspot.com/

To find classrooms and teachers that are looking to connect, try the following sites:

http://www.epals.com/

(MLTI’s Epals page: http://www.epals.com/connects/usa/maine/)

http://teachersconnecting.com/

http://www.classroom20.com/

Also try Google Earth Community – try looking under the ‘Education’ forum:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php/Cat/0

Great places to find teachers on Twitter (thanks to Richard Byrne for this information):

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/03/seven-ways-to-find-teachers-on-twitter.html

The Flat Classroom project is inspiring in so many ways, and gives a great view of how large collaboration projects can grow. The site has much to explore and learn from:

http://www.flatclassroomproject.net/

Some tools that were mentioned as a means to connect included iChat, Skype, and Voicethread. In addition, using wikis to collaborate and blogs to host information are great tools for students to get involved with. Check out wikispaces and edublogs for free wiki and blog hosting.

Other means of sharing work:

http://www.youtube.com/

https://www.dropbox.com

Thanks to all those who took part in the webinar. Please get in touch if you have any further comments or questions.