Florence Unified School District #1
March Board Report
Nicole Steele, Director of Educational Technology
Document Camera Implementation
The document cameras recently purchased for Anthem K-8, Copper Basin K-8, Walker Butte K-8, Florence K-8, Skyline K-8 and the STEP/SuMMit programs have been distributed to the classrooms. This distribution now ensures that every classroom in the district has a document camera to utilize for instruction. Prior to receiving the document cameras, teachers had to participate in an orientation session which provided them with instruction on how to use the equipment. Future follow up trainings will assist the teachers on integrating the document camera into their lessons.
Videoconferencing – Collaborative Projects and Classes
The utilization of videoconferencing throughout the district continues to increase. Currently we are using this technology to share nine classes between our schools including Spanish, algebra, geometry and agricultural sciences. We are also using videoconferencing to provide staff with professional development, to access virtual fieldtrips and to participate in classroom to classroom collaborations. One school utilizing interactive videoconferencing, affectionately referred locally as ITv is Walker Butte. Lori Nelson, FUSD district and Walker Butte K-2 campus librarian, made it one of her goals this year to increase the use of ITv at her campus. Lori has assisted teachers in setting up virtual field trips and classroom to classroom collaborations. One of her classroom collaborations was connecting Walker Butte students to a class of kindergarten students in Australia. With a seventeen hour time difference, working out the details of the connection were quite challenging, but according to Mrs. Nelson, the experience that our students had was worth it. During the videoconference students at both schools discussed their communities and their cultures. Additionally, an ongoing collaboration that Mrs. Nelson continues to participate in is a book share program with an after school program for high risk students in Philadelphia. These book shares have provided both the students in Philadelphia and our students with motivation to read and discuss literature.
Intersession Professional Development
During spring break the technology department will be hosting professional development sessions on a number of topics. The workshops, conducted by trainer Nick Trakas, are designed to assist our teachers in utilizing the technology tools that they have, as well as how to integrate many Internet resources into their lessons. These trainings are each one hour in length and are presented via interactive videoconferencing so attendees can attend at a location that is most convenient to them. The workshops during spring break include:
· Do More with Your Document Camera – We will explore how to best use your document camera. Use your document camera to create better lessons and not just as an overhead projector. Learn how to integrate your document camera with our Promethean ActivInspire software.
· Skype in the Classroom – Learn how to use your Document Camera with Skype and connect your class with others. Explore education.skype.com to meet new people, discover new cultures and connect with classes from all around the world all without leaving your classroom.
· Setting Up a Videoconference Using ITv – Set up a videoconference using the iTV equipment at your school. Explore resources to find videoconference programs for your class. Learn how to plan a videoconference that will be a huge success and leave your students wanting more.
· More with Google Docs in the Classroom – What does collaboration look life for your students? Learn best practices to get your students working together and ideas for projects that will get them excited.
· Google Sites Classroom Website – Learn how you can use Google Sites to create a dynamic website for your class.
· Take Your Google Website Up a Notch – Take your Google Sites classroom website to the next level. Learn how to add more content and take your personalization to the next level. This is not a beginner course; you will already need a Google Site website to participate.
· Turn Your PowerPoint Into a Video – Learn how to turn your PowerPoint lessons into videos and make them available for your students. Explore ideas to use this technology to make your lessons available to your students after class and create instructional videos to help reinforce key concepts or difficult strategies.
· Using the Sound and Screen Recorders in ActivInspire – Explore the many uses of the Sound and Screen Recorders found in ActivInspire. Enhance your lessons with these simple to use tools.
· Adding Sounds, Videos and other Resources to Your ActivInspire Lessons – Make your lessons even more colorful and engaging with the use of sounds, videos and other great resources. Convert PowerPoints and PDF’s from Beyond Textbooks into Promethean Flipcharts.
· Use Promethean ActiveOffice with your Learner Response Systems – Do you like to use PowerPoints to deliver your lessons? With Promethean ActivOffice you can include questions directly in your PowerPoints. Add questions to any PowerPoint lesson found in Beyond Textbooks. This class is for teachers that have the Promethean Learner Response Systems.
· Using Annotate Over Desktop in ActivInspire – Learn how to go beyond your flipchart lessons and annotate over desktop. Explore how to pull your lessons together using real time information and websites.
· CPS PowerPoint and More – Get your CPS clickers out of the bag and in your student’s hands. Learn how to add questions to your PowerPoints using CPS for PowerPoint. Add questions to any PowerPoint lesson found in Beyond Textbooks. This class is for teachers with the eInstruction brand clickers.
SharePoint Utilization
Throughout the school year, the utilization of Microsoft’s SharePoint as our district’s Intranet has continued to increase rapidly. In fact, there are 30,000-40,000 pages currently being accessed daily. Schools and departments are using this software as a place for faculty, staff and administrators to collaborate. Documents can be uploaded onto the sites and edited by multiple people, discussions boards can be created, and calendars can be shared. A number of schools are using SharePoint to track student full day placement, share and submit lesson plans and student data, staff communication and tracking assets just to name a few.
Technology Work Orders
The technology department staff has completed 292 official technology work order requests during the month of February. The continuing assistance of the site technology contacts has increased the efficiency of assisting district staff. Many thanks go to Jonathan Cochran for coordinating these efforts.