P.E.W.T.E.R. NEWS – May 2015
Welcome to the Spring installment of P.E.W.T.E.R. (Pedagogy Enhanced With Technology for Educational Reform) news. Each month I will share a “tech minute” which provides an overview of a tech tool you can use in your class tomorrow if you want to give it a try. There are also some updates from the Digital Ambassador program and ideas for summer professional development workshops using educational technology.
Tech minute: Kahoot.it
Kahoot is an interactive assessment tool that can be a fun and engaging way to check student understanding. It is a fast-paced quiz tool where students answer multiple choice questions in teams or or individual devices. It is free for teachers and you can get more information here:
https://getkahoot.com/ or watch a brief
video tutorial here. One of our teacher candidates said her class loves it so much that they come in during lunch to watch other students complete make-up quizzes!
Digital Ambassador Updates:
The Digital Ambassador Program took 13 students (10 single subject, 3 multiple subject) to the Computer Using Educators annual conference in Palm Springs March 19-21, 2015. The students all just presented on what they learned at CUE on Monday, May 18. We had a great turn out of over 60 teacher candidates and 20+ local educators. You can view the Google slides from the event here. The Digital Ambassadors across the CSU will be building portfolios of the projects they've been working on all year and I will post links to those sites here. I was asked to design a tutorial on using Weebly for this purpose for the DA's in the end of May.
Since the school year is winding down, there aren't a lot of upcoming local ed tech events planned, but there are plenty of summer workshops and sessions to check out.
P.E.W.T.E.R. NEWS – January 2015
Welcome to the Winter installment of P.E.W.T.E.R. (Pedagogy Enhanced With Technology for Educational Reform) news. Each month I will share a “tech minute” which provides an overview of a tech tool you can use in your class tomorrow if you want to give it a try. I will also share updates on Digital Ambassador activities and upcoming events of interest.
Tech minute: Weebly www.weebly.com
Weebly is a free website builder tool that is very user-friendly and visually appealing. It can be used to create a class website, an ePortfolio to showcase student projects, or a as professional web presence (see my sample below). There are video tutorials you can preview and I have created a few sample sites for you to see what might be possible for you and your students with this tool.
I hope you might give it a try! Let me know if you do.
Digital Ambassador Updates:
The Digital Ambassador Program is gearing up to take 13 students (10 single subject, 3 multiple subject) to the Computer Using Educators annual conference in Palm Springs March 19-21, 2015. The students will be pairing up and presenting a 10 minute presentation on what they learned at CUE. This event is scheduled for Monday, May 18 from 5:30-7:00pm at the ATL (07-02) lab. Please mark your calendars for the PEWTER-CUE forum! If you plan on bringing your classes, please let me know so we can be sure to have enough chairs. The full singlesubject cohort will be in attendance.
I also recently presented to both cohorts of single-subject candidates to help them develop an e-portfolio to strengthen their online presence during a job search workshop held on Monday, Jan. 12. The students were enthusiastic about the possibilities and found getting started on Weebly (the tool featured above) to be very easy and intuitive.
Upcoming EdTech-related Events:
https://ctlt.calpoly.edu/faculty-showcasess
https://ctlt.calpoly.edu/workshops
P.E.W.T.E.R. NEWS – November 2014
Welcome to the Fall installment of P.E.W.T.E.R. (Pedagogy Enhanced With Technology for Educational Reform) news. This month showcases PollEverywhere.com in the “tech minute”, updates on Digital Ambassador activities, and upcoming events of interest.
Tech minute: Poll Everywhere www.polleverywhere.com
Poll Everywhere is a tool designed to promote interaction during presentations and provide feedback for presenters on how audience members are understanding or thinking about their topics. It uses text messaging or a web interface to have participants submit responses to prompts projected on the screen. Here are two images of how I used it in a recent class session on supporting students with disabilities.
Digital Ambassador Updates:
The Digital Ambassador Program was awarded $3,000 in College-Based Fees to take a group of students to the Computer Using Educators annual conference in Palm Springs in March 2015. There were 12 scholarships available and we received 17 applications from Single Subjects and Multiple Subjects candidates. The students were selected to have a diverse representation of programs, content areas at the conference. The selected students have been notified and hotel rooms have been booked courtesy of the remaining funds from our Google Faculty Institute grant from 2011. The students will be pairing up and presenting a 10 minute presentation on something they learned at CUE. This event will be during the spring term and open to the public, so stay tuned for time and place for that PEWTER-CUE forum!
Upcoming EdTech related Events:
- Innovate to Educate: CIE Entrepreneurship forum series: Wednesday, November 16, 2014 4:30 – 7:00pm, Performing Arts Center Pavilion. The D.A. program has worked with the students putting together this panel and we will have SOE Faculty, teacher candidates, and some of their students participating in this panel. Free food and wine will be served. For more information: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/innovate-to-educate-how-entrepreneurs-are-changing-the-way-we-learn-tickets-14031028183
- 30 ways to use Google in the classroom: December 16, 2014, 4:00-4:45 at the training room at the County Office of Education (SLOCOE). For more information email Traci Theis: ttheis@slocoe.org
P.E.W.T.E.R. NEWS – October 2014
Welcome to the first official installment of P.E.W.T.E.R. (Pedagogy Enhanced With Technology for Educational Reform) news. Each month I will share a “tech minute” which provides an overview of a tech tool you can use in your class tomorrow if you want to give it a try. I will also share updates on Digital Ambassador activities and upcoming events of interest.
Tech minute: Google Moderator https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/6280697
Google moderator is a tool developed by Google to allow large groups of people to develop questions or topics and then vote on them to narrow the focus of a conversation. This week I used it in my class as a “Do Now/Warm up” activity. I invited students to take 5 minutes to review the assigned readings on race & ethnicity and then post a question that they would like to discuss. The students then voted on questions they were also interested or NOT interested in discussing. The results look like this:
*Google Moderator has gone away.
I got this idea after reading a blog about a teacher who shadowed a 10th grade and 12th grade student for a day, and realized how little active learning was going on in classes. I had a 30-minute lecture prepared on the topic followed by some discussion prompts I developed but decided to switch gears the morning before class. It led to a very rich and multifaceted discussion of the articles, and the students really enjoyed it. We still addressed the foundational concepts I had in mind as I designed the lesson, but this way it started with students’ interests and questions. I hope you might give it a try! Let me know if you do.
Digital Ambassador Updates:
On October 4, we had 20 folks from Cal Poly attend the SLOCUE connects conference at New Tech High in Nipomo. Liz Meyer and Nancy Stauch were there with 16 Single Subject and 2 Multiple Subject candidates. We had a great day learning alongside local teachers. Some highlights included sessions on Minecraft (with two 5th graders co-presenting), Twitter for professional development, using iMovie to make book trailers, and creating infographics to synthesize and present information. Our candidates responded quite positively to everything they got out of the event and are now signing up for one of 12 spots to attend the annual CUE conference in Palm Springs in March.
Upcoming EdTech-related Events:
- Talk on Flipped Classrooms A presentation on flipped classrooms will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, in the Baker Center (Building 180), Room 114. The discussion will be led by Professor Robert Talbert from Grand Valley State University, an expert in flipping classes, a concept that has the possibility to increase and improve students' Learn by Doing experiences. Talbert's research focuses on undergraduate math courses, though the talk is tailored for a general audience. The presentation is free and open to the public. For more information, email Stan Yoshinobu at styoshin@calpoly.edu.
- Coffee CUE: Join us for a #CoffeeCUE this Saturday, October 18th at 10 AM in San Luis Obispo. Join us for an informal gathering around a cup of joe to chat about whatever edtec issues are on your mind. We'll meet at BlackHorse Espresso and Bakery at 796 Foothill.
- Instructional Showcase Features Innovative Writing Practices Oct. 22 The Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology (CTLT) invites faculty and staff to the Fall Instructional Innovation Showcase from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the Advanced Technology Laboratories (Building 7), Keck Lab. Faculty will share innovative practices to teach writing. Amy Wiley will present "Risk, Responsibility, Reward: Teaching Students to Write Their Own Prompts and Problems;" Clare Battista will talk on "Writing to Learn Economics;" and John Hagen will discuss "Learn by Grading: Using Calibrated Peer Review to Teach Writing." Discussion will follow the presentations. Oktoberfest-themed hors d'oeuvre, beer and wine will be served. For more information, visit the CTLT website.
- EdCamp SLO: The first ever EdCamp on the Central Coast is taking place on Saturday, November 8th, from 9 AM - 2 PM. EdCampSLO will be held at Bellevue Santa Fe Charter School in picturesque Avila Valley, about a 10-minute drive from Downtown San Luis Obispo. Never been to an EdCamp before? An EdCamp is an un-conference designed for educators. Unlike traditional conferences that are corporate-sponsored and have agendas set months in advance, EdCamps have schedules that are planned the morning of by the participants. Participants themselves lead the sessions, and the learning is participatory and hands-on. EdCampSLO is FREE, but requires a ticket. SLOCUE members and friends of SLOCUE can get one by visiting THIS LINK. This event will sell out. Get your FREE ticket today! For more information, visit the EdCampSLO website.
