5 TTT Program Information

5 Tech Teaching Tools (5TTT) Park Center’s Web 2.0 Professional Development Program Winter-Spring 2012

The 5TTT professional development program allows staff to learn about new technology tools that might be useful for their jobs. Participants can complete the requirements for each tool on their own in the allotted time frame, and/or during lab time each month. This can take as little as one hour per tool. We have selected five tools for the five full months ending the school year:  

1. January: Start a blog & subscribe to the blogs of others
2. February: Start and contribute to wikis using Google Docs
3. March: Use Google Forms to create a survey or test
4. April: Start and maintain a social bookmarking site
5. May: Use Screencast-o-matic to capture computer-based lessons on video
6. Extra credit (June): Use one of the following web 2.0 tools:  Animoto, Prezi, Glogster, or VoiceThread

All participants will receive a participation award upon completion of the program: their choice of a Coby 4 GB Video MP3 player with FM Radio or a gift certificate for use at Best Buy Co.  The grand prize drawing for participants is an Amazon Kindle (Keyboard) e-reader. See details below.

Participation Information
This program is open to all staff at Park Center Senior High. The program meets the technology requirement for re-licensure, and CEUs are available through Keep Certified. The class name is: “PCSH: 5 Tech Teaching Tools.”  Experienced Web 2.0 users as well as novices and everyone in between are invited to join. The program is self-paced and self-directed, though the Small Lab is reserved throughout the day once every month for participants to use during their prep hour or after school. The open lab dates are Friday, Jan. 13, and Mondays Feb. 6, Mar. 5, Apr. 2, and May 14.

How It Works
You document your participation by setting up and maintaining a blog (Tool 1).

Each Tool will show you one or more Web tools. Participation in 5 Tech Teaching Tools allows you to take time to explore and enjoy these tools.

Even if you think you know all about the tools in Tech Teaching Tools, we encourage you to join the program. We have added Challenge sections to some of the Tools to stretch you, and you can always learn more about any of the tools through independent exploration. We will learn from you because you will blog about your discoveries.

Registration begins on Tuesday, December 20, 2011.

• You must register your blog by Monday, January 9 and complete all 5 tools by Monday, May 21, 2012. Registration occurs as part of Tool 1. Click here to begin. 
• The drawing for the AmazonKindle will be held at the staff meeting at 2:15 on May 23. Only participants who have completed the requirements will be eligible for the drawing.
• Didn't finish all 5 in Round 1? You can re-register your blog and finish in Round 2, next school year, though you will not be eligible for this year’s awards.

Everyone who registers by Monday, January 9, completes all 5 items on the list, and blogs about each one by Monday, May 21 will receive a completion prize, will be eligible for the Grand Prize drawing, and may receive CEUs through Keep Certified. Otherwise, there is no deadline and this course will remain online through September 2012.

Tutorial Format
Each month begins with a brief written explanation of a new Web 2.0 topic or tool, followed by a numbered list of activities related to the tool. These exercises give you the background you need to understand the tools you're learning about. Don't skip them!

When you have completed the items in each list, you comment or post to your blog. (You will learn how to set up a blog in Tool 1.) Your blog is the tool to communicate your reactions, new-found skills, ideas, questions, and favorite Web sites to the other 5TTT participants and is how your completion of all 5 Tools is documented.

There will be no classes or workshops offered to support this program outside of the open lab time, during which time the program manager, Dhaivyd Hilgendorf, will be available. Staff are encouraged to work together with others in the building and share with each other their discoveries, techniques and "how to" both in person and through their blogs.
Check the 5TTT Blog for any 5TTT updates and activities.

Program Manager: Dhaivyd Hilgendorf, hilgendorfd@district279.org; @dhaivyd; X88717

Tool #2: Blogging

For a basic understanding of what a blog is, go to: https://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g
If you feel pretty confident about what it is, continue to Part 1.

Part 1:
Set up your own blog on Blogger.com & add your first post. Your first post can be a simple "Hello" or a paragraph on the video (see below). Here are video instructions for setting up your blog. Once you've completed this step, email the URL of your blog address to: hilgendorfd@district279.org. This is how you register for the TTT program. Your address should be something like, "http://jacobs.blogspot.com"

Part 2:
Support the idea that technology is changing education and teaching (for right or wrong)... with a video. Place that video on your new blog (either as a link or as embedded video).

Example video:


Some good sources for educational videos are: TeacherTube iTunesU, and TED Talks Some keywords for searching: collaboration, "24/7 education", "open learning", "web 2.0", "school 2.0", edtech, connectivity, social networks+schools, "personal learning networks, "education+think tanks", "21st century skills", "flat schools", "creative education", "new schools", "student centered learning", remix.

Part 3:
Watch part of or all of this TED video ("Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity") and comment here on the TTT blog (near the bottom of this page).

 
Optional Challenge Task:
Blogs are great for keeping up to date with other people, so for the challenge task, you'll be commenting on and following some of your colleagues' blogs, in addition to tagging the posts you've created so far. First, choose at least five of your colleagues' blogs (see the sidebar on the right), and comment on their first post or on their video. Commenting on blogs allows us to ask questions of one another, make suggestions, or simply to reply to what has been written or posted. I will be commenting on various blogs throughout the TTT program. Once you've commented, you should then "follow" those blogs and this blog (TTT), too. As you can see in your own blog, I have "followed" you- so you can now see my picture on your blog's sidebar. Now when I log into my blog and look at the Dashboard, I can see what's been updated on the blogs I'm following! Cool, right? Let's try to share the love, so if you notice that someone's blog has not yet been "followed" by anyone but me, you might choose to follow them. Also, let's "tag" the posts you've created so far. Tagging allows you to use keywords to categorize your posts, which is really helpful if you blog regularly. To do this, just fill in words that help define the categories of your post in the "Labels" field, under the editing window for a given entry. Place commas between tags. Finally, write a blog post telling us who you're "following" and also what tags you created for your first several posts.

So, for the challenge:

• Comment on at least 5 people's blogs
• Follow the TTT on blog AND the other blogs on which you commented
• Use keywords to tag the posts you've created so far
• Write a post about about who you're "following" and what tags you've used so far 

Year 2 Participant Requirements:
According to Stephen Downes, a Senior Researcher with the E-Learning Research Group, there are five ways that blogs can be used in education. To complete this tool as a second year program participant, you must apply at least one of these uses to your class or other work. Here is a condensed excerpt from his article, "Educational Blogging":

1.  Teachers use blogs to replace the standard class Web page. Instructors post class times and rules, assignment notifications, suggested readings, and exercises. Aside from the ordering of material by date, students would find nothing unusual in this use of the blog. The instructor, however, finds that the use of blogging software makes this previously odious chore much simpler.

2.  Instructors begin to link to Internet items that relate to their course. Mesa Community College’s Rick Effland, for example, maintains a blog to pass along links and comments about topics in archaeology.  ...Blogging allows Effland to write what are in essence short essays directed specifically toward his students. Effland’s entries are not mere annotations of interesting links. They effectively model his approach and interest in archaeology for his students.

3.  Use blogs to organize in-class discussions. The students get to know each other better by visiting and reading blogs from other students. They discover, in a non-threatening way, their similarities and differences. The student who usually talks very loud in the classroom and the student who is very timid have the same writing space to voice their opinion. It puts students in a situation of equity.

4. Organize class seminars and provide summaries of readings. Used in this way, the blogs become "group blogs"—that is, individual blogs authored by a group of people.

5.  Students may be asked to write their own blogs as part of their course grade.

For the full article, go to: http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/educational-blogging