Monday, October 15, 2007

October 2007 Edition

Hello Again Instructional Technology Leaders,


This is the second update of 2007-2008, and we continue with even more opportunities for professional development and other news related to technology in our schools. You may choose to either receive future updates by e-mail or subscribe to it via your preferred RSS aggregator.

  1. Local District 5 Instructional Technology Leader Meeting for October
  2. CTAP Region 11 Technology Academies – $400 Compensation for Participating
  3. 21st Century Learners Symposium - October 19, 2007
  4. K-12 Online Conference - Salary Point for Participation in Web 2.0 Exploration
  5. Standards-Based Virtual Field Trips with Videoconferencing - Salary Point Class
  6. CUE Los Angeles Technology Fair – November 3, 2007
  7. Engineers Week Future City Competition for 7th and/or 8th Grade Students
  8. AVerMedia Video Contest – Due November 15, 2007
  9. More Salary Point Workshops Through LAUSD’s UPDATE Program Posted
  10. Some RSS Feeds of LAUSD: Subscribe to Other Newsletters Using RSS

1. Local District 5 Instructional Technology Leader Meeting for October


The first volunteer technology leadership/coordinator meeting of 2007-2008 for Local District 5 will be held 3:30-5:30pm on Thursday, October 18, 2007 at the ITD ITTB Training Room 2, Local District 5, 2151 N. Soto Street, Los Angeles, CA 90032. This meeting will introduce the value of Google Docs & Spreadsheets as a tool for instruction. This will include how students in our district access these tools using LAUSD My Mail. Attendance is voluntary but does also provide an occasion when technology leaders can share ideas as well as learn about the latest in instructional technology.

Below is a preview of the tentative agenda:
03:30pm – Updates on Technology in LAUSD
04:00pm – Google Docs & Spreadsheets as an Instructional Tool
05:00pm – Open Forum/Technology Leader Networking




2. CTAP Region 11 Technology Academies – $400 Compensation for Participating


There are now additional opportunities for teachers to increase technology proficiency! Teachers can learn to effectively integrate technology into standards-based instruction by participating in a weeklong CTAP Region 11 Technology Academy. Several of the academies will be held at the ITD ITTB Training Room 2 located at Local District 5 Office Building throughout the school year, but you may choose to enroll in academies held at other locations. Visit http://ctap.lacoe.edu/content/Tech_Academies for details and to enroll in one of the academies.

The CTAP Technology Academies are five-day trainings, designed for educators that need educational technology professional development at their level of proficiency. The objective is to ensure that classroom educators have the requisite skills, knowledge, and ability to effectively integrate technology into the curriculum.


If you have any questions, please contact the following consultant from CTAP 11:

Jeff Williams, williams_jeff@lacoe.edu, (562) 401-5382


Intended Audience: K-12 Teachers (Levels: Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced)


Los Angeles Unified School District will be providing compensation in the amount of $400 for those who attend a District-sponsored academy. You must be off-track (e.g. Single Track teachers must attend academies only during Winter, Spring, and Summer Breaks) to receive the compensation. Additionally, you can receive LAUSD salary point credit for completion of the Level II Academy.



3. 21st Century Learners Symposium - October 19, 2007


CTAP Region 11 is holding the 21st Century Learners Symposium, which will be held on Friday, October 19, 2007. This program will focus on the needs of learners in the 21st century. The Symposium will have hands-on presentations and workshops. In the exhibit area, partners will feature innovative instructional technology tools and services. Attendees will include participation from district directors of instructional technology, superintendents, and other education technology leaders including guests from neighboring counties and the California Department of Education’s Technology Office.


Here is the Agenda:

7:30 a.m. Registration, Continental Breakfast, Partner Exhibit Area Open

9:00 a.m. General Session (Keynote Speaker: Alan November)

10:30 a.m. Exhibit Hall

11:15 a.m. Breakout Session I

12:30 p.m. Lunch

1:00 p.m. Lunchtime Speaker: Cheryl Lemke

2:00 p.m. Breakout Session II

2:45 p.m. Exhibit Hall Closes

3:00 p.m. Closing Session & Door Prizes

3:30 p.m. Adjourn


The time and place are as follows:

Date: October 19, 2007

Time: 7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Location: Pasadena Conference Center, 300 East Green Street, Pasadena, CA 91101


To register or find out even more information, go to the following:
http://ctap.lacoe.edu/workshops/info.html?wid=457



4. K-12 Online Conference - Salary Point for Participation in Web 2.0 Exploration


K-12 Online Conference 2007 has already begun: http://www.k12onlineconference.org/. You can already participate online in this FREE asynchronous event. If you are interested in earning a salary point credit while participating in this unique conference, you can do so through the UPDATE Program in a class over 5 evenings: 11/07, 11/14, 11/21, 11/28, and 12/05/2007.


Organized into four strands, (Classroom 2.0, New Tools, Professional Learning Networks, and Obstacles to Opportunities), participants in this class will explore each strand and engage in discussion and professional reflection. Participant will also design an implementation plan for classroom practice. You have a choice of two locations to participate for salary point credit: Soto Street Lab 2 @ the Local District 5 Offices or the 3rd Floor Conference Room @ Local District 6.


To enroll in a class: http://lz.lausd.net/ - Once logged on using your Single Sign-On information, you can enroll in any of the classes offered by doing the following:


1) Click on Courses

2) Click on Class Offerings

3) Select U.P.D.A.T.E. under Program and Click on Search

4) Click on any of the classes titled K-12 Online Conference Learning and Teaching with Web 2.0 tools displayed in blue to begin enrollment process

5) Click on the orange Enroll Now button to add yourself to the training list



5. Standards-Based Virtual Field Trips with Videoconferencing - Salary Point Class


Find out how your students can take field trips without having to leave the classroom UPDATE is offering a salary point class that will cover both the basic operation and implementation of video conferencing hardware and its curricular use in any K-12 classroom. Multiple resources and opportunities will be introduced to assist participants in understanding the variety of uses in the classroom. Ultimately, participants will be able to use this tool to enhance their instruction by engaging students in this emerging technology and positively impacting their achievement.


Dates offered:

  1. 11/17/07 & 01/26/08 @ Local District 5 Office Building (Academic Room)

  2. 02/16/08 & 03/29/08 @ Local District 5 Office Building (Soto Street Lab 2)


To enroll in a class: http://lz.lausd.net/ - Once logged on using your Single Sign-On information, you can enroll in any of the classes offered by doing the following:


1) Click on Courses

2) Click on Class Offerings

3) Select U.P.D.A.T.E. under Program and Click on Search

4) Click on any of the classes titled Standards Based Virtual Field Trips with Videoconferencing Education displayed in blue to begin enrollment process

5) Click on the orange Enroll Now button to add yourself to the training list



6. CUE Los Angeles Technology Fair – November 3, 2007


On Saturday, November 3, 2007, Computer Technology Assistance Project Region 11 (CTAP Region 11) and Computer-Using Educators of Los Angeles (CUELA) will jointly hold the 2006 Technology Fair, a one-day instructional technology event that is presented for educators throughout the Greater Los Angeles area.


The location for the 2007 CTAP Region 11/CUELA Technology Fair will be:


Hawthorne School, Beverly Hills Unified School District

624 N. Rexford Drive

Beverly Hills, CA 90210


The general focus of the fair is to provide a day of learning for fellow educators so they may enhance their students’ opportunities to compete and contribute in the twenty-first century. Both CTAP Region 11 and CUELA recognize the existence of exciting, innovative, and educational activities occurring in our Los Angeles County area schools.


If you are interested in learning about instructional use of technologies such as podcasts, video-editing, digital cameras, multimedia design, etc., then you should take a closer look at what is offered at this event. You may view descriptions of each workshop online.

For more information or to register online for the event and secure the workshops you want, please go to the following: http://www.cuelosangeles.org/



7. Engineers Week Future City Competition for 7th and/or 8th Grade Students


The Future City Competition affords an excellent opportunity for applying elements of math, science, computer science, social studies, language arts, and art curricula to hands-on projects that capture the imagination and stoke the creative problem-solving abilities of students in the 7th and 8th grades. Registration for this competition as well as additional information can be found at http://www.futurecity.org.


Each team consists of a teacher-sponsor, an engineer-mentor and 3 students from grades 7 and/or 8. Multiple teams could compete at the same school and have a winner selected at the school to go to the regional competition. The tentative date and location for the Southern California regional competition (where the team selected to go to Washington D.C. for the nationals will be chosen) is Saturday, January 26 at the California Science Center. Engineer-mentors will be provided to entering teams. The Coordinator for the Regional Competition will be assisting us with this.

The software being used is Sim City 3000. One copy of the software is provided per school. Any questions about necessary resources can be directed to the regional coordinator, Gamward C. Quan of University of Southern California, USC Libraries, at (213) 821-2260.

The fee for entry is refunded when the team attends the regional competition. Please do not let an entry fee keep you from fielding a team. You may contact Joe Oliver, Director, Educational Technology, at joe.oliver@lausd.net to find out how LAUSD can help support your participation in this event.



8. AVerMedia Video Contest – Due November 15, 2007


AVerVision is sponsoring a video contest for North American K-12 and Higher-Ed classrooms. Teachers, administrators, or students are asked to create a 10-20 minute video describing original and interesting classroom lessons and applications with their document camera. Classes without a document camera can submit a video describing the difficulty of using traditional presentation technology in the classroom. Four new AVerVision document cameras will be awarded, one to each of the third, second, first and Grand Prize winners.


For details about this contest, please go to the following web address:
http://www.avermedia-usa.com/ppd/media/videocontest.html



9. More Salary Point Workshops Through LAUSD’s UPDATE Program Posted


A list of newly posted salary point classes offered by LAUSD’s UPDATE program are available and listed below. Classes listed in the previous Local District 5 Technology are still available as well. For more information, please visit the UPDATE website at http://update.lausd.net/ or call (213) 241-1384.


To enroll in a class: http://lz.lausd.net/ - Once logged on using your Single Sign-On information, you can enroll in any of the classes by doing the following:


1) Click on Courses

2) Click on Class Offerings

3) Select U.P.D.A.T.E. under Program and Click on Search

4) Click on any of the class titles displayed in blue to begin enrollment process

5) Click on the orange Enroll Now button to add yourself to the training list



Course Title: Scaffolding Higher-Order Thinking with WebQuests

Salary Point Amount: 1.0

Time & Dates: 8am-4pm on 10/27/07 and 12/01/07

Location: South East High School, 2720 Tweedy Boulevard, South Gate


Course Title: Smart Ways to Use Interactive Whiteboards Across the Disciplines

Salary Point Amount: 1.0

Time & Dates: 4pm-8pm on 11/07, 11/14, 11/21, and 11/28/07

Location: Southeast Middle School, 2560 Tweedy Boulevard, South Gate


Course Title: Using Safe Internet Skills to Promote Research and Collaboration

Salary Point Amount: 1.0

Time & Dates: 5:30pm-8:30pm on 11/08 and 11/15/07

Location: ITD ITTB East Los Angeles Training Room II, 2151 Soto Street, Los Angeles


Course Title: Lights, Camera, Action! Create Cross Curriculum Lessons using iMovie

Salary Point Amount: 1.0

Time & Dates: 8am-4pm on 11/10 and 11/17/07

Location: La Salle Elementary School, 8715 La Salle Avenue, Los Angeles


Course Title: Creating Language Arts Curriculum Using Microsoft PowerPoint

Salary Point Amount: 1.0

Time & Dates: 8am-5pm on 11/17 and 12/01/07

Location: Porter Middle School, 15960 Kingsbury Street, Granada Hills


Course Title: Using Safe Internet Skills to Promote Research and Collaboration

Salary Point Amount: 1.0

Time & Dates: 5:30pm-8pm on 12/05 and 12/12/07

Location: ITD ITTB East Los Angeles Training Room II, 2151 Soto Street, Los Angeles


Course Title: Multimedia Enhanced Language Arts & ESL Instruction

Salary Point Amount: 1.0

Time & Dates: 8am-4pm on 01/19 and 02/02/08

Location: ITD ITTB East Los Angeles Training Room II, 2151 Soto Street, Los Angeles


Course Title: Lights, Camera, Action! Create Cross Curriculum Lessons using iMovie

Salary Point Amount: 1.0

Time & Dates: 8am-4pm on 01/05 and 01/19/08

Location: 112th Street Elementary School, 1265 E. 112th Street, Los Angeles


Course Title: Click! Using Digital Photography to Enhance Instruction

Salary Point Amount: 1.0

Time & Dates: 4:30pm-7:30pm on 01/07, 01/09, 01/11, and 01/14/08

Location: 68th Street Elementary School, 612 W. 68th Street, Los Angeles


Course Title: Online – Special Students in Regular Classrooms: Technology Teaching and Universal Design

Salary Point Amount: 2.0

Time & Dates: 4pm-8pm on 01/07/08 and 02/25/08

Location: ITD ITTB East Los Angeles Training Room II, 2151 Soto Street, Los Angeles


Course Title: Lights, Camera, Action! Create Cross Curriculum Lessons using iMovie

Salary Point Amount: 1.0

Time & Dates: 4:30 pm-7:30pm on 01/16, 01/18, 01/21, and 01/23/08

Location: 68th Street Elementary School, 612 W. 68th Street, Los Angeles



10. Some RSS Feeds of LAUSD: Subscribe to Other Newsletters Using RSS


There is always more information than I could ever cover. Here are just a few places outside of Local District 5 to visit and subscribe to regarding Instructional Technology in our school district:


LAUSD’s Educational Technology Blog: http://edtech4lausd.tumblr.com/

Local District 4 Instructional Technology News: http://ld04.edublogs.org/

Local District 6 Instructional Technology Newsletter: http://ld6.blogspot.com/

Local District 8 Instructional Technology Leaders Archive: http://ld8.tumblr.com/


Next month, I will highlight some school and classroom RSS feeds from all over LAUSD. There are already many that I subscribe to, but you can let me know about one or more you would like to share with me by sending me an e-mail message or placing a comment reply to this newsletter.