January 2008 Edition

Happy New Year, Instructional Technology Leaders,

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

1. Local District 5 Instructional Technology Leader Meeting for January
2. Infotech 2008: Excellence Through Innovation – Saturday, April 12, 2008
3. Other Student Contests, Events, and Scholarships
4. Intel Schools of Distinction Award - Deadline: February 14, 2008
5. Teacher Advisor Position – Deadline for Applying: January 23, 2008
6. Even More LAUSD RSS Feeds Worth Subscribing To


1. Local District 5 Instructional Technology Leader Meeting for January

The next volunteer technology leadership/coordinator meeting of 2007-2008 for Local District 5 will be held 3:30-5:30pm on Thursday, January 17, 2008 at the Instructional Support Services (ISS) Conference Room, 2nd Floor, Local District 5, 2151 N. Soto Street, Los Angeles, CA 90032. This meeting will introduce emerging collaborative tools and their value in classroom instruction. 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 – Emerging Collaborative Learning Tools
05:00pm – Open Forum/Technology Leader Networking


2. Infotech 2008: Excellence Through Innovation – Saturday, April 12, 2008

Infotech 2008 will be held Saturday, April 21, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The theme of this year’s event is “Excellence Through Innovation” and is held in collaboration with the Parent Collaborative. The event serves as a great opportunity to showcase student work that integrates various uses of technology.

For more information, please refer to Memorandum MEM-4058 as well as http://infotech.lausd.net



3. Other Student Contests, Events, and Scholarships

Here is a list of other opportunities for your students to participate in worthwhile events (other than Infotech 2008). Many of these resources/projects are contests/honors that require students use skills integrating various technology. Please let me know if you are participating in these and other contests.

Google Highly Open Participation Contest – Deadline: January 22, 2008
This contest is designed to encourage and inspire pre-university students to begin participating in open source development, and provide pre-university students interested in computer science and other fields with exposure to real-world software development. This is open to students 13 years of age and older. For more information: http://code.google.com/opensource/ghop/2007-8/

California Streaming Digital Photography Contest – Deadline: February 8, 2008
K-12 students can enter a digital photography contest by submitting photographs that meet the guidelines of the theme, Natural Landforms. Winners will win an 8GB iPod Nano and teachers will receive AFI’s American 100 Greatest Movies. For more information: http://www.ccetc.net/photocontest

Doors to Diplomacy Scholarship Contest – Deadline: February 28, 2008
Sponsored in part by the U.S. State Department and Global School Net, this contest encourages middle and high school students to produce web projects about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy, Check the website for additional information. One registered, participants must complete the project by March 20, 2008. For more information: http://globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/aglance.cfm

CyberFair 2008 – Deadline: February 28, 2008
Students, grades 3- 12, are encouraged to prepare for the future - by thinking about the possible future, the probable future, the preferable future and the preventable future by participating in CyberFair 2008. Projects that best illustrate "future thinking" are invited to the World Future Society international conference in Washington DC, July 2008. For more information: http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsncf/

2008 Video in the Classroom Awards Competition – Deadline: March 14, 2008
Guidelines and Entry Form are now available for this year's VIC Awards Competition held by KLCS-TV. Deadline for all submissions is March 14th, 2008. For more information: http://www.klcs.org/files/vicguide08.pdf

Digital Voice Awards 2008 – Deadline: April 14, 2008
The California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) Region 11 and Multimedia Services of the Instructional Technology Outreach division at the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) invite K-12 school educators from Los Angeles County to submit exemplary classroom instructional technology projects to the Digital Voice Awards. Student-made curricular projects may be created with a variety of technology tools. For more information: http://ctap.lacoe.edu/DVAwards


4. Intel Schools of Distinction Award - Deadline: February 14, 2008

One elementary, one middle and one high school in each of two categories - math and science – will be selected to receive $10,000 cash grants and more than $100,000 in products and services from sponsors. Your school can be considered as an Intel School of Distinction, by developing an environment and curricula that meet or exceed benchmarks, including national mathematics and science content standards. For more information: http://www.intel.com/education/schoolsofdistinction/index.htm


5. Teacher Advisor Position – Deadline for Applying: January 23, 2008

The Educational Technology Group is accepting applications for teacher advisor positions for the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) Integrating Mathematics and Science through Technology (IMaST) Program. There are 3 positions available. These assignments will be for a minimum of 1 year and will be working with middle schools. The candidates awarded these positions must be available at the beginning of the traditional calendar semester in February, 2008. Details on submitting applications as well as requirements, duties and responsibilities for the assignments are available at http://www.teacherplus.info (via Joe Oliver - LAUSD Director of Technology). Deadline for submitting the application is January 23, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.


6. Even More LAUSD RSS Feeds Worth Subscribing To

Our own LAUSD K-12 students and educators are publishing content that provide a look into what life is like in our schools and surrounding community. The following selection of sites add to the list of feeds that have been listed in the past couple of months:

Adventures of an Urban Reading Teacher: http://urbanreadingteacher.blogharbor.com/blog

My Many Colored Crayons: http://mycrayonbox.blogspot.com

Room 42 Rocks: http://chambers42.blogspot.com

Rough Rider Blog: http://rriderlausd.org

Special 2 Me: http://specialedandme.wordpress.com

Tamara Eden: http://tamaraeden.wordpress.com

Tech4ESL: http://www.tech4esl.blogspot.com

As stated last time, please let me know about your blog, wiki, or podcast to be featured in upcoming posts. You may contact me by e-mail or post a comment on the web version of this newsletter.