Category:

Professional Learning

Discover resources and strategies for professional learning. Explore tools, tips, and opportunities to enhance educator growth and development.

How Will You Reflect During and After #TCEA17?

by Lori Gracey February 5, 2017

written by Lori Gracey

If you’re one of the many educators heading to Austin for the 37th annual TCEA Convention & Exposition, you have probably spent a lot of time thinking about what tech to take with you, what clothes and snacks to pack, and how to cover your students or staff while you’re gone. But you may not have thought much about the most important thing in attending a conference: reflection on what you’ll learn. Research has born out what educational reformer John Dewey said:

We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience.

To keep all of the learning that you’ll gain this week and to truly make it your own, you MUST reflect. Reflection is an intentional act, not accidental. It requires a quiet place and a calm mind. Some people reflect best with paper or on their device; but whichever you prefer, written thoughts are a necessity for ensuring that the learning sticks.

Also, good reflection usually leads to some type of action plan of how things will be different in the future because of the learning. It does not have to be a detailed plan, just one that can help to hold you accountable for making the change.

Here are four different ways to reflect on all of the learning that you will do during #TCEA17. Make time each day to do at least one of them.

Thinking Backward

What was my original purpose in attending this conference/session/workshop?
What problems have I experienced in the past that this learning might help with?
When did most of my learning occur?

Thinking Forward

How might I do this differently in the future?
How might this learning shape the goals that I have set for my future?
How might what I have learned affect my my classroom/campus in the future?

Thinking Inward

Why was this learning meaningful to me?
What are my personal beliefs about this experience?
How might I change the way I learned this to better share with others?
What was the best moment in today’s learning experience? Why?

Thinking Outward

How might my students or staff look at this learning differently?
Does this learning have different considerations that I might need to apply?
What are some ways I can share this learning with others?

If you want to take your reflection to the next level, then share it with a “buddy” who can help you with implementation. Your peer can remind you over time about the change you want to make.

February 5, 2017 0 comments

Align Your Social Media

by Miguel Guhlin February 4, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

“Don’t wait for the stars to align, reach up and rearrange them the way you want,” says Pharrell Williams. “Create your own constellation.” Want to rearrange your learning experiences with social media? Bridge the gap between face-to-face community efforts and online? Then read on to discover tips on how to shape the social media flow. Grab a friend, your mobile device, and let’s go!

Manual Approach to Social Media

If you’re like most people, you probably have been cajoled into creating a social media account. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus, YouTube, and LinkedIn are the most common ones that people start with. But how do you create a community around what you share? Here are some suggestions to get you started:

Tip #1: Mix-and-Match Your Social Media

Combine audio and video tools. Instagram and Facebook make it easy to post links to other social media tools, such as Twitter. That means you can start a Facebook Live session, record audio using Voxer (or use the YouTube Capture app on your phone) and share the link out via Twitter. This is great because it allows you to “liven up” Twitter with audio and video. Imagine recording a student explaining his/her solution to a problem or thinking process. Here are some Voxercasts that I shared via Twitter. If participating in a Twitterchat, try responding to a question with audio or video. It will leave participants “mind-blown.” And, if you’re feeling adventurous, use Voxer and/or Flipgrid.com to kick off audio or video reflections respectively.

Tip #2: Decide on a Content Curation Tool

Content curation involves finding great stuff, stowing it somewhere for safe keeping, and then sharing the relevant information with other interested parties. How the sharing happens is usually through social media. Here are a few tools that I use for content curation. They make sharing with others via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook easy.

Get Pocket.com: This remains my favorite content tool. Anything I find on my mobile device or on my computer, I promptly save to Pocket. Since it is everywhere and works well with other tools, it makes saving content easy. Getting content out is also straightforward. More on that later.
Diigo.com for Educators: An oldy but goody, social bookmarking with Diigo is a cinch on computers, not so much on mobile. Still, the benefit of Diigo is that you can turn every item you save to it into a tagged item. Tags in Diigo come with RSS feeds (learn more about RSS), which make it easy to share to Twitter and other places. Using the free for Educators account comes with additional benefits.
Flipboard.com: A fantastic curation tool since anything you “flip” into a digital magazine (ezine for short) becomes an easy-to-share resource with others. People can subscribe and leave comments. Imagine creating a flipboard ezine for your class on a particular topic or having students collaborate and contribute to a shared ezine. Flipboard makes it possible, and viewing is a pure pleasure.
Storify.com: This is a helpful tool since it makes capturing tweets and sharing content easy, although to access some of its more esoteric features will require payment. Storify is often used to archive Twitterchats, even though there are more comprehensive tools. Storify makes finding and sharing content for a classroom of learners simple.
Paper.li: Want to create a newsletter that curates itself? Paper.li makes that possible and can auto-publish itself via Twitter with new content daily. It can be hands-off or you can spend time updating it. Like Storify, full feature access costs money.

Tip #3: Master Those Twitter Chats

Every day, there are thousands of educators like you connecting and learning from each other. This network of professional learners, open to anyone and everyone willing to learn, is known as a “professional learning network” or PLN for short. You can find a wealth of hashtags, such as #tceachat, that boast robust conversations on days or nights. Here are several tools you can use to make navigating and participating in Twitter chats easier:

Tweetdeck: Tweetdeck allows you to set up multiple columns, as opposed to Twitter’s single column of content. You can follow multiple hashtags simultaneously, as well as see what you are tweeting and what others are tweeting at you. What’s more, as you get more proficient and want to manage your own Twitter chat, you can schedule your own tweets days in advance at anytime. Great for tweeting during a presentation and wowing your audience.
Participate Learning: This is a must-have tool to take advantage of since it provides a concise schedule of hashtags for Twitter chats and when they are taking place. What’s more, you can search hashtags for relevant conversations, as well as add your own chat. This makes it easier to find other’s chats, as well as sharing your content.
Twubs.com: Straightforward interface aside, Twubs is intended to help you get to know who is participating in a Twitter chat. A unique feature includes your ability to get an embed code so you can place the results of a hashtag search on your web page.

Tip #4: Create Image Flyers to Hook Twitter Chat Participants

Decided to facilitate a Twitter chat for your school or district? Create a landscape flyer with Adobe Spark, Pixlr, Powerpoint, or Google Slides that includes pertinent information, as well as a link to more content. In addition to creating a way to advertise your Twitter chat to the world, you will also want to solve the archive problem. For small Twitter chats, you can use Storify or simply copy-and-paste into a GoogleDoc or IFTTT recipe to feed tweets into a Google Sheet. However, for larger chats (>1000 tweets), consider using a more robust solution like TAGS.

TAGS – http://ly.tcea.org/tagsexample

Tip #5: Automate Your Social Media Sharing

“Share once and done!” Avoid having to share information via multiple outlets. Some school districts embarking on social media domination move to post the same piece of information on each social media outlet, but that can be a big waste of time. Use one or both of these tools to automate your social media sharing. Create a blog post and then see it shared automatically to Twitter and Facebook, post images to Instagram and email them to others, and more.

IFTTT.com: If This Then That allows you to create mini-apps, or recipes, that execute when a trigger action occurs. For example, if I add a tag “2tweet” to a web article I save on one of my content curation tools, Pocket or Diigo, that item appears as a tweet within thirty minutes. If I add a tag “tceamie,” the item is posted to a Slack group for technology directors and coordinators.
Microsoft Flow: A newcomer to the scene, Flow works like IFTTT, yet it works hand-in-hand with Office 365 tools. Visit their website to see some sample “flows.”

Tip #6: Create a Virtual Sharing Space

At a certain point, you will want to archive all the great things that are being said or happening. One way to do that is to save all chats to a virtual space, such as a OneNote Online notebook (see example, Google Plus Community (see example), or Facebook group. You can, of course, also use popular blogging platforms like Blogger and/or Wordpress.

Use tools like Remind.com to share daily updates via mobile phones. This helps keep your community connected to you, enabling easy, non-intrusive sharing. My favorite example is Dr. Scott Mcleod’s Dangerously Irrelevant daily reminders that arrive via SMS text message every day.

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to grasp the stars and rearrange them! Social media tools like those discussed in this blog entry make shaping the flow of social media a joy, not a chore.

February 4, 2017 0 comments

balance scales with curriculum and technology

Content Areas Leadership Professional Learning

Which Comes First, Curriculum or Technology?

by Dr. Bruce Ellis January 30, 2017

written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

As I work with leaders (technology directors, curriculum directors, and administrators) around the state, I find it interesting to hear their answer to the question, “Which comes first, the curriculum or the technology?” Sometimes the answer I get is a reflection of the role they play. Sometimes I’m likely to get someone trying to straddle the fence and give a non-committal answer. More interesting than the actual answer (“curriculum” or “technology”) are the reasons that are shared to justify the positions. So, which do you think comes first: the curriculum or the technology?…and why?

When the Technology Comes First

There is no argument that a robust infrastructure is a necessity for today’s work. With everything and everyone needing to do something online as part of their job duties, bandwidth is always a growing need. But, for our argument, let’s consider that infrastructure is a given. What happens when all the other technology comes before curriculum?

Technology plans are made, many times in isolation of the curriculum department, so that quotas are met, refresh cycles can continue, and a better student-to-computer (or student-to-device) ratio can be touted. In and of themselves, these are not bad. But, in light of relevant student use, administrators may be frustrated to find that these processes lead to distributing dust collectors – expensive dust collectors – that are proudly put out of sight by meaningful educators who have either not been trained in their use or see no value in the learning curve that may need to be invested to make use of the technology.

I can count too many districts that have made aggressive efforts to increase their technology without considering curriculum goals and outcomes; many times making use of bond funds specifically designated for technology. “Designated for technology” shouldn’t mean “divorced from the curriculum.” Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that technology isn’t important. But it should be identified after the curriculum goals and outcomes have been clarified.

When Curriculum Comes First

Curriculum directors and administrators need to have discussions to determine what the outcomes of the curriculum should be. I’m not talking about stats for the district improvement plan or the latest stakeholder newsletter. I’m talking about what it should, or could, look like for students to demonstrate mastery. When we take the time to identify those possibilities and think about how students may have to demonstrate mastery (communicate, produce, collaborate, etc.) as working adults, it becomes very easy to identify which technologies should follow these outcomes.

Identifying the curriculum outcomes also provides a framework as to what professional development should look like. We are quick to demand more than just “seat work” from students, but don’t carry those same expectations to teachers. This dichotomy hinders our teachers’ growth and reinforces the notion to other teachers that technology is “just a fad” or is unimportant.

A Close Second

When I say that curriculum should come first, I should probably follow that up by saying that relevant technology should be a very close second. When district leaders, specifically technology and curriculum directors, work together, a more robust curriculum and relevant technology integration is likely to occur. This can be easily seen in districts where the technology director and curriculum director are having continuous robust discussions and planning how to best utilize their budgets, including IMA funds.

So where do you stand? Which do you think should come first, the curriculum or the technology? And, more importantly, are you able to justify your position in a way that promotes student learning and prepares them for their future?

If you would like to know more about how we structure authentic training that emphasizes curriculum over the technology or details on having TCEA provide professional development in your district or at your campus, contact me at bellis@tcea.org. I’d love to talk with you and discuss how we can create amazement with your teachers and/or staff.

January 30, 2017 0 comments

ESL/ELL Good Teaching Online Tools and Apps Professional Learning

Connect Learners with Video

by Miguel Guhlin January 13, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Technologies that connect us, engage. One example of this is Flipgrid, a free video discussion board service. With Flipgrid, you can create grids with topics on them and have workshop participants or students respond to the topics with recorded videos. Several workshops ago, I decided to begin using Flipgrid as a regular part of the learning. Some of the applications of the tool included:

Ask participants to introduce themselves and/or each other.
Watch videos about a topic and then share a summary or take-away.
Summarize an article they have read.

Free Online Flipgrid Course

The Microsoft Education Community offers a free course, Amplifying Student Voice, that features FlipGrid uses. In that course, the developers imagine Flipgrid as being more than just a communication tool in your classroom:

For students, Flipgrid provides a safe space to connect with their peers, share their voice on relevant course topics, and add to the collective knowledge of the classroom. For teachers, you can see firsthand as your students develop confidence, reasoning skills, respect of diverse opinions, and understanding through reflection. Moreover, as Flipgrid videos are asynchronous, you can conveniently connect your students with classrooms around the world by sharing your grids with other educators. Their students add their voices to the grid building an active community of shared knowledge.

You can watch videos embedded in the course, as well as view content, without completing the course (but then you wouldn’t earn the badge!):

Introducing FlipGrid for Professional Development

Introducing Flipgrid to others has been easy. I point out how to access the Flipgrid topic I’ve set up for the process, either on a laptop and mobile device (e.g. tablet or smartphone). I start with a quick demonstration, often recording the video prompt in front of the class. Then I invite participants to work in groups of two to three to record their responses. Some even go out into the hall. After they have completed their video responses, we share a few to the whole group. Who would not be engaged by their own face and voice as they connect with others?

FlipGrid in the Classroom

“Seeing and hearing students’ video responses can make discourse fun; the site allows personalities and ideas to shine in 90-second clips,” says Polly Conway, Commonsense Media reviewer. “Design is colorful, clean, and intuitive.” Curious about how participants in my workshops would describe Flipgrid in their classroom, I asked them to share some reflections. “How would Flipgrid be helpful?”

In computer programming, students could use it to demonstrate how the code works and the output.
Formative assessment tool.
Quick check for understanding.
Have students work on a collaborative group project and then share their collective or individual video reflection on each task.
It is a great resource to use with the teachers we coach so they can reflect on their practices.
English Language Learners (ELL) students can experience opportunities to develop their language and practice language mastery.
Flipgrid in elementary would be a strong resource for reading responses.

Listen to this Voxercast (audio recorded using the free Voxer app). It features two TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educators (MIE), Jocelyn Crew (Lyford CISD) and Jodi-Beth Moreno (Education Service Center, Region 1) sharing about Flipgrid.

Flipgrid Resources

Others have been exploring Flipgrid for classroom use. Consider these examples:

If you’re interested in exploring FlipGrid or other video annotation solutions? Check out this blog entry on Video-based Active Learning.

January 13, 2017 0 comments

Leadership Professional Learning

Join With a Group for Success

by Erin Taylor January 3, 2017

written by Erin Taylor

Professional and college sports teams are a prime example of how a common goal can lead to incredible success, both in and out of the game. Each player wants to perform well and improve his own statistics. But it’s the team’s unity that takes an organization to the playoffs. As Vince Lombardi said, “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

If you’re a campus principal or district administrator, making your membership with TCEA into a team effort this year can have a tremendous impact! Here’s a page right out of our playbook on how to leverage a group membership into total team success.

Professional Development

Give your entire staff access to tips and lesson plans they can implement right away through our weekly Lunch and Learn webinar series. Watch live, or receive a link for convenient viewing. All 45 of these qualify for CPE credit and feature tried-and-true technology integration ideas perfect for the classroom. With a membership in TCEA, each of your staff has access to all of them, including those that have already occurred.

In addition to the free-to-members Lunch and Learn series, your staff will also have full access to monthly Get Your Google On webinars. These detailed professional development opportunities will help your staff fully integrate the power of G Suite tools into your students’ learning.

Community

Share ideas, get solutions, and respond to problems and questions from others in your district, area, and all across the country in our TCEA Social Community. Connecting with other educators is a necessity when you want your team to improve performance. The TCEA Community makes it easy with groups for different grade levels, subject areas, technology platforms, and more.

Stay in the Know

TCEA provides updated information on the latest educational technology trends and happenings. Whether it’s through our quarterly print magazine, our bi-monthly TechNotes enewsletter, or our daily blog, your staff will always know best practices, the latest research, available grants, and much more. Keeping current with the barrage of technology can be tough, but we make it easy for everyone.

Savings

Districts that purchase or renew five or more individual memberships receive a discounted membership rate. A group of 50+ members will save $18 each – a savings of 36% over the regular membership price! That means that, if you’re an average size campus, you can provide a full year of quality, free, anytime, anywhere professional learning to each staff member for just $31. To take advantage of this savings and to find an exact breakdown of prices for each person in your group, see the Bulk Membership Form.

Gather your colleagues, coworkers, and fellow tech advocates together now. Share this blog post on your Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or at your school to start gathering your group, and make 2017 a championship year for your team!

January 3, 2017 0 comments

Microsoft Professional Learning STEM/STEAM

Five Steps to Game-Based Learning with Minecraft

by Miguel Guhlin January 3, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

TCEA MEE Gameboard
(Get Full Sized PNG Image or Adobe PDF version)

Wondering how to effectively engage students in interactive learning? Before we explore five steps to game-based learning with Minecraft: Education Edition, let’s recall why engagement remains important. If students don’t care, they fail to learn. Some of the top ways to engage students include:

Physical activities get your students out of their chairs, learning better.
Written/video quick reflections on learning (e.g. quickwrites, quickvids) yield powerful benefits
Flipped learning, efficacious learning
STEM/STEAM lessons show real value
Robotics and/or 3D printing, engaging and pedagogically sound
Project-based and game-based learning

Project-Based, Gamified Learning

Minecraft, which is a game-based effort to engage and keep students focused on learning, taps into student enthusiasm about gaming. Even more important, it models cooperative learning that mirrors teams in the workplace. The skills they develop are the “glue that keep people working together” (source: Getting to Know Minecraft: Education Edition slideshow). Think of Minecraft as a giant, blank canvas, a genesis of divergent learning opportunities students can take advantage of. Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE) brings a plethora of built-in opportunities ripe for written/video reflections on learning. Also, opportunities for flipped learning about relevant topics are embedded in project-based learning.

Getting Started Actions

People learn through observation, trial and error, and play-based practice. Minecraft’s open learning enables differentiation for students as they accomplish project-based tasks. These tasks are seldom accomplished in isolation. Like real life, they must be done in tandem with a committed team. Follow these steps to get started with M:EE in your school or district:

Step #1: Get your hardware and software licenses in order.Before you can get M:EE going in your classroom, you will need to ensure that your computers have Windows 10 or OS X “El Capitan.” Also, each machine will need an external mouse and every student will need an Office 365 account. These accounts are available through your school district’s Office 365 setup or via a free account.

Step #2: Install Minecraft: Education Edition on Windows 10 computers.To get M:EE ready to go on your Windows 10 or Mac OS X “El Capitan” computers, you will need to go to the M:EE web site. You will need your Office 365 account to get access to the software. Check out the M:EE Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to get started. View this short installation guide with screenshots.

Step #3: Build familiarity with the game.You need to achieve some level of comfort with Minecraft: Education Edition. To help you, TCEA has created this M:EE Gameboard. (You can download a PDF of the M:EE Gameboard above.) There are various tutorials you can watch online at the web site. And here are M:EE online courses that will help build your comfort:

Video #1 – Learn to Play Minecraft: Get ready to jump into a Minecraft world. It will help you learn the controls you’ll need to play. Learn to move around, swim, climb, jump, and place and destroy blocks.

Video #2 – First Weeks of Learning: This is the introductory module for the Minecraft in Your Classroom course. Some teachers may wonder whether they should take the time to incorporate game-based learning into their already packed curriculum. In this module, you will learn (1) what type of learning environments result in the greatest retention by students and (2) how Minecraft Education Edition not only supports such learning environments, but creates a safe, risk-free learning space for students.

Video #3 – Building Blocks of Literacy: This panel explores how and why Minecraft is being used to encourage literacy through play. From artistic collaborations between literature and gaming to stimulating learning through role play and stories, to nurturing new voices and young storytellers, you will take a closer look at the ways Minecraft is inspiring a new generation of readers and writers.

Step #4: Learn key terms and tools in Minecraft: Education Edition. M:EE brings a wealth of specific classroom tools. These are intended to make the game less about surviving zombies, creepers, and griefing (e.g. destroying) and more about working together to externalize learning. Check this glossary available online.

Step #5: Plan your project-based lesson.There is a rich collection of M:EE lessons you can adapt for your own use! We will explore these in more detail in a future blog entry. For now, take a look at some of the ideas displayed in this TCEA TechNotes blog entry Amplifying Creativity: Minecraft Fairy Tales.

Did you know? TCEA is offering Introduction to Minecraft workshops throughout Texas. The first is January 23, 2017 in Pittsburg (Area 8). The second is February 27 in Edinburg (Area 1), and there is another on March 31st in Victoria (Area 3). Online course offerings will also soon be available! Sign up now to learn with a Minecraft Certified Trainer.

Conclusion

Technology can facilitate real-life learning through the presentation of ill-structured problems. Minecraft: Education Edition enables learners to create external thinking models as they work to solve those problems. This short guide should start you on a journey of discovery.

January 3, 2017 0 comments

Professional Learning

Activate Learning Innovators

by Miguel Guhlin December 22, 2016

written by Miguel Guhlin

Change can be difficult. But it’s almost always necessary. So how can we activate learning innovators in schools? In this blog entry, we will explore key technologies and action steps.

Getting Connected

Today, we have access to new technologies. Voxer, Appear.in, Edmodo, Twitter, blogs, Skype for Business, and YouTube Live are only a few. Decide whether the tool, such as GoogleDocs or OneNote Class Notebook, scaffolds learners’ efforts. Ask yourself, “How does this technology facilitate access and reflection across time, space, and devices?”

Growing from Network to Community

In a professional learning network (PLN), the more nodes (a.k.a. people) in your network, the richer the flow of ideas. Moving from information to innovative practice requires effort. Think of a PLN as a journey of learning and reflection. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) often involve groups. PLCs also describe a team’s shared journey of learning and reflection. Unlike a PLN, the PLC focuses on team efforts for achieving desired student outcomes. Which works best in your situation?

Activating Learners: Steps to Success

Allow me to share some action steps I have learned with past initiatives such as Pathways to Advance Virtual Education (PAVE), EC3 iPads in the Classroom , and the Technology Integration Lead Teacher (TILT) Program in several settings. Take these action steps to get a similar effort started in your school or district.

Organize learning around content that fosters innovation. That may be why one Texas district brought in George Couros, author of The Innovator’s Mindset, to lead #NISDTechCamp district-wide conversations (see my notes and materials).
Provide incentives that generate excitement among participants. Providing a stipend or technology equipment (e.g. iPad, laptop, Chromebook) that facilitates access is a common practice. When in a technology rich environment, offer options for various incentives. Remember incentives can also include badges for professional learning.
Use a blended learning approach to meetings, including face to face and online. Be sure to bring the group together, face to face, at the beginning, middle, and end of the initiative. Social media has replaced cumbersome learning management systems (LMSs).
Secure support from school/district leadership. Invite leadership to align strategic goals to your initiative and vice versa.
Support participants in creating an online portfolio of work with video and audio reflections that results in certification.
Let empowered individuals give back by helping others on campus.
Celebrate, such as with a dinner or graduation ceremony. Celebrate the efforts participants have put into learning. This can assist them in assuming a new, influential role.

An Example: Innovation Cohort

“Reach for the edges,” says Ryan O’Donnel via a Voxerchat I’m participating in (connect with him via the ConnectedTL Tribe Voxer chat) as he shares his vision in this Innovation Cohort Application. Notice that there are several components, such as required meetings, designing an innovation project, site-based support, financial reimbursement for time, and an application process. Many similar efforts exist, such as the Google Certified Innovator program, Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE), Discovery Education Network (DEN) Stars program, as well as many more (e.g. Seesaw Ambassador).

Invitation to Reflect

Please share in the comments what your thoughts are about these kinds of efforts. If you have participated in these efforts, how did they impact your work?

December 22, 2016 0 comments

Microsoft Professional Learning

Celebrating the 2016 TCEA MIE Cohort

by Miguel Guhlin December 16, 2016

written by Miguel Guhlin

Microsoft has a huge presence in classrooms and offices. Whether you are a student, parent, teacher, librarian, or administrator, you probably often find yourself interacting with powerful Office 365 tools and mobile apps. Through the Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) program, Texas educators in 2016 were able to become certified, earning the coveted MIE badge.

Purpose of the MIE Workshops

Microsoft and TCEA partnered to bring Texas educators comprehensive and engaging face-to-face workshops that spanned the state. Participants explored tools like Office 365, Microsoft Classroom, Microsoft Forms, OneNote 2016, Sway, and many other fantastic resources. These courses are designed to help educators deepen their grasp of Office 365 tools for classroom use and student learning.

Celebrating the TCEA Microsoft Certified Educators

We would like to congratulate the almost 340 Texas educators who have earned the MIE designation as of December, 2016. You can see all of their names here. This is a tremendous accomplishment and we are so very proud of each of these innovative educators!

Become a Member of the MIE 2017 Cohort

Interested in learning more about scheduling a face-to-face workshop or webinar series on Office 365 tools and gaining your Microsoft certification? Contact Ashley Weiler at aweiler@tcea.org. Group discounts are available for districts/campuses who want to register a group of their educators as a cohort; contact Dr. Bruce Ellis at bellis@tcea.org for more information on group discounts.

December 16, 2016 0 comments

Microsoft Professional Learning

Mapping Your Holiday Learning

by Miguel Guhlin December 15, 2016

written by Miguel Guhlin

“What can I learn this vacation break?” As a lifelong learner, I like to ask myself this question when I have some spare time. Balance quiet family moments this holiday with anytime, anywhere learning. Below, you will find suggestions for self-paced professional learning this winter break. These will deepen your technological and pedagogical knowledge without impacting your budget.

Did you know? Join the December 27-29, 2016 EdCamp Voxer event, 100% audio and mobile, available for free! Find out more!

Microsoft Education Community

The self-paced classes available will garner you badges and certificates you can print and share. In a profound way, these courses deepen your understanding of teaching and learning with technology in your classroom. Take these three steps to maximize your holiday learning.

Step 1 – Get a free account.

Your first step involves setting yourself up with a Microsoft Education Community account. Don’t lose your username and password. Some of the options that you have include a free Microsoft account (you can create one with your Gmail or Apple email account), Twitter, Facebook, and Office 365 account connected to work.

Step 2 – Select topics of interest.

Once you are logged in, you’ll see a menu bar running down the left side of the screen featuring several links. Click on the Badges and Points to see what options are available.

Recommendations for Microsoft classes are shown below, followed by more courses focused on pedagogy:

Microsoft Office Tools

Teacher Academy Windows 10 – A straightforward overview of Windows 10, great for newbies. You will earn 3,000 points and a badge for completing the course.
Teacher Academy OneNote – This provides some great insights into using OneNote, a collaboration tool that is available free to all. You will earn a badge and 3,000 points.
Digital Inking and Surface – Learn about digital inking and how the MS Surface Pro tablet can make learning more engaging. You will earn a badge.
Teacher Academy: Office 365 – Did you just get a free Office 365 account through work or on your own as a teacher? This course will help you create, edit, share, and work with others using Office Online, Outlook, and Skype for Business. Earn a badge and 3,000 points.

Enhancing Teaching and Learning with Technology

21st Century Learning Design – This 20-hour course combines eight courses with 4-6 lessons each. You will earn a badge, certificate and have a better understanding of the learning that is possible in today’s classroom.
Digital Citizenship – Explore digital citizenship concepts and become a confident digital citizenship champion. You will earn 500 points for this course and it will only take 30 minutes to complete.
Technology-Enriched Instruction – Learn more about TPACK, 21st Century Learning Design, and how to integrate technology into your classroom. This three-hour course will earn you 3,000 points and a badge.
Amplifying Student Voice – In this course, you will explore how to amplify student voice through the lens of research, practice, and integration frameworks. Tools like Skype, Flipgrid.com, and Sway will be used. You will earn 500 points for completing this course.
PDLN Connect, Communicate and Collaborate – Visit classrooms that have set norms for cooperation and collaboration. You’ll see how technology can expand the walls of your classroom. Earn 500 points for this one-hour course.

Learn More About Coding

If you’re interested in developing your coding chops, then definitely check out Prepare to Teach Creative Coding Through Games and Apps. Join the TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educators (MIE) Facebook group (with 210+ members) to tap into a dynamic community!

Step 3 – Share Your Learning

Take a moment to share your learning insights via a blog entry, record a voxercast and tweet it, or present at the next staff meeting. Principals could certainly create a Padlet to facilitate sharing.

Did you know? Ditch That Textbook Digital Seminars are available for free. Go to the site and click “Today’s Speaker” to learn something.

TCEA Professional Learning

Need more human interaction? Check out all the available options at TCEA.org. These for-cost options feature TCEA Professional Development directors to support your learning efforts. Here are a few certification courses:

21st Century Administrator Certification – Learn what you need to be successful in a campus leadership role.
Campus Technology Specialist Certification – Understand the tools and processes to better engage students and increase relevant technology utilization in the classroom.
IT/Technology Director Certification – Become an effective district leader and support administrators, teachers, and students in the use of technology.
Chromebook Certification (Level 1) – Dig deeper in their utilization of Google Apps for Education tools.
iPad Certification (Level 1) – Build a solid foundation for integrating the iPad in your classroom by participating in this certification.

Conclusion

Mapping your holiday learning gets easier every day. Treat yourself with anytime, anywhere learning!

December 15, 2016 0 comments

Microsoft Professional Learning

Building a Community

by Miguel Guhlin December 9, 2016

written by Miguel Guhlin

“We are longing for a community,” said a session participant at one of my Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) workshops. “Most of us have adopted Office 365 tools, but we don’t see ourselves in the numerous edcamps and workshops offered. Each of us is struggling to connect.” As instructional coach and author of The Art of Coaching, Elena Aguilar says, “With a powerful community I can do so much more. I am happier. I learn and expand and, possibly, I can transform.” The strategies below seek to answer the challenge of community building.

Five Strategies for Community Building

A few strategies that have worked include the following:

#1 – Connect

“Involve and connect with stakeholders,” I shared in a recent Skype call with USA MIE trainers. As I look at pictures from TCEA Area 1 and Area 8 participants attending the one-day MIE Teacher Academy, the connections with campus principals, regional service center staff, and library coordinators jump out at me. Some specific ways to connect include the following:

a) Amplify Their Voices

Each person has a story to tell. Here are three conversations that capture the heart of MIE events. I recorded them using the free Voxer app on my smartphone:

Voxercast: Listen to Crystal Just, Instructional Technology Specialist in Navarro ISD, share her insights in a spur-of-the-moment conversation about helping principals embrace technology.
Voxercast: Listen to Mireya Galvan, Coordinator of Library Services in Harlingen ISD, on using OneNote Class Notebook for Professional Development
Voxercast: Listen to Cris Chonka, Campus Technology Specialist in San Marcos Consolidated ISD, sharing her insights. Both Cris and Joanne Priest, an Austin ISD high school teacher, had just attended TCEA’s Creative Coding through Games and Apps (CCGA) workshop in December, 2016.

In addition to amplifying the voices of session participants, crafting solutions to common challenges remains important. For example, the TCEA TechNotes blog entry, Top 10 OneNote FAQs responds to specific questions that participants have asked.

b) Create an Online Sharing Space

“I appreciate the info you post,” said a technology director on the TCEA MIE Facebook Group. Creating an online space with shared learning opportunities stimulates dialogue. This dialogue also provides just-in-time support. When a critical service stopped working, TCEA MIE Community members shared their insights and knowledge to resolve the problem. In another situation, after sharing Amplifying Creativity: Minecraft Fairytales, Javier Aguilar wrote, “Awesome!!”

#2 – Engage

“Excellence is possible without perfection,” I read one day. The quote captures the essence of my rough-hewn videos about Microsoft Classroom and OneNote Class Notebook. Videos can engage others in a wide variety of ways, making complex topics approachable. Another way to engage others is to curate content relevant to your community. For example, I rely on ReadItLater’s Pocket to capture content relevant to my community and then share it using IFTTT.com to Twitter and Facebook. Re-tweeting old content that is still helpful helps latecomers to the community or those who missed it the first go-around.

#3 – Model

“We have to be able to share resources with everyone, as well as only with those who are TCEA members.” Some people get access to workshop resources; others do not. Microsoft’s OneNote 2016 makes it easy to create notebooks with unlocked and locked sections. Locked sections require a password to open. Then the notebook can be published online with non-passworded and passworded sections.

To encourage the use of OneNote for these purposes, I proposed sharing TCEA’s session resources with Academy participants. These actions helped expand internal understanding of OneNote’s functionality, as well as garnered positive praise from participants. We have to “dream the possible” so others can see and experience it.

Some examples include TCEA Connect!, Campus Technology Specialist Academy, and TCEA Area 20’s Tech-a-palooza Conference. Now that OneNote Online has shown itself as usable in this way, new initiatives such as the Technology Leadership Summit: Security are relying on OneNote’s passworded section feature.

#4 – Partner

“When can we have a Minecraft: Education Edition workshop in our area?” asked TCEA board member David Luna. “We definitely want to have one!” As a Microsoft Training partner, TCEA worked to seek out professional learning opportunities to better be able to facilitate training for Minecraft: Education Edition and Creative Coding through Games and Apps (CCGA). Then, TCEA’s Microsoft Certified Trainers/Experts reached out to collaborate with regional education service centers and TCEA area directors. This outreach program enables both TCEA members and non-members to take advantage of these two new initiatives from Microsoft.

#5 – Learn

Set time aside to tap into the stream of ideas, insights, and information available via social media. TCEA has built online social communities via the TCEA.org website, but also reached out to non-members via Facebook, Voxer (a mobile technology that makes audio-based chats possible, rather than text-based a la Twitter), and others. National and global communities of MIE Trainers and Experts employ Group.me, Twitter chats like #OneNoteQ, #msftedu, and Facebook to problem solve and get fresh information. These connections have a positive effect on learning and professional development worldwide.

Consider examining the TCEA MIE Facebook Group (open to all Texas educators using Microsoft tools; now with 200+ members) and the TCEA Campus Technology Specialist Voxer group as two examples.

Conclusion

“He who learns from one who is learning, drinks from a flowing river.” Never before have we had such easy access to “people in our lives,” as Matthew Kelly points out, “who raise our standards, remind us of our essential purpose, and challenge us to become the best version of ourselves.” Join us at TCEA in helping you find your essential purpose and allow us to provide you with the assistance you need to become the best version of who you can be!

December 9, 2016 0 comments

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