Message for newbies.

Chill.  It's OK, you'll learn to shift a little in your thinking.  The Student Portal is huge and it may seem daunting at first.  But take time to explore and play around with the apps.  You will slowly find yourself changing the way you think about technology and the possibilities it has for you and your students.   You will fail many times and you will feel like you can't do it all.  Well the reality is that you can't do it all.  Pick a few things and work on them individually until you feel a comfort level then move on.  Find some people to collaborate with early on.  Make friends with the computer geeks at your school, or at these PD sessions.  You'll thank us later.

Strategies for Sanity

1) YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW IT ALL!
Learning takes time, especially technology - for yourself and how you are going to help others.

2) Ask for help
Use your Portal group. You won't be the only person that has the question, and my not be the first. Someone will know how, or a least "who" might know how.

3) Put blinders on
Pick one thing at a time to explore. It is too easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of "stuff" that is out there in Google Docs.

4) You control the Technology, the Technology does not control you.
Remember, you are the boss!

Comments for new participants

Here are some thoughts from our group:

- commit to try new things at the end of every session. Experimenting leads to new discoveries or new questions

- have more than one staff member trained so you can support each other and share your expertise

- things can seem overwhelming at first, but taking one thing at a time and focus on the little things. Look at what other schools have done so you don't re-invent the wheel

- explore explore explore

- share what you create so that others can benefit

- things are always changing, nothing stands still

Reflecting on the Portal...

Survival...

To survive the first year of Portal you need to be rela and go with the flow. There are always changes and updates, there is always a new app and there is always a new great project to do. However, you have to pick and choose which apps and which projects you are going to explore or you'll never make it. Also, never underestimate your kids... even those little grade 2's who have never used computers! The students pick up on the apps with shocking ease.

Teaching Teachers Tech

I believe one of the most important things to remember as an EdTech Mentor, is to put computers in front of your staff when you explain how to do the different things in the portal. Focus on one of two topics during each session with your staff and let them play with the apps as you are teaching them to solidify their learning. The more comfortable you can make your staff with things like Google Docs, the more willing they will be to try them in their own classrooms.

Helpful hints from the table at the back!

• Don't worry about being an expert, don't be afraid - you will learn LOTS!
• Get a g-mail account.
• Use Google Chrome.
• If you are new to the portal, you may want to set up a Twitter account in advance and become familiar with it. Meetings start with a tweet from each person. Great way to connect with other teachers that can support you with your technology journey. Don't forget to write down your password and account!
• Excellent opportunity to meet and connect with people on the same journey through technology. ENJOY!

I wish I knew, perhaps with more certainty, that grandma's old adages really do apply to today's techy world. Sometimes when you feel that you are behind in the techy world, remind yourself that there are many more who feel like you. Things change so quickly it might be impossible to keep up with it all. Like Grandma said, there's always tomorrow. All in good time.

Lead Teacher Network

The most important advice I would give to someone participating in the student portal network is to be patient (with yourself as you learn about using the technology, with the staff at your school as they adopt it, with the kids as they figure out digital citizenship, etc.)!

Also - pick and choose your apps for what works for you. You do not have to use every app, because they won't all be useful to all teachers all the time.

Thoughts.....

Areas of Strength:

*The 10 Techie Things was great information to take away and implement

*The set up gave lots of time to talk to peers and converse on how to use the material in our classes

Areas for Growth:

*More exemplars for all divisions

*More ideas on how division 1 (specifically grade 1 and 2) could use this that would be beneficial

*If schools are not on the portal these sessions are not as beneficial

*Sitting in division would be more beneficial for discussion

Reflections of Year 1

For those who want to know how to do things better;

• it would be important that participants have access to the Portal to test drive it with at least their own classrooms, versus having training now and access next year
• being able to attend inservices interspersed with using it in schools is a good way to manage learning yourself and then teaching others
• it would be more helpful for Div. 1 & 2 teachers to have their own PD inservices so its more pertinent, useful and adaptable to their division level.
• some more explicit instruction or demonstration of how to use new features e.g. Aviary tools
• there needs to be time to 'learn through play' for participants but we appreciate tutorials to share with staff and students, that are ready to use and for use review, when needed.
• team planning and teaching between classroom teachers or with a teacher-librarian, allows you at the school level to work in partnership, rather than in isolation in implementing Portal features.
• teaching students ahead of classroom teachers through direct instruction leads to students requesting their teachers to use the Portal.
• Template sharing/building together started to build resources we can all adapt or modify for our own usage e.g. Digital Citizenship Plan
• Start with higher grades and work downward, or by matching Div. 2 students to train Div. 1 students in usage of Portal was helpful in building comfort and capacity of students and teachers alike.
• 'Just-in-time' support to teachers who are trying to use the Portal is necessary; access to Portal Tech leaders, lead teacher time in schools and technology resources helps teachers and students to make use of the Portal.

Looking forward, we need to examine which Web 2.0 tools we can integrate within the Portal or web based software we can use within the Portal, as well as developing training 2 minute tutorials for staff/students when they need to learn how to use features of the Portal.

Digital Citizenship vs Lock It Down

Time to Learn All this Stuff

Share vs Microsoft Office

Should We Allow Students to "Chat" While Working in the Portal?

Since the dawn of time, students have socialized while working in groups. The Student Portal gives tremendous scope for collaboration, but it also offers another way for students to socialize and waste time. Is it a problem? When is it a problem? How can we prevent it becoming a problem?

Youtube in Schools

The bottom line is it should be open and most of the time it isn't open. There are all kinds of legitimate academic and learning reasons to open it. Khan academy is probably the best Math tutorial site - the video's are housed on Youtube, there are fantastic science videos from leading universities, the video's are housed on youtube, one can find several tutorial's and how-to's on any subject, the video's are housed on youtube.

The barrier to opening youtube is two-fold:

1. Bandwidth concerns
2. Student safety and security (bad stuff out there/time wasting)

The principal is the key, convince him or her and they have the power to open Youtube by providing the following solutions to their concerns:

1. It turns out the bandwidth should not be a concern. Most schools have 25Mbps access. Until there is a problem, if there is responsible use, there shouldn't be a problem. The district is prepared for use to go up, and this problem is not as legitimate as you may think (unless you are a big high school, but centre high 2000 + students is open and running).
2. It is up to use to teach students responsible use. Through Modelling and Supervision - we ought to be able to combat the concern of student access.

The point to be driven home to get your principal to ensure access is to provide real examples of how it can be used for learning!

When you are done making this easy to see logically sound argument ask your principal to email Jamie Hermans with EPSB, find his name in Outlook. 

One very important Caveat:
Make sure you have in place a responsible way of making the transition. Educate the staff, educate the students. This is a powerful tool, but it can be easily abused. Keep the two arguments against in mind and have in place a method for dealing with 1) Bandwidth abuse and 2) Inappropriate/Off task behaviour.

It is easy to see how students will abuse the openness that we advocate, thus proving right the nay-sayers. Allow it to stay open through responsible use in the entire school.

Time Issues

Office vs Portal

We discussed issues of using presentations with google vs Microsoft Powerpoint. One solution is to introduce web 2.0 tools.

Some schools are using the portal exclusively for student use and are rethinking this. They may be asking to have Microsoft Office available as well as the portal.

Facebook Issues

We need to educate students at an earlier age regarding facebook issues and we need to discipline students accordingly for misuse.

Legal & Ethical Issues with Portal Access

PROBLEM - Is Gmail being used for educational purposes....and how do we ensure that educators have support?


Scenario - A parent discovers that his/her child has GMAIL account. After discussion with the teacher, the parent realizes that the email is not being used in the classroom to support curriculum. The parent want the benefits of Portal but does not want the child to have access to individuals/groups that are negative or harmful.


Solution(s) - To safeguard students online (inside and outside of school) certain precautiosn have to be made.

-Students have to be taught digital citizenship
-teachers have to model appropriate digital skills
-restrict the domain that students can have access to (can this be done by school/grade level/teacher)
-call Jim Davies, Darwin, Glenn, Terry, Lea Bekken, Jamie Pallett and be aware of teacher expectations and responsibilities


Other Questions that arise

-What mechanism is there for the teacher voice to be heard (Technology Teacher Advisory Group)

-Teacher support - If gmail is an ‘all or nothing’ feature..if teachers are confronted with requests by parents to remove the feature what then? If misuse of gmail (cyberbullying) leads to a loss of gmail privelege, why can’t a parent/teacher/school not request this function to be removed? What is the policy for informing parents about issues that arise from using the gmail? Is it the students intellectual property or do teachers have the right to alter settings of account?

-What happens if students/parents do NOT complete a school’s “Acceptable Use of Technology Form”?

-Should students have the ability to use the “call phone”? The students have access to outside sources

-Can schools change/alter their online use policy? Does someone downtown in the legal department need to be contacted

-Can a formal process be created to be submitted by parents to inform district on interests regarding the use of gmail?

Kids "Leading the Charge"!

In many schools, students have picked up Share and run with it. How do we control how Share is used or misused at the school level?

• What are potential problems that could take place via Share?
• cyber-bullying
• malicious e-mails
• video chat negative interactions
• Is Share still safer than alternatives?

These are some problems that Share, if misused, can enable. However, it is ultimately far safer than the alternatives that students can access freely on their own.

This is a tool of communication and collaboration that has many benefits that significantly outweigh the costs. Share is a medium of communication among many options to any student. If students choose to behave poorly within Share, this is a behaviour issue as opposed to a "Share" or technology issue. It is in fact, a safer medium of communication than alternatives that can not be monitored and are widely available.

Click here for presentation.

Outlook VS Share

Our brainstorming for the issue of using Share versus Outlook...how to get staff buy-in for using just Share.