ITTIP Monthly Newsletter
October 2013
Monthly Megabite ITTIP Finalist For 2013 Governor's Award The Commonwealth of Virginia Innovative Technology Symposium (COVETS) had its 16th annual event celebrating Virginia’s government IT leaders. The event featured inspiring speakers, relevant breakout sessions and a marketplace of innovative tools. During the annual COVETS on September 9th, the 2013 Governor’s Technology Award was also presented.
Above: Jim Duffey, Secretary of Technology of Virginia and Sam Nixon, Chief Information Officer, Commonwealth of Virginia stand with ITTIP and Dinwiddie staff to receive finalist award.
The Governor’s Technology Award has ten categories. ITTIP was proudly selected as a finalist for the Innovative Use of Technology in Education for the HP STEM Catalyst Initiative, Inquiry and Design Learning Experiences for Adults an Teens as New Learners, an extension of a previous HP grant, GIST. Dinwiddie County teachers, a partner in this grant, attended along with ITTIP staff to accept this award. ITTIP was previously a recipient of the Governor’s Award in 2010, and will continue to compete for this award in years to come.
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Up-Coming Events Oct 3rd
Women in Technology Conference, Richmond
Oct 8th
VA STEM CoNNECT Conference, Williamsburg
Oct 15th
OPEN VA Conference, UMW
Oct 16th
SVRTC Meeting, Nottoway High School
What to find in this month’s Megabite: Page 1 2013 Governor's Award Page 2 First SVRTC Meeting Page 3 Dean Chapman Visits ITTIP Page 4 ITTIP Staff Presents Globally Page 5 Professional Development: OOcs
ITTIP Monthly Newsletter
October 2013
First SVRTC Meeting of 2013-2014 SVRTC’s first meeting of the school year was held at Longwood University on Thursday, September 19th. The meeting began with SVRTC’s Senior Technology Engineer, Bill Wilson, giving an overview of the consortium’s past and current infrastructure. Then ITTIP’s STEM Specialist, Paula Leach, shared all the current and past projects, including teacher and division participation, from the consortium. SVRTC and ITTIP was excited to have Dean Chapman, the new dean for the College of Education and Human Services (CEHS) of Longwood University, attend the meeting and introduce the guest speaker, Cameron Evans, National and Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Education of Microsoft. Mr. Evans spoke to the group for over an hour about technology and education. Specifically, he was interested in hearing from SVRTC about the anxiety and excitement the consortium has about technology in our schools, especially the more rural divisions. Participants talked about the choices of devices, types of assessments, and meeting the needs of the non traditional student. Dean Chapman pointed out the need for connectivity for our students outside of school. Many of the homes in the SVRTC counties still do not have high speed internet connection, if any. Mr. Evans concluded his discussion with sharing some new features for Windows 8.
Above: Cameron Evans speaks to SVRTC’s representatives about their anxiety and excitement regarding technology and education.
ITTIP looks forward to the next SVRTC meeting being held on October 16th, at Nottoway High School.
ITTIP takes Technology Eco Web: NEXT Around the World Check out NEXT! NEXT is a website created to help develop ethical imagination and environmental stewardship. It introduces what design is, what design does, and why design in important. The site offers activities across nine scales - nano, pattern, object, space, architecture, neighborhood, urban, region , and world. The online journey introduces online activities in the classroom, community and globally. Supporting links include online museums, institutions and contemporary practices. The websites activities are focused on the foundations of environmental education and its goal is to facilitate meaningful learning experiences that create positive influence on lives and outcomes. In order to use NEXT and its website activities to its fullest potential, they suggest downloading free software tools such as: Adobe Reader, Shockwave, Google Earth, SketchUp, QuickTime, and Silver Light. Watch a short video on NEXT to help understand more about this resource.
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ITTIP Monthly Newsletter
October 2013
Dean Chapman Visits ITTIP On July 1, 2013, Longwood University welcomed Dr. Paul Chapman as the new Dean of the College of Education and Human Services (CEHS). During the month of September, ITTIP staff invited Dean Chapman to the Institute to share our relationship and details of SVRTC. The Institute also shared current and past projects, technologies, infrastructure, goals and provided an overview of how ITTIP functions and the small group of professionals that make it as successful as it is. ITTIP enjoyed Dean Chapman’s visit, and especially enjoyed hearing about his strong support of what the Institute provides for students and educators. The visit concluded by showing Dean Chapman some of our computer science projects with the LilyPad Arduino and Hummingbird microcontrollers, as well as a demo with our 3D projector, 3D printer and Promethean table. Above: STEM Specialist, Paula Leach, shares some of ITTIP projects with to Dean Chapman.
ITTIP Staff Presents Globally at STEMx Conference Dr. Mano Talaiver and STEM Specialist, Paula Leach, both presented during the world’s first massive open online conference for STEMx education, Global STEMx Education Conference. Dr. Talaiver joined a keynote panel as part of the HP Catalyst Academy consisting of a network of innovative education organizations around the world offering online mini-courses for STEMx teachers supported by ISTE, NMC, and HP. Jim Vanides, Global Education Program Manager from the HP Sustainability & Social Innovation office, moderated the conversation about what’s possible, from Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC’s), and other models of professional learning on Thursday, September 19th. On Saturday, September 21st, ITTIP STEM Specialist, Paula Leach, presented Inquiry and Design using LilyPad Arduino. She discussed the successes and challenges of using the microcontroller specifically with girls, including a trip abroad to New Zealand, through HP Catalyst Funding opportunities. Both presented and collaborated with conference attendees using Blackboard Collaborate.
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ITTIP Monthly Newsletter
October 2013
Open Online Courses (OOCs) Through HP Catalyst Academy The Institute for Teaching through Technology and Innovative Practices (ITTIP) and Northern Arizona University (NAU) has announced Open Online Courses (OOCs) available for asynchronous learning. A total of three courses are currently available for educators globally, and free of cost: Designing with Scratch - A level one course for elementary teachers on Scratch. It will take approximately 15 hours to complete (enrollment key: Scratch101). Computational Thinking with Scratch - A level two course for educators on Scratch. It will take approximately 30 hours to complete (enrollment key: Scratch 202). Science Inquiry and Writing - Understanding an inquiry based writing heuristic specifically to promote science literacy within content areas. It will take approximately 45 hours to complete (enrollment key: Science2013). For all three courses, you will need to go to www.stem.ittip.org and use the registration code, HPITTIP2013, to create an account. Participants can then click on the course they would like to take at their own pace and use the enrollment key to begin the course. Each course will provide a badge and a certificate upon completion. Because these courses are available globally, certificates may be presented to your individual school divisions in order to receive applicable teacher recertification points. These courses have been made available through the HP Catalyst Academy grant funding and ITTIP’s grant, Inquiry and Design Learning Experiences for Adults and Teens as New Learners. If you have any questions regarding the courses, please email Mano Talaiver: mano@ittip.org
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