Discovery/MACUL Event a Success!

(This is a cross post from the Michigan DEN blog.)

What an awesome day!  The Michigan Leadership Council hosted an in-person professional development day for teachers at Haslett High School.  This was co-sponsored by Discovery Education and MACUL (Michigan Association of Computer Users for Learning).  Mike Bryant, Discovery Regional Manager, made a surprise visit.  He announced that our Michigan event had the most people registered nation-wide!

In addition to the fabulous virtual presentations, ten hands-on breakout sessions were offered.  The MI DEN Leadership Council team facilitated sessions on a variety of topics:  DiscoveryStreaming Basics, New Features of DiscoveryStreaming, Podcasting, Digital Storytelling using Photostory, Global Collaborative Projects, MovieMaker, and Screencasting with Camtasia and Jing, and Interactive Websites.  Session handouts and other resources for the hands-on sessions are posted here. 

The virtual presentations will soon be available for viewing.  I'll post the link when it is ready.

FREE ONLINE CONFERENCE!

Mark your calendar!  The K-12 online conference is coming soon!  It officially begins the week of October 13th.   Session teasers, short videos to entice you to tune in, are available now.  Educators from around the world who are interested in innovative ways technology can be used to improve learning will participate.  The theme is "Amplifying Possibilities."  To help newcomers gain the most benefit from the conference, tips are available. Consider participating in both the live events during the conference, as well as asynchronous conversations.  I hope to see you there!

Getting Going with MOODLE

Oakland County Intermediate School District is now hosting MOODLE to all the districts in the county.  Their technical and instructional staff have been doing a fantastic job supporting us.  Questions are answered promptly and a MOODLE usergroup of folks like me who are the local district administrators has been formed.  In my district, it is beginning to take off.  I now have every secondary student loaded into the system, so that teachers who want to use MOODLE can do quickly (after some training, of course). 

Once teachers know that they can use MOODLE in many different ways, from a super-structured unit to a more informal "use as needed" tool, they become hooked.  Teachers can use one feature or all of them.  It can be used for two weeks or the entire school year.  The features that excite teachers the most are:

• The online discussion board forums.  Students can discuss topics they are learning about.  On occasion, teachers can set up the forum so that students cannot see their classmates responses until they post their own reponse. 


• The ability for students to submit assignments online.  Printing is no longer required, and teachers can open the files from home or school (no more fishing through student network folders, either!).  Providing feedback on MOODLE is quick & easy.


• Teachers can host a study session the night before a test using the chat feature.  It's like a safe environment for instant messaging, with an educational purpose! 


• Students can collaborate on group assignments using the wiki feature.  Teachers can see who is doing the work!


• Teachers can create self-grading quizzes. 

If you are a Walled Lake teacher, and you want to learn more about MOODLE, contact me today!