Technology Tidbyts

A Publication of the La Porte ISD Instructional Technology Department

January 2015

Volume 4 Issue 3

Instructional Technology Department

Director of Instructional Technology

Alan Ward

281-604-7205

Instructional Technology Specialists

Lisa Basile

281-604-7086

Jennifer Engels 281-604-7147

Erika Alverson

281-604-7128

Allison Timm 281-604-7914

Welcome to the first Bulldog Bytes of 2015! The ITS are excit-ed to be back and visiting your campuses this semester. If you have any instructional technology needs, remember to sub-mit a work order and we would be more than happy to assist you. In this edition of the Bulldog Bytes we will go over a couple of friendly and helpful reminders about social media use, begin a discussion of some of the handy new features of Microsoft Office 2013, spotlight the Monitor Chat feature in DyKnow, and give a quick refresher on how to create your own interactive Mimio presenta-tions.

Social Media Dos and Don’ts for Teachers

DO’s for Teachers:

-Confidentiality: Pretty obvious one. Confi-dential data, like students’ grades, contact information, etc. should stay secured within school records not on “some Facebook page”.

-Flip: Make the classroom more interactive through role playing pages, online video shar-ing, etc.

-Chatting: Avoid private chats roulettes with students at all costs. It will affect the student-teacher relationship.

-Separate accounts: Do consider separate personal and professional social media ac-counts. This is one of the easiest ways to man-age professional and personal lives separately. This can put a boundary between school and personal life that is good for your career and less stressful for you as a private individual.

-Privacy: Do make sure you have strict priva-cy settings if you only use one social media account per social media site. One should hide all updates, media, statuses, and account info from everyone who is not on their friend list. Teachers should often not add students to their friends’ list until they have graduated from the school entirely.

DON’T’s for teachers

-Language: Avoid saying anything on the professional or public social media profile that you wouldn’t say in class because any state-ments you make that don’t fit in with your daytime teacher personality will make their way back into class in the worst possible way. Worse, they can just show up ‘mysteriously’ in front of your fellow teachers, principal, super-intendent or school administration.

-Chat: Don’t get too chatty with students on your professional profile. Students may be more inclined and put more weight on contin-ued private conversations than you do, which will become awkward. Your students can call you during and after school if there is an emer-gency or else can leave you message, which you can revert to as soon as possible.

-Personal pics: Don’t share pictures of your personal party. Even if you think it will make you look cool to your students.

Article excerpt taken from “Important Do's and Don'ts for Social Media in Education” written by Kumar Snehansu

After School Training

Opportunities

Please Register for trainings

in Eduphoria

Registration closes at noon the

day of the training.

Learning.com

Thursday, February 26

4:00-6:00

Are you looking for a way to integrate technology based projects into your classroom

curriculum? Then learning.com can help! Learning.com gives teachers the ability to create

and distribute their own digital assignments to their students. Creators can choose the type of

activity for students to complete, upload documents, insert images and web links, provide

detailed instructions, and align the assignment with the TEKS.

Teachers also have access to learning.com’s technology integration curriculum, Inquiry. Per

learning.com:

“Inquiry by Learning.com is a project-based approach to integrating core

subject area instruction with digital literacy skills. A technology skills pre-test is

completed by the student before each project to help ensure their success.

Students then complete the project by conducting research, creating

digital media, and presenting their work to their peers. Students then reflect

upon their learning in a final self-reflection assignment. Inquiry includes

supporting interactive technology skill lessons including Keyboarding and

Online Safety curriculum.”

Inquiry has curriculum designed for grades K-8, and each grade level contains 6 different

integration projects: 2 Math, 2 ELA, 1 Science, and 1 Social Studies. All four major content areas

are covered! Inquiry’s projects are also student guided, so students are in charge of the

progression and success of the project.

If you are interested in discovering more about all of the ways you can use learning.com in the

classroom, then register for our after school training on Feb. 26th from 4:00-6:00. You can

register for the course in Eduphoria.

Powtoon

Looking for a fun, new way to bring some awesomeness to your lessons? Frustrated

that you can’t find just the right kind educational video to incorporate into your les-son? Are students tired and bored with using PowerPoint to create and deliver class

presentations?

Then why not give Powtoon a try! Powtoon is a fun, interactive resource that allows its users to create animated presentations and videos. It’s as easy to use as

PowerPoint, and its free!

Powtoon offers its users a variety of templates, images, and special effects to choose from. They also offer tutorial videos to assist you

as you create your first Powtoon.

Have a particularly chatty class? Want to harness some of that talkative energy? Use Monitor Chat to redirect your class's propensity to talk! You may have used Monitor Chat as a way to individually communicate with your students (whether for encouragement or disciplinary reasons), but have you ever tried opening up chat to everyone?

Why Should I? Students are always interested in what their peers are thinking and saying. You are designating a space that encourages their par-ticipation. Your students can follow the course of the discussion from beginning to finish. Chat engages your students (it's exciting for them to have a voice, especially those who are normally qui-et). The chat features can be turned off by you at any-time! (Can you say "incentive?")

How can I do it? 1. Log in to DyKnow and start up Monitor. 2. Click on the "Chat" tab in the bottom-right corner of your screen. 3. Find the dropdown and select "Participant to All" 4. Watch as your students begin to engage with one another!

Article courtesy of: DyKnow Monthly Newsletter (https://support.dyknow.com/hc/en-us/articles/201165227-January-14-Fun-Group-Chat-Uses-

DyKnow– Monitor Chat

Mimio Moment Did you know you were just four steps away from creating a new

activity in Mimio? Yes, it is that easy with the Activity

Wizard.

To begin you will need to add a New Activity either from the

insert menu or on the toolbar.

Step 1: Define Your Activity

Select the subject, grade level and template that you would

like to use.

Step 2: Make your Selections

Choose your topic, categories and when to show students

the correct answers.

Step 3: Refine Your Activity

Select what items you are going to make available for this

activity.

Step 4: Review

Preview your activity before you publish it. Also at this time

you will create a student based objective that will appear in

a box for students.

Following these four easy steps will provide you with a complet-

ed activity to use in a whole or small group setting, in work sta-

tions or as an individualized assignment for students to complete

on their own. All this in under 10 minutes!