In many cases, budgets have been cut and travel has been reduced for educators who wish to participate in professional meetings and trainings. Even though I understand the reasoning behind the cuts, I hate to see the cessation of being able to gather with professionals across other schools districts. Many times this is the avenue to finding an answer to a question or a solution to a problem within your own district. Hearing what others are doing (and what they are NOT doing) is very helpful. Even though we can utilize a listserv through e-mail, it's just not the same as having a face-to-face dialogue.
With that said, I am glad our district has not yet restricted travel to such meetings and trainings, even though I believe this will affect us soon. I have the opportunity to gather with other teachers and administrators across the west Kentucky region once each month to have professional discussions on what is happening in the districts and in the schools, plus have the time to learn about new technologies and actually try them out or at the very least, see them in action through a demonstration from a colleague. On Friday, October 28th I traveled to a nearby district for our Region One TIS Meeting, a gathering of technology integration specialists. In our case, some of us are teachers actively instructing in the classroom, some of us are working in a central office as a district person helping teachers integrate technology in their classrooms, and some of us are leaders of technology in the district, serving as CIOs or CTOs or under whatever title the district has given them.
Just to give you an idea, our agenda for last month included learning about QR Codes (Quick Response) and how to use them with students, what a Wikispace is and how to use it, instruction on a few Web 2.0 tools like Blabberize, Read the Words, and Audioboo and the beginning of learning about the nine themes of digital citizenship. Last Friday our agenda included learning about iPad/iPhone apps which could be used in a classroom, what the SkyDrive is and how to use it, information about Arstonia, a place to upload student artwork and much more, and again, information about the nine themes of digital citizenship. The latter included a Skype session with a KETS engineer in another district for a demonstration of iDrivedigital. This technology is tied to helping students (and adults) learn how to use technology responsibly and effectively. Some districts are using this tool to gauge how much access to the Internet and technology resources of a school they receive. For example, if a student does not complete any modules, they would be restricted to very little access - basically the minimum of what they would need to complete a teacher's assignment in a particular classroom. As they take and "pass" modules, the student would be given more freedom since they would have demonstrated responsible and effective use of the equipment and the network. The end of the day included a presentation by our region's KETS engineer, keeping all of us informed about what is going on at the state level and in other districts across the state. Also, some area CIOs were invited to come share information about assessing students (and staff) on technology. At this point nothing has been decided about how to proceed in the future, but the discussions that are taking place are helpful and informative and enable all of us to make a better decision for our students and staff in the future.
As you can see, these meetings are a good way to learn and share with others. In the future, I hope to post some of the apps we have learned about and share how they can be used in the classroom. I just hope we don't lose the ability to come together periodically and share information. Maybe if funding is cut for travel to meetings and trainings like this, we can all learn how to implement new technologies so we can still come together and share electronically instead!
Happy Halloween to all my readers! I hope you have a treat-filled day!
