Archives: November, 2008

LEARN NC, in collaboration with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, and with funding from the North Carolina General Assembly, is proud to offer an online instructor preparation program designed for world language teachers. This program provides free professional development for licensed North Carolina world language teachers to either become or improve their understanding and skills for teaching a world language online.

The program consists of free registration for three online courses that must be taken in the following sequence:

1. Teaching Online Courses — A six-week, online professional development course to introduce the educator to online pedagogy
2. Facilitating Online Collaboration — A three week, online professional development course focused on facilitating student discussion and engagement
3. Teaching World Languages Online — A six-week, online professional development course focused on cultivating a student-centered language learning environment online

Interested applicants should apply as soon as possible to in order to complete the first two courses in the sequence prior to the final course that begins on April 29, 2009. Potential applicants should carefully read the following details of the program prior to submission of the program application. Please submit your completed application before January 31 February 28, 2009 to Dr. Bobby Hobgood.

Program Goal

Increase student options for studying a world language by preparing world language teachers to teach online.

Program Benefits

• Free registration for all three courses
• Develop an understanding of online pedagogy
• Learn techniques for effective online teaching
• Develop teaching techniques that transfer to the face-to-face classroom
• Introduction to community of online language teachers
• Program stipend upon successful completion of all three courses

Program Requirements

• North Carolina residency status
• Certification in foreign language
• Statement of intent to teach a world language online (see application)
• Completed application

Expectations

Participants are expected to complete all courses in preparation for teaching a world language online through the North Carolina Virtual Public Schools. Failure to complete the program requires participant to pay for all completed prerequisite courses up to the point of withdrawal.

How to apply

Applicants must complete and submit the application prior to admission into the program. Upon acceptance, registration for all three courses will be waived. Participants cannot be reimbursed for any coursework complete prior to acceptance into the program.

Check out the powerful new professional materials posted by the Center for Social Media at American University. The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education is available for download in .pdf format, and there is a six minute video introduction to understanding fair use in today’s media-rich environment that may clarify misconceptions and reassure teachers about their rights (and their students’ rights) to employ all sorts of media in classroom teaching and learning.

http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/code_for_media_literacy_education/

Thanks to Gerry Solomon, Media Specialist to North Carolina, for bringing this to our attention via the North Carolina School Library Media Association listserv.

LEARN NC will conduct several presentations at the North Carolina Middle School Association Conference in Greensboro on March 16 and 17. Presentations are as follows:

The North Carolina History Digital Textbook Project

David Walbert and Ross White

LEARN NC’s “digital textbook” for 8th-grade North Carolina history offers a new model for teaching and learning, making primary sources and multimedia central to the learning experience. Learn how to use this free online resource to inspire your students, promote inquiry, and bring the past into the twenty-first century.

Seeing the world in a new way

David Walbert and Eric Eaton, Polk Co. Middle School

Participants will explore LEARN NC’s multimedia, lesson plans, and professional resources and learn how to use them to enhance visual literacy skills while studying world cultures. We are living in an increasingly global society, and learning to look more analytically at images will help students better understand their world.

Turbocharge Your Teaching with Free Technology

Bill Ferris and Ross White

To Instructify means to find new ways to present the same old content. Or MacGyvering anything from software to Post-it notes into cutting-edge teaching tools. Learn to take advantage of countless free resources that lead to authentic, engaging learning experiences for students and more spare time for you.

LEARN NC will conduct several presentations at this year’s North Carolina Technology in Education Society (NCTIES) Conference, which takes place March 4-6 at the Raleigh Convention Center. A description of the presentations is below:

Using the intelligent Web – intelligently

Bobby Hobgood and Bill Ferris

As Web 2.0 transitions to Web 3.0 or the “intelligent web,” we will see greater customization of tools, services, and resources for different learners. While we know that technology can help us differentiate instruction, will a more intelligent Web make it easier to choose the right resource or tool? LEARN NC offers the resources and structure for planning, implementing, and assessing instruction in a differentiated classroom. This hands-on session will help you develop a plan for differentiating instruction through content, process, and product. Participants will try out new tools and learn techniques for differentiation through technology. Everyone will leave with a concrete plan and the associated tools for engaging students and meeting their individual learning needs. All kinds of learners are welcome!

Multimedia Make-Over: rebuilding tired presentations and renovating old assignments with LEARN NC

Melissa Thibault and Phil Kaufman

You have been planning to learn more about making some of your presentations more effective, but who has the time to learn and resources to create digital videos? Even if you are new to using digital media, you’ll be pleased to discover that developing a simple yet effective video presentation is easier than you think. If you are unsure how to begin, but interested in bringing your presentations into the 21st Century, this is the workshop for you! Try your hand at easy-to-use, free applications like PhotoStory (Windows only) and Picasa, combined with copyright-friendly image sources, and you will soon be ready to develop your own video presentation. Using LEARN NC, you will discover resources and best practices lessons and strategies to integrate these tools and techniques into your teaching.

Reaching Every Student with Blended Learning: Changing Classroom Instruction with LEARN NC

Melissa Thibault and Lesley Richardson

How times have changed! Multimedia content brings the world into your classrooom. Authentic online science collaboration makes your students researchers. Inquiry-based engagement with digital primary sources brings history to life. Time to reinvent yourself! Discover, teach and share with LEARN NC, and together we will reach and teach every student.

Visual literacy across the curriculum: Teaching with images from Flickr

David Walbert and Emily Jack

Learn to maximize the power of images in your classroom or media center using the photo-sharing website Flickr. We’ll demonstrate educational uses, show how to find high-quality photographs with historical and cultural value, and share lesson plans that incorporate visual literacy into all areas of the North Carolina curriculum.

From Online to On-ground: Online teaching strategies for the face-to-face classroom

Bobby Hobgood

Whether you teach online or on-ground, this session explores the teaching techniques and tools that engage students in collaborative learning to create and sustain a learning community. We’ll explore a set of guidelines for creating a learning community that have implications for both environments. Handouts and hand-holding provided!

e-Learning for Educators: Online Professional Development that Works

Ross White and Diane Lucas

Tired of sitting through professional development sessions that don’t actually improve teaching? Learn how online professional development can make you a better teacher. E-Learning for Educators is a partnership between LEARN NC, UNC-TV, DPI, NCVPS, and the Friday Institute — the leaders in online learning for North Carolina.

Data Collection Tools in the Classroom, Web Surveys, Clickers and SMS Polls

Phil Kaufman and Bobby Hobgood

Bobby Hobgood and Emily Jack of LEARN NC will conduct a hands-on workshop for media specialists in Randolph County and Asheboro City Schools on January 27 in Asheboro. A description of the workshop appears below:

Web 2.0 is a description of the tools, content, and functionality of the internet, as we currently know it. We benefit from the richness of media it houses, in particular, the phenomenal archive of images both past and present. As media specialists, we are inspired by the potential of this enormous collection only a Google search away.

While we can easily find images through simple searches, the ability to locate, choose, and use appropriate images for instruction is not so straightforward. During this workshop, we’ll explore the power of the image in a Web 2.0 world. Specifically, we will:

• Explore the concept of visuals with value,
• Experience how media specialists and instructors use images — both as creators and consumers — to engage students,
• Learn techniques for using images as teaching realia,
• Identify sources of web-based images, and
• Survey three perspectives on using images responsibly.