MONTHLY Technology Integration

Specialist NEWSLETTER

TIS @nd That

Editors

Josh Matheny

Berkley County

Jenna Alley

Monongalia County

Julienne Longsworth

Putnam County

Microsoft® Innovative Educator Program

In June, Mark Moore, from the WVDE,

introduced the Microsoft® Innovative

Educator Program (MIE) to the 2013-

2014 TIS cohort. The MIE program is a

professional development program for

K-12 teacher trainers. The program is

designed to help educators better

understand and integrate Microsoft

products into their curriculum.

Once you have completed the MIE

course, you will be an official “Microsoft

Innovative Educator”. You will have ac-

cess to training materials and will join a

network of other MIE’s around the world.

For more information about the MIE pro-

gram you can go to:

http://bit.ly/133KdiQ

Mr. Moore is available for free onsite

trainings. You can contact him at

mramoore@access.k12.wv.us

For training videos, visit Mark Moore’s

training page at

http://bit.ly/mmtutorialvideos

Microsoft® has many free, inter-

active tools to help engage our stu-

dents and energize lessons. Many of

the free tools are applications that

do not require extensive training.

AutoCollage-create a unique piece of

art with students’ photos.

Mouse Mischief-makes classroom

PowerPoint lessons interactive using

the computer and multiple mice.

Photo Story (Windows® XP)-quickly

turn digital photos into slideshows.

Windows Live® Movie Maker-make

movies with your pictures and videos

and easily share online.

Microsoft® Math-plot 2D/3D

graphs, solve equations, inequalities,

and simplify algebraic expressions.

For more information and many

more free tools,

http://bit.ly/msfreetools

and

http://bit.ly/mmfreetoolslist

This Issue

Microsoft® Innovative Educator Program P.1

Bring Your Own Device? P.2

Cyber Safety P.3

Project 24 and Upcoming Events P.4

Symbaloo and Edmodo Vs. Schoology P.5

Useful Links P.6

August 2013

1

Mark Moore, WVDE, MIE Trainer

Volume 2 Issue

Here are a few to get you started!

Catered Party or BYOD?

What’s really best for our

students and their education?

10 Commandments for BYOD

1. Create thy policy before

procuring technology 2. Seek the flocks’ devices 3. Enrollment shall be

simple 4. Thou shalt configure

devices over the air 5. Thy users demand self

service 6. Hold sacred personal

information 7. Part the seas of corpo-

rate and personal data 8. Monitor they flock-herd

automatically 9. Manage thy data usage 10. Drink from the fountain

of ROI

http://bit.ly/BYODTIPS

Cell phones and mobile devices

have become a major issue in today’s

classroom. How should the school

address these issues? There have been

so many disruptions in the classroom,

that administrators and teachers want to

ban mobile device use during school

hours. Is banning a form of useful

technology really in the best interest of

the students? Should we continue to

utilize textbooks, which can contain

outdated material as soon as they’re

printed, compared to using readily

retrievable and current information at

the touch of a button?

Most students already possess this

capability, but we have been quick to

dismiss it. Within the digital age our

students shouldn’t be restricted, but

rather encouraged to grow as

technological individuals. The jobs of

today and tomorrow are and will be

dependent upon the advances of

modern technology. As educators, it is

our responsibility to teach and prepare

our students for life beyond the four

walls of a classroom. Most students, at

various levels of education, already

possess a mobile device. They’re no

longer reserved to call mom and dad

when the student safely arrives at his/

her destination. It’s their lifeline. It

becomes part of their personality. Is it

our job to discourage the technological

use, or do we need to educate both

students and parents on the proper

etiquette for mobile device use in

schools, jobs, and society?

At this year’s state technology

conference, I listened to three different

companies talk about how “easy” it

was to allow students to bring their

own device (BYOD). Although I may

not be convinced that this would be

considered an easy transition, I was

able to appreciate many positive

aspects of this concept. One of the most valid points made

by all the companies was how much

money the districts that did use BYOD

saved. Theoretically, your school

would have a 1:1 ratio of students to

device without purchasing new

computers, tablets, and programs.

Furthermore, students wouldn't be

limited to using the devices and

programs on school grounds and during

school hours. BYOD enables them to

have information at the tip of their

fingers anytime, anywhere.

Do you remember the first time you

got a new mobile device? How long did

you play with it? Have you put it down

since? Most of us “Google” something

everyday. It isn't about memorizing

information and reciting what you've

found. Our goal should be to know

where to find the base answer, then

implement and configure it in order to

apply it and solve the issue at hand.

Blended Learning and Flipped Class-

rooms aim to engage all students,

making them more involved. Full

student engagement and interest can

lead to a decrease on behavioral issues

in the classroom. Ask yourself, “Do

you want to cater the party or BYOD?”

Bring Your Own

Device (BYOD), may

be overwhelming,

but its not hard

~maas360.com

33 Interesting Ways to Use Mobile

Phones In the Classroom

http://bit.ly/phonenclass

Tablets, Laptops and Mobiles in

the Classroom: Top Tips from

Teachers

http://bit.ly/TLMinClass

5 Ways the BYOD Model Can

Benefit Special Education

Classrooms

http://bit.ly/5waysbyod

Joshua D. Spence is a Cyber Security

Expert (USAF) and an Independent

Cyber Security Consultant.

At the June 17th WVTIS meeting, Spence spoke about the many cyber dan-gers that exist and how we as teachers can protect and educate ourselves and

our students. It is important to have the understanding of the building blocks that are needed for your protection. A computer can be attacked many ways and technolo-gy is getting more advanced. One of the biggest threats that we face today is Social Engineering. Social Engi-neers use basic information (name, phone number, ad-dress, pictures, and place of work…) that can be found very easyily from your digital footprint. They only need a few pieces of information to put together the puzzle and create chaos that will take several hours for the victim to repair. Other threats are: Malware, Virus, Spam, Phishing, Random Scams, Fake Anti-virus, and Remote Access Trojans. How do these threats affect the user? They can add attachments to e-mails, QR codes, shorten URLs and alter URLs. Don’t fall for one of these tricks. It is im-portant to have a current and updated version of anti-virus. Geotagging: Each time you take a picture, video or make a social media post, GPS coordinates are embedded into the metadata. Why is this dangerous? Hackers can deter-mine where you are or worse where you are not. The best way to protect yourself from falling victim is to disable this on your electronic devices and remove personal infor-mation from the metadata. Spence also discussed Identity Theft and ways to pro-tect ourselves. The most commonly used piece of stolen information is a social security number. Every three sec-onds someone has their identity stolen. It takes an aver-age of 58 hours repairing existing accounts and 165 hours to repair damages caused by a new fraudulent account. There are several steps that can be taken to protect our identities.

Shred Personal Documents Do not carry your SSN card Ask for the Company/School Privacy Protection

Policy Present and seal documents (i.e. birth certificates,

medical records, etc.) Teach children not to give out information over

the phone or internet Check your credit reports regularly.

One of the most common mistakes of a technology user is to use simple or obvious passwords that can be easily cracked. It is important to have passwords that are high in security and low in vulnerability. The downside of this is secured passwords can be hard to remember. One way to create passwords that are secure and easier to re-member is using mnemonics devices. (Example: I Can’t Remember My Password = ICRMP) Then with your mne-monic password you can add padding to the front and back of your password. The padding is a short pattern that you can memorize easily. (Example: @45ICRMP@45) Putting the padding plus the mnemon-ic phrase plus the padding again it creates a password that is very hard to hack. Kreb’s 3 Basic Rules for Online Safety

If you didn’t look for it, don’t install it If you installed it, update it If you don’t need it, get rid of it

Some of the most important things to remember and to teach your students are: to keep your computer updated, have an antivirus program on your computer, make sure the firewall is turned on, use a pop-up blocker, disable JavaScript, do not use password storage on your comput-er, and back up your data. It is also important to be aware and have your students be aware of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The Protection Act regulates online collection of infor-mation for students under the age of 13 and companies will need to have parental consent. Your digital footprint is something that is with you forever. It is important to understand that once you post it, that post does not go away. It is important for you to think about what you are posting. As educators, we need to be able to protect ourselves and feel comfortable teaching students how to protect themselves from online cyber predators, cyber bullies and identity theft. We need to understand the policies that have been set up to guide us. Educators need to teach stu-dents how to become good digital citizens while “practicing what we teach”. Social Media is a part of our lives. People are being held accountable for their online actions. Technology is how the world works, learn it.

It is a digital world…we have to learn to live in it and work in it.

Cyber Security: The Building Blocks of Protection

Former WV Gov. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent

Education

Gov. Wise, Keynote

Speaker at the WVSTC,

is promoting the

initiative to help school

districts plan and

effectively use

technology and digital

learning.

Upcoming Events

Global STEMx Education Conference Online September 19-21, 2013

http://www.stemxcon.com

International Talk Like a Pirate Day September 19, 2013

WVCEC Conference

October 17-18

WV Higher Education Technology Conference October 28-29

http://wvconference.com

Digital Learning Day February 5, 2014

Project 24: State and District Level Planning for Progress

Project 24 is a program developed to addresses the need for a more uni-

versal approach to planning effective use of technology and digital learning

for all students in K-12 public schools. Project 24 offers comprehensive dis-

trict-level planning tools, expert advice, creative ideas, and tangible sugges-

tions from experienced education experts and nonprofit education member-

ship organizations.

The “24” in Project 24 represents the next 24 months, beginning February

6 2013. This is a time when the nation’s schools will be moving to higher ex-

pectations, “College and Career Ready” standards and begin using online

assessments to measure student growth.

There are four major challenges that public school district leaders must ad-

dress in the next 24 months: (1) graduating all students “college and career

ready”; (2) managing shrinking budgets; (3) training and supporting teachers;

and (4) the growing technology needs of students and society.

The Project 24 framework helps districts address the following seven con-

cepts as they engage in their Planning for Progress process. The Project 24

framework includes: Academic supports; Budget and resources; Curriculum

and instruction; Data and assessments; Professional learning; Technology

and infrastructure; and Use of time. Implementation of these learning out-

comes will be supported by appropriate technology applications and aligned

to the new, higher expectations for learning.

Participation is voluntary and we are happy to report that

West Virginia has a 100% participation rate!

For more information about the project:

http://bit.ly/project24

ISTE June 29-July2, 2014...Atlanta

June 28-July1, 2015...Philadelphia June 26-29, 2016...Los Angeles

Symbaloo: Access to your links anywhere

Personal Learning Environment (PLE) to visually

organize and share the best of the web

with your students and colleagues.

With Symbaloo:

you can have all of your favorite websites at your

fingertips anywhere and anytime.

you simply choose your favorite websites and within

a few clicks, you can have your own webmix.

you never have to type in an address.

it is free, no advertising.

your webmix is stored in the cloud, so there is no

risk of you losing your settings.

when you are a member of symbalooedu, you have

access to teacher forums to exchange ideas. http://edu.symbaloo.com/

Strengths

Organized help sections

Accessing grades anywhere on the site

Reward badges to students

Built-in calendars

Straight-forward and user-friendly

Step-by-step help for new users

Students see groups and can connect

Access codes for parent tracking

Direct parent-teacher communication

Weaknesses

Few features and resources

Students give their parents the access codes

Doesn't seem professional

Limited features for student activities

No attendance

Limited options for creating quizzes

Difficulty trying to connect with teachers within the school

Strengths

Attendance records

Ability to post comments/documents when providing feedback

Time limit options

Templates for classes

Google compatible: conference/edit with students and collabora-

tive work

Direct contact with teachers

Teachers provide parent codes

Album/galleries of pictures

Closer to BlackBoard used in colleges

Blogging/class discussions

Easier to add clubs and groups

Whole school system set up

Students see multiple classes/groups/messages in one place from

multiple teachers

Ability to create multiple courses and folders

Structured, detailed, and organized

More detailed option for creating student profile

Weaknesses

Help section requires using a search box

Grades accessed only through home page

Learning styles and preferences not included when creating stu-

dent profiles

Having to import Calendars

Hard to navigate quiz and attendance pages

Requires too much time to learn the system, frustrating

More sophisticated and challenging than Edmodo

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

software that allows educators to offer online classes

to students.

Schoology: https://www.schoology.com/

Edmodo: https://www.edmodo.com/

“Edmodo vs. Schoology: who wears the crown in K-12 online learning?”

Verneshia JohnsonWinston-Salem Education Examiner

“New technology is common, new thinking is rare.” - Sir Peter Blake

“Teaching in the Internet age means we must teach tomorrow’s skills today.” – Jennifer Fleming

Great Math Apps for the iPad

Action Grapher

Algebra Card Clutter

Cover Up

Diamond Factor

Function Mystery Machine

Hop the Number Line

Pointer Plotter

Submariner Algebra

Tortoise and the Hare Algebra

http://bit.ly/17kvORP

5 Brilliant Ideas for EdTech Scavanger Hunts

http://bit.ly/5ideasEdTech

7 Fun Ways to use QR Codes in Education

http://bit.ly/7QRCODES

50 More Ways to Integrate Technology In Your

Classroom Tomorrow

http://bit.ly/50moreways

Top 50 Math Sites and Apps

http://bit.ly/TopMath

Great Math Apps for Android

Math Workout

Einstein Math Academy

Brain Exerciser

Mental Math

Falling Math

Mad Math 4 Kids

Math Ninja

Arithmetic for Kids Free

Math Ref Free

Bring a new twist on a favorite game of all.

Ken Ken is a new kind of Sudoku.

These puzzles will challenge you to think.

To Learn More go to

http://www.kenken.com

Math 180

Math 180 is a revolutionary Math Intervention

for the Common Core. This program uses a

variety of instruction for the math concepts.

Students participate in whole group instruction

for the first part of the class. Then they are

broken into groups to have direct instruction in

a small setting and personalized learning on

the computer. The computer program adapts

to the students need and will provide reteach to

help the students understand the concepts.

This program is for grades 6 and up.

http://bit.ly/180Math