January’s Technology Leadership Network (TLN) meeting rings in the New Year!

On January 16th, education technology leaders from Riverside and San Bernardino counties convened at Mira Loma Middle School in Jurupa Unified School District for its first meeting of 2007. The agenda focused on emerging trends in education technology.

Geocaching/GPS Hands-on Exploration
Braving the brisk morning wind, several members arrived early to participate in a fun and educational geocaching event led by Jenny Thomas, RIMS CTAP Project Specialist. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, geocaching is a fun event that uses longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates and a handheld global positioning system (GPS) to locate hidden containers (called “geocaches” or “caches”) anywhere in the world. The cache usually contains a small gift trinket of some sort and a log book to keep track of people that have located the cache. The geocachers enjoyed finding the hidden “treasures” on the campus and learning about this new popular hobby.

Jenny Thomas provided the TLN members with an overview of GPS devices, how they work, and how they might be used effectively as a tool to teach various curricular areas beyond the scope of mathematics and science.

Podcasting
Brent Coley, a 5th grade teacher from Murrieta Unified School District, wowed the audience with his presentation on using transparent technology with his students on a daily basis. He shared his personal vision of how podcasting may be utilized as a teaching and learning tool as well as a means of showcasing student work to the world at large. He shared how his students develop podcasts as a culminating project in science and social studies and the process for uploading them to the web. There are several examples of educational and student produced podcasts that may be downloaded from the iTunes® website. In addition, Brent shared that each day a student is responsible for writing an article about what they learned in the classroom that day. Using a rubric and other writing guides, the student uses either a computer or an AlphaSmart™ device to write and edit his or her work. The finished articles are uploaded to the website which are accessed by parents and students. For more information about these and other classroom strategies that effectively use technology tools to motivate students or to manage a busy classroom visit Brent Coley’s website at http://www.murrieta.k12.ca.us/tovashal/bcoley/index.htm.

Bill Robinson, CTAP Region 10 Director and John Durham, CTAP Region 10 Technology Coordinator, showcased different solutions and options for developing podcasts–including costs, computer platform issues, and features such as enhanced, audio and video podcasts. Using programs such as Garage Band 3™, a software program for the Apple Macintosh® computers, or Audacity for both Windows® and Apple Macintosh® computers, makes developing podcasts quick, simple and fun. The audience agreed that making a podcast could be a creative project that would take just a few minutes to create and upload to share with their students and the world. Sharing is half the fun!

Emerging Trends
Kathy Gerry, CTAP Region 10 Project Specialist, shared some emerging trends in technology that spanned beyond the classroom walls.

• Robots interfacing between the classroom and sick children in the hospital? Got that.
• Want to publish a 300-page book? It’s a snap if you have a couple of hours and 300 pennies!
• High technology converts the family farm into mega agribusiness as GPS systems provide cultivation accuracy down to a thousandth of an inch.
• Can a carrot or a rutabaga get stressed out? Using a handheld wand, the farmer of today can scan his fields to check for stress that may be caused by pests, soil or weather conditions and make necessary corrections that can improve crop yield.

School Tour
Mira Loma Middle School Principal, Cindy Freeman, provided an overview of how the Jurupa Unified School District’s EETT Grant provided much needed funding to help jump-start a transformation at the school. As part of the grant, classrooms were equipped with surround sound, ceiling-mounted LCD projectors and 8-foot screens. Teachers were provided professional development on how to effectively use the equipment and software programs such as Quizdom® handheld voting devices. TLN members who participated in the classroom tour of Mira Loma Middle School saw a variety of technologies being used by teachers and how these tools can provide motivation and increase student participation in regular classroom activities. Visit the Mira Loma website at http://www.jusd.k12.ca.us/dbs/mlms/ or contact principal Cindy Freeman at cfreeman@jusd.k12.ca.us.

Meeting Resources
The agenda from the January TLN meeting as well as the presentations, handouts, and additional resources focusing on emerging trends can be accessed by going to the RIMS CTAP website at http://www.ctap10.org/tln.

Next Meeting
Please mark your calendars for the next TLN meeting scheduled for February 20th hosted by the Corona-Norco School District. The focus of the February meeting will be data analysis.

Online Registration located at http://oms.sbcss.k12.ca.us/eventdetail.php?gid=5&id=6394