August 29, 2007
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- Welcome to eTechNews |
Welcome to eTechNews
Welcome
to the new school year and our fifth year of eTechNews. This email newsletter
comes out twice a month and covers district technology news, tips, workshops,
conferences, and recommended sites. The Teacher's Toolkit was added last year and proved to be of interest to teachers. This section has recommendations for software (free or cheap) and/or suggested lesson plans that integrate technology.
An archive of past editions linked from the EdTech site will begin next month. If you have suggestions for topics to cover or websites/tools to highlight, please submit them to Paula Hundley.
To subscribe: You are receiving this first issue as a courtesy to read and review. If you would like to continue to receive eTechNews, click here. This link will take you to the enews subscription page on Bob. After you log in to Bob, select Technology News (scroll down to see it), click on the Subscribe button, and submit. Currently around 250 teachers and staff receive this newsletter.
Technology Professional Development Opportunities
2007-08 
FULL-DAY WORKSHOPS:
A slate of 26 full-day workshops will be offered during the school year. Teachers may sign up for a maximum of three (3) workshops, and the District will pay substitute costs. Topics focus on tools to support subject area curricular connections. Click here to see the complete list of topics.
To register: Log on to Bob. Below your user profile you will see a link to Workshop Registration. Select the workshop you want and click on the Register button. You will receive an email confirmation.
AFTER SCHOOL "60-MINUTE
COMPUTER GOURMET" SESSIONS:
GRADES K-5 TOPICS (Offered twice; dates TBD)
Each elementary school hosts 2 sessions during the year
- Writing Genres Made Easy with Comic Life
- Bookmaking with iPhoto
- The Writing Process: Inspiration for Prewrite Planning & Organization
- iChat AV for Video Conferencing with the Experts
- Digital Microscopes Bring Science Up Close
- Math Websites to Motivate & Challenge
- United Streaming: Video On-Demand Tied to the K-5 Curriculum
GRADES 6-12 TOPICS (Offered twice; dates TBD)
Each secondary school hosts 2 sessions during the year
- InClass Gradebook – New & Improved
- InClass Advanced Tools: SafeAssign and Self/Peer Assessment Tools
- Blogging for Extended Learning
- iChat AV for Video Conferencing
- Build a Quick Wiki for Class Collaboration
ONLINE COURSES FOR UNITS
We hope to offer two 15-hour online courses. More information coming
this fall.
BrainPOP
for K-8 Many of you are probably familiar with BrainPOP, the website with educational animations for many curricular areas: science, social studies, English, math, health, arts & music, and technology. For this year, the District has purchased licenses for the BrainPOP Jr (K-3), regular BrainPOP (Gr 4-8), and BrainPOP en Español.
To get started, go to BrainPOP.com. Note that you will also find a link to BrainPOP from your school's online library catalog (database tab). Log on at the upper right.
Username = pausd
Passwor = 25churchill
New
on InClass: Grade Center, SafeAssign, and Self/Peer Evaluation
In
October, InClass will have several new features that teachers may find valuable.• The Grade Center: Blackboard has spent the last year completely redesigning their gradebook. When the new one comes online next month, it will be a full-featured robust gradebook. I will let you know when it's available for preview. In the meantime, you can start with the current gradebook and then incorporate the new features. Or you may decide to stick with whatever you currently use and evaluate the new version when it comes out.
• SafeAssign: This tool is Blackboard's response to products such as "Turn It In," which evaluate papers for plagiarism. When teachers make an assignment using the SafeAssign tool, they receive a full report on each paper. As students submit papers, they are checked against SafeAssign's comprehensive databases of source material. Teachers can use this tool to help students see where they fail to express information in their own words.
• Self & Peer Evaluation Tool: Self and peer evaluations will be possible with this new Blackboard tool. Instructors can create a list of questions to guide self or peer evaluation of text, images, or other digital resources. These evaluations can also be entered in the gradebook or downloaded.
Blackboard 8.0 arrives in October on our InClass server. At that time, short after school training sessions will be provided at the five secondary sites.
Teacher's
Toolkit
Planbook 1.03
Planbook enables teachers to maintain their paper plan book in a digital
format. Planbook allows you to enter information about your lesson plans, attach
files used in class directly to your lessons, print nicely formatted user-defined
reports, publish lessons directly to the web and search for topics taught in
class.
Planbook will let you reclaim all those hours spent pushing bits of paper
from file folder to file folder, preparing assignments for absentee students
and searching for long lost handouts.
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4
Cost: Shareware. Try out 20 days of lessons for free.
Purchase for $30.
Download
WebTrio
- Recommended Sites
All Levels:
PAUSD
eLibrary - This year's databases
include: World Book K-12, SIRS Discoverer Reference Database K-12, United
Streaming K-12, and Ebsco's Points of View for Grades 6-8.
All About Labor Day from FactMonster.com
Yelp.com -
Just a little bit of summer left, okay? Local reviews of all kinds. Currently
linked to Palo Alto, but you can change your locale.
Upcoming
Workshops• Writing Tools for Elementary Teachers - Sept 14
• iWeb for Easy Webpages & More - Sept 21
• Web Design with Dreamweaver - Sept Sept 28
• iPhoto & Photoshop Projects - Oct 5
• Writing Tools for Secondary Teachers - Oct 11
• Digital Tools for Elementary Math - Oct 19
• iWrite and Collaborate: Blogs & Wikis - Oct 25
Complete list of 2007-08 workshops.
All workshops run 8:15 am to 3:00 pm at the 85A Lab
on the Paly campus (unless otherwise notified). To register, log
on to Bob, click on the Workshop Registration link, select the workshop
you want, and click on the Register button. If you have a problem registering,
email me and I'll add you manually.
Send
questions or comments to Paula
Hundley.
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