Monday, November 18, 2013

App for That: Tellagami

I am excited to share with you a fun app for students to demonstrate their content knowledge.  For those of you that are familiar with Voki, an app called Tellagami will allow students to customize a male or female avatar, set up a background image, and add voice via the keyboard or voice recorder.

Click here for some examples from Tellagami's YouTube channel.

View the video tutorial below to learn how to use Tellagami.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

ITD TALKS: Patrick Larkin TALKS About Getting Your School On-Board With 1:1

  

Patrick Larkin, Assistant Superintendent for Learning
Burlington Public Schools, Burlington, MA
Getting Your School On-Board With 1:1

November 13, 2013, 8:30 – 11:30
CNYRIC, Rodax 8

Keynote:  Getting Your School On-Board With 1:1
Putting laptops or tablets in the hands of all students in a school is a tremendous change for both the students and adults in a school community. This session will highlight the detailed plans Burlington High School (MA) took to ensure success in its 1:1 plan. Major points of emphasis will include communication to all stakeholders, embedded professional development for staff, training for parents, and deploying a student support team. Using this model allowed Burlington High School to create an understanding that going 1:1 is an instructional initiative and not just a large technology purchase. This model of implementation has allowed the district to grow its 1:1 throughout the school district.

Breakout Session: Embracing 21st Century Learning Tools
This session will answer the following questions: 

1. What is social learning and why is it more important today than ever before? 
2. How can increased technological connectivity expand, change, or improve student learning? 
3. Is connectivity expanding our concept of who is a literate or educated person today? 

In answering these important questions we will look at some well-articulated standards that can assist in the implementation of these digital tools. Discussion will focus on getting community support, professional development, and concrete examples of how this shift is necessary to best prepare our students for their future.
Please join us for a great opportunity to meet with our keynote speaker and network with other curriculum and technology leaders! Register here.

About Patrick Larkin
Patrick Larkin is the newly appointed Assistant Superintendent for Learning for Burlington Public Schools in Massachusetts. Prior to this, Patrick served 15 years as a building level administrator at the high school level. He was recently selected as one of three national Digital Principal Award winner by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). Patrick’s school has made the transition to a 1:1 environment in the 2011-2012 school year after distributing over 1,000 iPads to staff and students. Patrick is one of the founders of the Connected Principals Blog and #cpchat on Twitter. He is one of the authors of the Super Book of Web Tools for Educators, an avid blogger, and a proponent of social media to better engage teachers, students, and parents in the education process. His article "Getting Connected" was published in September’s issue of Principal Leadership. In June 2012, he was featured in an article in Technological Horizons in Education’s THE Journal entitled 7 Habits of Highly Effective Tech-leading Principals.