Connecticut's Chuckles VIII

Connecticut's Chuckles VIII and Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil are opposites in their predictions for spring and winter, HOWEVER ----- they both have seen the new ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY Collections ready to circulate out of the SERC Library and both agree that the new collections are exciting!

Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil

Click here to get to the SERC Library catalog and use the keywords 'assistive technology' filter by location/collection to see the new AT2 collection results that are low- and mid-tech resources and the AT3 collection results that are the high-tech pre-loaded iPads and Chromebooks (special loan and borrowing terms are in place for the iPads and Chromebooks which can only be borrowed one at a time and only for a two (2) week loan period and patrons have to sign a borrower's agreement).

A few free webinars

Content Provided by: Amherst Central School District Saves Money and Improves Collaboration With Google for Education In this webinar, you'll hear from Amherst Central School District about how they leveraged Google Apps and Chromebooks to save money, increase productivity and collaboration, and extend learning beyond school hours. Get a peek at Amherst's decision making process, learn about the obstacles and challenges they overcame, and hear about the success they experienced with their implementation of Google Apps for Education and Chromebooks. Participants will: Get an overview of the Google for Education solution which includes Chromebooks, tablets with Google Play for Education, and Google Apps for Education Learn how this solution can be used to improve student learning, collaboration, and engagement Hear first-hand experience from a district using Chromebooks in the classroom to support their curriculum focus Be able to pose their questions to Amherst Central School District and Google Guests: Donna Frymire, district technology integration specialist, Amherst Central School District, Amherst, N.Y. Anthony Panella, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, Amherst Central School District, Amherst, N.Y. This webinar will be moderated by Stephen Fang, regional manager, Google for Education Register Here Students in Charge: Self-Assessment and Learning to Learn Schools are awash in learning goals, data, and information about how students are doing. But often, the students themselves are left in the dark about what they're learning and why, where they stand, and what they've got to do to get to the next step. Increasingly, teachers and schools are trying to help students own their own learning process by giving them time and tools to self-assess. Join us as we define student self-assessment and explore its tie to cognitive science and the growth mindset, explore strategies for helping students self-assess, and lay out challenges and misconceptions about student self-assessment. Underwriting for this webinar has been provided by the Raikes Foundation Guests: Heidi Andrade, associate professor, School of Education, University at Albany, State University of New York Angela Fremont-Appel, art teacher, New York City Public Schools This webinar will be moderated by Jaclyn Zubrzycki, contributing writer, Education Week Register now for this free live webinar. Sponsored by: Districts' Push for "Interoperability": Managing the Sea of Ed-Tech Content K-12 districts have struggled for years to manage the flood of data and content provided by different ed-tech vendors providing curriculum and instructional tools in their districts. Too often, administrators, teachers, and students are stuck trying to navigate a sea of different sign-ons and systems for all the various educational software and systems in use across their schools. But now, a growing number of districts are trying to clear through that muddle by requiring "interoperability" of ed-tech vendors—basically, asking them to ensure that their systems mesh with one another. The goal is to create a level of compatibility that allows K-12 users to access the content they want, without having to wade through different commercial providers' websites or proprietary systems. In this webinar, a pair of guests who are deeply familiar with the work of K-12 distrircts, and with interoperability, describe the benefits and challenges for K-12 officials in implementing the policy. Guests: Kecia Ray, executive director, Center for Digital Education, former executive director of learning technology, Metro Nashville school district Serena Sacks, chief information officer, Fulton County, Ga., school district This webinar will be moderated by Sean Cavanagh, associate editor, Education Week Register Here

Well ---- we can tell summer is coming to a close ---- More and More Free Webinars - smartphones, bully backlash, AT accommodations (PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessments), math (Tech and DI), Google apps, Chromebooks, tablets

From edWeb,net:

Free webinar: Using smartphones in the classroom

Join us on Tuesday, Aug. 26 at 5 p.m. Eastern for Using Smartphones in the Classroom with Shannon Holden, assistant principal at Republic Middle School in Missouri. Learnmore and pre-register. Join the TechTools for the Classroom community at www.edweb.net/techtools.

Free webinar: Bully backlash
Join us on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd at 5 p.m. Eastern for Bully Backlash with Shannon Holden, assistant principal at Republic Middle School in Missouri. Learnmore and pre-register. Join the Stop Bullying community at www.edweb.net/stopbullying.

 From Closing the Gap and texthelp:

Getting it Right: Using AT Accommodations to Assist with PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessments

60 MINUTES

Thursday, September 4, 2014

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Central Daylight Time  

The ability to use Assistive Technology accommodations on PARCC, Smarter Balanced, and other assessments offer many opportunities to students who qualify. In this webinar, we will discuss which accommodations are appropriate for testing and how to best prepare for the assessment. We will share some of the most commonly used accommodations and specific strategies to help ensure students are prepared to use them. In addition, specific accommodations, including text to speech, word prediction, highlighter strategies and more, will be demonstrated using Read&Write Gold. Participants will leave with a better understanding of how students can use accommodations to help increase achievement.

PRESENTER: Kimberly Nix and Jason Carroll, Texthelp, Inc.

Register Free of Charge

Participants must register to receive confirmation and login instructions.

Participation in this free, sponsored webinar is limited to the first 100 log-ins.

From Education Week:

Personalizing Math Through Technology and Differentiated Instruction
Facing more rigorous math standards and expectations, schools are exploring new avenues to engage students in numeracy and address diverse learning needs. Silvestre Arcos, an award-winning math instructional leader, has found that resourceful use of technology can help teachers personalize instruction so that "students at every level can make tremendous gains." In this webinar, Arcos will discuss his efforts to align math instruction with students' learning needs and offer ways that schools and districts can support and scale up personalized-learning projects.

Guest:

Silvestre Arcos, founding math teacher and instructional coach, KIPP Washington Heights Middle School, New York City
This webinar will be moderated by Ross Brenneman, assistant editor, Education Week Teacher
Register now for this free live webinar.

Glenwood Community Schools Shares Their Experience With Google Apps, Chromebooks, and Tablets
In this webinar, you'll hear directly from Kimberly Payne, educational technology coordinator at Glenwood Community School District. With an emphasis on digital literacy, the district decided to "Go Google" with a "1-to-Web" Initiative for Chromebooks in grades 3-12 and tablets for grades K-2. Payne will share details about her district's experience serving over 2,100 students in five different schools with Google for Education and give insights into how these tools are being used in the classroom.

Participants will:

• Get an overview of the Google for Education solution,
• Discover how this solution can be used to improve student learning, collaboration, and innovation,
• Hear firsthand experience from a district using Google Apps, Chromebooks, and tablets, and
• Learn how the district provided professional development to help ensure the devices & tools would enhance classroom learning.

Guest:

Kimberly Payne, Educational Technology Coordinator, Glenwood Community School District, Iowa
This webinar will be moderated by Brent Sarver, Google for Education Team, Google
Register now for this free live webinar.