Course Introduction

Syllabus Overview
TaskStream Introduction
Participants

TSSA - a quick look

Introduction to Excel

From a white paper on data-driven teachers (and principals) found at Microsoft's Innovative Teachers Thought Leaders page:

A results-oriented school system incessantly asks, at every level of the organization, two questions:

- What evidence do we have that what we're doing is working?, and
- How will we respond when we find out that what we're doing is not working?

Principals in successful data-driven schools ensure that these questions continually guide classroom instruction and organizational decision-making. Data-driven principals also align, and help teachers connect with, necessary resources to facilitate effective educational interventions.

Here's an older, briefer AASA article on administrative decision-making informed by data analysis, with examples of spreadsheet usage.

Basic spreadsheet terminology and skills will be introduced in the course of the M&M activity:

• cell coordinates, rows, columns

• titles in rows, columns, overall spreadsheet (header)

• entering (column and row) labels

• entering data into a spreadsheet cell 

• setting column widths

• aligning and formatting data in cells

• creating and copying formulas

• inserting and deleting rows and columns

• creating charts based on spreadsheet data

For further reference:

• Excellent set of tutorials on Excel oriented around school data

  Site with links to curricular ideas for integrating spreadsheet use, as well as many other resources for teachers interested in using Excel in the classroom.

• Good overview of using Excel to maintain a class gradebook.

• USD Excel Tutorial (Mac-oriented from the other USD: University of South Dakota)

• Excel Intro for Teachers (Office XP-oriented)

• More Excel for Teachers (Office XP-oriented)

Assignment

Spreadsheet created using data acquired from the M&M Exercise. The spreadsheet should include a title, row and column headings, correct and efficient formulas, consistent percentage and decimal formatting, and a meaningful chart. See rubric attached below.

If you are already comfortable with Excel and prefer to explore a more interesting spreadsheet, have a look at this spreadsheet and do the following:

1. Add data for February.
2. Create graphs in each of the addition/subtraction/multiplication/division sheets which duplicate the examples found separately (i.e. total, separate by teacher, and separate by racial status).
3. For one of the operations (ie addition or multiplication or subtraction or division), create a graph for each teacher by racial status (ie you would add four new graphs, each of which is focused on one teacher, and breaks down the performance in that teacher's classroom by racial status).
4. Based on the results, write a brief reflection on what this data tells you - what tentative conclusions might you draw, and what further steps might you take to verify your assumptions, and, if your assumptions prove correct, what you might do with your staff to follow up on what the data suggest.

TaskStream review

Accessing the EDUC 560 Program
Submitting work

Discussion of email

Do you manage your email effectively? Check out this article and decide for yourself. Do you have questions or tips on email for the group?

How can put email to work for you in the school? First, understand the netiquette of email. As a medium of communication, email can help you stay better in touch with many teachers and families.

How could email help to create significant learning experiences? Here's a page of ideas to check out. Does it get you thinking? One common idea is to set up email penpals, or "keypals". This website can help you explore that idea.

A useful resource for providing filtered email for schools, free of charge, is gaggle.net. If you have Internet access you can use Gaggle to provide individual email addresses for all students, with more filtering and teacher oversight than email accounts through Yahoo, Hotmail, or other such free web-based email services.

Other important communication technologies

Many other communication technologies are becoming more and more prominent in K-12 education, particularly blogging, threaded discussions, listservs, chat, and wikis. It's beyond the scope of our little class, but a page you can visit to explore these more can be found here. It is also definitely worth your while to check out Google Docs and Spreadsheets to get a look at the future of collaborative, web-based document and spreadsheet creation and dissemination.

Making best use of the web

Search engines and strategies
Four Nets for Better Searching
Scavenger Hunt

• Come up with an interesting bit of trivia which can be found on the web

• After making sure that the answer to your question is findable through judicious use of a search engine and is not so ambiguous that the answer will be controversial, write the question and answer down and give it to Jim

• Put your web searching skills to the test as you try to find the answers

Reliability is all about: Authority, Consistency, Domain, Timeliness; it's also important to evaluate Applicability and Usability

For further reference:

• Advanced Searching using Google

• Specialized search engines

• Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Critical Evaluation Surveys and Resources
  
  
  Recommended Reading:
  

• The Web: Teaching Zack to Think

• Why switch to Firefox?

Word Processing / Desktop Publishing

Overview of Principles of Design: CARP
From memos and reports to sophisticated newsletters, fliers, certificates, etc. ... all that it takes is knowing how to do things such as:

• Formatting text (alignment, fonts, DropCap, etc.)

• Using Word styles

• Changing the header and footer

• Inserting formatting breaks

• Dividing a page into two or more columns

• Using tables (another good link)

• Inserting and formatting images (clip art, from file, WordArt)

• Inserting drawing objects and text boxes

• Inserting symbols (special characters)

• Inserting hyperlinks

• Formatting bullets and numbering

• Using templates for brochures and manuals

• Tracking changes in documents

Document creation resources:

• General Word Tutorial

• Step-by-Step to create a newsletter in Word

• Education World® : Technology in the Classroom : Templates for Teachers

To grab graphics from an internet site, make sure it's okay to use the graphic, then right-click on a PC or click-and-hold or control-click on a Mac. Choose the option which says 'Save (or Download) Image (or Picture) As (or To Disk)'. Make sure the file is a jpg or gif, and save the file with an appropriate name in the appropriate folder.

Clip art/image resources:

• A great SDCS resource: Digital Media Resources

• Google image search (endless possibilities but be especially aware of copyright issues)

• Pics 4 Learning

• Flickr

Assignment:
Create a newsletter with at least 3 articles, at least one of which is about school technology. See the DRF or project topic/description page (linked below) for more detailed directions, and see the rubric (also linked below) for specific requirements.

Essentials of PowerPoint:

• Use sentence fragments (6 X 6 "rule" = six bullets per page, six words per bullet) (but beware of reducing complex and nuanced issues to oversimplified sound bites)

• Use multimedia features (graphics, video, sounds, animation, transitions) appropriately - know your audience!

• Face the audience and project your voice

• You control PowerPoint, not the other way around

• Use contrasting dark/light colors for background and text

• Use sans serif fonts (such as Arial, Tahoma, Verdana) for online and projected presentations. Serif fonts (such as Times and Palatino) are better for printed material

• Keep font sizes larger than 20 pt, preferably at least 24 pt 

• Left-justify (don't center) bulleted text

PowerPoint skills:

• creating a new slide with different slide layouts

• adding words to the title and bulleted lists

• applying a new design template to the slides

• using the slide master to make universal changes to all slides

• rearranging slides in slide sorter view

• alternating between the outline and slide view

• adding notes for the instructor

• inserting graphics from the PowerPoint clip art library and from image files you have saved

• adding transitions (movement between slides)

• adding animations (movement within slides)

• inserting a hotlink to a web site

• testing the presentation in slide show mode

• inserting text boxes, using draw tools, grouping objects

Resources:

• Presenting with PowerPoint (sample - and discusses design/style points ... good other than the fact that it's not in a sans serif font)

• Scoring PowerPoints (avoiding PowerPointlessness) by Jamie McKenzie - on getting students to use PowerPoint well

• USD PowerPoint workshop, with beginning, intermediate, and advanced skills, step-by-step (Mac-oriented); includes resources page with many good links, including PowerPoint pros & cons.

Assignments:

For today, create a simple presentation that demonstrates your capability with the basics of PowerPoint. The content should be an overview of something familiar to you (autobiography, information about a school program, item for a staff meeting or parent presentation, etc.)

The PowerPoint presentation should contain (at least) the following components:

• A title slide with your name and title of the presentation

• Six (6) slides (this includes the title slide)

• Two graphics (from different sources)

• Text animation on bullet points

• Transitions between slides

This PowerPoint will be scored according to the PowerPoint rubric (basics) attached below.

If you are already comfortable with PowerPoint basics, please take this opportunity to try some more advanced techniques.

• sound

• video

• action buttons / non-linearity

• draw tools and text boxes

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For the next class, you will need to work on your own or with a partner. You will plan, develop, and give a presentation focusing on one or more of the TSSA standards. Your presentation should:

• give an overview of the standard(s)

• address your thinking about how to meet the standard(s)

• outline the challenges and some possible methods for overcoming the challenges associated with the standard(s)

• incorporate research from the web for related examples and/or advice. Be sure to make use of the Knowledge Loom site and other Recommended Web Sites (see link below) as a starting point in your research.

Technically, your presentation should minimally meet the guidelines from the first PowerPoint assignment. In addition, your presentation should make use of at least some additional multimedia capabilities (such as sounds, additional images, video, hyperlinks, non-text animations) to enhance your presentation. Make sure that your content has depth and is well organized, preferably with introductory and concluding slides (you should have at least six slides of content, apart from title and intro/conclusion slides). It is up to you how to divide up responsibilities, but each member of the group should be involved in some way in both the production and delivery of the presentation. Make sure that each member attaches a copy of the presentation within their TaskStream portfolio.

We will use self-scoring and peer scoring as well as teacher scoring on this, using the PowerPoint rubric (with presentation) attached below. Your final score will be weighted 25% (self) - 25% (peer) -50% (instructor). Each of you will be responsible for scoring one or two presentations of other groups.

TSSA presentations: Raising Awareness, Developing a Vision

You will score yourselves and at least two other presenting groups - final scores will be a combination of self (25%) and peer (25%) scores along with the instructor's (50%) ratings.

Make sure all group members have the presentation in their DRFs.

What have we not covered? (Where do you go from here?)

• Much of TSSA

• Safety, security, privacy concerns with school technology
  See "Safety, Security, and Privacy Issues" in the Recommended Web Sites

• Technology ethics, copyright issues, and acceptable use policies
  See "Ethics, Copyright, and Acceptable Use Policies" in the Recommended Web Sites

• State of the art in current school technology
  See "Practical Tech. Tools and Tips" and "State of the Art School Tech." in the Recommended Web Sites

• Visions of the future for school technology
  See "The Future" in the Recommended Web Sites

• Developing technology plans
  See related resources in "Technology and Leadership" in the Recommended Web Sites

• Technology-oriented staff development and grant resources
  See "Transforming Your School" in the Recommended Web Sites

• Pedagogy and technology ...
  

Wrapping up

• Course evaluations

• Writing your final reflection

• Please have all work turned in by Dec. 19th. If you need more time for some reason, please contact Jim.

• Publishing your portfolio and continuing to use our class Taskstream page (www.taskstream.com/ts/julius1/fa06educ560.html)

• Thanks ... and best wishes to you.