Last Chance for this College-credit Class (557)

MTI 557: Building Digital Citizens

Starts Monday, June 3, 2019! Last chance to sign up. Click this link; scroll down to MTI 557 and click for more information and to sign up.

If students use the internet, they must be familiar with the rights and responsibilities required to be good digital citizens.  In this class, you’ll learn what topics to introduce, how to unpack them, and how to make them authentic to student lives.

Topics include:

1. copyrights, fair use, public domain
2. cyberbullying
3. digital commerce
4. digital communications
5. digital footprint, digital privacy
6. digital rights and responsibilities
7. digital search/research
8. image—how to use them legally
9. internet safety
10. netiquette
11. passwords
12. plagiarism
13. social media

At the completion of this course, you will be able to:

1. Know how to blend digital citizenship into lesson plans that require the Internet
2. Be comfortable in your knowledge of all facets of digital citizenship
3. Become an advocate of safe, legal, and responsible use of online resources
4. Exhibit a positive attitude toward technology that supports learning
5. Exhibit leadership in teaching and living as a digital citizen

Assessment is based on involvement, interaction with classmates, and completion of projects so be prepared to be fully-involved and an eager risk-taker. Price includes course registration, college credit, and all necessary materials.

To enroll, click the link above, search for MTI 557 and sign up. Need help? Email askatechteacher@gmail.com for upcoming dates.

An Open Letter to Teachers About Online Classes

Nearly three million students currently attend online programs and six million take at least one online class. This means learning online has become one of the most popular approaches to education.

I am an adjunct profession who teaches solely online for a variety of big-name colleges and Universities. Each year, the classes grow in size. Whether you like it or not, this is the future of education, where people pursue learning without the need for a car, expensive gas, parking fees, campus-based meals, housing (if you live on campus), traffic delays, absent teachers, wait lists for full classes, inflexible time schedules, conflicts with personal schedules, and all those details that make attending college a juggling act. Done right, you don’t have to give up the collaboration, camaraderie, and new friends to get the passion of learning, the huzzah of amazing knowledge, and the high of improving yourself.

What I like best about online classes is that they are personalized learning that differentiates for varied student needs, learning styles, and communication methods. Don’t get me wrong. I know it’s not for everyone but for some, it allows them to achieve their goals without the suffocating structure usually associated with attending on-campus classes.

Before I get into how I teach online classes, here are some of the factors to consider when you weigh online or on-campus:

Join me Jan. 23rd for a Webinar

Please join me on Jan 23, 2019 for a webinar on Building Digital Citizens:

Being a responsible digital citizen is critical to success in school and beyond, which is why integrating digital citizenship lessons across the curriculum at every grade level is so important. Join educator, coach and editor of the Ask a Tech Teacher blog, Jacqui Murray, for this free webinar to learn the essentials of digital citizenship and best practices for blending digital citizenship into lesson plans. Jacqui will share: – Your and your students responsibilities when using the Internet – The easiest way to teach Internet safety – Strategies to keep kids safe on social media – Fourteen proven strategies for dealing with cyberbullies – Which online images can safely be used — at school or home — and why

Click the image below to register:

---

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice reviewer, CAEP reviewer, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today and TeachHUB, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

Last Chance for this College-credit Class

MTI 558: Teach Writing With Tech

All-online, college credit, MTI 558 starts Monday, January 21, 2019! This is the last chance to sign up. Click this link; scroll down to MTI 558 and click for more information and to sign up.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Join me for a free Webinar on Building Digital Citizens

Please join me on Jan 23rd for a Free webinar on Building Digital Citizens:

Being a responsible digital citizen is critical to success in school and beyond, which is why integrating digital citizenship lessons across the curriculum at every grade level is so important. Join educator, coach and editor of the Ask a Tech Teacher blog, Jacqui Murray, for this free webinar to learn the essentials of digital citizenship and best practices for blending digital citizenship into lesson plans. Jacqui will share: – Your and your students responsibilities when using the Internet – The easiest way to teach Internet safety – Strategies to keep kids safe on social media – Fourteen proven strategies for dealing with cyberbullies – Which online images can safely be used — at school or home — and why

Click the image below to register:

Starting This Week: MTI 562

MTI 562: The Tech-infused Teacher

MTI 562 starts Monday, January 7, 2019! 

Click to sign up

The 21st century lesson blends technology with teaching to build a collaborative, differentiated, and shared learning environment. In this course, you will use a suite of digital tools to make that possible while addressing overarching concepts like digital citizenship, internet search and research, authentic assessment, digital publishing, and immersive keyboarding. You will actively collaborate, share knowledge, provide constructive feedback to classmates, publish digitally, and differentiate for unique needs. Classmates will become the core of your ongoing Personal Learning Network.

Assessment is based on involvement, interaction with classmates, and completion of projects so be prepared to be fully-involved and an eager risk-taker. Price includes course registration, college credit, and all necessary materials. To enroll, click the link above and sign up. Email askatechteacher at gmail dot com with questions.

College Credit Classes onTechnology in Education

Through the Midwest Teachers Institute, I offer four college-credit classes that teach how to blend technology with traditional lesson plans. They include all the ebooks, videos, and other resources required so you don’t spend any more than what is required to register for the class. Once you’re signed up, you prepare weekly material, chat with classmates, respond to class Discussion Boards and quizzes, and for some, participate in a weekly video meeting. Everything is online.

Questions? Email me at askatechteacher@gmail.com

Here are the four I’m currently offering:

---

Building Digital Citizens

MTI 557

Open for enrollment

If students use the internet, they must be familiar with the rights and responsibilities required to be good digital citizens.  In this class, you’ll learn what topics to introduce, how to unpack them, and how to make them authentic to student lives.

Topics include:

1. copyrights, fair use, public domain
2. cyberbullying
3. digital commerce
4. digital communications
5. digital footprint, digital privacy
6. digital rights and responsibilities
7. digital search/research
8. image—how to use them legally
9. internet safety
10. netiquette
11. passwords
12. plagiarism
13. social media

At the completion of this course, you will be able to:

1. Know how to blend digital citizenship into lesson plans that require the Internet
2. Be comfortable in your knowledge of all facets of digital citizenship
3. Become an advocate of safe, legal, and responsible use of online resources
4. Exhibit a positive attitude toward technology that supports learning
5. Exhibit leadership in teaching and living as a digital citizen

Assessment is based on involvement, interaction with classmates, and completion of projects so be prepared to be fully-involved and an eager risk-taker. Price includes course registration, college credit, and all necessary materials. To enroll, click the link above, search for MTI 557 and sign up. Classes start in May!

Wikispaces has closed. What are your alternatives?

Wikispaces, one of education’s standout collaborative websites, closed at the end of June 2018. Thousands of teachers have used the free Wikispaces platform to share materials with students and colleagues, to run online classrooms, or as the virtual arm of a blended course. Its robustness and versatility allowed teachers to engage in discussion boards, forums, share all sorts of media, and create a personalized environment that could be tweaked to adapt to individual needs.

Its end has left teachers scrambling for alternatives that accomplish the same goals within a tight education budget.

Let’s back up a moment: What is a wiki?

A wiki is a collaborative website that collects and organizes content created and revised by users. 

The most well-known example of a wiki is Wikipedia but others include Wikimedia Commons and WikiHow.

If you’re one of the over 10 million teachers and students forced to find an alternative to Wikispaces, start here:

Wikispaces Replacement 101

1. Build a wiki from scratch

If you want to simply recreate your current Wikispaces environment, here are two wiki platforms that will allow you to do that:

Tech Ed Resources–Certificate/College Credit Classes

I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m going to take a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of all stakeholders, with appropriate metrics to know learning is organic and granular.

Today: Classes

Ask a Tech Teacher offers a variety of classes throughout the year. All are online, hands-on, with an authentic use of tools you’ll want for your classroom.

To find out more, email askatechteacher@gmail.com

---

The Tech-infused Teacher

Certificate

By request; delivered digitally to your school or District

The 21^st Century lesson blends technology with teaching to build a collaborative, differentiated, and shared learning environment. In this course, you will use a suite of digital tools to make that possible while addressing overarching concepts like digital citizenship, internet search and research, authentic assessment, digital publishing, and immersive keyboarding. You will actively collaborate, share knowledge, provide constructive feedback to classmates, publish digitally, and differentiate for unique needs. Classmates will become the core of your ongoing Personal Learning Network.

Assessment is project-based so be prepared to be fully-involved and an eager risk-taker.

Price includes course registration and all necessary materials

Last Chance for this College-credit Class

MTI 558: How to Leverage Tech to Teach Writing

This college-credit class starts in one week–Monday, August 13th! Last chance to sign up. Click this link; scroll down to MTI 558 and click for more information and to sign up.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

---

MTI 563: The Differentiated Teacher

MTI 563 starts in one week–Monday, August 13th! Last chance to sign up. Click this link; scroll down to MTI 563 and click for more information and to sign up.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Last Chance: Building Digital Citizens and Personalized Learning–Grad-level Classes

MTI 557: Building Digital Citizens

This college-credit class starts in one week–Monday, August 6th! Last chance to sign up. Click this link; scroll down to MTI 557 and click for more information and to sign up.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

College Credit Classes in Blended Learning

Through the Midwest Teachers Institute, I offer four grad school classes that teach how to blend technology with traditional lesson plans.

• Building Digital Citizens
• Leveraging Writing with Technology
• The Tech-infused Teacher
• The Differentiated Teacher

They include all the ebooks, videos, and other resources required so you don’t spend any more than what is required to register for the class. Once you’re signed up, you prepare weekly material, chat with classmates, respond to class Discussion Boards, complete weekly projects/summatives, and participate in a weekly video meeting. Everything is online.

Questions? Email me at askatechteacher@gmail.com

Here is more detail on each class:

---

Building Digital Citizens

MTI 557

August 6th – September 9th

If students use the internet, they must be familiar with the rights and responsibilities required to be good digital citizens.  In this class, you’ll learn what topics to introduce, how to unpack them, and how to make them authentic to student lives.

Topics include:

1. copyrights, fair use, public domain
2. cyberbullying
3. digital commerce
4. digital communications
5. digital footprint, digital privacy
6. digital rights and responsibilities
7. digital search/research
8. image—how to use them legally
9. internet safety
10. netiquette
11. passwords
12. plagiarism
13. social media

At the completion of this course, you will be able to:

1. Know how to blend digital citizenship into lesson plans that require the Internet
2. Be comfortable in your knowledge of all facets of digital citizenship
3. Become an advocate of safe, legal, and responsible use of online resources
4. Exhibit a positive attitude toward technology that supports learning
5. Exhibit leadership in teaching and living as a digital citizen

Assessment is based on involvement, interaction with classmates, and completion of projects so be prepared to be fully-involved and an eager risk-taker. Price includes course registration, college credit, and all necessary materials. To enroll, click the link above, search for MTI 557 and sign up.

How can Teachers Increase Social Learning While Teaching Online?

It’s becoming more common to take online classes or blend traditional with online learning. Ila Mishra, a specialist in both LMS and virtual classrooms, has this informative explanation of how teachers can increase their social learning while teaching online classes:

Social Learning is defined as learning through observing behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors. These help individuals to create a frame of reference of behaviors within themselves and prompt them to act. The main point of this theory is that social learning attributes human behavior to be an outcome of cognitive, behavioral and environmental influences (Bandura, 1977).

These cognitive, behavioral and environmental influences are:

Traditional classrooms were a conduit for social learning where students could sit together and collaborate on projects, group assignments, or make use of peer-to-peer learning opportunities. However, in the current educational environments where technology is used to enhance learning outcomes, educators have consciously allowed for and are making use of technology to facilitate learning online.

Last Chance: How to Leverage Tech to Teach Writing

MTI 558: How to Leverage Tech to Teach Writing

This college-credit class starts in one week–Monday, May 28th! Last chance to sign up. Click this link; scroll down to MTI 558 and click for more information and to sign up.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Last Chance: Building Digital Citizens

MTI 557: Building Digital Citizens

This college-credit class starts in one week–Monday, May 21st! Last chance to sign up. Click this link; scroll down to MTI 557 and click for more information and to sign up.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.