TiE2016

We often think the more complex a solution is the greater its impact, but many times it is the simpler concepts that are truly innovative and more likely to have greater value. Stories connect students to subject matter much more than information alone. Digital Storytelling is a simple solution that helps students learn more standards-based concepts and skills than many other activities. Because it is hands-on, creative and project-oriented, students retain more of what they are learning. In this workshop, we will review the concept of Stories, Digital Storytelling and How to Tell a Better Story. We will touch on how it relates to 21st century Skills, the Common Core and other standards at all grade levels.

Together as a group, we will create a digital story using 30hands Storyteller for iPad. We will use images, photos, drawings, a video clip, and a touch of Stop Motion video to bring our story to life. For those who bring an iPad and want to create on their own, you can break off individually or in small groups to create a competing story. 

Where do teachers find the best resources to support student learning? This workshop will address digital teaching and learning, while providing several assistive technology resources. Digital text has the potential to come in a number of formats, including text that is read to the student, text that the student may copy and paste into free tools that assist with reading, and videos that may include closed captioning.

We will introduce participants to several tools and resources for use with students across the curriculum, including activities and teaching strategies for use with regular ed, ELL and struggling students. 

Girls remain underrepresented in many STEM fields; the gender gap is greatest in computer science. Educational research can help us to understand how to create learning opportunities that will help girls connect with the STEM fields, including computer science. Recently, a special research edition of the Girls Connect Robotics Workshop (see description below) was held in Holyoke at the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center. A UMass Learning Technologies faculty member, in collaboration with the organizers of Girls Connect, developed this event to investigate girl’s collaborative learning activities while engaged with robotics. In this way, Girls Connect provided the setting for a unique collaboration among students, teachers, STEM outreach practitioners, informal educators, and education researchers.

The research undertaken at this event seeks to understand how girls work collaboratively to solve robotics problems. This research can inform the development of curricula and teaching approaches geared towards girls, potentially interesting girls in the field of computer science. In this session, the research/practice team will share some of the results from the research, as well as discuss the experience and value of local collaboration in building knowledge and expertise to broaden participation in computing and to help girls connect with the STEM fields.

Session objectives (achieved through presentations and discussion):
• Learn about the Girls Connect workshop model, its impact and results
• Understand initial findings about girls’ collaborative problem solving activities
• Discuss the value of collaboration for research/practice teams
• Hear and respond to lessons learned by the research/practice team
• Network with education professionals interested in STEM learning and local learning technology initiatives

Girls Connect is a daylong event that brings together middle-school aged girls to work together in teams, each with an adult “coach” to introduce them to robotics using the platform of FIRST LEGO League (FLL). The girls build and program LEGO Mindstorms robots to carry out challenges on a playing field that integrates a STEM theme related to real-world solutions (e.g. food safety, climate change). Girls Connect focuses on teamwork, exploration, problem solving, and connecting technology to daily life. The all-girl space supports hands-on engagement by every participant. The day is designed to introduce teams and their coaches to FIRST LEGO League, an international robotics competition program for middle-school students, and encourage them to form teams to engage in a longer experience with robotics. 

How can we build a community of learners in an open online course?
How can we design and implement collaborative online courses in our own classrooms?
How can we design open online courses that motivate students to stay engaged and connected?
How can we make sure that open online courses are accessible to all students?
What happens when teachers become web designers?

These are questions we sought to explore and address for a course project in the Learning, Media, and Technology program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. A group of 12 graduate students, in collaboration with the course instructor, Dr. Torrey Trust, set out to design, facilitate, and evaluate an open online course for educators around the world. Presently (mid-October), the course is in the final stages of development and it will be launched during the first week of November 2015 (see course website: http://digitalmediaeducation.org/).

During the first part of the workshop, we will describe how our class worked as a team to design an open online course that allowed us to connect and learn with educators around the world. We will share how we facilitated student learning and community-building in an open online course and we will explore the data that we collect from the course participants. After time for questions, workshop attendees will collaboratively design an action plan for incorporating the ideas and findings from our session into a lesson plan, class project, or learning activity for their students.

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to 1) describe methods for designing collaborative learning activities that connect students with a global audience; 2) identify pitfalls, barriers, and success factors that shape learning in an online environment; and 3) develop an action plan for implementing a connected learning activity in their classroom.

PBS LearningMedia™, a digital media curriculum service, offers over 100,000 classroom-ready, standards-aligned resources including short video clips largely drawn from national broadcasts such as NOVA, American Experience, PBS NewsHour, Between the Lions, Curious George and Masterpiece. In addition, interactive activities, lesson plans, audio files, images, self-paced lessons and professional development can be searched, saved and shared to connect students and colleagues with high-interest, effective resources.

We’ll take a deep dive into the site’s user-friendly functionality and recently launched tools that empower teachers to integrate digital media into instruction through personalized learning experiences for students. After viewing new, meaningful content and a sneak peak at what’s coming, educators will have time to explore the site for specific areas of interest and leave inspired to connect students and colleagues with PBS digital resources shown to impact student knowledge, engagement, and higher order thinking skills and to improve teaching. One lucky participant will also win a prize of PBS related treats.

An introductory look at what "Scratch" is all about. We will look at how creative computing can help support all areas of the curriculum. We will look at the resources for incorporating "Scratch" easily into your classroom . 

Eduporium views the acquisition and evolution of technology skills as a necessary literacy for those living and working in the 21st century. However, the endless possibilities of virtual reality created by modern technology could be addictive and oftentimes tend to replace the real world. In order to bring students back to reality learning how to inventively alter it, Eduporium specifically selects technologies that enhance the 21st century skills commonly referred to as "The 4 C's:" Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration and Communication. We have designed a system of technology that progresses from one “C” to another in correlation with age-appropriate learning objectives. The tech that we have selected serves as the ultimate learning tool as it can be easily intertwined among all school subjects, supporting and enriching them, while helping kids of all ages learn and fine tune technology concepts by applying tech to learning.

Our system includes three progressive bundles of personally selected technology that focus on enhancing learning through creativity, critical thinking and collaboration. Our “Cool Tech Petting Zoos” are broken down into three levels featuring corresponding tech products for Pre-K–4, 5–8 and 9–12, emphasizing hands-on experience, STEAM education and project-based learning, respectively. In our workshops, we describe the fundamental principles of our system, how it is structured and progresses from one focus area to the next and how its contents develop the advancement of 21st century skills. We also share our practices by presenting the Tech Petting Zoos to students and teachers and leave time for the audience’s hands-on experience and experimentation with the samples from every bundle!

This workshop will focus on sharing the strategies for delivering real-time formative assessment of constructed response items in a cost-effective way using advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence. Constructed response assessments are one of the best pedagogical principles for imparting critical thinking and knowledge retention.

In the first part, through the visual presentation, this session will familiarize the participants with the learning science and use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence to improve students' conceptual understanding of STEM and ELA topics. A student will demonstrate interactive learning with the guidance from the AI. In the second part, it will involve the participants in an exercise to create constructed response assessment items for use with such an implementation. The participants will learn how to use such items in the classroom or home assignment for formative assessment and using the learning analytics for instruction advancement, revision or remediation if necessary.

At its best, STEM education challenges students to tackle complex, ill-defined and interdisciplinary problems, much like the problems professionals in the real world face every day. Both the process and products that result can be challenging to assess. In this workshop we will discuss best practices for assessing STEM units, with an emphasis on classroom assessment that supports learning rather than programmatic evaluation or high-stakes testing for accountability purposes. Teachers will leave with concrete strategies for implementing best practices in their classrooms and a list of technology tools that make it easier for teachers to collect, analyze and share assessment results.

What if you told your students that instead of using apps or playing games on their devices - they could build their own apps? This workshop will introduce App Inventor, a free web-based programming environment, which allows users to quickly and easily develop mobile applications right from a web browser. This workshop will be a hands on introduction to building a mobile application.  

Are your students equipped with the critical life skills they need to thrive beyond the classroom? From financial literacy and entrepreneurship to STEM and digital citizenship, EverFi's supplemental courses help tackle the career and college preparedness issues students face today. Participants will learn how to integrate EverFi's no-cost, blended digital learning courses into their classrooms to enhance current curriculum and student engagement. Attendees will be given login credentials, standards-alignment documents, lesson plans and ongoing technical and curriculum support, all at no cost.

The virtual lesson study model is an innovative way to connect teachers to engage in the processes of planning, teaching, and assessing lessons. Teachers meet via Zoom to develop and plan a lesson. Then one teacher teaches the lesson while other teachers and/or instructional coaches watch a live feed from the classroom. The participants then debrief and reflect on the lesson. This model can be used to enhance lessons, demonstrate new teaching methodologies, support new and/or pre-service teachers, or serve as a vehicle for instructional coaching.

The main goal of this session is to focus on the pedagogical aspects of the virtual lesson study model. We will consider what elements of planning are important and how to best involve a group of teachers from diverse locations. We will then explore how to maximize the experience of hosting and observing a live lesson with the use of group-generated focus questions. Finally, we will discuss how to create a protocol for assessing a lesson and how the process of self-reflection can enhance professional learning.

The second goal of this session is to highlight the technical components of this model so participants can implement it within their schools. We will explore how to use available technology with free Zoom Video Conferencing software to link to classrooms for professional learning. We will also explore how to scale this model up or down depending on the available technology. Finally, we will review how to secure the appropriate permissions to include students in a live video feed from their classroom.

Virtual lesson study is an amazingly simple solution to the complex logistical problem of connecting teachers and classrooms. Teachers no longer have to travel to schools, requiring substitutes and other logistical plans. Teachers are also not limited geographically and can connect with teachers and classrooms from around the world. 

“3D printing and design can electrify various literacies and creative capacities of children in accordance with the spirit of the networked, interconnected, information-based world” - Kostakis, Niaros, & Giotitsas, 2015, p. 126

3D printers are disruptive technologies that are transforming everything from manufacturing to medicine. A cardiothoracic surgeon in Louisville was able to use a 3D printed model of a child’s heart to develop a surgical plan and perform a challenging heart surgery. NASA is exploring the possibility of printing food for astronauts. The Smithsonian is digitizing its entire collection and providing free access to its 3D models of artifacts. Local Motors created the world’s first drivable 3D-printed car that only takes 44 hours to print and assemble. With free 3D modelling software and the price of 3D printers becoming more affordable, teachers and students alike will be able to design and print anything they can imagine.

During the 2015-2016 school year, a group of 20 inservice, preservice, and pre-practicum teachers were invited to participate in a 3D printing community of practice at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (http://3dprinting4learning.wordpress.com). These teachers will collaboratively design and implement cross-disciplinary 3D printing lesson plans that engage students in design-based learning.

In this session, we will share what we learn from the 3D printing community of practice, including how teachers learn to develop 3D printing lesson plans and the pitfalls and success factors that shape the use of 3D printers in the classroom. We will also share the lesson plans, learning activities, and 3D models that the teachers in our community of practice develop.

During the second half of the workshop, attendees will collaboratively design 3D printing lesson plans and resources or brainstorm ideas for incorporating 3D printers into their classrooms.

Conference Theme: Connected Teachers - We are currently working on developing a collaborative, global website that will feature all of the resources from our community of practice. We will invite attendees to add their resources to the website. Additionally, we will encourage attendees to connect virtually with our community of practice participants.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to 1) identify at least 3 different ways to incorporate 3D printing into a classroom; 2) develop a lesson plan, learning activity, or action plan for using 3D printers as a transformational learning tool; 3) connect with the community of practice participants in order to continue conversations about 3D printing in a K-12 classroom. 

The Collaborative for Education Services (CES) and the Global STEM Education Center will be mounting Global STEM Education programs in the 2016-2017 academic year in 5-6 selected school districts in Massachusetts. A special informational session will be held at the TiE Conference at Holyoke Community College. Please, join the TiE Conference and attend to our special session, if you would like to learn more about the programs and how to apply to secure your school district’s participation. You will hear how the program is structured, the technology requirements and the support offered.

In this hands on workshop participants will create an interactive Jeopardy style web game using Flippity, a web based tool that integrates with Google Drive. This integration with Google Drive allows students an opportunity to work collaboratively and asynchronously. Using the project file, a Google spreadsheet template, users can add text, YouTube videos, and images. Once published, multiple players can access individual copies of the game to play on their own or in group settings. Flippity offers other tools that will be demonstrated, including a flash card generator.

Online learning is no longer new. But are we REALLY connecting with its true potential? Maybe. Schools integrate tools like Blackboard, Edline, School Fusion, ItsLearning, Compass, Moodle, Apple, Google, Windows and more. Yet this smorgasbord approach isn't quite enough to advance our students toward college and career readiness.

This fast-paced workshop asks AND ANSWERS tough questions. Why are we involved in online learning? What are the differences between "redesigning" and "integrating?" Where is the "base" of your educational activity? How would you teach if you didn't have a classroom? Where does innovation most often begin? Why is innovation often blocked even with the best of intentions? What can teachers and administrators actually do in the face of limited budgets?

Find out what actually works! Learn how one district continues to expand online learning with high success even severe budget restrictions and with an extremely diverse student body with many special needs. Learn how this district uses teacher developed "pockets of excellence" in online learning to bring about systemic change. Learn about a real-world fusion of teacher innovation, professional development, and administrative leadership. Although Moodle is the demo platform for this workshop, the same concepts and approaches can be applied across many platforms. BRING YOUR ONLINE DEVICE. BRING YOUR YABUTS, TOO - "YABUT IN MY SCHOOL . . ."

EDUCATION CONNECTION’S Skills21 delivers a road tested model for driving student innovation, STEM achievement and Connected Learning. Schools and organizations from New England and around the country can now participate in the nationally recognized Skills21 effort at low or no cost.

During this engaging and hands-on session, participants will learn how to leverage Skills21’s deep bench of STEM program resources including, but not limited to:

Course Catalogue – The Skills21 Course Catalogue includes 24 challenge-based middle and high school courses in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Business, Media, and Health.

Experientials – Participants will learn how to plan and manage quality out-of-school learning experiences designed to impact students attitudes about STEM college and career options.

Professional Development - Participants will access a new self-directed online PD resource designed to help teachers and students implement STEM challenges and see Connected Learning in action.

The ULTIMATE Expo – Finally participants will learn how to get involved in the 14th Annual Student Innovation Expo or host a mini Expo at their own school or organization.  

Common Core specifies that if students are to be college and career ready, then they need to master how to research a topic and present it in a variety of perspectives such as writing and presenting persuasive arguments, informative/explanatory texts, and narratives. As part of the writing process, students need to conduct research from multiple print and digital sources, paraphrase their findings, cite their sources, avoid plagiarism, and develop formal citations for their sources.

Beyond writing in a variety of perspectives, students also need to master how to communicate their findings via a formal research paper, a digital brochure, an animation, a presentation, as well as communicate their ideas via a verbal presentation, blog, WIKI, and/or website.
The purpose of this hands-on workshop is to provide teachers with a variety of open digital tools so they can teach the six step research process (1. select your topic, 2. search for information, 3. take notes, 4. develop the information, 5. share the information and 6. evaluate your final product) while guiding their students to master the reading, writing, speaking, and listening standards.