Am I a blogger? Well, that is my hopes. Also to bring the information to one place in hopes that I will begin to "infect" some of my staff! Over the past few years, I feel like I have been infected with the edtech bug, but it is something I completely embrace and find an interest in. I work with some amazing educators, but let's face it the whole time concept is prevelant in their lives, as in everyones. It's not the easiest to work all day, and then go home and delve into more technology knowledge online. And if you have a family, that is almost impossible. Well, it's not, but to most families it makes it much more difficult. One of my goals is to provide technology tidbits for my staff and district by beginning this blog, but also to give back to the wonderful members of my PLN (and beyond) who have served as great mentors in modeling the process of blogging! It is a new adventure and I look forward to seeing where it takes me!
As one of my first blogs, I was asked to help provide some training to our summer school staff on how to appropriately utilize the Smart Board systems in my school. My district has 4 elementary buildings. My school being the newest just opening in the fall of '09. We have rooms ready for 21st Century learning and are blessed to have the technology that the other schools have limited access to. Some of the staff from the other buildings have little to no training on this equipment and our Administration wanted to ensure that our equipment is used appropriately for the benefit of the students in which we serve.
For this project, I utilized JING to capture short video tutorials to lay the beginning foundations of how to utilize the equipment and provide some beginning professional development. I have never used Jing and after today, I am a huge fan. One thing I like is these can be shared many times over, without having to hold a direct Prof. Development session myself. I can provide support beyond the basics that are covered in these short video segments. Second bonus, its FREE and easy to use! Thank you!
*Click the links below to connect with each video tutorial. Each is just under 5 minutes in length!
1. Power On Smart Board
http://www.screencast.com/t/NjNlMGJl
Description: How to turn on your Smart Board Pole Vault system and orient the board prior to use!
2: Smart Board and Document Camera
http://www.screencast.com/t/MmFhOWY1OWQ
Description: This tutorial discusses important things to remember about using the correct pens while working with the Smart Board as well as shows you how to turn on the Document Camera and project the images onto your Smart Board as a teaching aid.
3: Using Smart Notebook 1 (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.screencast.com/t/MzJhZTE0N
Description: Intro to Smart Notebook. I go through the different tools along the toolbar so that you know what each of the tools does.
4: Using Smart Notebook 2 (Part 2 of 2)
http://www.screencast.com/t/OGUxYzI0Z
Description: This segment completes the toolbar in Smart Notebook as well as highlights briefly the gallery that is provided in the program to find visuals to add to your Notebook content. At the end I recap a few important reminders!
5: Smart Exchange (online collection of Smart Lessons ready for you to download!)
http://www.screencast.com/t/MDk0ODQxMDgt
Description: This is a great online tool to search for Smart Board lessons that are already created. Be sure to try this out!
Alright, there is a documentation of my journey. Next, I need to learn to keep things a little more brief and simple, however, I felt that these all went went together well. I hope you enjoy and have taken something away from these tutorials. If I can be of any further help please do not hesitate to contact me! I would be glad to help!
Until next time!
