Iowa Core Website

The Iowa Department of Education has created a new website for the Iowa Core.  AEA PD Online: Live had a chance to record Dr. Brad Niebling demonstrating the different functions and resources on the site.  Watch this recording to learn more.

Friday Feature: Just Browsing

Browsers—Love or Hate Them

I have been feeling very frustrated with the browser that I thought I would never leave! It has been slow and freezes up for no apparent reason. So my solution was to update to the latest, greatest, newest version. But of course that can cause other issues.  So, I have been asking around—what browser do you typically use and like? The one I thought I “loved” is not getting rave reviews from my colleagues. Why? It’s because it doesn’t, or isn’t, using the HTML 5 standards for web browsers. Why should I care about HTML5 Standards? What the heck is HTML5?

HTML5 is the future of web browsing. It is build on the following principles:

• Less dependence on plugins for functionality.
• Scripting should be replaced with markup whenever possible.
• Device independence (i.e., available on all devices and providing the same end experience).
• Public development process so people can see what’s going on.

As a web user, you will benefit from HTML5 because it fixes the most glaring problems in HTML4. Web sites will have better web standards, which will result in more efficient content and improved performance. As HTML5 is adopted across the board, web pages should start to load faster, less bandwidth should be used, and battery life on mobile devices ought to last longer. Plus, you won’t have to keep so many plugins like Flash and Java updated.

If you want to see more about HTML5, go to this website: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-websites-html5/

So, why did I bring this up at all? Some things have not, or appear to not be working when I use my current browser (Firefox).  

AEA PD Online is now recommending that you may want to use a browser other than Firefox for the online courses or trainings you are taking. Switch to Google Chrome or use Safari (there is Safari for Windows) and you will probably have a much better experience.

Other Sites to check out:

Check your Internet browsing speed: http://www.scanmyspeed.com/
Try it with all the browsers on your desktop and compare.

How well does your browser support html5? Use this test to find out:
https://html5test.com

Peacekeeper is a free and fast browser test that measures a browser's speed.

http://peacekeeper.futuremark.com/ (takes about 5 minutes but is fun to do).

 
Peggy Steinbronn, Ed.D.

AEA PD Online Instructional Designer

www.aeapdonline.org 

AEA PD Online's eCurriculum content for Foreign Language

Did you know that AEA PD Online K-12 System has online content created by teachers that can be used in their Foreign Language classes (downloaded and added to your Moodle or Canvas course).  Check out these (additional content is added all the time so come back often) :



Mandarin Chinese I
Mandarin Chinese II 
Spanish I 
Spanish II 
Spanish 3: Grammar with a Twist: NICA Quest 
Spanish 4
Beginner Spanish 
Chinese for You: Shanghai
Conjugating Regular Verbs in the Present Tense in Spanish
French I: Au cafe
Peggy Teaches Chinese

Moodle Moment: Atomic Learning Plug-in

We have a new plugin on our Moodle system, and it is excellent.  This makes it a snap to create and integrate an Atomic Learning playlist of tutorials within your Moodle course.  It takes only seconds to create, and students instantly have access to rich content.

AEA PD Online: Making a Difference in 2014

Blended Learning Practitioners' Circle

Grant Wood AEA, the Alvo Institute, and AEA PD Online are excited to announce the launch of The Blended Learning Practitioners’ Circle. Join us for an eight-week exploration of blended learning with a focus on moving from theory to action. Whether you are new to blended or refining your current blended model, this exciting collaborative will help you deepen your practice, expertise and vision.  Special thanks to Illuminate Education for being a Gold Sponsor for this PD opportunity.

Alvo’s first Practitioners’ Circle brings together researchers and educators from across the country to form a virtual innovators’ roundtable using the newly released book, Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, as a centerpiece. We are for tunate to be joined by the authors, Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker, who will each facilitate a live, interactive two-hour webinar.

Required readings and scheduled webinars are planned.This course is asynchronous with live webinars as follows. All webinars will be recorded if participants cannot attend the live event. Most dates have two options for attending webinars as indicated below:

• Jan. 15 2:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. CST 
• Jan. 22 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CST* (Michael Horn will facilitate) 
• Jan. 29 2:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. CST 
• Feb. 5 2:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. CST 
• Feb. 12 2:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. CST 
• Feb. 19 2:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. CST 
• Feb. 26 2:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. CST 
• Mar. 5 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. CST* (Heather Staker will facilitate)

Webinar times and dates are subject to change.
*Two hour webinar

Register Online: http://goo.gl/forms/gbIX8PS1RQ

Registration Fee: $200

AEA PD Online is offering 3 license renewal or graduate credits (Drake,Viterbo, Morningside) for the course, if participants are interested. These costs are in addition to the $200 registration fee:

• $25 - License renewal
• $135 - Morningside credit
• $225 - Drake credit
• $225 - Viterbo credit

Download the brochure here.

Keeping Up with Online Terminology and Jargon

Keeping Up!

The end is near--of this calendar year, that is--and we are winding some things down and ramping some things up for the coming new year. There is never a lot of down time in online education--it is a continuing circle that keeps rolling along.

As I take time to explore various resources that could be utilized for online teaching and learning, I am still amazed at all the terminology that seems to be used interchangeably, whether it should or shouldn't. Terms like, flipped learning, personalized learning, blended learning, mobile learning, life-long learning, e-learning, and so on and on it goes. How do teachers figure it all out? When does flipped learning become blended or personalized learning? What are the differences?

This artilce, 10 Trendy Concepts in Educational Technology Every Teacher Should Know About, tries to help make sense of all the jargon. I hope you will take time out of your busy schedule to look it over. Perhaps some of it will be review for you, but there may be some new ideas as well. The "You might also like" links at the bottom of the page will also link you to some other interesting concepts/ideas in educational technology.

Have fun exploring!

In the Spotlight

 Book Creator

Read about an art teacher "who took on the challenge to find a way to help students who work at different paces and abilities. A semi-flipped classroom was the result."

Her solution was Book Creator, a simple way to create e-books in the classroom. The blog for Book Creator has some great ideas/lesson plans for various ways to use the program. Check it out here.

Maybe you can try this program out on that new iPad you are getting for Christmas--wink, wink.

 

Peggy Steinbronn, Ed.D.

AEA PD Online Instructional Designer

www.aeapdonline.org 

NOTE:  Friday Feature will return next year on January 16, 2015.

AEA PD Online's eCurriculum content for Counseling

Did you know that AEA PD Online K-12 System has online content created by teachers that can be used by Counselors and in Guidance classes (downloaded and added to your Moodle or Canvas course).  Check out these (additional content is added all the time so come back often) :

10th Grade Guidance

11th Grade Counseling Seminar

9th Grade Guidance

Career Decisions

Knowledge of College  

Personality Development & Goal Setting (Middle School) 

Study Skills and College Readiness Q1 

Study Skills and College Readiness Q2 

Creating Interactive Lessons Online

Have you ever wanted to move some of your lessons into an online format and make them interactive?  

SoftChalk is a free resource provided for all Iowa educators through AEA PD Online.  Iowa educators can download the software free through the AEA PD Online site (you will need an account in our learning system to access the link). With SoftChalk you can create lessons that can be embedded into your learning management system (moodle, canvas, blackboard, etc).  To learn about the features you can complete this self-paced lesson on SoftChalk.

SoftChalk also provides free webinars and short courses for teachers to learn more about the features of the software.  Here is the link to upcoming SoftChalk short courses.

New Self-Paced Course - Para-educator: Roles & Responsibilities

New Self-Paced Course - Para-educator: Roles & Responsibilities

We have a new self-paced course on our teacher training system (http://training.aeapdonline.org). 

Course Description:
This course will take you through the roles and responsibilities that Para-Educators have in regards to the IEP, behavior, confidentiality and supervision. For credit you will be expected to turn in a reflection sharing your roles and responsibilities as a Para- Educator in your district.

Intended Audience:
Para-educators and teachers wanting to learn more about the roles and responsibilities of para-educators in their classroom. AEA PD Online's self-paced courses are designed for teachers and para-educators who want to start and complete a course on their own schedule. Self-paced courses are available for one license renewal credit and para-educator renewal for $60.

28 Days of OLLIE

Mark your calendars!  28 Days of OLLIE is coming.

Starting February 1 and lasting throughout February, AEA PD Online kicks off its brand new OLLIE online community for teachers.  Part of their Online Learning for Iowa Educators (OLLIE) series, the community provides educators resources, live events, discussions, sharing and networking with other educators.  It is the perfect learning place for teachers looking to add blended or flipped learning to their classroom.

During 28 Days of OLLIE, we will have daily events, activities and even contests with prizes, where you can get acclimated to the community.  Be sure to check here in the upcoming weeks for more details.

Moodle Moment: Sharing Cart

In our Moodle Moment for today, we take a look at copying single items from one course (such as in our e-curriculum catalog) to another.  This requires a plugin called the Sharing Cart, which we have installed on our Moodle servers.  As we demonstrate, it is very easy to use the Sharing Cart.