AEA Online Learning Supports Iowa Digital Learning Plan: Digital Citizenship

As many of you are aware, Iowa’s Digital Learning Plan is the result of a collaborative effort between the Iowa Department of Education (Department), Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs), Local Education Agencies (LEAs), the American Institute for Research (AIR) and many stakeholders. (See document here).

AEA Learning Online has many opportunities for districts to use in support of this Digital Learning Plan. We will now discuss is how we support Digital Citizenship for teacher and students.

According to the IDLP,  colleges should Rethink Teacher Preparation.  “Education is constantly changing.  Teacher preparation programs are an important part of making sure that our future educators have a solid foundation of not only teaching and learning but also learning about how to use technology.  Technology to help students learn and grow as learners and digital citizens in and out of the classroom.  “ This is also true of those currently in the field.

By Fostering Ongoing Professional Learning districts support the IDLP “Professional learning and development programs should transition to support and develop educators’ identities as fluent users of technology; creative and collaborative problem solvers; and adaptive, socially aware experts throughout their careers.” “Programs also should address challenges when it comes to using technology learning: ongoing professional development should be job embedded and available just in time.”

A National Recommendation adopted by Iowa suggests that districts “Provide pre-service and in-service educators with professional learning experiences powered by technology to increase their digital literacy and enable them to create compelling learning activities that improve learning and teaching, assessment, and instructional practices.” By designing pre- and in-service professional learning opportunities that are aligned specifically with technology expectations outlined within state standards and that are reflective of the increased connectivity of and access to devices in schools.

Districts should also think about “Instructional Practices for Student-Centered, Personalized Learning.”  “The majority of Iowa districts are 1:1 which changes the way teaching and learning happen within classrooms and beyond the classroom walls.  As access to technology increases, so does the importance of guiding students to use technology in a  “meaningful, productive, respectful, and safe” way in and out of the classroom.  A basic understanding for the teacher is a great way to start. “

In support of the IDLP and Iowa Core 21st Century standards, AEA Learning Online offers a Digital Citizenship Course within the Training System (https://training.aealearningonline.org) for one license renewal credit, or individual modules can be taken without credit or cost.  Within the course, teachers will gain a basic understanding of Digital Security, Digital Netiquette, Digital Literacy, and Cyberbullying and Online Safety.  These core topics are essential for teachers to help guide the learning and help students make good choices when navigating our connected world.

Once teachers have a better understanding of digital citizenship topics, districts then could move toward how students navigate the digital world as digital citizens. Providing students opportunities to practice with teachers and other students, learn important topics, use curriculum that best meets the needs of all learners, and facilitate discussions with students in a safe place about their digital footprint.

AEA Learning Online offers Digital Citizenship modules for students to take on our Student Personalized Learning System (https://learning.aeak12online.org).  The SPLS has content for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.  The K-8 grade content is based on Common Sense Media’s digital citizenship curriculum and offers students further opportunities to share, watch videos, and discuss as a class. The K-8 content also has an added feature of the modules being read aloud for those students who may need extra support.  The 9-12 content is based on Mike Ribble’s Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship.  It supports safety and appropriate technology use in these areas:
●    Digital Commerce
●    Digital Communication
●    Digital Health and Wellness
●    Digital Law, Rights and Responsibilities
●    Digital Literacy
●    Digital Netiquette
●    Digital Security
Districts and teachers can assign any or all of this content to students as desired.

If you have interest in any of the above learning opportunities for yourself or your staff, contact AEA Learning Online at support@aealearningonline.org  or Denise Krefting (dkrefting@aealearningonline.org) or Melissa Wicklund (mwicklund@aealearningonline.org)

Look for the next post where we will discuss how AEA Learning Online supports Open Educational Resources discussed in the IDLP.

AEA Online Learning Supports Iowa Digital Learning Plan: Blended Learning

As many of you are aware, Iowa’s Digital Learning Plan is the result of a collaborative effort between the Iowa Department of Education (Department), Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs), Local Education Agencies (LEAs), the American Institute for Research (AIR) and many stakeholders. (See document here).

AEA Learning Online has many opportunities for districts to use in support of this Digital Learning Plan. The first we will discuss is how we support Blended and Online Learning.

According to the IDLP,  schools should “Foster Ongoing Professional Learning”.  Professional learning and development programs should transition to support and develop educators’ identities as fluent users of technology; creative and collaborative problem solvers; and adaptive, socially aware experts throughout their careers.

 Districts should also “Develop a teaching force skilled in online and blended instruction”. Our education system continues to see a marked increase in online learning opportunities and blended learning models in traditional schools. To meet the demand, institutions of higher education, school districts, classroom educators, and researchers need to come together to ensure practitioners have access to current information regarding research-supported practices and an understanding of the best use of emerging online technologies to support learning in online and blended spaces.  Including:

Technology can enable personalized learning or experiences that are more engaging and relevant. Mindful of the learning objectives, educators might design learning experiences that allow 40 students in a class to choose from a menu of learning experiences—writing essays, producing media, building websites, collaborating with experts across the globe in data collection—assessed via a common rubric to demonstrate their learning. Such technology-enabled learning experiences can be more engaging and relevant to learners.

Personalized Student Learning

Technology enables personalized pathways for student learning through active and collaborative learning activities. Clearly defined sets of learning outcomes guide instruction. The outcomes, and the aligned curriculum, instruction, and assessment, reflect the multidisciplinary nature of knowledge; prepare students for our participatory culture through attention to digital literacy and citizenship; and attend to general skills and dispositions, such as reflection, critical thinking, persistence, and perseverance.
Administration and school board provide leadership ensuring that policies and resources equip teachers with the right tools and ongoing support to personalize learning in their classrooms.

AEA Learning Online offers a Blended Learning Cohort as professional development in support of the pedagogical changes teacher must go through to be effective and successful online educators. These cohorts consist of 4 courses that teachers and administrators can take through out a 1 1/2 year period (time period can change depending on need).   Credit (no-credit option as well) is available at a significantly reduced rate.
  
●    The first course, "Blending/ Flipping Your Classroom 1: Introduction" is a three day face-to-face training on "Blending/Flipping your classroom 1" for one license renewal credit.  This introductory course will build pedagogical awareness using Bloom's Taxonomy and Depth of Knowledge for learning about blended learning models, flipped classrooms, the modern learner, essential questions, and summarize and formative assessments in an online environment. Participants will experience a blended learning opportunity each day.  (There is an Elementary version and a Secondary Version)
  
●    The second course is a fully online course "Blending/Flipping 2- Blended Instruction" for all grade level teachers as well as an elementary option for two credits (license renewal and graduate) which is available to those who have completed the first course.  This course digs deeper into what a blended classroom looks like expanding from course 1.  Participants will create a blended unit that can be used in their classroom using best practices of design, content, assessments and collaboration. (There is an Elementary version and a Secondary Version)
  
●    The third in the series is "Blending/Flipping Your Classroom 3: Designing Online Lessons" which will take place as a blended model with two days face-to-face and the rest online for those who have completed the first two courses. This course is also two credits (license renewal and graduate).   This course is divided into two parts: Spoken Lesson best practices and design and Text Based Lesson best practices and design. Participants will create a video  and a text based lesson created in Softchalk that can be added to their flipped or blended unit.
  
●     Finally the fourth in this series is "Blending/Flipping 4: Activities and Assessment "which will take place as a blended model with two days face-to-face and the rest online and is also 2 credits (license renewal and graduate) for those who have taken the three other courses.  This final cohort course is divided into two parts: creating rigorous and relevant activities and developing appropriate assessments for these activities. These activities and assessments can be added to their flipped or blended unit.
  
These courses are also meant to support those teachers who wish to move their classes to totally online but scaffolding their knowledge from face to face, to blended to eventual online creation.  This can be done in combination with the OLLIE coursework offered by AEA Learning Online and Drake University. The last three courses in the series (six credits) can also be applied to the Drake Online Teacher certification for those that are interested.   Learn More Here

Offered in conjunction with the Blended Learning Cohort are the OLLIE (Online Learning for Iowa Educators) online courses. These courses take teachers to the next level with facilitation, assessment and feedback intended to help teacher complete the Drake Online Teaching Certificate and support facilitated online instruction.

AEA Learning Online also offers self paced content on Blended Learning and Personalized Learning found in the Teacher Training System.  These courses can be taken for learning and/or credit  any time from anywhere in a self paced environment.
If you have interest in any of the above learning opportunities for yourself or your staff, contact AEA Learning Online at support@aealearningonline.org  or Denise Krefting (dkrefting@aealearningonline.org) or Melissa Wicklund (mwicklund@aealearningonline.org)

Look for our next post where we will discuss how AEA Learning Online supports Digital Citizenship discussed in the IDPL.

Teachers at Indianola Complete Blending Flipping Cohort

Congratulations to these teachers from Indianola Schools who have completed the 4 courses in the Blending Flipping in your Classroom Cohort.

Front to Back: Alison Sauter (Indianola Technology Integration Coach), Shaen
Polasky, Jill Oliver, Samantha Jensen, Mindy Percy, Lisa Stone, Ronda Priebe, Denise Krefting (AEA Learning Online K-12 Instructional Designer,Karen Sorensen, Mitch Curtis, Linda Warner, Wendy Arch and Richard Kazmerzak.

These classes which are offered at several AEAs and even as PD for school districts (such as Indianola CSD) are : Blending/ Flipping Your Classroom 1: Introduction (Elementary and a Secondary version), Blending/Flipping 2- Blended Instruction (Elementary and a Secondary version), Blending/Flipping Your Classroom 3: Designing Online Lessons and Blending/Flipping 4: Activities and Assessment.  They are offered for license renewal credit, graduate credit or no credit depending on what credit type the participant is interested in.  6 of these credits also qualify for the Drake Online Teaching Certificate. Learn more about the cohort here.

If you are interested in learning more about the Blending Flipping in your Classroom Cohort you can check out this site or contact Denise Krefting or Melissa Wicklund at AEA Learning Online.

Iowa Teacher Softchalk Lessons Chosen as Lesson of the Week

Congratulations to Doug Mossengren, high school Science teacher from Van Buren Schools  and Wendy Arch, high school  Language Arts teacher from Indianola High School whose Softchalk lessons were chosen as Softchalk's Lesson of the Week.

Each week Softchalk selects a stand out, top notch, lesson from SoftChalk Share and features it across their social media platforms. SoftChalk Share is an Open Education Resource (OER), learning object repository with thousands of free learning materials created by educators.

In Dougs's lesson, "Species Concept", students learn about different species concepts including ecological, evolutionary and phylogenetic. They also learn about the issues with the various concepts and why we don't know the exact number of spec.  See Dougs's Lesson: https://www.softchalkcloud.com/lesson/serve/MKgEYt0rJ68yLT/html

Wendy's lesson, "Figurative Language Review", discusses how authors use figurative language to reveal the hidden meanings embedded in the words and phrases used to write their stories. Students learn to define and identify examples of similes, metaphors, personification, imagery, and symbolism..  See Wendy's lesson: https://www.softchalkcloud.com/lesson/serve/P65EtmbOXIcRfu/html

 

Doug and Wendy learned how to use Softchalk and best practices about lesson design in the Blending/Flipping Your Classroom Cohort professional development. Learn more about this professional development at (https://instructor20.wixsite.com/aealearningonlinebf). 


Softchalk is available at no cost to Iowa teachers teaching in the State of Iowa. If you are interested in learning more about this tool and getting access to it, contact us via email: eabbey@aealearningonline.org, dkrefting@aealearningonline.org or mwicklund@aealearningonline.org.

Learn how to blend, flip or move your content online

AEA Learning online in conjunction with other AEAs across the State has been offering the Blend Flip Cohort containing 4 courses  on how to transform your classroom to add online learning. These courses for license renewal credit  and graduate credit are meant to deepen your learning around blended and flipped classroom models.  These courses looks at specific examples of blended learning and key components of teaching in such a manner.  Throughout all of the coursework, directions are available in an online platform. This is not about a specific Learning Management System (LMS) but instead about the pedagogical changes and tools needed to blend or flip your content in a rigorous and relevant way.

The four courses are: 

1. Blending/ Flipping Your Classroom 1: Introduction
2. Blending/Flipping 2- Blended Instruction
3. Blending/Flipping Your Classroom 3: Designing Online Lessons
4. Blending/Flipping 4: Activities and Assessment

To  learn more about the cohort check out this website: https://instructor20.wixsite.com/aealearningonlinebf   

BF Course 1 is currently schedule at Heartland for 1 license renewal credit October 24, November 15, and December 5 2018. Sign up or find out more. 

BF Course 1 is currently schedule at Heartland for 1 license renewal credit at  Keystone AEA held at Dubuque Oct 27, Nov 2 and Nov 10 2018  Sign up of find out more.


Other beginning courses will be offered Statewide, as they are scheduled the link will be on the website listed above.

If you have questions or comments please contact Denise Krefting or Melissa Wicklund. 

Iowa Story: Glibert Teacher Blends His MS Technology Classroom

Hear from Troy Staudt, middle school technology teacher at Gilbert Middle School in Gilbert, IA as he talks about his blended learning classrooms. Troy will share why he went this route, what the benefits for students were, and his suggestions to teachers trying this for the first time.

We would LOVE to share your story. If you would like to be interviewed for the Iowa Story of Online, Blended or Flipped Classrooms please contact us.   We have several other teacher video of those who have volunteered to contribute. They can be found on in our Google Community with the filter "Blended Videos from Iowa Teachers.

If you are interested in learning more about professional development for blended learning, here is the information on AEA Online's Blended Learning Cohort.   

6th-8th Grade Illustrative Mathematics from Open Up Resources on Student Personalized Learning System

We are excited to share with you that the content from Open Up Resources 6th grade through 8th Grade Illustrative Mathematics has been added to AEA Learning Online's Student Personalized Learning System (http://learning.aeak12online.org/ ).  The content comes from Open Up Resources (https://im.openupresources.org/index.html) and is available for teachers to use with their students.  

In a problem-based curriculum, students work on carefully crafted and sequenced mathematics problems during most of the instructional time. A typical lesson in Illustrative Mathematics has four phases:

1. A warm-up
2. One or more instructional activities
3. The lesson synthesis
4. A cool-down

Four instructional routines frequently used in warm-ups are Number Talks, Notice and Wonder, Which One Doesn’t Belong, and True or False. Selected activities are structured using Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematical Discussions (Smith & Stein, 2011), also described in Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All (NCTM, 2014), and Intentional Talk: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions (Kazemi & Hintz, 2014). 

Teachers can view the content by:

1) Going to the Student Personalized Learning System (http://learning.aeak12online.org/)

2) Log in with your username and password that you use in the teacher training system (https://training.aealearningonline.org )

3) Click on Catalog

4) Click on Math and the Statewide Tab

5) Scroll down to Statewide Module to see the individual modules. Click on the far right icon from the module name to preview. There is also a  Statewide Learning Opportunity that contains all of the modules that can be assigned to students at the bottom of the page.

These modules are a compilation of the students resources, teacher resources (introductions, activity synthesis, lesson synthesis, cool down, etc) and audio for each page. The interactives are directly embedded, there are activities that the teacher has the option to grade in the system, glossary items are directly embedded in the work and more. 

If you wish to use these modules with students please contact Denise Krefting (dkrefting@aealearningonline.org)   or Melissa Wicklund (mwicklund@aealearningonline.org).

Iowa Story: Van Buren Teacher Blends His Science Classroom

Hear from Doug Mossengren, high school science teacher at Van Buren Schools in Keosauqua, IA as he talks about his blended learning classrooms. Doug will share why he went this route, what the benefits for students were, his expectations and future changes to his classroom. Doug routinely surveys his students to hear from them.


If you are interested in learning more about professional development for blended learning, here is the information on AEA Online's Blended Learning Cohort.  

Van Buren Teacher's Softchalk Lesson Chosen as Lesson of the Week

Congratulations to Randy Clennan, high school math teacher from Van Buren High School whose Softchalk lesson " Euclidean Geometry" was chosen as Softchalk's Lesson of the Week.  In this lesson students explore the concepts of Collinear, Coplanar, Opposite Rays, and Intersecting lines and planes. By the end they should be able to identify, correctly label, and sketch those geometric figures. Randy learned how to use Softchalk and best practices about lesson design in the Blending/Flipping Your Classroom Cohort Course 3: Designing Online Lessons.

Each week Softchalk selects a stand out, top notch, lesson from SoftChalk Share and features it across their social media platforms. SoftChalk Share is an Open Education Resource (OER), learning object repository with thousands of free learning materials created by educators.

Softchalk is available at not cost to Iowa teachers teaching in the State of Iowa and part of the Blending Flipping Cohort Course 3. If you are interested in learning more about this tool and getting access to it, contact us via email: Evan Abbey, Denise Krefting or Melissa Wicklund.

Teachers at Heartland AEA and Great Prairie AEA complete Blending Flipping Cohort

Congratulations to these teachers from Heartland AEA area schools, Johnston Schools and Van Buren Schools who have completed the 4 courses in the Blending Flipping in your Classroom Cohort.

Left to Right are: Lexi Schafer (Johnston CSD), Mark Augspurger (Johnston CSD), Doug Mossengren (Van Buren CSD), Kris Steingreaber (Van Buren CDS), Ann Wiley (Johnston Integrationist), Denise Krefting (BF Course Instructor), Elizabeth Whitver (Urbandale CSD), Deborah Henry (Des Moines CDS), Catherine Hines (Heartland Instructional Technologist), Everett Charlson (Gilbert CSD), Kyla Burns (Johnston CSD), and Kyle Lehman (SE Polk CSD).  Not pictured: Jessica Dowell and Justin Lewis (Johnston CSD), Cheryl Voelker and Jim Schutt (Dallas Center Grimes CSD).

These classes which are offered at several AEAs and even as PD for school districts (such as Johnston CSD) are : Blending/ Flipping Your Classroom 1: Introduction (Elementary and a Secondary version), Blending/Flipping 2- Blended Instruction (Elementary and a Secondary version), Blending/Flipping Your Classroom 3: Designing Online Lessons and Blending/Flipping 4: Activities and Assessment.  They are offered for license renewal credit, graduate credit or no credit depending on what credit type the participant is interested in.  6 of these credits also qualify for the Drake Online Teaching Certificate. Learn more about the cohort here.

If you are interested in learning more about the Blending Flipping in your Classroom Cohort you can check out this site or contact Denise Krefting, Melissa Wicklund or Craig Mohr at AEA Learning Online.

Last Days for Savings on Self-Paced Courses

On July 1, our prices for self-paced courses will be increasing.  Our introductory courses will be $105 for license renewal credit, and those offered for Drake graduate credit will be $190.  A few other courses in our catalog provided by outside instructors will continue to have different prices.

If you are looking to possibly start a self-paced course, now is a good time to start.  A reminder that there are no deadlines for the course.  You can pay for the course now at the lower rate and actually start working on it later this summer.

Have any questions about self-paced courses?  Be sure to contact us!

Iowa Story: Blended PD

Hear from Jennifer Van Fleet from Davenport Community Schools in Davenport Iowa. Jennifer is a TLCS Lead Support Teacher who has worked to blend the district's Professional Development. Learn why they did this, how they went about it and what it looks like.