MI Learning on iTunes

Most all of us use or have at least heard of iTunes the application from Apple that organizes, plays and allows you to purchase music and video. There is a wonderful component of the iTunes Store called iTunes U. iTunes U contains free educational content contributed by top universities as well as K-12 teachers. Michigan even has their own component within iTunes U with several resources contributed by teachers and technology specialists across the state. Check out Mi Learning and you might find some very interesting and useful content. Not seeing what you need? Create and submit your own content for inclusion as part of the Mi Learning community! Share what you've created and you may even earn yourself a stipend!

Flipping Professional Development

One of the newest buzz phrases in education is "Flipping the Classroom". Basically students are assigned videos and tutorials to view in the evenings, either teacher-created or other, and then their class time is spent actually working on what they've learned. I attended a session at MACUL 2011 presented by Ryan Miller and had a bit of an epiphany during his presentation (here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/5wchncn). What about doing the same thing with professional development for our teachers? The week/evening prior to a PD session we could post videos and tutorials on what is being presented and then the PD time could be productive time spent actually discussing how the topic will affect and change what we're doing or actually using the software and tools if we're talking a technology workshop. Hmmm... What do you think?

MACUL 2011

On March 17 & 18, I attended the MACUL conference in Detroit, MI. Wow! What an information packed couple of days! I listened to national speakers, Michigan teachers and technology specialists, and various vendors and garnered lots of information about new webtools, new ways to use old tools, and great ways to incorporate more technology in our classrooms. Big on my list for sessions was anything dealing with one to one learning.  I will feature some of the information I garnered in future posts after I organize and decompress!