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=ENHANCING STUDENT LEARNING WITH TECHNOLOGY =

=Executive Summary=
 * Be informed (by your fellow collegues and the larger online technology community). Arrange for a one-on-one meeting to discuss your needs. Celebrate making a difference in student learrning!

=Why?= There are many things that teachers do to help students learn. Teaching is a complex art - each student is motivated by different things. It is possible to be a good teacher without using technology. Conversely, it is possible to be a poor teacher despite using all the latest teaching technologies. Without a safe class environment, good classroom management, and a good relationship with students, learning can not be maximized. Nonetheless, technology can be used to enhance student learning since our students are digital natives.

Many children who are born today will be graduating from their post-secondary studies in the year 2032! Think about how much the world has changed within the last few generations... Technology can be used to engage students and enhance learning. However, along with rapid change comes feelings of trepidation. Without teacher support and collaboration, change can be a daunting task. This is the reason why this Wiki was created. Teachers, feel free to make your contribution and edit this page (obtain the username and password for this site from the IT Department).

Top Ten 21st Century Education Quotes
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 * Technology is only technology to those who were born before it.
 * We need to prepare students for THEIR future not OUR past - Ian Jukes, educator and Futurist.
 * Teachers need to stop saying, “Hand it in,” and start saying “Publish It.” Alan November
 * We have moved from “know what” learning to “know where” learning.
 * The largest number of podcasts in education are about Podcasts in education.-Marco Torres.
 * Kids DO want to learn, but schools get in the way.
 * Digital Media enables us to build more stages for our kids to express themselves. - Marco Torres
 * What gets us in trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know that just ain’t so. - Mark Twain.
 * We need to replicate in the classroom the world in which students are living.
 * If we teach today the way we were taught yesterday we aren’t preparing students for today or tomorrow.

Evolution of Web 2.0 Tools
media type="custom" key="5301961" Tip: Talk to various technology champions about what kind of tools you are looking for. If you want to research the tools yourself, http://www.google.com/trends is an excellent website that gives you an indication of the popularity of a particular tool (however, popularity does not always mean suitability). There is safety in numbers - when a program or web tool is popular enough, its future is secured from becoming obsolete.

=Building a Class Website= Class websites can be used to enhance student learning. There are many ways to create class websites (ex. Wikis, Blogs, Moodle, WebCT, Wordpress, Joomla, Site Builder, Flash, SharePoint, FirstClass, Message Boards - phpBB / SMF, web-based solutions such as webs.com / wix.com / sites.google.com, and the list goes on...) A good way to get started is to see what other teachers are using and decide on what features are important to you.

Class Website Recommendation

 * Use a Wiki (such as Wikispaces.com) if you're primarily interested in having a collaborative website where others can edit the contents of your site. The website theme is not fully customizable, but it is fairly easy to update.
 * Use a Micro-Blog (such as Posterous) if ease of updates is important to you. You can even make updates via email! If you attach a set of pictures, your blog updates automatically with a picture gallery. Students can also reply to your question with comments (unfortunately IE6 is not supported). You can even password protect your site. If you attach a Word or PowerPoint file it automatically makes your file available for preview and download. See the slideshow below for more details.
 * Use Moodle for a full-featured class website - ex. auto-grading online quizzes, student grade book, a variety of message forum types, etc.
 * There are many other solutions as well - talk to a technology champion about your specific needs and for personalized one-on-one support.

Note: If you want to find more tutorials about any particular tool, just //Google// it or find a tutorial on www.youtube.com. ex. "posterous tutorial" or "moodle tutorial". There are always new bleeding-edge presentations available at www.slideshare.net.

Strengths of Some Other Website Tools

 * Joomla - professional grade, highly customizable website - ex. even has ecommerce possibilities but lacks some of the classroom specific funtions that Moodle has.
 * Wordpress - also used by professional web designers. A little easier to use than Joomla but was initially created as a blogging tool. However it is commonly used to build many different kinds of websites.
 * SharePoint - North Surrey Secondary are piloting this tool. It has integrated Windows authentication.

Posterous SlideShow
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Posterous Video Tutorial
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Moodle
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