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Practical
Professional Development |
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Annenberg Media’s Learner.org is
a collection of cross-curricular teacher
resources and teacher professional development programs. The
interactives
are free video-on-demand
instructional programs that can be searched by
discipline or grade. Free workshop
and course resources consist of video,
print and Web components. Print guides can be downloaded in
PDF format.
Suits: K–12
teachers and administrators
Costs: Free
Locations & Dates: Online,
anywhere/anytime as needed
Web: http://www.learner.org/ |
Let Atomic
Learning help
you get ready for class video projects with the
free tutorial
series on Windows
Movie Maker 2. Each short, show-and-tell
tutorial lesson guides teachers and students in getting
started with Movie
Maker 2. The Atomic Learning library also includes more than
37,000
tutorials covering more than 110 different software
applications.
Suits: K–12
teachers and administrators; K–12 students
Costs: Free trial
for 14 days; see Web site for subscription costs
Locations & Dates: Online,
anywhere/anytime, as needed
Web: http://www.AtomicLearning.com/moviemaker2/ |
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Teachers need to know their responsibilities for keeping
students safe on
the Internet with regards to COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection
Act). Print out How
to Protect Kids’ Privacy Online: a Guide for Teachers
from the Federal
Trade Commission.
Suits: K–12
teachers and administrators
Costs: Free download
Web: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/tech/tec10.pdf
Plus: For
more information on COPPA and other privacy rights of
children,
visit Kidz
Privacy.
Web: http://www.ftc.gov/
bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy/index.html |
The NSBA (National School Boards Association) Technology
Leadership
Network (TLN)
is providing online professional development on 21st
century skills to TLN members through a partnership with CyberSmart!.
The five online workshops are indicated by the acronym
SMART:
S – Safety and Security Online,
M – Manners, Cyberbullying, & Ethics,
A – Authentic Learning and Creativity,
R – Research and Information Fluency and
T – Twenty-first Century Challenges.
TLN members can register individually for any of the five
online
workshops; nonmembers must purchase a minimum of one
workshop for
20–25 educators. The same workshop topics are available as free K–12
curriculum for students.
Suits: K–12
teachers
Costs: Free for
TLN members; nonmembers, contact
Information@cybersmart.org or
call (800) 615-9806
Locations & Dates: Online,
as requested. No scheduled meetings;
2.5 hours/week for four weeks
Web: http://cybersmart.org/workshops/ |
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The Discovery
Education Speakers Bureau (DESB)
provides support
for effective technology use in classrooms and schools, with
presentations
of more than 200,000 educators in over 30 states and on four
continents.
Speaker topics address Vision, New Technologies, Classroom
Tools, Project
Building and Media. Discovery
Education Network (DEN),
a division of
Discovery Communications is
a global community of educators committed
to teaching with digital media, collaboration and networking
to provide
professional development to more than 250,000 teachers
worldwide.
Suits: K–12
teachers and administrators
Costs: Vary;
based on conference and sponsors for event
Locations & Dates: Vary;
see Calendar of Events for current workshop
locations and schedule
Web: http://www.discoveryedspeakersbureau.com/
Web: http://community.discoveryeducation.com/ |
Use the Education
World Professional Development Channel to
find a
broad range of interdisciplinary “best
practice” features for
professional
development. Features include columns and professional
development
collections such as Math Corner, New Teacher Advisor,
Classroom
Strategies That Work and Professional Development by
Subject.
Suits: K–12
teachers and administrators
Costs: Free database
of professional development resources
Web: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/
Plus: Click
on EdGate
Personal Edition for
a personalized, individual
subscription to thousands of educator resources, lesson
plans (such as USA
Today lesson plans), SchoolNotes, state Curriculum Matrix,
monthly topic
specific newsletter and online training materials.
Suits: K–12
teachers
Cost: $24.95
per year
Web: http://www.edgate.com/personal_edition.php |
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Internet4Classrooms promotes
a series of On-Line
Practice Modules for
teachers wanting to learn more about the basics of using
such popular
technology products as Inspiration, PowerPoint, Dreamweaver,
HyperStudio, Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and Netscape.
All of the
module sets are designed for self-paced learning. Print the
Log with answers
to demonstrate completion of each module.
Suits: K–12
teachers; entry level through advanced users
Costs: Free with
registration
Locations & Dates: Online,
anywhere/anytime
Web: http://internet4classrooms.com/on-line.htm |
The National
Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Learning
Center
offers free Web
seminars on
science topics of interest to K–12 educators.
Each Web seminar is a 90-minute, live professional
development opportunity
that connects participants with nationally acclaimed
experts. A set of
free teacher
tools (My
PD Plan and Portfolio, My Library, My Calendar,
My Notepad, My Indexer and My Transcript) makes it easy to
organize
your online professional development.
Suits: K–12
teachers and administrators
Costs: Free
Locations & Dates: Online;
see schedule for dates and times;
archived seminars
Web: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/webseminars.aspx |
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Educators can prepare lessons and learn to use The
Geometer’s
Sketchpad more
effectively with the searchable Sketchpad
LessonLink from
Key Curriculum Press. The subscription
service gives instructors easy access
to more than 500 Sketchpad activities and demonstrations for
grades 3–12,
matched to standards and leading math textbooks. Tip sheets
and videos
support teacher and student use of the program. Register for
a free trial
to
explore 30 activities for 30 days.
Suits: Grades
6–12 teachers
Costs: Annual
school site subscriptions begin at $119 per teacher
Locations & Dates: Online,
anywhere/anytime
Web: http://www.keypress.com/x22318.xml |
The PBS
TeacherLine Peer Connection adds
professional development
resources for coaching, mentoring and communities of
practice to the
PBS TeacherLine professional
development resources. Coaching Modules
that support coaches’ higher-level work with teachers
include more than
200 resource groupings covering Mentoring, Instructional
Strategies,
Instructional Technology, Reading and Mathematics for
Elementary and
Secondary School. In addition, more than 30 professional
development
topics target the professional growth of coaches and
mentors.
Suits: K–12
coaches, trainers and administrators
Costs: Free trial
for 30 days; call (800) 572-6386 for subscription pricing
Locations & Dates: Online,
anywhere/anytime
Web: http://www.pbs.org/peerconnection/
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Through its Online
Conference Series, Smithsonian Education honored
Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial with a virtual conference on
February
4 and 5, 2009. This and all of Smithsonian Education’s other
online
conferences are archived for free access
to replay at any time. Check the
Smithsonian Events calendar (http://www.si.edu/events/)
for other
Smithsonian workshops and conferences for K–12 educators.
Suits: K–12
teachers
Costs: Free
Locations & Dates: Check
the Smithsonian Events calendar for events;
archived for replay anytime
Web: http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/
Professional_development/conference/2009/Lincoln/index.html |
Review the professional development content at Teachscape
XL by
registering
for the free Module
of the Month Club. Each month Teachscape XL
gives registered users a chance to experience one of the
online professional
development resources normally available only to
subscribers. Use the
free module
for personal professional development or share with a group
of teachers you are coaching. April’s free topic
is Talking about Texts—
Literacy: Evidence-Based Practices in Teaching Reading, and
May’s Module
of the Month is Linear Equations.
Suits: K–12
teachers and administrators
Costs: Free
with registration
Locations & Dates: Online,
monthly
Web: http://www.teachscape.com/
html/ts/nps/subscribe_to_our_email_newsletter.html |
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TrainingTools.com provides
a selection of free Web-based tutorials to
help teachers and students learn a variety of popular
software programs.
Sign up for the Weekly
ToolTips or
browse the ToolTips archives.
Register
for full site membership to access Internet Industry
Certification materials,
PDFs for all courses, email support from instructors and
sensible navigation
using WhatWasIt? and WhereWasI?
Suits: K–12
teachers, middle and high school students
Costs: Free Web-based
tutorials; see Web site for full course licensing
Locations & Dates: Online
Web: http://www.trainingtools.com |
Add the free WINK
2.0 program
to your professional development
toolkit and create training tutorials to share with
colleagues and students.
Wink makes
it possible to capture screenshots and add explanation
boxes,
titles and audio to make it easy to share expertise on a
variety of
professional development topics.
Suits: K–12
teachers, technology trainers and coordinators
Costs: Free
Web: http://www.debugmode.com/wink/ |
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Student
Programming & Tutorials |
Back
to the Top |
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ACT360º Media and Microsoft
K–12 Education have
teamed up to
produce actDen (Digital Education Network),
an online community that
offers nine free software
tutorials (Internet
Explorer, PowerPoint, FrontPage
and seven online
courses (TestDEN,
WritingDEN, SkillsDEN, SkyDEN,
GraphicsDEN, MathDEN, NewsDEN) for interactive student
learning.
Detailed guides and screen shots throughout the lessons make
it easy for
students to follow.
Web: http://www.actden.com/ |
The EasyTech curriculum
from Learning.com uses
lessons, activities,
practices, discussions and quizzes to provide K–8 students
with technology
curriculum based on the ISTE
NETS standards,
while using the context
of core content and real-world experiences. The interactive,
self-paced
tutorials are clear, concise and focused to teach students
the skills they
need for success in the 21st century. Sample
lessons are
available as free
downloadable PDFs, and the free,
sample online interactive
tutorials
include Keyboarding and Beginning Graphics for grades K–2,
Graphing in
Spreadsheets and Web Browser Basics for grades 3–5, and Word
Processing
Software, Presentation Software and Communicating Online for
grades
6–8. Many of the tutorials and activities are available in
both English and
Spanish. Try the samples and then sign up
for a 30-day free trial
to explore
the entire curriculum. Tutorials are perfect as refresher
courses for teacher
training.
Web: http://www.learning.com/easytech/ |
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Promote global learning for your students with Globaloria,
which is
a social networking project that connects youth in more than
a dozen
countries as they learn to use FLASH and other Web-based
tools to create
interactive Web games and tutorials. Participants in the MyGLive.org
project-based beta in the U.S. include American University,
West Virginia
and Boulder Game Developers Club. Web visitors can click on
the MyGLife
Web site for games created by student participants in the
Globaloria
project. MySLife is
all about students building simulations and games that
impact Science. MyHLife does
the same thing for students interested in
promoting health concerns. Coming soon are Life areas for
Human Rights,
Art and Mathematics. Instructional tutorials for using FLASH
and creating
Web games and simulations are prolific.
Suits: Grades
6–12 students, college students and teachers
Costs: Free
Web: http://www.globaloria.org/ |
Students and teachers will benefit from the National
Geographic Events
schedule for exhibits, speakers, films, concerts and special
events. The
Events Calendar posts a detailed summary of each event, with
specifics
about the Date, Time, Location and Cost. If the event isn’t free,
the Buy
Ticket button takes you to Ticketmaster. Search the
interactive Events
Calendar by date or click on event type to find all
sponsored events.
Web: http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/ |
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Add to your “green” curriculum with this interactive
professional development
for K–12 teachers to teach students about nonpoint source
water
pollution. Raindrops
to Rivers is
a free interactive
program sponsored
by KET (Kentucky Education Television)
and Kentucky
Department for
Environmental Protection. The program uses
authentic video of classrooms
to demonstrate high-quality instruction on watersheds.
Lesson materials
and links also provide resources for instruction.
Instructional videos for
students and an electronic fieldtrip to a watershed are also
included.
Web: http://www.raindropstorivers.org/
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Squeakland is
a free educational
environment for teaching abstract
thinking in a visual way. Etoys is
a media-rich, free authoring
tool that
gives students a visual programming system for learning 21st
century skills
using the tool to solve problems. Students use programming
to manipulate
objects, and creative sketches and scripting to create
visual images of ideas.
Web: http://www.squeakland.org/ |
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