Today I am stepping forward and beginning my blog that will focus on teaching and learning in the 21st century. I want to share ideas and musings about how our personal learning ventures will take us and our students in directions never before thought possible.  I want to share lesson plans, and web 2.0 tools that I use (or would like to use) with my students. For months now I have read blogs that have focused on technology and learning. Now I would like to contribute to the conversation and hopefully be part of the necessary change that will be needed to lead students, both children and adult learners, and teachers into the 21st century.

Today Martha is attending the 2008 Flat Classroom Workshop in person at MICDS, and Stephanie is participating virtually this morning. Vicki Davis & Julie Lindsay are co-founders of the workshop and organized this event, as they have done for a few years now. The aim of the workshop, according to www.flatclassrooms.com:

1. To promote academic excellence through the use of leading technological tools.
2. To promote connection and understanding between geographically dispersed, ethnically and culturally diverse groups of students in meaningful, global cooperative authentic learning experiences.
3. To simplify and document pedagogical best practices for such projects.
4. To duplicate “ourselves” and practices to encourage the open proliferation of such projects as a standard part of global education and digital citizenship.

This summer the Virtual Learning Center is launching six new tele classes created especially for Apple users! Each half-day class (held at Cooperating School Districts) will introduce one application- beginners are welcome. Educators, come learn about all the innovative things you can do on your Mac!

For full course descriptions & details, visit: www.csd.org/tele.

Using iPhoto in the Classroom   
July 22  |  9am-12pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member 
Learn to share digital photos by email or create amazing web pages, cards & calendars. You’ll learn how iPhoto automatically organizes your library by events, based on dates. You’ll also learn new tools so you edit like a pro. Build a stunning online gallery using .Mac, where visitors can view and download your photos, and add their own photos from a Mac or PC. Search your photo library in one place — filtered by name, date, rating, or keyword. You’ll learn how to print high-quality, frame-worthy photos with colored textures, borders and mattes on your printer.

Using iMovie ’08  in the Classroom   
July 22  |  1-4pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member  
Movie ’08 makes viewing and working with video as intuitive as enjoying your photos! A built-in library automatically organizes your video, so clips you’ve captured and movies you’ve created are just a click away. With its revolutionary interface, iMovie makes it quick and easy to browse your library and create movies. You can add movies to your website, publish them on YouTube, and create versions for iPod, iPhone, & Apple TV.  

Using GarageBand 3 in the Classroom  
July 23  |  9am-12pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member  
With GarageBand, you can create your own virtual onstage band and play along on your favorite instrument. You can record, edit, and mix a song exactly as you want it, in pristine CD quality. Mark a region to repeat, record your part multiple times, and pick your best performance. You’ll learn how to create audio, video & enhanced podcasts.

Using iWeb in the Classroom  
July 23  |  1-4pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member 
iWeb makes it easy to create a website that’s stunningly beautiful, and yet easy enough to do that even third graders can do it.  Start with an Apple-designed theme, then customize it with your own text, photos, blogs, movies & podcasts until it’s exactly what you want.

Using iDVD 6 in the Classroom   
July 24  |  9am-12pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member  
Learn how to  quickly create a Hollywood-style disc with iDVD, using Apple-designed animated themes to give your DVD a gorgeous style from main screen to chapter selection. New button library, drop zone editor, and dynamic alignment guides provide total control. See how to combine video & photos in your slideshows and use higher-quality photos.

Using Leopard in the Classroom   
July 24  |  1-4pm  |  $63 CSD member; $89 non-member 
Since Mac OS X was first introduced, Apple has provided educators and students a stable and secure computing environment for 21st-century learning. With over 300 new features, the latest incarnation of Mac OS X provides even more power and flexibility, with many built-in tools for accessibility, digital authoring, collaboration, and content management.

Nancy and Stephanie have been working with teachers from the Dunklin School District for over two years as part of an iTEA.  (Integrating Technology Educator Academy provides face-to-face, hands-on experiences with creating lessons and unit plans using 21st century teaching tools. The iTEA trains educators to promote higher level achievement from students who are engaged in their learning experience. The iTEA is flexible and goal oriented so that schools can decide exactly what will help support them in achieving their goals).  Tools used during the Dunklin iTEA include SMART Boards, Moodle, Podcasting, and WebQuests.  Today is the last iTEA for these participating teachers. During the session, they shared their experiences integrating technology into the classrooms with Nancy, Stephanie, and their colleagues.

St. Louis area educators, if your school district is interested in participating in an iTEA, contact Virtual Learning Center Director Ruth Litman-Block.