Greetings from the National Education Computing Conference (NECC) in Washington, DC
From Monica Beglau, at NECC - This is the 30th anniversary of the NECC event. Having it in Washington, D.C. the week before the 4th of July seems especially appropriate as policy makers and Congress move ahead on new educational initiatives that have technology at their core. Sunday evening I attended a press conference with Aneesh Chopra (the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer) and Jim Shelton (new Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education). Their comments centered on how technology must do more than serve as the vehicle for data warehouses in education and begin to impact instruction more directly. They asked for stories about how technology has affected student performance and changed the way teachers teach (I think we have a few of those from your eMINTS classrooms).
At the conference, there are many interesting and exciting presentations including several by eMINTS-affiliated presenters. Doug Caldwell and Angie Esser have both a concurrent and special workshop called “What’s in a Technology Trainer’s Toolbox?” Their workshop for Wednesday, July 1 is sold out. Regina Seaman, eMINTS teacher from Branson, MO, has a poster session on multimedia art projects for elementary students. Diana Dell, eMINTS teacher from the St. Louis area, has a session on free Moodle course space and online training. Have I missed anyone?
Congratulations to these staff and teachers for having their presentations accepted and for all the hard work getting them ready. I have participated in several sessions sharing about eMINTS and our work in various states (and Australia). eMINTS was cited as a best practice example at the ISTE Leadership Symposium dedicated to providing input on the new National Educational Technology Plan.
It is truly an honor and privilege to represent eMINTS at events like this and to share the great work going on in your schools and districts.
MO DESE announces 2009-2010 Title II.D EET grant awardees
June 18, 2009 - The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is pleased to announce tentatively approved competitive grants under the 2009-10 Title II.D Enhancing Education through Technology programs. Note that “tentative approval” indicates an application is approvable and should be funded when the Department receives its Title II.D grant awards. Districts may NOT start project activities or expend any funds until the grants have successfully completed the grant negotiation process and the Department is able to finalize the grant amounts, based on the state’s federal appropriation amount.
The Department plans to award 8 continuation grants and 2 new eMINTS grants with the regular Title II.D funding, and to award 14 new grants – 8 grants to implement eMINTS and 6 grants to implement other research-based instructional technology models – with the funding made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
APPLICANTS RECEIVING TENTATIVE APPROVAL can expect to receive a telephone call from Instructional Technology staff to set up a grant negotiation meeting.
ALL APPLICANTS can expect to receive the following information via U.S. Postal mail:
Cover letter indicating the funding status and a summary of the application’s scoring
Copies of the readers’ score sheets
Copy of the web document that lists the tentatively approved grants and describes how applications were evaluated and the process used in determining approval decisions
RE: eMINTS-METS and SAFE SCHOOLS GRANTS . Please stay tuned for future announcements regarding tentative awards under the eMINTS-METS and the Safe Schools competitive grant programs. We hope to have final word of the state appropriation for these programs by the end of June. [We thank you for your patience.]
Register for summer institutes for veteran eMINTS teachers (MO)
The sessions provide veteran eMINTS teachers with an update on new teaching techniques and technologies. The sessions are taught by eMINTS staff and offer an opportunity for veterans to re-connect with other eMINTS teachers from around Missouri. Veterans from nearby states are also welcome to attend.
Sites are Springfield, MO and Columbia, MO.
Weekly update and eThemes on summer vacation
The Weekly Update will be published every two weeks beginning June 2. The next update will be on June 15.
Every summer, eThemes resource scouts are less available due to the University class schedules. The eThemes calendar feature will resume publication August 31, 2009. New and updated eThemes will be published every two weeks throughout the summer on the same schedule as the weekly update.
Registration for 2009-2010 eMINTS PD programs is open
If you are from Missouri and seeking to register a replacement teacher, eMINTS or eMINTS4All teachers or PD4ETS participants who will be trained by eMINTS staff, please use this link. If you are a school/district instructional specialist (in Missouri and all other eMINTS locations) who is providing eMINTS PD to official eMINTS or eMINTS4All teachers, you should also use this link to register your teachers so they will have access to eMINTS materials and information.
If you have questions or need help with the online form, contact Lorie Kaplan at emints-info@emints.org or (573) 884-7202.
Congratulations North Harrison (MO) high school student website winner
Bryan White from the North Harrison R-III chapter recently competed in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Web Design event. This event is to recognize FBLA members who have developed proficiency in the ability to communicate ideas and concepts, and to deliver value to customers using the Internet and related technologies through the design and creation of websites. Each year, a national topic is developed for this event and competitors must create their sites using this topic.
The topic for 2009 was to "...develop a website that will keep track of your chapter's alumni. The website will need to have a user-friendly interface for users to enter their information; easily access others' information; view details on upcoming events, chapter sponsorship opportunities, a photo gallery of past and present events; and a means for the alumni to communicate with other alumni."
Bryan's website was awarded first place at the district level held in March, and he advanced on to compete at the recent Missouri FBLA State Leadership Conference in Columbia, Missouri. At the SLC, Bryan received first place honors. For achieving this award, he is now eligible to compete at the National Leadership Conference which is being held in Anaheim, CA, June 25-28, 2009.
Two eMINTS staff members, Nancy Boatman and Stephanie Bengtson, just returned from two weeks in Australia working with educators who are completing their second year of training in the e-iTeach program. Nearly 20 educators participated in the sessions and are using eMINTS professional development materials in a variety of settings. The materials are being used to train Comprehensive eMINTS teachers, eMINTS4All teachers and in several customized implementations.
Watch for more updates on the eMINTS website detailing our partnership with Australia.
Congratulations to Wright City (MO) Teacher of the Year
Stacy Braendle, seventh grade eMINTS/METS teacher, was named Wright City Middle School Teacher of the Year and Wright City R-II School District's Teacher of the Year.
We need your assistance with an initiative about the Quality of Data Collection in Educational Technology. As you know, a critical component of demonstrating the impact of an educational program is the data that is gathered on the effectiveness of that program with the teaching and learning process. In an effort to improve the data collection for the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program at both the state and local level, a group of state technology directors has developed a short survey. The survey is divided into four sections that align with the goals of the EETT program with possible data elements and data collection methods for each of the goals.
Your participation in the survey will help in many different areas.
eMINTS state implementations featured in national report
State implementations of eMINTS in Missouri, Utah, Maine, Nevada and Illinois are featured in the latest State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA) report.
These reports are used across the U.S. to help support the need for additional educational technology funding. The examples have provided specific ways that technology is improving student performance in the classroom and on state level assessments. Congratulations to everyone who is working in all of our states (and in Australia) to put a human face on the importance of professional development to support the use of technology in education.
Jenni Dittrich, sixth grade Balance Literacy teacher at Hancock Middle School was honored by the Lemay Chamber of Commerce as Teacher of the Year. Jenni has been part of the Hancock family for seven years. She is a PLC team leader as well as a year 1 comprehensive eMINTS teacher. Principal Scott Wilkerson nominated Jenni for the honor.
Missouri journal writers needed
Want to become a published author?
eMINTS contributes a column to the Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA) School & Community journal each quarter. Authors must be MSTA members. The articles are 800-1,000 words in length and related photos are welcome but not required. Authors receive editing assistance from Sandy Falloon, eMINTS Communications Specialist.
Topics needed for the coming year and due dates are
Spring (due 12/15/2009) - How to develop effective online courses - references to e-Learning for Educators and MoVIP will be made with contributions about creating online courses for students and/or teachers from the district perspective.
Summer (due 3/1/2010) - Developing & maintaining professional learning communities through online tools - using Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and other social networking for Professional Learning Communities.
If you are interested in becoming an author, please send your name, grade level and content area, telephone number, e-mail address and verification of MSTA affiliation along with the topic you are interested in writing about to emints-info@emints.orgas soon as possible.
Knob Noster (MO) eMINTS program in the news
A great article about the technology program and eMINTS in the Knob Noster School District appeared in the latest issue of "Rural Missouri." The article highlights the district's one-to-one laptop initiative and describes the eMINTS professional development program and how it changes teaching methods.
Anne-Maree Moore from New South Wales, Australia worked with eMINTS teacher Renee Wilcox from Jefferson C-123 in Missouri to arrange an online meeting between Renee's class and Mr. Alby Shultz, Federal Member for Parliament from Hume. The students asked Mr. Shultz, a current member for parliament, questions about the Australian government comparing their system to the U.S. system.
Anne-Maree describes it as a truly special event that she would love to replicate with other classes. The students used Flash Meeting Online which can be used free for up to 25 seats and can be recorded to allow students to play it back to the school community and family and for future reference. Classes are welcome to use this footage if they are studying government or just to see what long distance communication can be like.
Congratulations to North Kansas City (MO) School District
The NKCSD hosted a very successful site visit for the National School Boards Association Technology plus Learning program (NSBA T+L) recently. The district highlighted their eMINTS programs and other technology implementations including high school pre-engineering classes through the Project Lead the Way program. Tricia Scott, certified eMINTS Instructional Specialist, and Monica Beglau, eMINTS Executive Director, did a presentation for interested participants about eMINTS and how to bring the program to their state or district.
Attendees included teams from Missouri and other states.
Using "Stimulus" funds to implement eMINTS and e-Learning projects
Information about the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) - stimulus funding - is just coming out in all of the states. Every state department of education is determining how the funds can be used, where competitive grants should be submitted and how, and other details. Watch for those details to come out in your states.
The funds can be used for many purposes including the implementation of new eMINTS classrooms (both technology and professional development). For Missouri, complete information about stimulus funds for technology that are available through the Title II.D (EETT) program is now available from the DESE website ....
In other states, check with your State Department of Education about stimulus funds for technology that may be available to support eMINTS implementations. For a complete list of State Departments of Education and the Instructional Technology contacts for each state, visit the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) website; search for specific state's information linked from the U.S. map in the bottom right-hand corner of screen.
The Joplin, MO eMINTS program called ITEK (instructional Technology Educating Kids) presented information about its programs at the National Staff Development Council Conference in Boston, MA. "Developing District-wide Technology Integration Programs" was presented by: Dr. Angie Besendorfer, Angela Neria and Jason Weaver. The program also will be recognized through a presentation at the Missouri Staff Development Council Conference in March.
Congratulations to Knob Noster (MO) School District
A special congratulations to the entire Knob Noster School District (MO) with the recognition of their superintendent, Dr. Margaret Anderson, as one of eSchool's Top Ten Tech-Savviest Superintendents. Knob Noster received several eMINTS/METS Classroom Grants two years ago and has added many additional tech resources using district funds.
Congratulations to Show-Me TechKnowledge presenters
A special note of congratulations and thanks to the schools and districts that made the extra effort to attend and share student work at the annual Show-Me TechKnowledge Day at the Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City, MO. The event this year was bigger and better than ever with many legislators and staff members visiting the displays and visiting with students.
The following teachers (and their districts) provided great advocacylessons: Barbara Walsh (El Dorado Springs), Jodi Tompkins (Eldon), Lori Aldredge (Marshall) and Janice Edgar (Montgomery Co R-II).
Alabama eMINTS teachers featured
New eMINTS teachers in Ballwin County, Alabama were featured in a recent newsletter shared across their district. The teachers shared their perceptions about the use of technology and how it is changing their teaching.
Missouri legislators tour Westridge Elementary (Raytown, MO)
Christy Garnett, eMINTS teacher at Westridge Elementary, organized a "Morning of Learning with Technology" for school board members and Missouri legislators on Friday, February 6. Even though the school is just in Year 1 of their METS School Grant, the students and teachers performed like pros in sharing their uses of technology to transform their learning. The legislators (one senator and five representatives) thoroughly enjoyed their morning - including an unplanned fire drill!
Share your eMINTS advocacy story
What have you done at your school or district to share eMINTS with policy makers? Send your story to emints-info@emints.org so we can publish your work in the Weekly Update.
eMINTS National Center partners with DESE to manage Missouri’s Virtual Instruction Program (MoVIP)
The eMINTS National Center is pleased to provide the following announcement about a new partnership with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to provide management of the Missouri Virtual Instruction Program (MoVIP) beginning July 1, 2009. The eMINTS National Center and the University of Missouri will work with multiple content providers to offer online and virtual coursework to K-12 students in the state.
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