Welcome to the AACPS OIT Blog

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By Stephanie Kelly, Senior Manager of Office of Instructional Technology

Why a blog?

OIT has provided a monthly newsletter for our teachers for several years now, but a blog is our opportunity to provide smaller chunks of information more frequently and in an informal manner. This is where you can find updates to instructional technology information and resources. We'll share tips and best practices, links to our favorite technology gurus, dates for major events and training opportunities for our teachers.

Why now?

So many things changed during the 20-21 school year. We transitioned from being entirely virtual to hybrid and now we are preparing to welcome all students back into buildings for the 21-22 school year. With so many changes teachers need immediate access to new information. This is where we will share important and interesting instructional technology info as soon as we are able.

So What's New?

OIT has spent the spring and summer creating self-paced  and instructor led courses for staff. Courses can be found on Unified Talent, type in the name of the topic that interests you (for example: Google, Nearpod, or Brightspace) to see what is available. Or choose the menu option Course Catalog and then choose Instructional Technology from the list on the right to see all of our course offerings. 

Popular Posts

Book Studies in Brightspace

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By Melissa Connelly, Behavior Specialist & Brightspace Campus Champion at Belle Grove Elementary, and Stacy Langhirt, 1st grade teacher and former eCoach, Severna Park Elementary Books clubs about technology, really? Yes! It was an awesome experience. When asked to facilitate a class during the summer of 2021, feeling a little burned out on technology we asked if we could try something new. Guess what the answer was a  resounding, YES. That is how a five week technology book study came to be using our new LMS, Brightspace. Facilitating a book study about tools and technology that we have available to us everyday and that our students are familiar with just made so much sense. We were able to share a wonderful text, Eric Curts' Control Alt Achieve: Rebooting your Classroom with Creative Google Projects ,  that was rich with ideas on using Google Workspace for Education in the classroom and we had conversations centered around those ideas that helped all of us to grow as e...
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Computational Thinking: Its really not that scary!

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By Kerri Lambert, Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist Computational thinking. It’s one of those current, hot educational phrases that leaves most teachers scratching their heads and thinking, “Does this really apply to me?” Especially when most articles and books stress its relationship and importance to computer science.  However, the more I read, the more I’m convinced that computational thinking extends to all content at all grade levels. After all, at its most basic, computational thinking is all about the process of problem solving. And let’s face it, that’s something we all do, all day long!  So what exactly IS computational thinking? By definition, computational thinking is the process of breaking down complex problems down into parts, recognizing patterns, and devising a solution. It has four pillars or processes: Broken down into the processes, computational thinking seems a lot less intimidating. I mean, even cleaning the house can be broken down into comp...
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Who to Follow on Social Media

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by Kerri Lambert, Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist In OIT, we are often asked how we learn “all this stuff” and how do we keep up with all the changes across our platforms. There are several ways, but one of our favorite ways is to peruse Twitter when we have a moment. This allows us to get information from one place and in the small snippets of time- and it doesn’t fill up our inboxes! If you are on Twitter and looking for people to follow, here are a few that we recommend. It’s no secret that OIT supports a variety of instructional applications and yes, sometimes it can feel overwhelming! But, many of the programs we subscribe to are active on Twitter. Not only do they tweet out updates or upcoming features, but also showcase ways educators across the country are using their products with students. This is also a great way to find out about learning opportunities such as webinars or conferences. Following the companies gives you the best of both worlds- updates and inspir...
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