AACPS OIT Byte

OIT just wrapped our fall 2024 eCoach Champion day. This is one of our favorite annual events as it gives us a chance to meet with our technology liaisons at the schools and share with them the relevant changes in our applications or best practices for how to use them in the classroom that they can then share with their teachers to ensure our instruction aligns to the MD Digital Learning Standards for Students and Educators. A Big Change One of the biggest changes for this year was the merging of our eCoach and Brightspace Campus Champion programs. Combining these programs had been the goal from the outset, as we can’t think of using our technology applications in isolation from how to use our Learning Management System (LMS). As we started this school year, it seemed like it was time to join these tech experts into one unified team to support technology use at the schools. A Magical Theme The team at OIT puts a lot of effort into devising a theme for each eCoach day. The theme is some...

 By Kerri Lambert, Teacher Specialist, AACPS Office of Instructional Technology On March 7th, OIT went global with our semi annual eCoach Day. During this day of virtual professional development, eCoaches, Brightspace Campus Champions, media specialists, and other guests took time to “Explore the possible: Connecting Classrooms to the World” through 33 unique sessions offered by vendors, AACPS teacher specialists, and AACPS classroom teachers.  Session topics were varied, covering everything from Generative AI, Google Earth, Talkies in Wixie, to coding with robots and other applications. With the global connections theme, many sessions focused on how students can connect and interact with the world beyond the classroom walls. Discovery Ed took teachers on virtual field trips, Lumio by Smart demonstrated how to integrate global perspectives across content areas, and our own Samantha Wilkinson and Tracey Brown showcased Google Arts & Culture and Google Earth, tools that all...

by Tracey Brown, Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist Digital activities often involve multiple modes of information delivery, or mixed media, including text, images, and videos. In order to cover each in this post, we will provide one suggestion for making each more accessible for students; we’ll call it the MOST IMPORTANT consideration for each when we think about ensuring every student has equal access to our digital materials. Text The most important way to ensure that students have equal access to text is to ensure they know how to use speech-to-text tools. Many learners comprehend better by listening, or combining listening with reading. In AACPS, the web-based tool we have to read text aloud to students is the Read&Write extension . But because accessibility is such a big deal, many applications have their own dedicated speech-to-text tools, like Wixie, for example. Microsoft applications, like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Minecraft Education also include Immersive Re...

 by Kerri Lambert, teacher specialist, OIT Technology. Love it or hate it, one thing that everyone can agree on about it is that it’s always changing and evolving! That’s why, twice a year, OIT hosts a day of professional learning for our eCoaches to learn about the tools, applications, and instructional tech strategies that we have available in AACPS. We use a train the trainer approach; eCoaches (with discussion and input from their administrators) choose from a variety of sessions conducted by vendors, fellow eCoaches, and OIT specialists to attend on eCoach day. After attending, eCoaches disseminate the information to staff in a myriad of ways including professional development, office hours, newsletters, videos, even flyers in the bathrooms! With the theme “Ticket to Adventure”, our second eCoach day of the 2022-2023 school year took flight on March 1st. Since the day was held virtually, we were also able to invite Brightspace Campus Champions, media specialists, and central ...

  By Samantha Wilkinson, Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist 5 Benefits of Digital Planbooks A new school year means new school supplies, and among the most important items for teachers is a solid planbook. If I could get a nickel for every time I bought a new planbook… I’d have several dollars.  I’ve tried them all- school issued spiral bound books, binders divided by subject, designer books like Happy Planner and Erin Condren, and one failed attempt at making my own using a composition notebook and ruler.  While I always enjoy the feeling of starting a new year with a fresh planner, and all the hope that comes with it for an organized year, I just never found one that I loved or stuck with. Until now that is. Enter virtual planbooks. Digital tools and cloud-based platforms make virtual planners a no brainer for the modern teacher.  Let’s explore the Top 5 Benefits of Going Digital: Efficiency: My number one reason to go virtual for planning is that it just...

By Kerri Lambert, Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist Summer! It’s coming! I swear I think I see it lurking around the corner! And with that, hopefully, will come some much needed down time to recharge and reset for the next school year. One of the things I most enjoy doing with my downtime is reading a good book. Now it doesn’t happen as often as I like (I’m the mom to two young boys after all), but when it does, it’s always nice to have a list of recommendations handy. So, if you’re interested in expanding your knowledge of instructional technology and how to use it more effectively in your classroom, here are a few books we here in OIT recommend (in no particular order): Tech Like a Pirate , by Matt Miller Why We Like It: This book is chock full of practical projects and activities that apply to all grade levels and content. The author provides resource links to his templates so you can easily implement the ideas in your classroom. Video projects, social media inspired proje...

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...

 By Kerry Doring, Art Teacher, Glendale Elementary As a third year Elementary Art teacher, I am still collecting new strategies for my instructional toolbox. Over the past few weeks I decided that I was going to focus on the Self-paced courses from OIT that would help add variety to the way I deliver content to my students. So far, I have participated in the following self-paced courses: WeVideo, Paper to Digital, Engaging Digital Lessons, Google Sites, Google Forms, and Other Google Tools. My favorites were Google Sites and Engaging Digital Lessons, and I look forward to self-paced Wixie. Because the courses are self-paced and broken down into sections, it was easy for me to complete them on my own timeline, a little bit at a time. In addition to the readings and videos, there are opportunities to try all the strategies for yourself. I’ve learned about the abundance of tools and resources we have access to, such as virtual field trips or digital templates and examples. We’ve all ...

written by Tracey Brown, Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist Fonts The first consideration for readability is font size, style and color. Fonts smaller than size 12 are problematic for some readers, especially emerging readers and older adults. So you should always consider your audience. Lesson materials should always include body font that is a minimum of size 12, but 14 is preferred if possible for younger or adult learners. Sans-Serif font styles are considered to increase readability as are mono-space letters with open typeface. For more on font considerations see the Typefaces and Fonts guide from WebAIM. One last consideration for fonts, think about color combinations. Black text on a white background is considered most readable. But it has also been shown to lead to eye strain if the sample includes a lot of text. Other dark colors can work well on white, and light or bright colors work well on dark backgrounds. Avoid bright colored fonts on bright colored backgrounds...

 by Darren Towers, Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist LMS Every time I have interviewed for a job and was asked the question about what my strengths are, my first answer is always, “I am very organized.” Throughout my career as an educator I have used this strength to keep myself, my classroom, and my students on the right track. My organizational tools have changed and evolved throughout my career. In the beginning it was color-coded folders or bins and specific spots throughout the classroom students could ALWAYS find the materials they needed for learning. In recent years, as we have shifted to more online or even asynchronous learning, my go-to organizational tools have evolved into an elaborate system of Google Drive folders and sub folders, or even websites to point my students and other teachers toward necessary learning materials. When the Brightspace LMS came along, I was not sure what to expect when it came to organizing learning materials for students and other ...