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 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 Kerri Lambert, Teacher Specialist, Office of Instructional Technology Where can I find digital activity ideas? How do I download SMART Notebook on my computer at home? Do we have a program students can use to create a video? How can I push a lesson out to my students on their Chromebooks? Sound familiar? Have you ever asked yourself these types of questions and then wondered who you should ask for help? That’s where your school’s eCoach comes into play! For almost 20 years, eCoaches in schools have served as a lead teacher for Instructional Technology. They are your on-site support for applications such as Discovery Education, Wixie, WeVideo, Lumio by SMART, and Nearpod, just to name a few. Hosting a parent or community night? Include them! They can work with parents too. ECoaches receive training and support from us, the Office of Instructional Technology, so that they can support teachers with professional development and questions that come up in the day to day world of teaching...