Local District 4 Instructional Technology News

Developing a School Technology Plan

LACOE has created an online Tech Plan Builder to assist you in creating a School Technology Plan.  Your plan should include input from all stakeholders and should cover at least a three-year span.  Set goals and reachable benchmarks along the way with the outcome focused on student achievement and not how much technology you have or need. The website is modeled after the State’s guidelines. Sign up at http://ito.lacoe.edu/tpb.

Digital Voice Awards 2010 Entry Deadline: March 31, 2010

The California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) Region 11 and Multimedia Services of the Instructional Technology Outreach division at the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) invite K-12 school educators from Los Angeles County to submit exemplary classroom instructional technology projects to the Digital Voice Awards. Information can be found at http://ito.lacoe.edu/dva

California Streaming Digital Photography Contest Deadline: March 14, 2010

The CaliforniaStreaming Digital Photography Contest judges will select up to six student winners and two teacher winners that best reflect the 2010 contest theme: ENERGY!

Winners will have their photographs incorporated into a collectable poster, which will be distributed to classrooms across the state of California. Two teacher winners will receive a 16GB iPod touch and six student winners will receive 16GB iPod nanos. For additional information, go to http://ccetc.net/photocontest

* For a list of current and/or ongoing grants, go to http://www.grantsalert.com/gsft.cfm

Here’s additional site with available grants. http://www.vernier.com/grants/corporate.html

What is the purpose of the grant?
The purpose of this grant is to help educators develop 21st Century classrooms and improve achievement by providing technology and professional development tools from multiple, industry leading companies. By assembling a package of technology-based classroom programs, we hope to improve achievement and the overall success of students and teachers in the classroom. This grant package includes student response technology, a web-based standards mastery program, as well as data management tools.

Who is eligible to apply?
Grant applications will be accepted from teachers in grades 3-8 currently teaching in an accredited, non-profit, public school building in the United States. There are no entry fees and no purchase is required. Fifteen (15) classroom awards will be made.

What will recipients receive?
Grant package is valued at over $5,000.00 per classroom award.

• Grant Program

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Mobile Lab Grant Flyer

President Barak Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have announce a video contest asking students to inspire them with their stories. The contest, called “I Am What I Learn,” is accepting entries from middle school, high school, and college students ages 13 and older. Students can submit videos up to two minutes long, and entries must be received by Nov. 2.  The top three finalist will receive $1,000.  Winners will be announced during the week of December 1.

Here are the rules:

- Each video must be submitted by an active student, age 13 or older.

- Contestants chosen as finalists will be contacted through their YouTube account and must respond within seven business days to confirm eligibility.

- Finalists under the age of 18 must submit a parental consent form.

- Videos must be two minutes or less in length.

- The contest’s page on the U.S. Department of Education (ED) web site (www.ed.gov/IAmWhatILearn) must be featured in the video.

- The video content must be original.

- The video must convey the importance of education, as well as the student’s individual academic goals.

source: eSchool News http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=60852

Future Cities Competition

Future Cities is is a national competition you’ll find as fulfilling as it is fun for your students. Now in its second decade, the National Engineers Week Future City Competition is a program developed for seventh and eighth grade students to help them discover and foster interests in math, science and engineering. As you’ll soon discover, it’s a program that’s both challenging and stimulating for everyone involved.  LAUSD is looking for Middle schools teams to compete at the regional in January.  Contact Joe Oliver for more information.  Winning teams get to compete in a national event in Washington DC. Joe.oliver@lausd.net 213-241-1362.

Netbooks

We’ve all heard about the netbook phenomenon. They’re small, low on power, ultra-cheap, super portable and the fastest growing segment of the computer industry.  Now, you can purchase them for your school.  These light weigh computers are configured for student use.  Teachers may use them, but they are not designed to handle district applications.  AreyJones offers three models, HP, Dell and Lenovo.  Prices range from $448 to $465 for the basic model that comes equipped with 1GB of memory and a 160 GB hard drive.  Contact AreyJones at 800-998-9199 for a custom quote or send me an email and I will forward you the standard quote.

Developing a School Technology Plan

If you are updating or creating a School Technology Plan, LACOE has created an online Tech Plan Builder to assist you in the process.  The website is modeled after the State’s guidelines.  Sign up at http://ito.lacoe.edu/tpb.

School Websites

If your school needs a website, there are various ways to go about acquiring one.

•    Have a staff member create one and host it on LAUSD.  Contact Diana Liston (Diana.liston@lausd.net).
•    Contact Educational Networks (http://www.educationalnetworks.net ) to have them create and maintain it for you ($3,000 – $5,000/year).
•    Use SchoolLoop (http://www.schoolloop.com ) to get a school website with individual teacher websites (Free).
•    Use Class Jump (www.classjump.com ) for individual teacher websites only. (Free)

Both SchoolLoop and Class Jump are free and you do not need any website development experience to set one up.

* For a list of current and/or ongoing grants, go to http://www.grantsalert.com/gsft.cfm

Samsung wants to help teachers upgrade the quality of technology tools in American schools. Our 2009 “Focus on Learning” Grant Program is simple. We are offering 50 Samsung 850DX document cameras to worthy applicants based on need. Deadline for applications is June 15, 2009. An independent evaluation team will review the applicants and notify the winners. Awards will be received no later than September 1, 2009.

http://samsunggrants.com/

Tags: doc camera, giveaway, grant