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RESOURCES for EACH BIG6™ STEP

1. Task Definition

General-to-specific triangle

If you as a teacher have scarce time and resources to devote to learning new skills, learning those that will last you the remainder of your career is a sound investment. All teachers do need to be “technologically literate” if they are to both improve their professional productivity and to give their students the learning opportunities technology provides. If we don’t, we are as unethical as a doctor who refuses to learn how to take advantage of a CAT scan.

The focus of all teacher training must shift from just-in-case to just-in-time - learning only what one needs to know, just when one needs it. The just-in-time model of technology training relies less of district- mandated classes and more on more personal, individual learning opportunities.Whether individualize or though a class, learning technology should only be a part of a larger professional growth target.  Learning to use a database should be a part of learning to do more effective assessments. Learning to use mind-mapping software such as Inspiration should be a part of learning better writing instruction practices. Learning to more effectively search the Web should be a part of learning to how to improve student research practices. (Other examples can be found at <http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/rubrics-for-restructuring.html) In other words, the focus should be on improving professional practices, not learning to use a computer. Most educators, including me, are better teachers than students. I’ll confess I have small patience with most classes and workshops whether they are about technology or anything else. Sitting, even for a few hours, listening to a presenter drone on does little for me except help develop a strong empathy for our kids. But if we learn to structure technology training to suit individual adult learning styles and place it within the context of improving educational practices, teachers can and will become “technology-literate” – just in time. 

--- Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages (Jim Kapoun): Accuracy Authority Currency Objectivity Coverage

To evaluate Web sites go to this table of criteria and questions to ask when judging the reliability of information on the Web.

--- Generic Criteria for Evaluation (Hope Tillman): Stated criteria for inclusion of information Authority of author or creator Comparability with related sources Stability of information Appropriateness of format Software/hardware/multimedia requirements --- ...Criteria for the Evaluation of Internet Information Resources (Alastair Smith) --- ICYouSee: T is for Thinking (John Henderson)

He envisioned that telepresence would allow the district to participate in cultural exchanges among local students and those in other countries. It could be used to deliver staff development courses and enable people to get together for district business meetings without the time, expense, or carbon emissions associated with physical travel.

VoIP was a revelation to the district. Teachers have become more immediately accessible to parents, who no longer have to leave messages in the main offices and hope to be available when teachers call back. And now, when a teacher or staff member moves to another location in the district, the phone and a person's number can follow along; all it requires is a simple update through software. "We know who's got that device, where they have it, where they have it plugged in," Devkota explains. In short, VoIP gave the district community a taste for location-free communications, which naturally led to the next best thing to being there: telepresence.