Group items tagged

"There are many different levels of volunteering in our schools, from the legions of parents and other members of the community who help schools in myriad ways, to Governors support the running of our schools, to the PTA and fundraisers who provide support and funds that ultimately has a positive impact on learning and the school culture. Hundred of thousands of hours are given for free to improve the running of schools and the learning of pupils every year. Yet the relationships between schools and volunteers can be complex, and while this support is desperately needed, managing and deploying volunteers effectively can cause additional issues which schools need to think about."

One New Hampshire high school student fell in love with accounting while working at a local business. Another attended the recent Democratic National Convention as a campaign volunteer. And a third, whose relative worked in the state immigration office, researched challenges facing newcomers to the state. All earned high school credit for their work outside school, an opportunity available under a burgeoning high school redesign effort in New Hampshire that sets its sights beyond simply stiffening course requirements and graduation standards.

A great site that lets you organise volunteers/parents for your events. Useful for meeting your adult/pupil ratio on school trips. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+&+Web+Tools

Volunteer signup and coordination site -- looks really cool for organizing events.

For over 30 years, the National Association of PARTNERS IN EDUCATION has been an objective voice in developing school volunteer, intergenerational, community service, and business partnership programs throughout the United States. Originally the National School Volunteer Program, the organization took its present name in 1988 when it assumed responsibility for the annual National Symposium on Partnerships in Education. Currently, it is the only national membership organization devoted solely to providing leadership in the field of education partnership development. (NOTE: no rep for KY)

Adopt A US Soldier is a non-profit organization that seeks volunteers to help show the brave men and women fighting for our freedom that their sacrifices will nott go unnoticed. It connects supportive civilians with deployed troops and offers a channel by which to communicate encouragment and express gratitude to those brave men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces.

the headless MOOC about digital storytelling. interesting (and experimental) setup that relies on volunteers to fill in the course syllabus and content (partially then)

So many cool things come from Berlin... "OpenTechSchool is a community initiative offering free programming workshops and meetups to technology enthusiasts of all genders, backgrounds, and experience levels. It supports volunteer coaches in setting up events by taking care of the organizational details, encouraging coaches to create original teaching material. This material is then openly shared online and can be further developed by contributions from the global OTS community. OTS' main goal is to create a friendly learning environment where no one feels shy about asking any question. Everyone is invited to participate, whether as a coach or a learner, and get in contact to organize OTS events anywhere in the world."

"Unsung Heroes of the One Laptop per Child movement, interviewed live! Unleash Kids enables global volunteers who liberate kids via direct exploration of their electronic/outdoor worlds."

Free too to organize volunteers and events like Parent-teacher conferences.

Looking for partners for a global project? Global School net allows you to search for partners from all around the world. Volunteer your class for projects and look for other classes to work with you.

Chris uses this site. - SignUpGenius is a FREE online tool for creating and managing group sign up lists.

SignUpGenius is a FREE online tool for creating and managing group sign up lists.

I really don't know how I ever did anything without this program. It is perfect for scheduling student conferences, office hours, volunteer hours, sign-ups for presentations, etc. You set it up and provide the link. Those who want to sign up take over, they are e-mailed a google calendar and they are e-mailed a reminder automatically. EASY One of those "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS FREE!" programs.

Open-sourcing offers great potential for AT software users. However, currently there are a number of barriers that stop its wider use within the AT community. It is generally difficult to find on the Internet and, until the OATS Project, there have been no specific websites dedicated to developing or downloading AT software. Open-source software can also be unfriendly to install, often obliging the user to download many different packages before it can be set up and used. Often it is still "under-development", poorly documented or technically demanding, something that the end user finds frustrating and irritating. To see just how complicated this can be for the lay enquirer, one need only visit the most well-known source of mainstream open-source products, Source Forge (http://sourceforge.net/). Finding OATS products here is like experiencing death by a thousand cuts! The OATS Project's repository will strip away all the technical complexity and provide via its database and search engine an efficient and intuitive way to access good quality OATS. By removing these barriers to open-source AT software, users will not only have a single point of contact for obtaining open-source software but volunteer developers will also discover a forum where they can develop ideas and write software that meets the real needs of specific end users.

This briefing paper will seek to highlight key strategies in developing assessment processes which eradicate opportunities for plagiarism, and encourage tutors to "teach and assess in ways which make plagiarism unthinkable" (MacDonald Ross, 2008). Whilst by no means an exhaustive list, the following areas, identified and volunteered by members of the academic community are key to this approach. The paper will draw on examples of good practice in assessment design in these areas, which enhance student learning and nurture a learning culture in which original thought is rewarded.

This research explores how strength of network ties, as fostered by the use of a social network site, Facebook, (a) influences alumni attitudes toward volunteering for and making charitable gifts to their alma mater, and (b) fortifies consistency between attitude and behavior. After exploratory interviews and participant observation, a survey of 3,085 alumni was conducted for hypothesis testing. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed: First, active participation in Facebook groups positively predicted strength of network ties along 2 dimensions: frequency of communication and emotional closeness. Second, both dimensions of tie strength influenced actual behavior, albeit via different routes. The paper also contributes to attitude change research in showing that strength of network ties can help ensure consistencies between attitude and behavior.

Hands on science learning

What is NLN? National Lab Network is more than just a day. It's a nationwide initiative to build local communities of support that will foster ongoing collaborations among volunteers, students and educators.

The article highlights the contributions of volunteers to improve and add data to online mapping systems. It also has the web addresses of resources like Open Street Map

Creating and publishing a Google Form is a great way to collect information from students and their parents. A couple of popular ways to use forms is as quizzes for students and as sign-up sheets for parent-volunteers for school events. If the form that you create is going to be online for a while, consider using Form Notifications to receive email updates about form submissions.