About CForum

Febuary 3, 2006

Location:
Tooele School District Offices

Welcome and Introductions - Jim Langston

    • Jim gave an overview of his school district. They are in the process of setting up a UTIPS Server. All of his schools have Plato servers.
    • Jim also gave us a demo of the OpenBook Learning software that students at Anna Smith Elementary in Wendover are using. OpenBook English combines high quality real-life images, digital sound and voice recording, video, animation and interactive point and click screen control, enabling ESL users to tap their intuitive ability to learn a language quickly, naturally and easily.
    • Recently district administrators participated in an ITC workshop and next month some Tooele SD teachers also will complete the workshop.
    • Jared and Ross from UEN's Professional Development have provided Dreamweaver and GIS training in the district as well.

USOE information and update - Rick Gaisford & Kathy Webb

    • Title II-D Enhancing Education Through Technology - federal funding
      Total Allocation $272,500,000 - we don't know the Utah cut at this point.
      (Last year we got $3,000,000 - $1,500,000 went to formula allocation and $1,500,000 to grants.)
    • The Utah State Board of Education asked the State Legislature for $10,000,000 for online testing and $10,000,000 for the Education Technology Initiative (ETI). The governor matched that, but the fiscal analyst cut both in half.
    • You can stay updated by visiting the Policy Development web page Kathy created.
    • Also check out the 21st Century Teaching and Learning web page

UCET information and update - Kelly Dumont

    • Conference: March 10 -11, 2006 at South Hills Middle School - 13508 S. 4000 W., Riverton, UT
    • More information on the UCET web site: http://www.ucet.org/
    • Marc Prensky is the Keynote Speaker
    • Deadline to register a presentation has been extended a week: February 10, 2006

USU's Online Projects - Jim Dorward, Mimi Recker, Deonne Dawson, Sam Halioris

    • NSF Supported projects at USU:
    • Connecting teachers with online science resources and helping teachers integrate technology in their classroom
      • National Science Digital Library (NSDL) - http://nsdl.org
        NSDL was created by the National Science Foundation to provide organized access to high quality resources and tools that support innovations in teaching and learning at all levels of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

      • National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM) - http://nlvm.usu.edu
        The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM) is an NSF supported project that began in 1999 to develop a library of uniquely interactive, web-based virtual manipulatives or concept tutorials, mostly in the form of Java applets, for mathematics instruction (K-12 emphasis).

        There will be a Spanish version of all of the manipulatives coming soon.

      • eNLVM - Online curriculum units to extend and enhance the virtual library
        An eModule:
        • Provides materials to support 1-3 hours of instruction.
        • Targets identified objectives corresponding to state and national standards.
        • Includes a lesson plan describing how to use the materials.
        • Provides interactive online activities for students.
        • Includes an online assessment.
        Teachers can also create their own eModules.

      • Instructional Architect - http://ia.usu.edu
        A tool to create a simple web page that contains links to interactives in the National Digital Library.
        Users gather there stuff and then they can create their page. You can add video and sound or really anything that the web supports.
        (You can play around by logging in as a guest (Account name: guest and Password: guest)

      • The DLConnect - Professional Development
        This project helps disseminate the National Science Digital Library (nsdl.org) through usage development workshops.

        Free, hands-on, teachers work on projects together, they can come to your location, and they also have some online modules.

        Deonne Dawson is the contact person.

    • Computer & Information Literacy (CIL) - http://cil.usu.edu/comptech/who.htm
      USU students must pass all six competency areas of the CIL.

UEN Updates and Information

    • Be sure to check out the "What's New at UEN" web page to find out what is going on at UEN. You will find a link at the top of UEN's home page: www.uen.org

    • We are adding items to eMedia. Recently 60 "Write Now" writing prompt videos were added. (These videos require QuickTime 7.)

    • The Utah TECH CORP has moved their home base to City Academy - a charter school down the road. For more information go to www.utahtc.org/

Lunch

UTIPS - Julie Quinn

    • Julie was recently hired at USOE and one of her responsibilities is UTIPS.
    • We need to get teachers to use UTIPS in a formative way, rather than just summative.
    • Julie passed out a questionaire asking about who is doing training in each district and what they are covering in their trainings.

UTIPS - Cody Spendlove

    • What's New link has been added to main UTIPS page.
    • Possible to send system wide message to a group of teachers.
    • In the teacher view they can see what core item the test question is tied to.
    • Survey tool has built in Likert. Teachers can also build their own scales.
    • Option to drop the lefthand frame and you can autofill the teacher name.
    • Possible to Copy / Import test.

Next C-Forum Meeting:
Friday, April 7, 2006

     

Utah State Office of Education - USOE     Utah Education Network - UEN     Utah Coalition for Educational Technology - UCET

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