The Technology Integration Specialist develops and offers district wide instructional technology education for teachers and administrative staff and assists in the development and implementation of curriculum and technology integration projects.
Canva has updated their policy for student sharing. We thought you would like to know. Many of you are using Canva in your classes to engage your students and create exciting opportunities for learning. Please see Canva’s statement below.
COUNTRY ROADS CODES: West Virginia schools and classrooms are invited to apply to the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) Country Roads Codes grant opportunity. These grant opportunities allow for up to $2,000 for events that enable local schools to educate their students and communities regarding computer science as part of Computer Science Education Week (December 4-10) and the Hour of Code. Educators and schools at all grade levels are invited to apply before September 22, 2023, using the application form. For more information, contact Erika Klose or Keisha Thompson in PK-12 Academic Support.
As educational technology integration specialists, our primary mission is to support and empower you in effectively utilizing technology to enhance your instructional practices and ultimately enrich the learning experiences of our students. We understand that incorporating technology into your teaching can be both exciting and challenging, and we are here to provide you with the necessary guidance and resources every step of the way.
Through personalized coaching and professional development sessions, we will help you explore innovative tools and applications that align with your teaching objectives. Whether it’s utilizing interactive multimedia presentations, learning management systems, or online collaborative platforms, we aim to equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to create dynamic and engaging lessons that captivate your students’ imaginations.
Moreover, we believe in fostering a supportive community of educators where best practices in educational technology are shared, and collaboration is encouraged. By organizing professional development, small group sessions, and one-on-one assistance, we will facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences, enabling you to learn from your peers and stay updated on the latest trends in Edtech.
Our commitment to your success extends beyond the classroom. We will be available to address any concerns or questions you may have, and we welcome your feedback on how we can further improve our support services. Our shared goal is to create a technology-rich learning environment that not only embraces innovation but also cultivates critical thinking, creativity, and digital literacy skills in our students.
Thank you for your dedication to education and your willingness to embrace technology as a powerful tool in the teaching and learning process. Together, we will transform education and shape the future of our students. Let’s embark on this journey of exploration and growth, and let the possibilities of educational technology inspire us to reach new heights in our instructional endeavors.
With warm regards,
Eric Murphy & Jimmy Stewart Technology Integration Specialists
The Technology Integration Specialist develops and offers district wide instructional technology education for teachers and administrative staff and assists in the development and implementation of curriculum and technology integration projects.
Get started today! Subscribe to the Innovate blog.
Do you use webpages or online articles frequently in your lessons? Are you concerned that one day you will discover that it has disappeared or changed dramatically?
Perhaps the content is useful, but you are concerned about the appropriateness of the advertising in the sidebars of the website.
Have you ever started a lesson only to find out that the internet just went down and the online content you had planned to use is now upended?
Apple provides a very useful tool on an iPad which allows you to skirt all these issues. No more plan B.
What you will learn in this article
Using screen capture on an iPad
Capturing a webpage and saving as a PDF (for future offline use)
Using Apple’s ‘Reader’ view to ‘clean up’ view of article and make it accommodating for special populations
Marking up documents for your lesson
What you will need to have
iPad
Internet connectivity
Access to your OneDrive (OneDrive sign in is the same as your @k12 email address)
Most of us are familiar with screen-capturing an image on an iPad. If you aren’t, simply click both the lock-out button at the top and the home button at the same time to save an image to your photos app.
Click round home button and top screen lock out button to screen capture the screen’s image.
Screen capturing images on an iPad is a great way to quickly capture and store information. With this feature, you can easily capture high resolution images of websites, documents, and presentations for later reference or sharing. It’s also useful for creating quick visual notes or tutorials. Additionally, it can be used to create digital portfolios of projects that you’ve worked on or for quickly archiving important screenshots without having to take the time to save them as individual files.
If we were preparing a lesson about art history and choose to exemplify the accomplishments of Frida Kahlo, we might choose a website for students to read background information about the artist.
When pressing the home button and lock out buttons simultaneously, a small thumbnail image of the webpage will appear on the screen in the lower-left.
Screen capture thumbnail highlighted in pink
Tap the thumbnail image to bring up more options. The thumbnail disappears after seven seconds if you don’t tap it. If you miss it, just do another screen capture. You will see the following screen. Note that you have options to edit and markup the screen capture using the built-in markup tool indicated below by the pink arrow.
Capturing the content as a PDF
Here comes the real magic when screen capturing a webpage. If you want to capture the whole page and not just the visible image on the screen, you can choose “Full Page” from the top of the screen. This will allow you the option to save the entire webpage as a PDF file (Portable Document Format — think Adobe) that you can save in OneDrive to use with this lesson year after year. No more worries about the content changing, the article disappearing, or internet availability.
Notice the visual image of the entire webpage (highlighted in pink) on the rightmost part of the webpage in the image above. Rather than just capturing the image on the screen, you are capturing the full webpage.
In the video below, let’s learn how to save this as a PDF.
That’s it! That’s all you need to do to save a webpage as a PDF and keep it forever.
Taking it a step further
Apple Safari web browser has a feature called Reader that allows for different formatting options when viewing a webpage. Utilizing this feature in conjunction with what we learned above gives you even more options.
Take a look at the images below. Slide the arrows back and forth to see the regular view versus the Reader view.
example 1
example 2
Changing the view to Reader view allows your students to focus on the content that is most important. It also allows for better focus for students with special needs. Also, as it basically narrows down webpages to the core content located in the body of the webpage (leaving off any sidebars), it will usually exclude any advertising content that may be inappropriate for your students. Keep in mind, Reader view is not available for every webpage. More complicated webpage formatting usually precludes Reader view.
Reader view also gives you options for changing both the font type and size. It also allows you to change the background color as you see in the set of images below.
To use Reader view, simply touch the “aA” in the browser address bar as shown below:
Marking up the PDF documents
It is easy to markup these documents. As an educator, you may wish to highlight certain content for students. Or, perhaps, you want your students to highlight content or comment on it.
Apple markup tools make it easy to do this.
If you would like to markup the document prior to saving it as a PDF and storing it in OneDrive, select the markup tool in the toolbar (indicated by a pen tip) as highlighted by a pink arrow in the image below.
When you are finished marking up the document, simply choose “Done” in the top-left of the screen to save.
If you use Apple Classroom to enhance your instruction and manage the student use of iPads, you can now easily AirDrop this document to all of your students. You can also add it to your Schoology course, which could be brought back each year from your Schoology class archive.
If you would like additional assistance with anything that we learned today or you would like assistance with AirDropping and Apple Classroom, please do not hesitate to reach out to Jimmy Stewart or Eric Murphy. We are happy help.
MICROSOFT OFFICE 365 WORKSHOPS: In the month of January, the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) is offering multiple Microsoft Office 365 live virtual trainings that are available to West Virginia education administrators, teachers, service personnel, substitutes, and students. Click here to view the calendar of trainings online. There is also a library of pre-recorded tutorials available to view anytime. If you would like to be notified about future training, join the mailing list. All live trainings in January will be conducted on Microsoft Teams and can be accessed at this meeting link.
Working with early learners? It’s never too early to begin teaching computational thinking skills and problem solving. Sphero, makers of the spherical coding robots, have introduced a new product that is aimed at younger students. Introducing the Sphero indi. It allows students to connect all kinds of ideas and understand how they can be used such as colors and shapes, and then using colors and shapes to determine the speed and direction of a robot. And, unlike Sphero’s robots used by older students, no devices are needed to perform the coding. If you are interested in using the indis with your students, make a request and we will get them to you. The kit also contains a teacher’s guide with lesson plans.
“Speed into STEAM with indi—the most approachable entry-level learning robot for ages 4+. indi inspires imaginative, play-based learning by empowering kids to design and build their own mazes while creating opportunities for students to learn the basics of coding, solve problems, and nurture computational thinking skills.”
The Flip Discovery Library offers ready-to-use discussion prompts that are sure to get your students talking. Discover their quick intro course (rated 5 stars!) to help you navigate it and find inspiring topics to use with your learning community.
The WV Department of Arts, Culture and History (WVDACH) is pleased to announce STEAM Power WV, an innovative grant program that supports education initiatives for West Virginia’s pre-k-12 students. Partnering with the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the WVDACH is encouraging schools and non-profit organizations to integrate the Arts with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines in their curriculum and educational programming.
STEAM projects explore the intersections between STEM and the Arts, encouraging innovation, creative problem solving, critical thinking, interdisciplinary teamwork and other aptitudes that are essential to students’ college and career readiness.
Applicants may request up to $7,500 and must provide a cash match of at least 1/3 of the amount requested. The application deadline is October 1, 2022. Projects must take place between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023.
STEAM Power WV grant guidelines, application instructions, and the link to apply are available on the WVDACH’s STEAM website: www.wvculture.org/agencies/arts/steam/
Please feel free to share this Request for Proposals with other educators as well as with community partners and potential collaborators.
If you have questions about applying, or if you need assistance developing your STEAM project, please contact Jim Wolfe in the Arts Section of the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History. He can be reached at (304) 558-0240 or james.d.wolfe@wv.gov.
Educators in Wood County Schools’ Distance Learning Academy (DLA) adapt their instruction to deliver lessons in ways that make use of several digital platforms. Although this video was created for educators in the DLA, it can be useful for any educator wanting to find additional ways to record (and protect) their instruction for students. Perhaps their students are at home with health issues. Or, perhaps one of their students learns better by viewing a lesson more than once on her or his own timeline.
In this video: Learn how to record your instruction using Microsoft Teams and then share the recording in your Schoology course.
