What would you teach the teachers?

The Manitoba gov't is pushing for greater integration of computers in the classroom. While this shouldn't be scary, it is for many of our teachers and so I've suggested to our vice principal that I run between three and five 30 minute-voluntary workshops to highlight practical, easy things that teachers could do with computers.

I think one of the easiest things (and something very practical) for teachers to try would be del.icio.us or similar social bookmarking tools. Blogs are another topic I'm toying with, maybe Edublogs. I'd really appreciate other suggestions for computer or web applications that are easy to use and also highly practical.

Remember, I'm very computer comfortable, so it doesn't have to be something I already know. I'm prepared to learn so feel free to make suggestions as normal or as wacky as you think you need to.

Tags: Workshops

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Permalink Reply by Talia Carbis on February 24, 2008 at 6:47pm

I think that blogs are a great tool for teachers because it means that they can communicate homework/ class discussion etc. to students at home, or at school. No one can say, "I lost my homework" if you require everyone to submit their answers in a comment at the end, and supply computers to students either at lunch, after school, or during free time.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on February 24, 2008 at 7:50pm

Agree, blogs are so easy to create that teachers are using them like webpages. Too bad.

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Permalink Reply by James Dykstra on February 25, 2008 at 5:22am

The thing is a blog can be set up in minutes in all kinds of sites on the Net. Sharepoint, Moodle, or Blackboard require active cooperation of the tech guys and/or administration. If you haven't got that, the blog looks awfully good.

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Permalink Reply by Michal on February 24, 2008 at 9:02pm

My job description changed this year from full time teacher to Technology Integration Specialist. I spent the first part of the year frustrated because my teachers just weren't getting it. Then I took a workshop on LoTi, which takes teachers where they are at and attempts to raise them one level. This makes perfect sense to me. For the teacher who has minimal computer skills, work with them on how to e-mail, creating folders (actually good for the majority of teachers) in both e-mail and their document folder. I showed some how to use MS Publisher, and now several are creating weekly newsletters. Show them how to alter one of them many powerpoint games already online (Jeopardy, Family Feud, Millionare, etc) and using a projector or a Smartboard review lessons. Your main goal is to make the teachers understand that technology can make their jobs easier, and can be a very motivating tool for the students. So, going back to your original question, I would offer the following mini-workshops:
1) Organizing files with folders
2) MS Publisher
3) Powerpoint Lessons
4) Finding Lessons Online
5) Interactive Lessons to do with Students (Eduweb, webquests, etc)

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Permalink Reply by kolson on February 25, 2008 at 8:07am

James -

You can check out this Google Doc Helen Otoway and I put together from a discussion here on CR2.0 last month. It's based on 10 Things Every Teacher Should Know about Technology

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddx5s2vf_14nk6spfgj