On+-Your+-Own+Summer+Learning+Opportunities

Welcome! Here you will find a list of items that would be great for you to do did over the course of the summer. Just start at the top and work your way down. Don't be overwhelmed by the amount of work; look at it all as learning opportunities!! Our goal will be to learn, discuss what we find, and then develop the teacher resources link on the left. When you get to a page that has never been edited before, the screen will tell you what to do. If you accidentally delete someone's work we can always revert back to the earlier version. You will be the leaders in our building in the fall, and here are some of the lessons we want you to learn.

1. **Internet Explorer 7**: Go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx and download internet Explorer 7 on your laptop. [|Read this blog] to see why IE7 is so essential. We only have IE6 in the district on all of the computers until they are sure IE7 is compatible with ESS, OWA, Campus, PeopleSoft, and CashIncome. It will be here soon-- you might as well enjoy it over the summer and get ahead of the game!

2. **Wikispaces**: Go to [|wikispaces.com] and create an account. Then go to http://excelacademy.wikispaces.com/ and join the space. Your membership will be approved in about 24 hours. Check your email account to confirm your email address with wikispaces while you wait. [|This video] provides a useful analogy as to why we are using a wiki and why it is so important with collaborations such as our tech team. Once you have access to the arvadawesttech wiki, use the links on the left side menu to explore and become familiar with the layout. Pay special attention to the "Tech Team" page and the discussion board link at the top of the page, as this is where we will communicate with each other and share ideas over the summer. The "Teacher Resources" page has links to the documents and how-to sheets that we will be collaborating on during the summer in order to have them ready for the staff in the fall. Familiarize yourself with the resources that are there for you to play with this summer. When you feel comfortable editing this wiki, help us develop those pages.

3. **Jeffco Standards**: Look at the online Jeffco standards (http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/is/tech_plan_docs/plan.htm), pull a few items over to the Excel's Tech Goals page that you want to work on & have your students work on this year.

4. **Google**: Go to google.com and create an account. Sign up for email and then explore the other features that Google offers for free: [|igoogle], [|calendar], [|reader], [|documents and spreadsheets], [|site builder], [|web page creator], [|scholar] and [|blogger]. On the wiki discussion board, post your thoughts on how you could use this in your content area. On the Google Teacher Handout, contribute directions on how to sign up for and use Google services and ideas on how to implement these in the classroom.

5. **Smartboards**: Go to http://smarttech.com/ and click on the Support Link at the top of the page. Download the full version 10 on your computer. Be sure to take note of the process and where a user might get stuck. You can use the serial number to get your activation code to proceed to the full version. Owning a smartboard gives you the right to download the software on multiple machines.

Go to http://smarttech.com/ and click on the training link this time. Work through each of the Free Materials lessons and note those items that might be useful to use for our department training. Contribute to the wiki discussion board.

Go back to http://smarttech.com/, click on the training link again and on the left side choose an online session to attend. Contribute to the wiki discussion board.

Go back to http://smarttech.com/, click on education, educator resources then online classroom resources at the bottom of the page. Find at least 1 lesson for each subcontent area in your department. Post links to these lessons on the Smartboard Teacher Handout. On the SmartTech website, click on the Community tab, then SMART exchange and at the bottom of the page, join the community. Browse the discussion board for tips, tricks and ideas and post your favorite 3 on the Smartboard Teacher Handout. Contribute to the wiki discussion board.

6. **School Center**: Sign in to your School Center account and add 3 new things to your website or your department's website. Contribute to the wiki discussion board and the School Center Teacher Handout.

7. **Blackboard**: Use [|these tutorials] to become familiar with Blackboard's capabilities. Sign in to your Blackboard account and explore 3 features that are new to you. Contribute to the wiki discussion board and the Blackboard Teacher Handout.

8. **Outlook**: Sign in to your Outlook account and organize your files. Use the 'help' file to learn what else Outlook can do. Contribute to the wiki discussion board and the Outlook Teacher Handout.

9. **Discovery Education Streaming**: Go to unitedstreaming.com and log in. Using either the Assignment Builder, Quiz Builder or Writing Prompt Builder, develop a lesson for your content area using videos and resoruces available from the website. [|Here] is a list of ideas (as a pdf file) on how to incorporate this tool into your classroom. Contribute to the wiki discussion board and the Discovery Education Streaming Teacher Handout.

10. **Classroom Performance System**: Go to einstruction.com and download the software onto your laptop. Watch the video on [|setting up the system] and on [|using CPS with your class]. Design a lesson that you could use in your classroom. Contribute to the wiki discussion board and the Classroom Performance System Teacher Handout.

11. **del.icio.us**: Go to http://del.icio.us/ and create an account. Create 5 bookmarks on educational technology. Contribute to the wiki discussion board and the del.icio.us Teacher Handout.

12. **3 Steps**: Watch the video at http://youtube.com/watch?v=2yCB4i7GJuM and post your comments/thoughts/questions on wiki discussion board.

13. **How computers work:** Go to http://www.howstuffworks.com/search.php scroll down to the section with the explanations and look at a few videos of interest. Post a comment on the wiki discussion board if you find something amazing we should all see.