What if your students could literally reach out and touch one of the 12 baboons painted in King Tut’s tomb—without ever leaving the classroom? Immersive reality and interactive 3D learning experiences have become more common in K-12 instruction on their own, but when combined in a designated space, the technologies rewrite how students learn, and engagement soars.
Presented by Joseph DiLucente, Superintendent, East Allegheny School District (PA); Dr. Freedom Cheteni, Editor in Chief, The Superintendent’s Journal, and Superintendent and Board Member, The VR School, Stanford University; and Tom Davis, Advisory Board Member and Consultant, Center for Educational Innovation and Classroom of the Future Foundation
Presented by Eisha Buch, Former Educator, Current Head of Teaching and Learning, Common Sense Media; and Erikk Henderson-Hood, Education Content Manager, Common Sense Media
Moderated by Jennifer Ehehalt, Sr. Regional Manager, Midwest, Common Sense Education
Presented by KJ Vanderiet, Senior Content Producer, WNET Kids’ Media and Education; Bob Krech, Writer, Elementary Math Consultant, and Advisor for PBS Cyberchase, WNET; and Islah Tauheed, Vice Principal for Newark Public Schools (NJ)
Presented by Vanessa Lombardo, Training and Learning Manager, Bookshare, an Initiative of Benetech
Presented by DeVonté Bailey, Social Video Specialist, Oklahoma Educational Television Authority and Jobs Explained; Scott Jackson, ESL and U.S. History Teacher, Brooklyn International High School (NY); and Aaron Siegel, Project Director, American Graduate: Jobs Explained, WNET
Presented by Jackie Kavege, Senior Director, Community Engagement, Discovery Education
A pilot program of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) has made 12 states’ reviews of secondary math and language arts materials available, with a wide range of K-12 resources from these and other states to follow. As explained by Christine Fox, Deputy Executive Director of SETDA, during a recent edWebinar, this searchable information will help educational leaders ensure that the materials they purchase are high-quality, aligned with their standards and goals, and accessible to all students.
This edWebinar will launch SETDA’s latest resource, the State K12 Instructional Materials Database, an online tool to access state-reviewed, full course instructional materials for secondary language arts and math.
Questioning the quality of instructional materials isn’t new to the digital education era. But with the rise of OER, growing use of supplemental resources over core textbooks, and the increasing flexibility of state funding, more purchasing decisions have moved to the school and district level. Thus, there is the potential for more disparity in the quality of materials from school to school. Confronted by concerns from their members that schools and districts might not be buying the best quality resources, SETDA updated its Guide to Quality Instructional Materials, which was introduced during the edWebinar “From Print to Digital: Discover and Implement Quality Instructional Materials for Learning.” The emphasis of the Guide, said Christine Fox, Deputy Executive Director for SETDA, is not on critiquing specific content but in helping educators develop an ongoing review process and giving content providers a concrete outline for how the process should work.