OIIT 21st Century Leadership Cadres 2010-2011 are Underway!

Thirty-four educators from nine Boston Public Schools and two Curriculum Departments were selected to join OIIT's 21st Century Leadership Cadres, 2010-2011. This year long, hands-on professional develpment opportunity allows teams of educators to explore a range of technology tools that can support teaching and learning. The impact of this professional development reaches beyond the Cadre participants as each team shares their learning with colleagues and students at their schools. Workshop content is designed and facilitated by the Office of Instructional and Information Technology and Apple Professional Development. Face-to-face sessions are held at Apple Headquarters in Boston. Collaboration and discussion between sessions takes place online on a wiki located on BPS Connect. Last year, thirty educators participated in the 2009-2010 leadership cadre.

Looking to transform your practice with technology? Take a look at our online Ed Tech Resources.

PBS Frontline Special: digital_nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier

Two weeks ago, PBS Frontline aired its special "digtial_nation - life on the virtual frontier". This new look into how digital media has transformed our lives is from the same producer that brought us the ground-breaking Frontline special, Growing Up Online, back in 2008. The 90 minute documentary takes a closer look at both the positive and negative effects that are the result of our now constantly connected lifestyles. There is a fascinating look at a group of MIT students and how the distractions caused by multitasking with technology technology may be a disservice to them. There is also a look at a high school which values technology as a vital teaching tool for today's students. The documentary does a very nice job of not creating a viewpoint that is slanted for or against technology, but the impact that technology has on many different facets of our lives. You can watch the video in its entirety on the PBS Frontline website, or you can watch it in smaller segments. The website also has lots of extra videos that weren't included in the original airing of the episode.

President Obama Talks About Cyber Security

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama released a video about Cyber Security Awareness Month. In the video, the president stresses the importance of keeping our computer networks safe. He also states that he has created a new white house cyber security office which will be led by a cyber security coordinator that the president will appoint.



During cybersecurity month, some websites are stepping up there efforts to provide quality cybersafety materials. Stay Safe Online has an entire section of their site dedicated to October being cyber security awareness month. They have links to resources, ideas on how to educate your students and schedules of cybersafety events across the country. Google is also celebrating cyber security awareness month. They have recently created the Google Cyber Security Awareness Channel on YouTube with videos dedicated to internet safety. They have also written vearious blof posts with cyber safety tips including choosing a smart password. Also, be sure to check out the Boston Public School's cyber safety website and resources!

Get Realtime Classroom Data with Poll Everywhere!

Today's OIIT video podcast focuses on a free tool called polleverywhere.com. You can use polleverywhere.com to create polls, ask questions and collect feedback from up to 32 people at once. Like a classroom response system, the teacher creates the question and students can answer the question using a computer, web-enabled handheld device or even by cell phone.

Back Up Your Data to a CD!

Welcome back to school! We hope you had a refreshing summer and are rejuvenated for the upcoming school year. As you begin the school year, it is important to keep you L4L Macbook updated in order to keep it running smoothly. You should also make sure and periodically back up your important files in case there is a problem with the computer. One of the ways you can back some important files is by burning them to a CD. Our latest OIIT video podcast covers how to burn a data-cd using your MacBook.





You can also access other L4L Video Tutorials that cover how to connect your MacBook to a network printer and your h-drive.