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.