An #EdTech PD Buffet - HoET191

Episode Sponsor: Everfi

Everfi has resources to help teachers equip their students with the lifelong skills they'll need after graduation. From financial literacy to mental wellness, these free lessons will help schools be successful whether they are in face-to-face or online learning environments.

#EdTech Thought (5:50)

Fads, Trends, and Snake Oil

You're going to start seeing, and I'm seeing it already, people who are going to claim Metaverse and NFT expertise in the education space. Don't let these become just more buzzwords in education.

Do your homework if you're truly interested in learning more. I believe that both of these stand to make a serious impact in the future of all humanity. Yes, ALL OF HUMANITY. But we're not there yet.

Read articles. Listen to podcasts. Find out about the Metaverse and NFTs outside of the scope of education.

Will there be a benefit in education? I believe we have ways to go and I don't want to see you get sold a bill of goods or find yourself with a basket full of snake oil.

What are your thoughts on the Metaverse and NFTs in education? Let's have a conversation and learn together.

#EdTech Recommendation (11:04)

Glide - Create powerful apps and websites, without code.

If you can make a spreadsheet in Google Sheets you can create your own mobile app. Sound too good to be true? It's not.

Ways to use Glide in education:

1. Create a mobile study guide: You or your students could create an app that lists each section or unit of your curriculum. In each section, you can provide videos, podcasts, or simply link to additional documents for review.
2. Create a mobile version of school handbooks: When parents have a question about your school, their first instinct is probably to pick up their phones to search your school's website or to call the office. A mobile version of your school's handbook could make it easy for parents to quickly find the answers to frequently asked questions.
3. Create a guide to your community: Are you looking for a community service project for your middle school or high school students? If so, consider having them develop a guide to the highlights of your community.
4. Develop a mobile reporting system: Do you have students or parents using Google Forms for logging information about multiple goals like independent reading, outdoor play, or behavior goals? If so, consider placing links to all of those forms in one convenient app. You'd do this by placing the links to your Forms in the columns in your spreadsheet before publishing it through Glide.
5. Room Use Schedule: Do you work in a school that has more teachers than classrooms? Is it a guessing game as to who is using which room when. Having an app that can make it easy to find out who is using which rooms at which times would be amazing! With Glide you could create that kind of app.

Featured Content (14:46)

The conversation with Rachel revolves around the topic of professional development and the importance of teacher choice in the process. Rachel explains that professional development needs to be meaningful for teachers and should offer immediately applicable situations that they can bring to their students. She also discusses her own journey in education, starting as a special education paraprofessional, teaching sixth grade, and eventually becoming a technology integrationist.

Rachel discusses the importance of creating opportunities for teachers to choose their own professional development, and shares some strategies for doing so. She emphasizes the importance of having a great team within the district, comprised of administrators and instructional coaches, who each have a lot of experience and an area of expertise.