Summer Learning Opportunities from Tech & Innovation

This summer, the Department of Technology & Innovation will be offering a variety of courses designed to help all staff members increase their comfort and ability in a tech-rich learning environment. 

Here is a preview of some of the courses being offered.

Apple Teacher Certification

Participants will take the steps to earn their Apple Teacher Designation. Participants will spend time learning and using the Apple productivity and creativity apps including Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GarageBand, and iMovie.

Apple Apps in the Classroom, Unleash Student Creativity

This is a hands-on experience. Participants will explore project ideas, tips, and tricks for your classroom using Apple creativity apps. Bring your ideas and receive guided instruction on how to make them a reality. 

Apple Apps in the Classroom, Tips and Tricks for Student Support

This is a hands-on experience. Participants will learn tips and tricks for supporting students with Apple creativity apps in the classroom. Bring your ideas and receive guided instruction on how to make them a reality. 

Book Study: Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda

In this course, participants will read the book Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda. Mr. Kocienda was a developer at Apple for many years and provides fascinating stories of Apple's creative design process. Through his stories the author reveals insights about leadership, design, and the power of creative thinking. Discussions will be focused on classroom application and learning design. Each participant will receive a free copy of the book.

Book Study: Screenwise by Deovrah Heitner

Participants in this course will read Screenwise by Devorah Heitner. This book is designed to provide kids help to navigate the digital world and gives guidance to adults (parents and educators) on how to support students. "Screenwise offers a realistic and optimistic perspective on how to thoughtfully guide kids in the digital age."

Creativity in the Classroom with Adobe Spark

Participants will learn how to use the Adobe Spark suite of services to increase opportunities for creativity in their classroom.

Digital Workflow on iPad for Educators

Participants will learn valuable classroom workflow tips and efficiencies. This session is specifically geared toward novice iPad users and is open to all classroom teachers who are looking to use iPad for their classroom workflow.

Digital Workflow on MacBook for Educators

This session allows hands-on training including Mac shortcuts, tips, and tricks to develop enhanced and efficient workflows.

Everyone Can Create—Jump Start

Participants will get an overview of Apple's Everyone Can Create curriculum. All participants will experience a sampling of drawing, photography, video, and music activities that will further develop their creativity and increase their confidence with the iPad as an instructional tool.

Everyone Can Create—Deep Dive

Participants will develop their expertise in one of the four areas from Apple's Everyone Can Create Curriculum. After choosing among drawing, video, photography, or music, participants will focus in one area and develop their skills with the goal of using their selected area to improve creativity opportunities for students.

Everyone Can Create—Boot Camp

This course is an immersive experience for staff members who want to get the most out of Apple's Everyone Can Create (ECC) curriculum. Participants will be led by an Apple Professional Learning Specialist through the ECC content in drawing, photography, audio, and video. Participants will be guided through activities and demonstrations intended to increase their personal creativity and help them see more opportunities for creativity for their students.

Nuts and Bolts of Nearpod

Check out what's new and improved in Nearpod and how we can use it to enhance student experience.

Schoology: Transitioning to Schoology AMP

This course is designed for middle school and high school teachers needing to transition to the Schoology Assessment Management Platform (AMP). Teachers will receive instruction and guidance in navigating Schoology AMP, creating assessment teams, transferring Schoology tests, quizzes, and assessments into AMP, and creating interactive assessments.

Schoology: Understanding Schoology’s Most Useful Features

This session provides hands-on training for grading within Schoology including features like grade passback, grade book, assessments, and assignments.

One-Minute Spotlight Videos Feature 🐓 🎭 🦠 in Barrington 220

The Department of Technology & Innovation releases a new episode of Learning NOW in Barrington 220 each week at www.youtube.com/learningnow220. Each One-Minute Spotlight episode highlights some of the ways Barrington 220 teachers are teaching—and students are learning—in one-minute stories about a lesson or activity.

Here are our newest episodes:

Hough Elementary - Ms. Magdalener - Grade 4

Grade 4 students at Hough School in Ms. Magdalener’s class learn about perimeter and area through “Chicken Math.” Using the app Class Kick and the web app Braining Camp, students access tools that lead them through the steps necessary to measure the size of the teacher’s chicken coop, re-create a drawing of the coop with an on-screen geoboard, and then calculate various measurements of perimeter and area. 🐓

Barrington High School - Ms. Nowak - Drama

Barrington 220 High School Drama teacher Paula Nowak uses Flipgrid and iMovie to facilitate peer-to-peer feedback for her Drama students. 🎭

A Year of Innovation During the Pandemic - Dr. Fuller & Mr. Gorman

Much has changed in the past year as the Barrington 220 community has leaned on technology—and each other—to continue offering the highest level of education possible. Teachers and students found new ways to effectively teach and learn. Whether synchronous or asynchronous, remote or in-person, blended learning strategies allowed student-centered learning to continue. As more students return for in-person learning, we’ll continue to innovate in Barrington 220. 🦠

SOPPA for Teachers: A Three-Part PD Event!

In last month's edition of the #bsd220tech newsletter, we introduced you to the new state of Illinois mandate called SOPPA, the Student Online Privacy Protection Act. While we gave you an investigative overview of what this new law means for our school district beginning July 1, 2021, there is now an opportunity to go deeper and learn more about how this will impact you as an educator through a new webinar series offered by our partnership with the Illinois Digital Educators Alliance (IDEA). 

This three-part series focuses on teachers and will help you understand the legislative aspects of SOPPA, as well as how SOPPA will impact your classroom in the future. Illinois educators can earn a half-hour of Professional Development credit for each of the 3 sessions. A link to the PDH forms will be shared in the chat at the end of the webinars. 

To register for this webinar series, click here: https://ideaillinois.org/event-4240669

This Webinar Wednesday is offered after school from 4:00 to 4:30 P.M. and begins on April 21, 2021. The session is free thanks to Barrington 220’s membership in the Illinois Digital Educators Alliance and is sponsored in partnership with the Illinois Educational Technology Leaders organization (IETL).

Access Infinite Campus Training Videos Before April 30

Last fall, Barrington 220 purchased district access to Infinite Campus's National Training Week Virtual Training. All of the courses offered during that week were recorded and because of our purchase, we have had access all school year.

That window of opportunity to view these courses and receive valuable, just-in-time learning will be closing soon. So we wanted to remind you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to help get you up to speed on just about any topic IC has to offer.

This training was wide-focused on all users of Infinite Campus, from Teachers to Administrators and everyone in between.  The window to access these videos will be closing on April 30, 2021, so please make some time now to access this amazing training opportunity if you haven't done so already! 

How to View National Training Week Recordings

P Drives (Home Directories) to be Discontinued in Barrington 220

At the end of this school year (May 28, 2021), Barrington 220 will discontinue the use of server based staff "home directories," also known as "P Drives." With the adoption of Google Drive here in Barrington 220, most of the old staff home directories have become a repository for unused documents and files. Our investigation revealed that 98.6% of the files had not been touched in over two years.

In addressing cybersecurity concerns, auditors and insurance companies have requested that we review how we store data, how our users access that data, how our data is backed up, and how our data is secured. Our evaluation of this older storage system has led to our decision to decommission it. If you still use these home directories, please remove any pertinent data and store it elsewhere—one recommendation is to use Google Drive.

As always, if you have questions or concerns in regards to the use of technology here at Barrington 220, please contact your building LTA or our tech support team at x1500 (224-655-1500).

New Ideas, Badges, and More from Apple Education

On March 23, 2021, Apple released a major refresh to the popular Apple Teacher program. The updates include Apple Teacher Portfolio—a brand new Apple Teacher feature—updates to the Everyone Can Create books, and some upcoming app updates including the Apple Classroom app. 

The Apple Teacher updates likely have something that any Barrington 220 educator can use.

Apple Teacher Portfolio

The new Apple Teacher Portfolio helps guide teachers through using Apple apps in meaningful ways in their own teaching, regardless of grade level or subject area. The projects include 21 templates and lesson ideas in apps such as Keynote, GarageBand, and iMovie. The framework allows teachers to begin with existing lessons and enhance them using a three-step process. Apple's process includes:

• Activate—Introduce ideas, activate prior knowledge, and get students excited about learning with simple warm-ups that help them think about content in creative new ways.
• Explore—Help students explore new information, connect ideas, and deepen their understanding of new material.
• Apply—Assess learning with projects that help students demonstrate mastery of new material and apply what they've learned in different contexts.

The process also offers several opportunities to reflect on each phase, and eventually leads you to earn a new Apple Teacher Portfolio recognition to add to your previous badges. 

Of course, if you have not yet started the Apple Teacher program, it’s never too late to begin—just visit appleteacher.apple.com and log in with your Apple ID.

Everyone Can Create

The Everyone Can Create books have also been updated with new content. As Apple apps add new features, new instructional possibilities emerge. Open your Books app on iPad and tap the cloud icon to download the new versions of the books. Some new content includes:

• Drawing—adds motion graphics and animation in Keynote.
• Photos—adds creating animated GIFs using Keynote, Camera, and Photos apps.
• Video—adds green screen and other special effects in iMovie.
• Music—adds podcasting features in GarageBand.

Classroom App Update (Coming Soon)

Apple also reports that they will soon update the Classroom app to allow its features to extend outside of the classroom to our remote learners. According to Apple:

“For the first time, the Classroom app will support learning beyond the walls of a school. Classroom has always connected students in the same physical space with their teachers, and soon teachers will be able to invite remote students to join a Classroom session.”

The Classroom update is coming soon, but the Apple Teacher Portfolio is available now in the Apple Teacher Learning Center (log in at appleteacher.apple.com), and the Everyone Can Create updates are waiting for you as free downloads in the Apple Books app. 

To read more about these updates from Apple, please check out the Apple Newsroom article.