Course Descriptions

ED7039 Macintosh iLife Overview

Become familiar with an overview of the Macintosh iLife suite, which considers the use of images and sound, and how to best integrate these software tools into a range of classroom settings. Learn the capabilities of the iLife software (iPhoto, iMovie, Garage Band and iWeb), sync your iPod to your computer and understand downloadable utilities and program options from the Web. Designed for those new to the iLife suite, this course provides an orientation to these programs and an understanding of their interaction and opportunities to enhance methods of teaching more effectively. Participants develop basic projects for both instructional delivery as well as for student hands-on experiences in a range of subject areas.

ED7316 Introduction to Digital Cameras and Imaging

This course is designed to give you a basic understanding of Digital Cameras and software available to enhance digital images. Emphasis is placed on basic camera features present in most digital cameras on the market today. An inexpensive digital camera and free software can make a dramatic impact on your student’s learning in the classroom and at home.

Participants will become more comfortable using digital cameras and the computer, increasing their technical skills. Integrating digital images into your current curriculum will be strongly supported. Technology offers us an opportunity to reach our students in a new and exciting way.

ED 7035 (ETEC505) Online Tools & Collaboration

Explore the use of technology as a tool to engage students in constructive, higher order critical thinking about the subjects they are studying. Use the numerous free Google applications to create collaborative documents, graphs and presentations for various curriculum standards. User-friendly Google Web 2.0 tools like blogs, podcasts and wikis provide opportunities for educators and students to communicate, to represent knowledge in various formats, and to interact in new collaborative ways. Google Earth and Maps have a wide range of interdisciplinary applications to stimulate learning and thinking in students from virtually traveling the earth in the past and the present, analyzing math and geological data, visiting locales of current events and immersing readers in trips for all ages. Lesson guides created by participants provide practical examples of techniques to integrate these online tools into the curriculum.

ED7173 (ETEC508) Digital Communications

Blogs are a form of written communication and podcasts consist of digital audio content on the Web. Use them to improve the written and verbal communication skills of students. Participants and their students can use blogs and podcasts created by others to better understand other experiences and cultures. By creating their own, participants and their students can share ideas and projects with a world-wide audience. In this course, learn to find and evaluate educational blogs and podcasts. Using Apple's iLife software, also learn how to create and publish them. iPods are not required.

ED 7320 Teaching with Digital Video

This course is designed to give you a basic understanding of Video Documentaries and the software available to digital videos. Emphasis is placed on basic video camera features, planning and editing video projects. A relatively inexpensive digital video camera and free software like iMovie can make a dramatic impact on your student’s learning in the classroom and at home.

Participants will become more comfortable using digital video cameras and the computer, increasing their technical skills. Integrating digital video into your current curriculum will be supported. Technology offers us an opportunity to reach our students in a new and exciting way.

ED7171 iMovie

This course is designed to give you a basic understanding of Apple’s iMovie and how the software is able to create digital videos. Emphasis is placed on basic video camera features, planning and editing video projects. A relatively inexpensive digital video camera and free software like iMovie can make a dramatic impact on your student’s learning in the classroom and at home.

ED 7041 Internet as a Teaching Tool

This course is designed to give you a basic understanding of the internet and the resources available at your finger tips. Emphasis is placed curricular resources that can be found online. Integrating the web into your lessons can make a dramatic impact on your student’s learning in the classroom and at home. Participants will become more comfortable using web based resources and the computer, increasing their technical skills. Technology offers us an opportunity to reach our students in a new and exciting way.

ED7055 Interactive Whiteboard Technology

Learn techniques to maximize and integrate interactive whiteboards (IWB, including SMART Board and Promethean ActivBoard models) as a learning and teaching tool for the classroom. Beginning with the basics of this technology, participants use these tools to design interactive lessons for students. Discover methods to tie Internet resources, PowerPoint, Notebook and other technologies into interactive activities and exercises. Demonstrations and resources are presented, and all participants prepare, present and critique integrated lessons. Discussions consider implementation of this tool within existing curricula. Focus is to explore new methods and best practices to engage students effectively across a range of subject areas. Participants should bring some existing lesson plans and resource materials in order to create focused interactive lessons based on individual subject areas.

ED 7053 Microsoft Excel: In Education

Need a better way to mange classroom information? Microsoft Excel can make many everyday tasks like averaging grades, tracking student data, organizing and sorting information and performing your calculations much more efficient. Learn various ways to use Excel for yourself and develop activities to use with students in your class as well. Beginning with the basics, you will learn how to set up spreadsheets, then use the data to create charts and graphs. Functions and formatting in Excel will be fully explored. This class will be taught in a Macintosh environment, but Excel can also be used with Windows.

ED7123 Web-Based Lessons and Resources

This course is designed to give you a basic understanding of WebQuests and ways to enhance your teaching practice using the world wide web. Emphasis is placed on understanding how the internet works and ways to find what you are looking for effectively. A well designed WebQuest can make a dramatic impact on your student’s learning in the classroom and at home. Participants will become more comfortable using the internet as an educational tool. Integrating the web into your current curriculum will be strongly supported. Technology offers us an opportunity to reach our students in a new and exciting way.

ED7066 Integrating Handheld Devices

Students have a vast array of technological skills that are often untapped in the classroom setting. Technology can increase student interest and engage learners in new and effective ways. Bring technology into integrated use throughout the curriculum by using hand‐held devices and their applications to explore the development of lessons applicable to all subject areas through cross‐curricular sound and video projects. Discover vast educational opportunities using Apple’s iPod Touch and the flip video camcorder to make these technologies a valued partner in teaching and learning.

Consider how the iPod Touch and other handheld devices can be an integrated professional tool for classroom management such as grading and scheduling. Produce projects designed for direct classroom application and participate in focused discussions regarding evaluating applications, creating and sharing content, and considering financial resources to bring these technologies into a school environment. Use online resources for additional experiences to integrate course content. Outside assignments include: advanced readings with article reviews, lesson plans, shared reviews of applications, required online discussion group postings and a themed multimedia project created through a curricular partnership.

ED 7076 Internet Responsibility

The Internet is a critical tool for teaching and learning. It also brings some considerations to educators in order to foster personal responsibility and safety in students. This course looks at resources for teachers, discusses the issues of online safety as an extension of personal safety, and provides grade-level appropriate online resources for student use. Discussions focus on privacy and personal responsibility with students of all ages. This course utilizes the Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Pennsylvania Department of Education Internet Safety Guidelines, plus a variety of online resources to provide teachers with the knowledge and tools to integrate these practices into the classroom.

ETEC602 Differentiating Instruction using Educational Technology

Many current studies on the use of technology in elementary and secondary schools conclude that its appropriate use yields higher results in student achievement and engagement. Additionally, the thoughtful use of technology in the classroom is tied to decreased exhibition of inappropriate behaviors, increased confidence and loweredstudent absenteeism among at-risk populations. However, an understanding of the rationale for and the process of integrating technology with regular content area instruction is not widely seen throughout all K-12 schools in the United States. Differentiated Instruction Using Educational Technology prepares educators to use technology in the classroom to reach all types of learners. Teachers learn to identify which educational technology tools, resources and applications will work best for their specific population and how technology can help them increase the engagement and achievement of all students.