The EdTech Top 40
Posted on: Thursday, January 20, 2022 10:38:01 PM EST
Welcome Grad Students to EDU6460 Online – Applications of Technology in the Classroom. I am glad to have you in my class. The beauty of online courses is that Anyone can take the course assignments Anytime, from Anywhere!
In essence, this should be the most convenient course you take since there are no actual meeting times or places- as you take this course you set your own day and time each week- I only ask that you discipline yourself and set a definite day and time each week. My expectations are that you stay current each week. Each lesson builds off of previous lessons- so don’t let a week go by and begin to stack up on you. Discipline yourself now.
To start, each of you should have access to a computer for this course. You must have a computer(PC/Mac/Chromebook), not an IPad or tablet- because there are things you will need to do on your hard drive. Students will be required to access a number of third-party resouces as part of this applications course. Please become familiar with the new AIC Webpage Portal at: https://my.aic.edu. When you type this address into your web browser you will see our new AIC Portal. Notice there is a yellow banner at the top and a white LOGIN button toward the top left. To log in you must enter your AIC login name and password. If you do not have this information-please call tech support at 413-205-3402 ( I cannot assist you with this- AIC login information is confidential and I do not have access to AIC servers).
Additionally, here is my YouTube AIC Portal orientation video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHFTS7xgJEA . Watching this short video will give you a basic orientation as to what you need to do in order to access the AIC Portal.
Once you have logged into the AIC portal, you will need to click on “Blackboard” which is located in the “Quick Links” menu on the Portal screen. After clicking Blackboard, you will be taken inside our Blackboard area. You will see tabs at the top of your blackboard screen. Under the “Course” tab, you will find our course EDU6460 Applications of Technology for the Classroom. Click this course and you will be inside our course!
Now that you are inside our course in Blackboard, you will notice the black menu on the left- this is your main menu for all items in Blackboard. Click Syllabus to load the syllabus. Your first assignment is to read the full syllabus- especially the 8 modules which correspond to the 8 weeks of this course. You will also see the 8 Modules in Blackboard which are in the “Content” link in the main menu. I have loaded a lot of help links for you in each Module in Blackboard.
Finally, I want you to know that instructors can only correspond to AIC students using our official AIC email. I cannot respond to outside emails such as gmail, yahoo mail, etc. due to federal FERPA regulations.
-Jonathan Dietz
Welcome School of Education candidates
In our attempt to bring as much high quality materials, and instructional content to our adjuncts and ultimately to our students, we have developed this course shell as a repository of information for anyone, anytime and anywhere(AIC online philosophy).
In the black menu bar (left side of your screen) you will find a number of folder options such as "Home/Announcements". You may click on any of these menu item anytime to access the folders for this specific course. The folders will contain information and materials necessary to complete the requirements of this course.
The purpose and/or function of these folders are as follows:
1. Home/ Announcements: Any communication to or between program directors and adjuncts can be done through this utility.
2. Syllabus and Course Info: In this folder you will place a PDF copy of the approved syllabus for the course as well as the detailed information for each week of the course (eight weeks). In addition you will find a place to input information on the required text(s) for the course and/or any additional required materials. Lastly you will find a brief communication regarding communication expectations. The official course syllabus must adhered to in totality. College policy does not allow any deviation from the approved syllabus.
3. Content: All approved course content and materials associated with this specific course are here. Inside the Content Folder you will find sub-folders called Modules. Module folders have the info, assignments, and all for each week. Be sure and check ALL module folders.
4. Assignments: All required assignments for this course are located in the Course Content folder inside the weekly module folder.
5. Handbooks: Handbooks for students, supervisors and staff. All necessary forms needed to successfully complete the program are located in these handbooks. The XCP staff will be populating this folder with the appropriate information.
6. Career Planning: This folder contains a collection of web links and information from AIC, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, MTEL, and more. This information will also be entered by the XCP staff.
7. Course Tools: In this section you will find additional tools that are available to you for the management of this course. There is nothing that needs to be done by the program directors in this section.
8. Instructor Resources: This is a section in which adjuncts will be able to add any additional materials and/or resources they use for this course. These resources will be available to all adjuncts to use if they want.