May+2016


 * Virginia Department of Education Updates **

** Tech Directors Update **
Grades 3 through 5 Practice Items Sets Available in the TestNav™ 8 Installable Application []
 * Supt’s Memos you should know about: **

Virtual Virginia Registration []

Highly Qualified Teachers and Paraprofessionals: Transition from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) to the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) []

Updated Information Related to State Funding Allocation for Information Technology Industry Certifications and Related Testing Preparation Resources for School Year (SY) 2015-2016 []

Announcing Professional Development for Technology and Engineering Teachers []

CoSN webinar on Trusted Learning Environments (protecting privacy of student data), 4/28/16 [] (Also see related article: [])
 * Professional Development: **

Why #GoOpen? Why now? [|https://medium.com/@OfficeofEdTech/why-goopen-why-now-857a9ce2527f#.o99lu9wks]
 * US DOE News: **

April is Future Ready Leaders Month! [|https://medium.com/@OfficeofEdTech/april-is-future-ready-leaders-month-281ee2e4da49#.134onma9a]

FCC Modernizes Lifeline Program For The Digital Age []

Why Balancing Priorities Is Essential to One-to-One Computing []
 * Management and Leadership: **

Is #EdTech Really A Waste? 8 Lessons for The Uninformed (blog post) []

2 Steps for Using Technology as a Catalyst for Learning (blog post) []

Innovation Zones: Creating Policy Flexibility for Personalized Learning (Issue Brief from iNACOL) []

School Technology Leaders Increasingly Focused on Broadband and Network Capacity and Student Data Privacy []
 * Security and Safety: **

How Ever-Worsening Malware Attacks Threaten Student Data []

Districts Seek Cost-Effective File-Sharing Tools []

Solid Backup Plan Best Defense Against Ransomware at Schools []

New Toolkit to Help Schools, Vendors Test Ed Tech for Privacy, Security []

Here's how to prevent laptop power cords from fraying []
 * Technology: **

End to rogue USB-C and fried devices: New spec pulls plug on bogus chargers, malicious USBs []

The Trouble With Learning Management (opinion) []

National Survey Recognizes School Districts for Innovative Uses of Technology (Goochland, Falls Church, Henry, Fairfax, Hampton) []
 * Trends: **

Connected Classrooms Preparing for Huge Gains in 2016 []

Digital Content Goes to School []

Zero-Rating Educational Content on the Internet (blog entry) []


 * ITRT Update #60 (5 Years!!!!!) **

Virtual Virginia Registration []
 * Supt’s Memos you should know about: **

Highly Qualified Teachers and Paraprofessionals: Transition from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) to the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) []

The futility of PLC Lite []
 * Professional Development: **

Introduction to Computational Thinking Professional Development (self-paced online PD) []

Shift to Digital: Classroom ‘Look Fors’ (a sampling of walk-through rubrics) []

Technology in the classroom: Ohio shows one way school leaders and teachers can develop a game plan []

Teacher Collaboration: When Belief Systems Collide []

Resources for Organizing an EdCamp []

2016 National STEM Video Game Challenge []
 * Contests and Grants: **

Next Great Game Challenge (non-tech competition) []

2 Excellent Apps to Turn Your iPad into a Presentation Remote []
 * Tools: **

ReciteThis (make your own inspirational quote posters) []

Compfight (search engine for images) []

New Digital Tool Helps Teachers Locate STEAM-Related Materials []

Teacher Apps for Fighting Digital Distraction and Managing Online Time []

The Educator’s Guide to Infographics []

Google Releases New Polling Features for Classroom []

Common Sense Graphite’s Great Free Apps for Learning []
 * How-to’s and Lists: **

Teachers Chart Featuring Apps and Tools for Teaching Students Coding []

5 Things You Did Not Know About Google Forms []

23 Earth Day Activities, Resources, Web Sites, & Apps []

UCLA’s International Digital Ephemera Project []
 * Curriculum Resources: **

Smithsonian Discover Learning Lab (new stuff!) []

3 Powerful Map Extensions to Use with Students in Class []

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Poem []

8 Android Science Apps Ideal for High School Students []

Could This Digital Math Tool Change Instruction For the Better? []

Portfolio Problems: Rebuilding Assessment with Rich Tasks []
 * Pedagogy: **

The Curriculum Meets Educational Technology: Avoiding Tech Shine (blog post) []

Everybody Panic! 5 Ways Social Media is Changing Our Brains. (blog post) []

Using Project-Based Learning To Turn Students into Responsible Data Consumers []

‘Average’ gets his ire up (book review) []

The Benefits and Challenges of Student-Designed Learning []

Q&A with Makerspaces Innovator Laura Fleming on the Best Creative Spaces in K–12 []
 * Maker Movement: **

Of Coding and Compassion []