Resources that Promote for Digital Equity and Opportunity for Students and Teachers
LESCN Annual Spring Conference, 2013 Monday, April 1
The information below was on the two handouts prepared for the conference.
Digital Equity Resources for Low-Income NH Students
The Digital Divide Can and Must be Closed
Description
Inequitable home access for low-income students to essential learning technology resources – high speed Internet, computer, educational software and content – is a challenge facing most educators, making it difficult or impossible to equip all students with the skills needed for educational and economic opportunity in the digital age. The nonprofit Digital Opportunity Consortium has undertaken an unprecedented national initiative, first conceived in NH, to provide students and families that qualify for free/reduced lunch with free and deeply discounted resources. The Consortium include such partners GovConnection, Comcast, Verizon Foundation, the American Association of School Librarians, State Education Technology Directors Association, and the Software and Information Industry Association. Come learn about resources that may benefit you, your students and their families.
Download the Flyer in pdf.
The Digital Opportunity Consortium is a highly strategic partnership among national leaders that provides essential resources for major dimensions of the digital divide for the nation’s low-income children and their families:
Connectivity: Comcast launched the Internet Essentials program last year, offering high speed home broadband at $9.95/month for children and their families that qualify for free or reduced school lunch in Comcast footprint communities nationwide. See www.internetessentials.com.
Hardware: In April 2013, the Consortium will make available deeply discounted Dell laptop and tablet computers for low-income students and their families. To receive the announcement when the information becomes available, send a request to mclaughlinbob@gmail.com.
Educational Content: EBSCO, the nation’s largest provider of full-text digital educational content, will provide deeply discounted access to its stellar full-text databases across the P12 curriculum. To receive the announcement when this information becomes available, send a request to mclaughlinbob@gmail.com.
Tech Support: The American Association of School Librarians has agreed to mobilize its members to inform the nation’s free/reduced lunch-eligible schoolchildren and families about these digital opportunity resources and help them use them for educational and economic opportunity. Information for purchasers of the discounted hardware on how to access ongoing tech support will be provided in conjunction with their purchase.
Financing: The Consortium is seeking funding for a revolving loan fund offering interest-free financing to low-income families with bad or no credit, enabling them every three to four years to purchase a computer bundled with educational content, tech support and connectivity. To receive the announcement when this information becomes available, send a request to mclaughlinbob@gmail.com.
Supporting organizations include the American Association of School Librarians, Association of Teacher Educators, Comcast, Dell, GenYes, GovConnection, National Association of State Boards of Education, National Council of Teachers of English, Software and Information Industry Association, State Education Technology Directors Association, and the Verizon Foundation.
Digital Opportunity Symposium on Friday October 11th at Comcast’s Manchester NH facility. This free day-long professional development event will assist P12 teams from NH communities served by Comcast and from NH IHEs with educator preparation programs to develop digital opportunity action plans. For more information, please contact Bob McLaughlin at mclaughlinbob@gmail.com.
CONTACT For more information, please contact consortium co-chairs Dr. Robert McLaughlin, Digital Opportunity Consortium, 145 Broadway, Concord New Hampshire 03301, (802) 249-1159, mclaughlinbob@gmail.com, or Dr. Paul Resta, professor and director of Learning Technologies Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin 78712, (512) 471-4014, resta@austin.utexas.edu.
www.nhdrc.org
Communication
NH Common Core Group Sharing of resources, curriculum units and crosswalks.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21forum/nhcommoncore
NH Google Apps for Edu Teachers NH Educators Using Google Apps in the Classroom
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/nhgoogleteachers
NH Google Apps for Edu Administrators NH Google Admin Discussions
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/nhgoogleadmin
Collaboration
Collaboration Rings A Collaboration Ring is a group of teachers who are interested in working with other teachers and classrooms with similar focus or interest. This could be a group formed along traditional grade level and subject lines or by other concepts such as Extended Learning Opportunities or Inclusion. Participants are connected with a Google Site and Google Group to get help, share resources or develop shared projects. The NHDRC has established 24 Collaboration Rings which are currently running in the state.
https://sites.google.com/a/nheon.org/nhdrc-collaboration-ring/home
Online
Institute in a Box A set of Professional Development workshops that districts and teachers can use to enhance their teaching and learning opportunities. The workshops are arranged in Institutes that can be delivered face to face, online, or in a blended format. The NHDRC has created 8 Institutes in a Box that house a total of 69 one hour workshops.
https://sites.google.com/site/nhinstitutes/
Ongoing
Common Core Lesson Sharing An ongoing, growing, searchable database of Common Core lessons shared by NH educators.
https://sites.google.com/a/nheon.org/nh-common-core-standards/
Google Apps for Education In the summer of 2012, nearly 100 technology administrators were trained on Google Apps for Education deployment and administration. Also, over 250 teachers were taken through an extensive Google Apps for Education day long training in the use of the digital tools provided in the Google Apps for Education package. As part of the commitment to ongoing professional development, these educators agreed to be available to provide trainings in your school or district. Contact your local LESCN site for more information on training.
https://sites.google.com/a/nheon.org/nh-digital-resources-consortium/home/nhgafe
For a list of trainings and trainers, visit the 2012-2013 Google Apps training page.
https://sites.google.com/a/nheon.org/nh-digital-resources-consortium/home/nhgafe/google-apps-nh-boot-camp/-google-apps-training-12-13
CONTACT For more information on the NH Digital Resources Consortium, contact Deb Boisvert, dboisvert@sau53.org.
The Office of Educational Technology at the NH Department of Education
www.education.nh.gov/instruction/ed_tech/
School and Educator Support and Services
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Literacy
The Minimum Standards for School Approval, Ed 306.42, contain the minimum requirements districts must use in order to establish a K-12 ICT Literacy program for their students. The standards require all K-12 students to have opportunities to use and learn about a wide variety of digital tools through an integrated approach, in which the learning of content standards is enhanced through the use of technology. The Office of Educational Technology reviews and supports districts and schools as they enhance and update their ICT Literacy Programs.
National Educational Technology Plan www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010
National Educational Technology Standards www.iste.org/standards
ICY Literacy Toolkit www.nheon.org/ictliteracy/
New Hampshire Educators Online (NHEON)
This site provides a variety of resources surrounding technology implementation and online learning for schools and teachers. It is the hub of the online resources provided by the Office of Educational Technology.
NHEON.org www.nheon.org/
NH e-Learning for Educators Project
New Hampshire e-Learning for Educators was originally a multi-state project originally funded by the US Department of Education through the Ready to Teach Program. Online professional development facilitated courses and non-facilitated tutorials are offered through our OPEN NH program. The project is run through the Office of Educational Technology.
NH e-Learning for Educators informational website www.opennh.org
OPEN NH course and tutorial management system www.opennh.net
Online Learning NH
This site provides a variety of resource links, from helpful hints on finding an online school or program to the latest research findings about online learning. We hope to provide students, parents, teachers, and administrators with the information they need to make informed decisions concerning the K-12 online learning opportunities available to the students and teachers of New Hampshire. The site was developed and maintained by the Office of Educational Technology.
Online Learning in New Hampshire www.nheon.org/onlinelearning/
New Hampshire SBAC Technology Readiness Coordination
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), in collaboration with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) consortium, has developed a Technology Readiness Tool to support districts with planning for technology as they transition to next-generation assessments to be launched beginning in 2014. This new open source tool assesses current capacity and compares that to the technology that will be needed to administer the new online assessments in four areas-devices, device to tester ratio, network infrastructure, and staff and personnel. The Office of Educational Technology supports districts with implementation of the tool with State Technology Readiness Coordination.
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium www.smarterbalanced.org/
NH Technology Readiness www.nheon.org/oet/readiness
Assess4Ed.net www.assess4ed.net
Title II Part D: Enhancing Education Through Technology
The Office of Educational Technology is responsible for managing grants to districts under Title II Part D. The Title IID Program is currently suspended, with a zero budget. However, districts can still transfer funds from other Title programs into Title IID. Funds transferred into Title IID are subject to the federal requirements for the Title IID Program. For more information, see the Transferring Funds into Title IID information on NHEON.org.
Transferring Funds into Title IID www.nheon.org/oet/nclb/index.htm
Associated Programs
NH Digital Resources Consortium
As part of the last round to Title IID funding, SAU 53 was awarded a grant to act in the role of lead district in managing the Digital Resources Consortium (DRC) project. The DRC's mission is develop professional development, training and provide tools to help schools reach their 21st Century potential.
www.nhdrc.org
Institutes in a Box freely accessible online workshops
Collaboration Rings online professional learning communities around special interests
Curriki Curriculum Site lesson plans, activities, and resources for teachers
Communication Special Interest Groups stay connected through email discussion groups
NH Educational GIS Partnership
New Hampshire is one of several states in the nation that can provide Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to every school in the state free of charge. Thanks to a statewide partnership agreement between Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), the world's leading GIS software developer, and the New Hampshire Department of Education, these new licenses will allow every public, private and charter K-12 school throughout the state unprecedented access to Esri's state-of-the-art GIS tools for use in education and research. The partnership was coordinated by the Office of Educational Technology.
ESRI State Partnership www.nheon.org/nh_projects/esri.html
NH GIS Collaborative Ring www.nhedgis.org
Intel Affiliates Program
The NH e-Learning for Educators Project was awarded a grant from Intel Education to participate in the Intel Affiliates program. The program provides funding for Intel Elements courses to be incorporated into the OPEN NH course offerings and promoted in the state
Resources for Educators
ET News Listserv
Subscribe to the ETNews listserv for the latest on ed tech grants, new digital tools, research, online learning, technology readiness, and more. maillist2.nh.gov/mailman/listinfo/nhdoe-etnews
State Educational Technology Director’s Association (SETDA) Print Materials
All SETDA project reports can be accessed at www.setda.org, select “SETDA Projects” tab.
National Educational Technology Trends: 2012 State Leadership Empowers Educators, Transforms Teaching and Learning www.setda.org/web/guest/nationaltrends2012
The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Educational Infrastructure Needs
www.setda.org/web/guest/broadbandimperative
NH K-12 Connectivity Consortium www.nheon.org/oet/erate/consortium.htm
UNH Broadband Mapping the Planning Program www.iwantbroadbandnh.com
Out of Print: Reimagining the K-12 Textbook in a Digital Age www.setda.org/web/guest/outofprintreport
A Resource Guide Identifying Technology Tools for Schools www.setda.org/web/guest/title1
International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) Print Materials
All iNACOL reports can be accessed at www.inacol.org, select “Research” tab.
CompetencyWorks (sponsored by iNACOL)
All Competency Works Resources can be accessed at www.comptencyworks.org, Resources in the Right Sidebar.
1:1 Essentials Program
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/1to1#.UXmCo-QHKMU.twitter
This 1-to-1 Essentials from Common Sense Media offers the guidance you need in order to proactively, rather than reactively, address issues that schools commonly face when going 1-to-1.
CONTACT For more information on the Office of Educational Technology, contact Stan Freeda at Stanley.Freeda@doe.nh.gov
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