Monday Medley: edWeb for FREE MA DESE approved PD

 

Good Morning and Happy Monday,

This week I want to share a valuable resource for free professional development. Since we are all looking for ways to apply best practices for remote learning and incorporate social justice and equity goals into our daily instruction I thought this would be an appropriate tool to share. The following is a review I wrote for School Library Connection back in September, 2017. Since the information is still accurate and relevant in 2020 here it is:

EdWeb.net
http://home.edweb.net/
EdWeb.net provides free professional development Webinars and Podcasts for educators with
options for a broad range of topics/areas of focus. There are more than 1400 Professional Learning
Communities to join. This is a great resource for academic as well as special subject educators
working with students in grades Pre-K through grade 12. In addition to free webinars many
communities provide access to downloadable resources. There are also discussion forums.
Webinars cover popular topics such as Open Education Resources, STEAM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics), and Social Emotional Learning. Educational
partners and sponsors include familiar names such as Common Sense Education, ISTE, Library Media Connection, Time for Kids, and Britannica Digital Learning. Earn CE Certificates for 1 clock hour by participating in live Webinars or by viewing pre-recorded content and successfully completing a short quiz. The site includes an interactive state map which can be used to determine if EdWeb Certificates are accepted for PD in the state where the educator is employed. Additional information is provided including links to the state’s department of
education Website and the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) Guide to Digital Instructional Materials for the state. Educators who are interested in presenting a webinar can submit an application specifying the educational topic and who the intended audience would be. Learn about upcoming webinars via Twitter, email summaries, and directly on the Website.
EdWeb.net Social Media Accounts:
Blog: http://home.edweb.net/category/blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/edwebnet
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/edweb.net
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/edwebnet/
Kim Marie Brown, Library/Media Specialist, North Reading High School, North Reading, MA
Highly Recommended 

Here is some additional information that you may find helpful when planning out your professional development for the 2020-2021 school year and beyond: 

edWeb is approved for PD Points in Massachusetts as of 1/8/2018

edWeb.net is authorized by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) to award Professional Development Points (PDPs) to Massachusetts educators. Provider number 2017F0021.

Here are requirements for PD Points:

• You must pass the quiz for your certificate to be accepted.
• You must earn a minimum of 10 PDPs (for 10 edWebinars) in 5 years for them to count.
• edWebinars viewed live or on-demand beginning 1/8/2018 can count for your PDP Points.
• Learn more about using edWeb for Massachusetts PDPs.

Photo by Kaleidico on Unsplash

Monday Medley: Swank MS/HS Streaming Movie Collection

Good Morning and Happy Monday!

We are now set up with a Swank Streaming Movie Collection. Currently we have digital access to 200 of the most popular films used in k12 education. (See the attached PDF to see the list of titles along with links to descriptions and video trailers.) If you would like to request a movie that is not currently available in the collection, please let me know. We have the ability to add an additional 15 movies to our HS collection during the 2020-2021 school year. 

Right now we have a generic username and password for all teachers to use. I will be setting up individual teacher access using your school email address and a generic password. Once I have completed that process you will receive another email stating that the transition has been completed. Please contact me directly if you need the generic username and password. 

     This is the link to the main portal:

              https://digitalcampus.swankmp.net/NRHS375678  

Here are the directions for in-class use and assignments  

If you are assigning movies for students to view at home please note that you will need to share the link to the specific movie. Students do not have access to the entire collection when they are signed in.  

Please share this information with students when you are instructing them to view a movie from home: 

Generic Student Account***

User Name: NRHSStudent

Password: Student1

***Note that the student username and password will not change after we migrate to individual teacher accounts.

As always, feel free to email me with any questions.

Have a marvelous Monday!

Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash

 

Monday Medley: Print Books, eBooks, and AudioBooks

Good Morning and Happy Monday!

In case you haven't heard, students and teachers now have the ability to request print titles from the Media Center.  Want to check out a book from the HS Media Center but don’t know where to begin? Scan the QR code on the doors to the Media Center or go to http://bit.ly/NRHSBookForm to get started.

Please spread the word about this!

High School students and staff also have access to a collection of bestselling eBooks and Audiobooks from Sora, the student reading app. The app is available via CLEVER log in and works on a Chromebook, laptop, and desktop computer. You can also download the app to read/listen on your phone. Attached is a one page direction sheet you can share with your students to get started. This collection is built on the one book, one user model. This means that it's not possible for all of your students to be reading the same title simultaneously unless the title is part of one of the special collections in Sora that allows for an unlimited number of users.

Students and staff who sign up for a free Boston Public Library eCard have access to eBooks, Graphic Novels, Movies, and Music. This collection supports an unlimited number of simultaneous users for all materials. Users can borrow up to 10 titles each month. Attached is a directions sheet for getting started with Hoopla.

Last of all, students and staff have access to a new collection of reference titles available from Infobase. Please contact me directly if you need the username and password.