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SchoolNetwork

✇EdTech Digest
By: Victor Rivero
24 October 2024 at 17:49

Want to save time and money in the procurement and referendum process? Here is a cool tool that helps with exactly that. With SchoolNetwork, you will find:

A catalog of K-12 bonding efforts nationwide. These include current and past efforts, upcoming, proposed, passed and failed. You can specify the characteristics of the district or project type you want to view and look at the efforts made by districts just like yours. You can set an alert for specific district capital improvement efforts and receive regular updates on their progress. You will learn who the key contacts are for each effort along with links to local news coverage and published articles.

An index of rated solution providers that you can sort by industry. Services to help you with your capital improvement or procurement efforts rated by school district administrators like yourself. Learn the track record of potential solution providers so that you work with the best fit for your needs.

Actual documents used to promote and create procurement and bonding campaigns. Save time and effort by borrowing from documents created for other procurement or bonding efforts.

View the actual Requests for Proposal (RFP) and Requests for Quotation (RFQ) used by other school districts. See the materials used to promote their projects, past and present, nationwide. Upload your own documents for solution providers to see. Receive alerts to see new and revised documents.

For these reasons and more, SchoolNetwork earned a Cool Tool Award (finalist) for “Best Administrative Solution” as part of The EdTech Awards 2024 from EdTech Digest. Learn more. 

The post SchoolNetwork appeared first on EdTech Digest.

The Schoolyard Podcast from School Specialty and Nancy Chung

✇EdTech Digest
By: Victor Rivero
13 September 2024 at 14:30

Here’s a cool tool you can use to help you find inspiration and enjoyment: The Schoolyard Podcast is a new show from School Specialty and teacher Nancy Chung. Twice each month, host Chung, also known as @FancyNancyin5th on Instagram and TikTok, will be joined by industry experts, fellow educators, and subject matter experts from School Specialty to dive into educational trends, seasonally relevant topics, and emerging and proven solutions to create an entertaining and educational listening experience.

Chung is a fun-loving 5th-grade teacher, former robotics coach, and content creator from Orange County, California, in her 26th year of teaching. She is passionate about sharing her ideas on creative projects, designing intentional learning spaces, teaching highly engaging lessons, building meaningful relationships, and cultivating a community that sparks discovery and inclusion.

Each episode will begin with a thought-provoking introduction by Chung, followed by a conversation between Chung and the episode’s guest. In the final segment, launching in episode 5 and dubbed “Tag, You’re It!,” Chung and the featured guest will answer a question submitted by a listener by tagging @SchoolSpecialty with #schoolyardtagyoureit and their question on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter. Listeners who have their question answered on the air will receive a free Schoolyard Podcast t-shirt. 

The first five episodes explore:

  1. “How to Make Space for Wellness and Social-emotional Learning” with Sue Ann Highland, PhD, national education strategist with School Specialty;
  2. “Esports is Like a Magnet!” with Claire LaBeaux from the Network of Academic and Scholastic Esports Federations (NASEF);
  3. “Extended Learning for Every Student” with Nicole Hill, a former educator, principal, and current subject matter expert with School Specialty;
  4. “Setting the tone for Back to School” with Instagram influencers Stephanie Osmundson and Loreal Hemenway, collectively known as @happilyeverelementary; and
  5. “Surprising Benefits of Robotics in Schools & Where to Start” with Naomi Hartl, science and STEM subject matter expert with School Specialty.

The first five episodes are available now on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Samsung Podcasts, Podcast Index, and Listen Notes. Learn more.

The post The Schoolyard Podcast from School Specialty and Nancy Chung appeared first on EdTech Digest.

Digital literacies for refugees and migrants

✇Digital Education Research @ Monash
By: Michael Henderson
12 August 2022 at 07:46

Digital literacies for people from refugee backgrounds have been widely recognized as critically important for settlement and employment.

This project set out to generate new knowledge in the fields of digital literacies and TESOL by developing and piloting a much-needed conceptual framework for understanding the pedagogical principles for effective teaching of digital literacies to adult refugee and migrant English language learners.

Our project team worked with the Australian Department of Home Affairs, LWA, educators and adult learners to develop the AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide.

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AMEP Digital Literacies Framework

Teaching digital literacies in adult EAL programs requires appropriate pedagogies.

The AMEP Digital Literacies Framework positions digital literacies as a crucial part of settlement and emphasises that learning digital literacies and English should sit together. The Framework further identifies the four key principles that inform the development of digital literacies pedagogies that connect to the world of adult learners.

Resources for AMEP providers and teachers

The research project resulted in a number of practical resources for AMEP sector and practitioners.

This video explains the framework and resources below

 

The AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide

Link
https://doi.org/10.26180/20493207.v3

About
This resource explains the notion of digital literacies, introduces a pedagogical framework for teaching digital literacies in adult EAL settings and presents 15 teaching units with a range of teaching ideas and loosely sequenced scaffolding activities which allows educators to:

    • connect learning units both to The EAL Framework, syllabus and to learners’ lives to achieve multiple learning objectives
    • adapt learning units for specific teaching contexts by modifying the tasks
    • adjust the level of challenge through different levels of scaffolded support, depending on learners’ strengths and needs
    • innovate by organising learning activities in different ways
    • use The AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide as a model for developing new learning units

How to cite
Tour, K., Creely, E., Waterhouse, P., & Henderson, M. (2022). AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide. Monash University. https://doi.org/10.26180/20493207.v3

The AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide – Teaching resources

Link
https://doi.org/10.26180/20502417.v1

About
This booklet includes teaching resources which were designed and piloted by EAL teachers, with their learners participating in this research project. This booklet does not attempt to address all of the units in The AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide; however, these resources do relate directly to five units. These teaching resources illustrate how The AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide can be used in practice, and each of these lesson plans includes:

    • a link to The EAL Framework;
    • a sequence of lessons outlining procedures and activities;
    • relevant teaching materials, including worksheets, discussion questions and instructional videos created by teachers;
    • links to The AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and its key principles.

How to cite
Tour, K., Creely, E., Waterhouse, P., & Henderson, M. (2022). AMEP Digital Literacies: Teaching Resources. Monash University. https://doi.org/10.26180/20502417.v1

Digital Literacies Diagnostic Tool

Link
https://doi.org/10.26180/20502435.v1 [PDF]

About
This diagnostic tool is a form of diagnostic assessment that enables teachers to gather important information about the current digital literacy practices of learners and assess their strengths, needs and aspirations related to digital literacies. This information can then be used to guide subsequent planning for the effective teaching of digital literacies. At the heart of the tool is a process of teachers knowing their learners to enable best practice planning for teaching.

How to Cite
Tour, K., Creely, E., Waterhouse, P., & Henderson, M. (2022). Digital Literacies Diagnostic (DLD) Tool. Monash University. https://doi.org/10.26180/20502435.v1

What are digital literacies?

The concept of digital literacies is defined and understood in many different ways, depending on theoretical orientations and educational purposes. The AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide is based on the proposition that there is no one universal form of digital literacy easily transferable from one context to another. Rather, different contexts, social purposes and technologies will require a range of skills, knowledge and understandings. From this perspective, digital literacies are defined as purposeful and critical practices involving multimodal reading, writing, creating, communicating and viewing with digital technologies.

Examples of digital literacy practices are numerous, and new ones continue to emerge as technologies develop and people go about their lives (Jones & Hafner, 2021). Thus, it is impossible to list all digital literacy practices that people engage in. A useful starting point may be thinking about digital literacies as language (and non-language) activities that people practise in different digital environments, for specific social purposes and across different social contexts (Tour, 2020).

Some examples of digital literacy practices include:

  • Accessing and viewing meaningfully a cooking tutorial on YouTube
  • Navigating to and reading sport news on The Age webpage
  • Completing an online form on HotDocs to book a medical appointment
  • Text messaging a real estate agent to organise a property inspection
  • Sending an email to a child’s teacher about absence
  • Planning a car trip to Ikea using Google Maps
  • Downloading personal immunisation history on the Medicare platform

Learning digital literacies is an ongoing and lifelong process. Therefore, the role of the formal learning settings is to prepare students for the evolving nature of digital literacies rather than just focus on skills development.

The more exposure to different digital literacy practices learners have, the more confident they become to independently engage in new practices that will be continuously emerging in their lives (Rowsell et al., 2017).

About the project

This project set out to generate new knowledge in the fields of digital literacies and TESOL by developing and piloting a much-needed conceptual framework for understanding the pedagogical principles for effective teaching of digital literacies to adult refugee and migrant English language learners.

The importance of digital literacies for settlement and employment of people from refugee and migrant backgrounds has been widely recognised. However, there is scarce research about the digital needs of this vulnerable group of learners as they settle in Australia. There is a need for a conceptually rigorous and research-informed approach to the teaching of digital literacies within adult EAL contexts.

Using multiple comparative case study, this three-phase research project has been designed to:

  1. contribute new understanding of the critical factors hindering and supporting digital literacy practices of these learners for settlement and employment; and
  2. develop a evidence based resource, the AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide.

The aim is to support the work of AMEP institutions and teachers aspiring to equip their learners with a useful repertoire of digital literacies required for settlement and gaining employment in Australia.

AMEP project infographic

Project team

Dr Katrina Tour

Katrina’s research focuses on the digital literacies of children and adults from refugee and migrant backgrounds. She investigates the ways in which these groups use digital technologies in English as an Additional Language (EAL) for life, learning and employment, and explores how these experiences can be used to enhance educational policies and pedagogies for digital literacies in EAL/TESOL settings.

Dr Ed Creely

Ed has wide ranging experience in education from primary and secondary to tertiary and adult education. His current projects include academic wellbeing, digital literacies for adults from migrant and refugee backgrounds, creativity and literacy practices in the middle years.

Peter Waterhouse

Dr Peter Waterhouse

Peter is an experienced adult educator, lecturer, manager, consultant and researcher with an established track record in teaching and research relating to adult learning, adult literacy, work, skills, and workplace change.

Xuan Pham

Dr Xuan Pham

Dr Xuan Pham joined this project as a research assistant. Dr Pham has expertise in adult education, with a focus on educational identities and differences in relation to gender, ethnicity and migration. She is also interested in critical English language and literacy, with a particular attention to the dynamic power relations that have shaped the positioning of the language, literacy and experiences of those stakeholders involved.

Professor Michael Henderson

Michael is a senior leader and scholar in the field of digital education. Unique to his profile is that his research spans early childhood, schools, universities, professional and informal learning contexts. His current research projects are generally aligned with the three broad fields: assessment and feedback, risk (wellbeing and creativity), and effective teaching and learning with online technologies.

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