Announcing Library Training Series: "Teaching Tools on Your Time"

The NCS Upper School Library is expanding our Digital Literacy initiative with a new year-long faculty/staff training series: "Teaching Tools on Your Time."

About the Training Series

Each quarter, we will focus on different types of web tools, such as alternative presentation tools, widgets to enhance your Moodle page, organization tools, and more.  Every few weeks we will highlight and provide training for what we consider the best web tools currently available.  Trainings will be held in the Upper School Library's Multimedia lab and scheduled at the faculty's convenience.

To learn more about the training series, go to the "About the Trainings" section on the NCS Library Website.

Our Inspiration

The constant and easy availability of information on the Internet has changed the way we experience the world.  These changes are also affecting education.  Our Internet-saturated students have new expectations of education and technology.

Watch the video below for a great example of a 21st Century student who has, with the help of her teachers, empowered her own learning through free tools available online.

Alternative Presentation Tools 

For the First Quarter (September 2010 - October 2010), we will focus on Alternative Presentation Tools.  While PowerPoint is a standard technology that often gets the job done, there are a slew of new sites online that can easily and effectively engage your students in the classroom.

Break the mold and consider using something other than Power Point!  Either implement these tools yourself, or have students turn in assignments using these tools. 

First Alternative Presentation Tutorial: Glogster

The first Alternative Presentation tool we will focus on is Glogster EDU, an interactive web-based tool that permits users to create an online poster.  On this poster, you can add various elements such as sound, video, animated graphics, and web links, that are not possible when designing a conventional poster.

Glogster also allows users to become more creative because of the site's multi-dimensional interface. Glogster is a green technology, and you can even embed finished "glogs" in your Moodle account or elsewhere.  Here's an example of one of the library's glogs: 

Click here to view the Glogster in a larger window.

Schedule a Training

To set up a time for training, email Chip Chase and list your available times.

Also, if there is a specific technology tool that you would like to implement in your classroom, but not covered in our Teaching Tools on Your Time website, please let us know and we'd be glad to help provide training for you or your students.

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