Seen and Heard
Quality Matters Professional Development Grants Awarded
eTech Ohio awarded ten Quality Matters Professional Dvelopment grants to regional service agencies and consortia to build capacity and opportunities to for agencies to deliver quality professional development to the schools and educators they serve utilizing the Quality Matters standards and rubric and to build a sustainable model for the future. Learn more about the grant here.
OETC 2013 Featured Outstanding Keynotes, First UnConference
eTech Ohio was proud to host the 15th annual Ohio Educational Technology Conference, February 11-13 in Columbus with the theme of Equip, Engage, Empower. Each day of the conference focused on a particular theme. Monday offered a one-stop shop for folks to explore Blended Learning, anchored by a keynote address from Heather Staker of the Innosight Institute. Tech Coordinator Tuesday began with a keynote by Max Brooks of Discovery Education Network, and also featured one of the Conference’s most talked about new events: OETCx, UnConference style sessions which took place alongside the over 400 scheduled sessions. Wednesday brought a closing focus on Higher Education innovation, with keynote addresses from Andrew Ng of Coursera and Sebastian Thrun of Udacity, both pioneers in the field of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
Ohio's Second-Annual Digital Learning Day Sets World Record
Over 29,000 Ohio students set a world record for the largest group of students learning online during the school day on February 6, Ohio's second annual Digital Learning Day. The record was completed in conjunction with a ready-to-go interactive lesson on nutrition utilizing multiple digital learning strategies. Digital Learning Day 2013 featured social media engagement, including two Twitter chats hosted by eTech Ohio, and concluded with a panel discussion, "Leading the Learning: Leadership's role in launching and expanding Blended Learning," hosted by WOSU@COSI and airing on WOSU Fridays in April.
Internet Safety Training Available at No Cost to Ohio Schools
eTech Ohio is pleased to make Learning.com's EasyTech Online Safety available to all Ohio school districts. EasyTech Online Safety is a web-delivered district-wide solution that also documents E-Rate compliance with reports on student performance. Available at no cost to all of Ohio's chartered non-public and public school districts through eTech Ohio, more information about this initiative (including introductory webinar dates) can be found at www.etech.ohio.gov/internet-safety-training.
Stay In Touch
Visit our blog at www.etech.ohio.gov/etech-connect. Featuring news and ideas from Ohio's educational technology leaders, promising practices and news from local entities that are making it work, and information and announcements about eTech Ohio's core services, eTech Ohio Connect is in the service of conceptualizing and deploying best practices in Ohio schools and maintaining Ohio's status as a leader in edtech dialogue and practice.
Consider joining us on our social media sites—Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook and Twitter. They are great places to speak with us directly and to get news and other information.
