NYS Ed Tech Innovators - March 2019
The New York State Education Department's Office of Educational Design and Technology has some exciting news to share with our readers. In partnership with NYSCATE, we would like to announce the 1st annual NYSED sponsored Create-A-Thon on June 11 and 12, 2019. Middle school teams (Grades 6-8) are invited to develop and showcase innovative, creative, and artistic solutions utilizing technology in order to gain access and equity in education. There will be an information/kick-off session on March 18, 2019 at 4:00 PM. Please complete our Create-A-Thon Information Session Registration form to join this session. See our Create-A-Thon webpage for more information. In other news, the NYSED is developing a Parent Dashboard to increase transparency and make information about school performance and other school-level data easier for parents and the public to access. This is part of New York's ESSA plan. NYSED is gathering feedback from parents and stakeholders to guide the work of developing the Parent Dashboard. NYSED will use this feedback to identify the data that is most useful to parents and the public. Please complete this five-minute survey and tell us how we can make the Parent Dashboard as useful as possible. If you have any questions or would like more information or resources, please visit the Parent Dashboard website or contact ParentDashboard@nysed.gov.
- STEAM days at Troy City School District (TCSD) occur on a monthly basis throughout a regular school day and include sessions that allow students to learn through technology, from robotics to virtual field trips around the world through video-conferencing. With the help of instructional technology coaches appointed to assist teachers in embedding technology in their lesson plans, TCSD increased attendance school-wide and increased student engagement and participation to create safe and responsible digital citizens.
- What is esports and why should a student play esports in school? A science teacher from Rensselaer City School District offers his perspective, while also sharing the steps taken and challenges faced throughout development and implementation of an esports program at his school.
- Instructional technology specialists from Nassau BOCES are collaborating with teachers in several districts across Nassau County, focusing on Professional Development in order to integrate technology into the classroom. By providing teachers with the knowledge and capability to use technology in their curriculum, Nassau BOCES and teachers from Nassau County are enriching the education of over 200,000 students across the region.
