TCAPSLoop Podcast

Summer Opportunities for Professional Learning

TCAPSLoop Pod Topic: Summer Opportunities for Professional Development and Fun!
The Run Down:
(02:58) WIREDTC - wiredtc.net
Highlights include sessions on AI, esports, SEL, digcit, powerschool, computational thinking, Canva, etc.
 
(07:05) Doodle for your Noodle
More information and sign up: Doodle For Your Noodle - Professional Learning - REMC Home
 
(08:55) TCAPS Digital Wellness Choice Board
Learn More: Adult Learning Digital Wellness Choice Board 
Sign up: Digital Wellness Learning Series Sign Up
 
(11:34) REMC Courses
 
(12:03) Michigan Virtual MyPD - 
Use METS 2022 Fall Rally playlist or 
TCAPS Loop Podcast content to design your own PD opportunity
 
(13:24) Big Conferences 
CSTA
ISTE (one is virtual, one has a virtual option)
 
(14:12) Tech Tool of the Week:
Check out your local library
TADL does BATA bus passes, 3d printing, Library of Things, Online Resources like Libby, MICHIGAN ACTIVITY PASS (Dennos Museum)
 
(01:02) Moment of Zen:
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
― John Lubbock, The Use Of Life
 
Hosts: Danelle Brostrom, Larry BurdenUm and Ramble Editing: Larry Burden
 

Portrait of A Tech Ready Graduate

TCAPSLoop Pod Topic: Making sure students are "Tech Ready" post graduation.The Run Down:
(00:21) Diversity through exploration  
(04:29) How do you teach "Resiliency"
(07:31) Employers want "Collaborators"
(8:37) Tech Skills
(10:27) TCAPS Portrait of a Graduate, "Collaborator"
(11:53) TCAPS Portrait of a Graduate, "Resilient"
(13:20) The stats that back it up.
(17:30) Backpack of tech survival tools
(19:29) Soft skills are the key
(20:34) Digital Literacy
 
(22:16) Moment of Zen:
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” - John Dewey
Hosts: David Noller, Larry BurdenUm and Ramble Editing: Larry Burden
 

Take A Virtual Trip!

Topic for the Week:  Virtual Experiences
 
There's nothing quite like a field trip: That day when permission slips grant students golden tickets to an experience outside the classroom.
 
Although virtual field trips don't physically bring kids to new locations, they make use of the web and video to amplify online learning in an experiential way. Virtual field trips can be informative and inspiring.  They are inclusive because they don’t depend on funding from PTO (that may or may not be there), grant applications, etc.  All the ones we are going to talk about today are FREE.
 
So where do you start? You might already have a topic in mind, which will narrow your choices. However, you'll also want to consider what type of virtual field trips to try. 
 
Livestreaming - means students watch a live feed from a camera in another location. 
Interactive exploration offers students a multimedia experience that's usually more hands-on and open-ended.  This might look like a 3d online tour.
Video visits take kids to a location (by video) where a host or narrator provides information.
Scheduled and guided virtual field trips feature a live guide or museum docent -- often on-site -- who takes students through the experience virtually.The Run Down:
(02:04) Danelle's big ISTE announcement
(04:40) This weeks topic: Virtual Trips
(05:59) Types of Virtual Experiences
(7:49) Advice for picking a Virtual Trip for your class
(10:25) Google Arts & Culture
All the Links:
Livestreaming or Live Cams - 
Live Cameras | San Diego Zoo
Webcams | Smithsonian's National Zoo 
 
Virtual Field Trips/Tours - 
National Museum of Natural History Virtual Tours 
American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, United States
Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants Also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExploringByTheSeat 
Take a Virtual Visit to a National Park
Educator Resources - Teachers (U.S. National Park Service)
Virtual Field Trips - The Nature Conservancy
Programs | National Air and Space Museum
Field Trip Opportunities | NASA
HistoryView    
 
Google Offerings:
https://www.google.com/maps/about/treks/#/grid Great Barrier Reef one is AWESOME 
Google Arts & Culture and National Parks
https://artsandculture.google.com/ if you have VR in your school
 
Tech Tool of the Week:
(12:30) Remember that MACUL grants are open!!
(01:16) Moment of Zen:
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
― St. Augustine
Hosts: Danelle Brostrom, Larry BurdenUm and Ramble Editing: Larry Burden

From the Desk of the Director: The Dilemma of Classroom AV

TCAPSLoop Pod Topic: Large-scale Classroom A/V update district-wide. (Large scale Tech Projects in general)The Run Down:
(01:50) Tackling a major project 
(06:12) Keeping up with technology
(08:00) Where do you start
(16:20) Making sure it's manageable
(19:30) Replacement cycles
(21:00) Involving teacher and students
(25:00) When is good, good enough
Tech Tool of the Week:
(27:37) Wireless Projectors
(01:00) Moment of Zen:
“If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.”
Lyndon B. Johnson, Former President of the United States of America
Hosts: Evan O'Branovic, Larry BurdenUm and Ramble Editing: Larry Burden
 

Apps & Extensions We Love!

TCAPSLoop Pod Topic:  Apps & Extensions We Love - Join us for a fun discussion of the apps and Chrome extensions we love!Chrome Extensions We Love:
(02:23) Library Extension 
(05:03) Toucan (learn a language while you browse)
(07:48) https://coolors.co/ - Coolers has a Chrome extension!
(09:38) For students especially - Block Youtube Feed
Apps We Love:
(11:19) Headspace Meditation App - FREE for educators!
(12:08) HiHello - virtual business cards
Tech Tool of the Week:
(15:18) NameDrop.io - Pronounce names correctly
(01:00) Moment of Zen:
“The intentions of a tool are what it does. A hammer intends to strike, a vise intends to hold fast, a lever intends to lift. They are what it is made for. But sometimes a tool may have other uses that you don't know. Sometimes in doing what you intend, you also do what the knife intends, without knowing.”   - Philip Pullman
Bonus content from Danelle on the Patreon...wait, we don't have a Patreon:PD Opportunity - Abbott Elementary TV Series Study - https://michiganvirtual.org/course/abbott-elementary-tv-series-study/
 
Hosts: Danelle Brostrom, Larry BurdenUm and Ramble Editing: Larry Burden

Return of the Techtool!

TCAPSLoop Pod Topic: FREE EdTech Tools to Try Now!
(4:08) Chat GPT - use AI as a teacher to give kids examples, and help secondary students figure out how to use it as a starting point to expand from.
(10:43) Canva - A free-to-use online graphic design tool for schools!  https://blog.tcea.org/student-podcasting-canva/
(15:13) Talking Points - allows teachers to more easily communicate with families who don’t speak english as a first language 
(17:46) Tech Tool of the Week: WIREDTC site!! Wiredtc.net
Keynote Announcement! Alexis Dahl will be the 2023 WiredTC Keynote Speaker! Check out her amazing YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@AlexisDahl 
 
(00:37) Moment of Zen:
“The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.”
― Arnold Bennett
 
Hosts: Danelle Brostrom, Larry Burden
Production: Larry Burden
 
 

TCAPSLoop Episode 6.4: ChatGPT, Tool or Trouble?

Episode 6.4
Greetings and Welcome to another potentially useful TCAPSLoop EdTechPodcast!! Today's episode focuses on the future of Artificial Intelligence in education, specifically the updates to the OpenAI ChatGPT. While we discuss the concerns and drawbacks of AI there is also a realization that it's not going anywhere and will only increase in prevalence. David and Danelle provide possible uses and solutions for using it in an educator's practice. We highly recommend checking out this great resource: Chat GPT & Education - Dr Torrey Trust
 
TCAPSLoop Moment of Zen!
"I can only show you the door, you're the one that has to walk through it" – Morpheus
 
Tech Tool of the Week
Canva text to image feature
"Picture This" AI informed plant identifier mobile app 

TCAPSLoop Episode 6.3 A Dig Cit Doctors Appointment with EdVolve

Episode 6.3 - A DigCit Doctors Appointment
Greetings and Welcome to another potentially useful TCAPSLoop EdTechPodcast!! Today's show features Larry Burden, the ed-tech twitter famous, Danelle Brostrom, and a Lake Woebegon expatriate, Stephie Luyt.   
 
TCAPSLoop moment of zen
“The most important thing an institution does is not to prepare a student for a career but for a life as a citizen.” – Frank Newman 
 
Digital Citizenship Week has passed but TCAPSLoop just won't give it up. Danelle and Stephie present the EdVolve Framework for discussion and get into a deeper discussion regarding the difficulties of implementing digcit lessons into a districts curriculum.
 
Tech Tool of the Week
Killer Underwear Invasion by Elise Gravel 
"This middle grade graphic nonfiction is an ingenious introduction to media literacy for kids." 

TCAPSLoop 6.2 - Screen time: Not the Bad Guy

Episode 6.2
Greetings and Welcome to another potentially useful TCAPSLoop EdTechPodcast. Pod guests include the TechnNollerGist, David Noller, and TCAPS Director of Technology, Evan O'Branovic. We usher in Digital Citizenship week with a discussion around a recent study out of the University of Colorado, Boulder regarding "screentime" and it's effects on our children. The study has some surprising conclusions that may change how we pursue digital citizenship and digital literacy.   
TCAPSLoop Moment of Zen:
“And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” 
 

TCAPSLoop Episode 6.1 Banned Books Week

Well, hello there!
It's time for another season of the TCAPSLoop Edtech podcast, where once again we attempt to demystify educational technology and inspire our fellow educators, parents and any other sentient beings to embrace these amazing educational tools and ideas. 
 
TCAPSLoop Moment of Zen:
Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.  - Frederick Douglass
 
On Today's Agenda:
Stephie is joined by High School Head Librarians: Genevieve Minor, and Larissa Vanderzee to discuss what's new at their libraries including peer and writer mentoring. They also touch on the process of putting together a collection and other resources libraries can provide for students. Finally we acknowledge "Banned Books Week," September 18-24. Originally launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. This week we invite you to, "join librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular."
 
Tech Tool of the Week:
Developing Digital Detectives: Rethinking Banned Books Week