This Moodle course is a professional development blended learning course focused on instructional technology.  As a blended learning course, most of the work will be complete online with limited "face-to-face" meetings. 

This blended learning course is designed and targeted for educators. All coursework would be completed online, independently, and self-paced. Sections are built around various aspects of instructional technology pedagogy, tools, and sharing. Each section would provide the learner with a solid understanding of the different instructional technology piece as well as practical strategies and materials that can be used in the participant's own classroom. Educators would learn how instructional technology can empower students and expand the boundaries of human knowledge.  

Tutorials and documentation on using the Mac computer in the classroom

Overall Goal or Objective of this professional development: Teachers across the county have been coming together to review the CCSS standards and to develop new curriculum units of instruction to meet the new standards requirements. This workshop series is intended to support teacher development so they are equipped to be instructional leaders of this work in their district. This will allow district leaders to reach the masses and ensure that all teachers are focusing on 21st Century learning as outlined by the Common Core and the Next Generation Assessment System. Through this training- teams of teachers from across the district will participate in one of the three series offered during 2012-2013 so full district-wide application of practices and processes will be established by the December 2013.

• The GRCS New Teacher Induction is about sustained, comprehensive, and job-embedded professional development to equip faculty new to GRCS to best meet the needs of all learners. The process of high-quality teacher induction has been growing in the past 30 years. Research has shown the importance of providing mentors along with an induction process by which teachers can learn the culture of the district, school, and classrooms through on-going reflection, support, collaborative problem-solving, and shared responsibility (e.g., Feiman-Nemser, 2003; The Education Trust, 2012; Wong, 2005 in Portner). Through this year long process that includes face time, professional reading, on-going collaboration with individual mentors and building level coaches, and online work through Moodle, learners will acquire the information needed to navigate the tools and practices used at GRCS for assessment, curriculum, instruction, teams, and decision-making successfully. This induction process will ensure that our new faculty benefit from the research findings on how to best support and retain new teachers, and that practices learned are translated efficiently and effectively into the classroom to impact student learning.