Educational technology and professional development are key issues for Michigan teachers and educators. As an educator you have access to a variety of professional development programs and choosing the right program can sometimes be difficult. Your choices include in-service workshops, online courses offered by various providers, and graduate courses offered by colleges and universities such as Michigan State. (more…)

A Success Story: MSU’s Educational Technology Certificate Program

The Educational Technology Certificate Program is one of the most successful programs ever offered at Michigan State University. Over 2,000 teachers in Michigan and around the world have completed this three-course, nine-credit graduate program. Completion of this sequence results in the receipt of a Technology Certificate (http://edutech.msu.edu). The aim of this sequence is not only to help individuals use the hardware and software generally available in their organizations, but also to help them use it in ways resulting in observable gains in student learning. Because of the constant changes in technology, the Certificate courses are continually being updated to reflect the technology currently available in schools.

To foster critical thinking regarding appropriate uses of technology, there has been a continual focus on educational research and what such research says about improving teaching and learning. To give the participants ready access to the research, the Certificate Program has made use of Dr. Larry Lezotte’s Correlates of Effectives Schools. Lezotte identified seven correlates which must be present in order for a school to be effective. For the past 14 years, Lezotte has been publishing abstracts of key research studies. Presently there are more than 1100 abstracts in an on-line database (http://esrlink.com). Each abstract defines what the researchers did, what they found, and the implications of the research for the educational setting.

Program participants are provided access to this database to guide them in identifying key problems and technology-based solutions for their own school settings. Such solutions are defined in a formal proposal and submitted as part of the course sequence. A technology-based proposal writing guide is used in the development of such proposals. It is noteworthy that a number of these proposals eventually have been funded, providing a double payoff for the work done by the participants.

For more information, contact us at 517-432-9259 or visit our website at http://edutech.msu.edu.

–Norman Bell, Co-Editor

Want to continue learning and earn a graduate degree in educational technology? Check out MSU’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology!The MSU College of Education offers a masters degree in Educational Technology through an intensive summer cohort program in East Lansing, Traverse City, and Plymouth, England.

The MAET program builds on the foundation laid by CEP 810, 811, and 812 to deepen educators’ understanding of how new technologies can support teaching and learning, with an emphasis on developing student understanding of subject matter and problem-solving abilities. This summer’s MAET students have just completed an intense and productive month together. They read and discussed technology issues relating to teaching, learning, and curriculum, honed their web development skills, explored the use of digital video, and planned inquiry projects through which they will tackle important problems of practice in their own classrooms.

The Certificate Program is a prerequisite for the MAET program and by completing the Certificate Program you have almost 1/3 of the MAET done! So enroll today for the Certificate or, if you’ve completed the Certificate Program, apply for the MAET program by contacting Leigh Graves Wolf, Program Coordinator at gravesle@msu.edu.

Find out more about the MAET program at http://edutech.msu.edu/masters.html

– Ralph Putnam, MAET Program Director

An Unusual Use of PowerPoint

In displaying pictures, it is often useful to place a related set of pictures on a single 8 ½” by 11″ piece of photo paper. A typical approach would be to open a blank Microsoft Word document and then place and resize the pictures as needed, adding text where appropriate. Sometimes, however, it is desirable to place the pictures on angles, so as to make the final product more interesting to the eye, in effect making a montage of the pictures. In order to rotate the pictures, it has been found that by placing them on a single PowerPoint slide, the pictures can each be variably rotated, producing a display that is very pleasing to the eye. To develop such a montage, open PowerPoint and from the Slide Layout menu, select a Content Layout that is blank. Format the background using Format-Background-Fill Effects-Two Colors (white and blue, for example), and then select a Shading style (Horizontal, Vertical, Diagonal up, Diagonal down, From corner, and From title). Selecting “From title” provides an attractive location in the center for the title of the montage.

Then select and insert the pictures to be used. Resize and rotate as necessary to produce a montage that is attractive and interesting. The number of pictures will be greatly influenced by the sizes of the individuals in the pictures. Cropping can be very helpful in maintaining the visibility of the individuals in the pictures.

Decide what text will be used to title the montage and perhaps using WordArt, develop and place the text.

The more difficult task is then at hand-placing the pictures so as to produce the final product. It seems as if much trial and error comes into play at this point so as to allow the montage to tell the story that you desire.

Once the pictures and text have been positioned as desired, review your product one more time, and then print. In the PowerPoint print menu, you will be printing the only slide that you have produced.

This photo montage strategy could be used very effectively to record a class field trip, to honor students for class presentations, to report to parents about the range of work students have done, or for students to develop an attractive title page for a portfolio of their work. PowerPoint enables you or your students to create a very attractive and professional document to communicate high expectations, to honor students for their work and effort, and to generate excitement about what is happening in your classroom!

–Norman Bell, Co-Editor

Making Webpages Available for Offline Use In the Classroom

Have you ever planned to show a particular website for a lesson only to have the Internet not working that day. Here is a method to follow which will allow you to have a “backup” of the website to use in the event that access to the Internet is not an option.

Steps for Accessing Websites Offline

1. Using Internet Explorer, locate and display the website
2. Click on “Favorites” on the Menu bar and choose “Add to Favorites”
3. Click on “Make available offline”
4. Click “Customize” and “Next”
5. Click “Yes, 3 deep, Next”
6. Click “Only, Next”
7. Click “No Password. . . Finish”

Auto-synchronization will take place

To use

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. On the Menu bar select File-Work Offline
3. Select Favorites and then select desired website

–Norman Bell, Co-Editor

Web Sites Worth Visiting

Our courses are taught by an outstanding team of MSU adjunct faculty, many of whom are:

 - K-12 classroom teachers themselves who have experience using educational technology in the classroom

 - Graduates from our certificate program

 - Exceptionally skilled in educational technology

 - Winners of awards such as technology Teacher of the Year from the Michigan Association of Computer-Related Technology Users in Learning (MACUL) and the national award of the International Society for Technology in Education

This quarter’s instructor spotlight is . . .

Carolyn McCarthy, Educational Technology Coordinator
Shiawassee Regional Education Service District and
an MSU Educational Technology Instructor

Carolyn has been teaching in the Certificate program since 1997. She was so excited about the hands-on approach where all her assignments could be used in her classroom, that she asked to be able to join the teaching staff to help deliver these courses around the state, and feels really fortunate to have taught it in England for two summers as well.

Carolyn graduated from Lesley College (Cambridge, MA) with her undergraduate teaching degree, and received her Masters degree in Special Education from the University of Michigan. She holds a Continuing Teaching Certificate K-12. Her heart is in education, and helping adults and youth learn to use technology to experience success in life-long learning and career activities.

Carolyn has taught over 17 years in special education classrooms K-12, been a technology coordinator for a large district, and an administrator for over 13 years. She is currently the Educational Technology Coordinator for the Shiawassee Regional Education Service District. She received the Technology-Using Teacher of the year award from MACUL and nationally from ISTE in recognition for her work in integrating technology into the classroom. Carolyn’s special education students created their own videos, multimedia CD portfolios, and ran their own small businesses to fund technology for their classroom. She has a tender spot for special education students and assistive technology applications.

Carolyn maintains an educational resource and training web site at http://www.sresd.k12.mi.us/pages/pro-dev/training.html as well as her own MSU site http://msu.edu/~voyagers/.

Question: What is a good way to go directly to a particular slide in a PowerPoint while the show is being presented? I often see presenters hit the [Esc] key, click on the Slide Sorter View icon in the lower left corner of the screen, then click on the slide to be displayed, and finally click on the Slide Show from current slide icon, again in the lower left corner of the screen. There must be a better way!Answer: You are right, there is. While the PowerPoint is being presented, type the number of the slide you wish to display, and press Enter. PowerPoint will immediately display the selected slide as if it were the next slide in the sequence. Unless you have the numerical order of your slides memorized, it would be most advantageous to have a printout of your slideshow. A quick way to do that is to display the Slide Sorter view, take a screen print by pressing Alt and Print Screen, importing that into any graphics program, and printing. You will have at least 28 slides on a single 8½” x 11″ sheet of paper.

–Norman Bell, Co-Editor

Are you a teacher interested in MSU’s Educational Technology Certificate Program? Check out the list below to see if the program is being offered in your area. If not, visit http://edutech.msu.edu/suggest.asp to get your district started with the program.

Fall 2005

CEP 810

CEP 811

Spring 2006

CEP 811

CEP 812