Radnor Township School District teachers expanded their knowledge of educational technology during a professional development day dedicated to ed tech on Feb. 16 at Radnor High School.
The day began with a keynote presentation by Chris Aviles, a.k.a "The Teched Up Teacher." Mr. Aviles is the 21st Century Skills, Technology, and Innovation Coordinator for Fair Haven School District in Fair Haven, NJ, where he teaches the Fair Haven Innovates program he created in 2015.
In addition to sharing tips on using technology to empower students during his keynote, Mr. Aviles led smaller sessions on "Schoology for the Advanced User" and "Innovating My Curriculum" as well as joined group discussions with faculty members throughout the day.
Led by a colleague, teachers in third- through fifth-grades learned how to use the district's Learning Management System, Schoology, to streamline lessons and organize projects and activities. During the session, teachers created folders for lessons and learned to upload activities, discussions, Nearpods, and quizzes.
Beth Zigmont from the DCIU showed off some of the devices available through RTSD's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Lending Library. Teachers explored Beebots, Ozobots, Squishy Circuits, Virtual Reality, advanced robotics (and more) and learned how they might incorporate these modern tools into instruction. All devices were either purchased by the district or funded by the Radnor Educational Foundation.*
Pictured sessions are "Seesaw (K-2)" led by Wayne Elementary School kindergarten teacher Amy Thompson; "Blended+Flipped Learning in the Classroom" led by Howard Glasser from The University of the Arts; and "Google Tools: An Intro for Educators" led by RTSD Technology Consultant Kate McKenna.
RTSD Director of Secondary Teaching and Learning Dr. Maureen McQuiggan also provided Radnor High School teachers an update on the Technology Integration Study currently being conducted by the district. The study's current focus is on the RHS 1-to-1 program.
Other sessions were led by representatives from Nearpod, GatesIdeas and Microsoft in addition to teachers from Radnor High School, Radnor Middle School and Radnor Elementary School.
