At Bits & Pieces we are excited to start another year supporting all of your educational technology needs. To help you navigate both The BNP and the bigger waters of educational technology, we’ve put together this handy guide to all things Bits and Pieces. Read on to find out all that it can do.
To begin with, you can check out this video introducing our Educational Technology Department staff.
Using Bits & Pieces
If this is your first time to Bits & Pieces, watch this tour to find out about all the stuff we do here. We also created a page of quick tips for getting the most out of The BNP.
Follow Us (Win an iPad for your class)
We update Bits & Pieces all the time. It can be hard to keep up with. To make keeping up easier, we have enabled a ‘follow’ feature which will send an email to your ISD inbox each time we update (or you can choose to get a digest version.)
In fact, we want you to follow us so bad, we are giving away a classroom iPad to one teacher who has ‘followed’ us by October 14. For details on our ‘Follow Drive’ and to learn how to follow us, read up here.
The New Tools Podcast
In addition to a variety of supports and resources available on ISD tech (see below on finding ISD tech resources) we also have a fortnightly podcast called The New Tools. It is a conversation about using technology in the classroom that is available through iTunes and Stitcher. We just posted our Back to School episode, check it out while you drive go or go out for a run.
Finding Tech Resources
The start of a new school year is always exciting, action-packed and often, there is little time to stop and avail ourselves of all the resources and tools at our disposal. To help you take notice of, and find some of those resources, Bits and Pieces, has created introductions to essential ISD tech resources and tools that will help you in creating powerful learning experiences for your students.
Click on the patches below to be taken to an introduction page for that tool or resource. In addition to helping you become familiar with the resources, these introductions will also direct you to supports that will help you learn and implement these tools, find out who to ask for help and provide some helpful hints for using the tools effectively.
Issaquah School District works hard to provide resources to you and also to make sure you are paid for your time. In order to help you know what you’ve been paid for we created the Tech Pay Tracker. Click on the patch below to find out about being paid for tech training and also to access the Tech Pay Tracker.
As more and more of our curriculum is moving into the digital sphere, managing passwords and remembering links has become harder. To help secondary teachers and students more easily manage all of the resources and passwords, ISD has turned to Classlink, an online tool and desktop application that connects you to the resources you need and evens puts in the passwords for you. Click on the path below to learn more about how Classlink can help.
We also know that finding out about training opportunities can sometimes be difficult. To help with that we have created an tech training calendar. You can access it by clicking on the patch below. Additionally, every Friday, we will have a post that highlights tech training opportunities coming up soon. Look for the patch or check the calendar to keep up on the latest opportunities for growth and support.
