The North TIER partnership is a consortium of 14 Northern Virginia school divisions and MHz NETWORKS that provides professional development to instructional personnel in the successful integration of technology into instruction.The North TIER partnership, in conjunction with CRSTE, is proud to be able to make a limited number of seats available in some of our best online professional development courses.So, for those of you looking for high quality, technology-rich courses, register for a North TIER course today.
These courses are entirely online, through a Blackboard Learning Management system and can be accessed from anyplace with an internet connection.
There are no set meeting dates and times which means you can work on the courses on your schedule, 24-7.
Registration for non-members is June 1-22, 2010
Courses run June 28 through August 15, 2010 and at $100 for a 30 hour course is the among the best professional development deal you can find.
There is a $100 registration fee for each North TIER course. In addition, Course Participants must agree to the following terms and conditions:
1. Complete a pre-training and follow-up survey.
2. Work with another teacher on developing a technology-infused lesson, unit or project at some point in the future. You may be asked to provide the North TIER with the name(s) of the colleague(s) who worked with you directly as a result of the professional development opportunity.
3. Agree to the North TIER polices. In particular, please note the policy for dropping courses without penalty. NOTE: At the end of the course participants receive a certificate of completion. North Tier does not produce transcripts. Summer 2010 Course Information
Course information including where and how to login is emailed to you a couple of days before courses begin.
The online courses are not conducted at a certain time of the day. During the first day of the online course week, the instructor will post an assignment on the EDC Blackboard system. Class participants must log in to Blackboard at points during the course week, complete the activities, and participate in the discussion board.
There is not a set time each week for logging in. Participants are also expected to go back to the discussion board a couple of times during the week to respond to other people's posts.
Participants can expect to spend at least 4-6 hours each week completing class activities. There are 30 hours of work.
There is a $100, non-refundable course fee for each course. Participants should not enroll in more than two courses.
Registration is from June 1 and June 22, 2010.
Courses run from June 28-August 15, 2010.
Note: Participants in these courses are requested to consent to sharing their knowledge and participate in surveys. All sessions will be conducted online. All projects must be submitted on or before the final date. For more information contact aron.sterling@fcps.edu
Look through the list of courses and locate the course you wish to take. Then choose the “CLICK TO ENROLL” button.
If you have taken a North TIER course before, click on “I’M A REGISTERED USER,” and you will be prompted to sign into your account. If you have forgotten your password, please use the “forgot password” feature in My Learning Plan.
If you have never taken a North TIER class before, click on “I’M A NEW USER” to create a user name and password and sign up for courses.
Once you have completed the process you will receive an email confirming your enrollment.
Payment information will be sent to you at the start of the course. North TIER accepts PayPal for credit cards only.
If you do not hear from your instructor within three days of the start of your course, please contact aron.sterling@fcps.edu
Building a Better Classroom: Constructivism in a Web 2.0 World Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School Today's classroom teachers face many instructional challenges trying to balance the demands of NCLB, curriculum pacing guides, technology and inquiry in a constructivist classroom. Participants in this six-week course will examine and apply the principles of constructivist theory to identify changes that must take place to increase the level of technology integration in their classroom. Videos, online websites, and Web 2.0 tools will accompany readings in this fast-paced and challenging course. Participants will build a dream classroom, create rubrics and learn to use a Web 2.0 interface, which will become part of the final project.
Creating Educational Podcasts Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School, and College In this workshop, participants will explore the use of educational podcasts in regular curricula activities. Participants will take a look at a variety of podcasts and methods for incorporating podcasts into curricula projects, as well as the role of copyright. Participants will create a simple podcast file using the free audio editor and recording software, Audacity. The course also looks into the role of RSS feeds and Aggregators. This workshop is geared toward the classroom teacher who has intermediate technology skills. Cycling Through Science 2.0 Appropriate for Elem., Middle School Science and technology go together in many ways! Through the use of videos, readings and web-based tools, participants will explore the use of real-time data, look at a variety of web-based tools, such as Google Earth, and find out how the web can connect students to real science and scientists. Participants will understand how science and mathematics fit together and have the opportunity to work in a group to develop final projects, based on shared interest. This course is designed for elementary and middle school teachers, but is open to everyone!
Get Engaged…Using Interactive Whiteboards in Your 21st Century Classroom Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School This course is designed to introduce new and beginner users of any interactive white board to the many ways you can incorporate it into your classroom and engage students in learning. Interactive whiteboard technology is a powerful tool when embedded into classroom instruction. This course will provide users with an array of ideas - from online blogs and websites to teacher created lessons. Participants will also be introduced to communities of educators where they can share ideas and gain additional uses of the interactive whiteboard and other technologies.
Harnessing the Power of Digital Images in the Elementary Classroom Appropriate for Elem., Middle School In this workshop participants will explore the concept of visual literacy and incorporating digital images in instruction. Participants will take a look at a variety of digital image galleries and a range of methods for incorporating and manipulating digital images into curricula projects using software programs such as Inspiration, ImageBlender and the Microsoft Office Suite. Each participant will create a project-based lesson, incorporating the use of digital images, which supports their curricular goals. This workshop is geared toward the elementary classroom teacher but with some modification in the final project and related student activities, it would also be suitable for middle school teachers.
Implementing Technology into your Social Studies Curriculum Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School This course will take teachers on adventures geared toward enhancing social studies instruction by exploring the world of technology and ways to integrate it into classroom instruction. Each week of this six week course will take participants on a new adventure in this wonderful and ever changing world of technology with the ultimate goal of improving instruction to better educate all students. Participants will look at kid-safe strategies, primary sources and a variety of great tools to make movies, timelines and graphic organizers. When this course ends teachers will have created their own web based project and a hotlist of valuable websites that they can use in their classrooms.
Information Literacy and Technology Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School Using the Big6(tm) Information Literacy model, this course will focus on best practices in teaching information literacy skills. We will be using available hardware and software to integrate online research. The focus will be on the skills needed to locate, analyze, interpret, evaluate and record information and ideas using online resources. At the completion of the course, participants will have gathered all of the resources needed to teach their students information literacy skills in their own classroom. This model is just one model for Information Literacy. If your district has its own model you are required to use, please use that one in your work.
Integrating Web 2.0 Technologies in Classroom Learning Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School, and College The rise of interactive technology has created exciting new possibilities for student learning and teaching, from online collaborative learning, interactive learning and communication spaces, to production of multimedia presentations. This purpose of this course is to explore the opportunities for learning with Web 2.0 technologies to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. We will focus on Web 2.0 applications that enhance the possibilities for student collaboration, exchange of information and content creation. Tools explored include collaborative applications such as wikis, Google Docs, Wordl, Skype, Animoto, Glogster, and VoiceThread.
Introduction to Blogs Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School, and College While blogs or weblogs have been around for a while, the idea seems to have caught on in education over the past two years. This online course will help participants explore questions such as what is a blog? Do blogs have any implications for the way instruction happens in the classroom? How can blogs make a difference for students? How can someone start a blog? The course will allow participants to create blogs, learn about the different tools and options available inside of popular blog tools and understand the legal considerations surrounding this instructional tool. Let’s Collaborate! Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School, and College Get ready for a fun, unique, and challenging course! This course will prepare teachers to use productivity tools in a collaborative manner with students to enhance learning and creativity. Participants will practice what they are learning by working collaboratively right from the start! Projects in the course provide participants with opportunities to create meaningful learning experiences through peer review, collaborative presentations, and online groups and discussions. This course may push some boundaries, so this is a course for risk takers. You must also be willing to collaborate with all members of the course in order to be successful in this course. Reading and Writing in Your 21st Century Classroom Appropriate for Elem., Middle School Close the digital divide and seamlessly integrate technology into your Language Arts curriculum. Educators must create an interactive environment utilizing the read/write web if they are going to be successful in engaging students in learning. Participants will explore a variety of exciting online tools and resources designed to provide teachers in the elementary classroom with 21st century ideas to enhance their Reading and Language Arts curriculum. Teacher Leaders: 21st Century Staff Developers Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School, and College The six week course is divided up into themes (or modules). Participants will have an opportunity to reflect on their own work as a teacher leader and be provided the opportunity to expand their understanding and self-awareness as a professional change agent and teacher leader in their school or school division. In addition, opportunities to examine school culture and develop an action plan are included as required activities. Opportunities for professional growth include an introduction to the National Staff Development Council Standards, teacher leadership, and research best practices on cultivating a climate of "continuous improvement" among teachers and students in their own school. In addition, participants will be exposed to the change literature and updated readings on teacher leadership. By the end of the course, each participant will produce a leadership plan for personal and/or professional growth. These products are designed to be a "working document" that participants will use in their daily practice. Technology To Support Writing SOLs - Secondary Appropriate for Middle, High School Teaching writing to students can often be overwhelming. Technology can provide teachers an opportunity to help students organize their thoughts easily, create quick outlines and easily edit and submit their work. Technology can also allow for more thorough peer editing and allow teachers to provide meaningful feedback on student work in detail. Finally, with the advent of many Web 2.0 tools, the sharing and "publishing" of student work to an "audience" is more convenient and more accessible. This course is meant for any secondary level teacher in any subject area who is interested in using common technology tools to help students improve their writing skills. Register at: http://tinyurl.com/yjpol6k Registration is from June 1-22, 2010 Information at: http://www.mhznetworks.org/northtier/ Courses run from June 28-August 15, 2010 Universal Design for Learning Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School, and College This workshop, developed in 2009 by Spotsylvania County Public Schools’ ITRTs, Assistive Technology Specialists, Dr. Fran Smith, Virginia Commonwealth University, and materials available through CAST and our Virginia T-TAC, provides an introduction to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and strategies for implementing a UDL approach in the K-12 setting. I like to refer to UDL in our school division as "re-engineering your classroom" in advance of your students to ensure that every students’ needs will be met and to offer multiple means of representation or choices to master today’s curriculum.
Universal Design for Learning is an approach to teaching and learning and the development of curriculum and assessment that draws on research and 21st century tools to meet the needs of every learner. The basic tenet of UDL is that a curriculum should include alternatives to make it accessible and applicable to students representing different learning styles, abilities, disabilities, and cultures in widely varied learning contexts. Using Graphic Organizers to Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School, and College This six session course provides strategies to help participants integrate graphic organizers into classroom lessons and activities to promote higher order thinking skills among students. Participants will develop graphic organizers to use with the students and become familiar with the different options available for integrating activities into the classroom that will increase student learning and understanding of complex topics. Graphic organizers teach students to organize thoughts, develop writing skills and understand the components necessary to complete objectives and goals. By the end of this course participants will have developed graphic organizers that: will help students make connections, demonstrate understanding of processes, and determine relationships such as cause and effect and sequence of events. Visual Literacy: Creating a Media-Rich Classroom Appropriate for Elem., Middle, High School, and College Our students are visual learners and understanding and mastering visual concepts and techniques is a primary strategy for reaching today’s students. In addition, helping students understand and be able to produce media extends their learning in ways not possible with traditional classroom tools. In this class participants will learn how to make their classroom a media-rich environment by both finding and creating everything from effective print documents to short videos. Participants will learn simple principles that will improve any media and understand the underlying brain research and practice applying these concepts in their classroom.
Participants should have access to: A page layout program of their choice (MS Publisher, InDesign, word processor); a video camera (a flip-type camera or in-camera video will do—as will a web cam); video editing software (Windows Moviemaker,
