Model+Effective+Use

==**Model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning **==

Teachers can most effectively model the use of digital tools by integrating them with their classes. In order to fully realize this goal teachers must already be able to  demonstrate fluency in technology systems. By using these tools in everyday classes on relevant assignments students learn firsthand how to effectively leverage these tools. There is a plethora of examples and resources available to teachers online with which they can do this. Please note that in the resources below the descriptions have been taken from their respective websites.

[|The Gateway]:
Whether you're a [|student, teacher], [|administrator] or a [|concerned education partner], there's something for everyone to help you meet the challenges of teaching and learning in the 21st Century!
 * Access to over 50,000 [|thousand quality learning resources] of the GEM collection through the latest in faceted search technology
 * [|Reinforce core content with learning resources] from NASA, PBS, National Science Foundation and over 700 other contributing education content providers
 * Access to 21st Century teaching tools, assessments and [|professional development]
 * Access to the [|Achievement Standards Network], a digitized version of every state's core academic standards

Educational Resources

 * Thinkfinity.org makes it easy for educators to enhance their classroom instruction with lesson plans, interactive activities and other online resources. Thinkfinity.org also provides a wealth of educational and literacy resources for students, parents and after-school programs.
 * All of Thinkfinity.org's 55,000 standards-based K-12 lesson plans, student materials, interactive tools and reference materials are reviewed by the nation's leading education organizations to ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date, unbiased and appropriate for students.
 * At Thinkfinity.org, you'll find primary source materials, interactive student resources and grade-specific research lists to help you tailor materials to meet your needs. Start exploring now!

Professional Development
Our comprehensive professional development program prepares educators to easily incorporate Thinkfinity.org's rich resources for maximum impact. The Thinkfinity Professional Development Program is designed to:
 * Provide teachers with the tools and materials necessary to locate and use online resources effectively.
 * Help educators work with their peers to create useful lesson plans, activities and research exercises.
 * Meet educators' needs for high-quality training with measurable results.
 * Leverage a scalable training model to produce the greatest educational impact.

[|An Almanac of Things for Learning]:
No matter what the educational climate, teachers and teens can weave 21st Century innovation into the curriculum and still achieve rigorous educational standards. Rethink and explore by "tooling up" and incorporating one innovation every other week into your learning cycle. By June, your creative collaboration, critical thinking and solution forecasting will have a new set of tools to help you weather any "brain" storm.

[|PBworks for Classrooms]:
PBworks hosts more classroom workspaces than anyone else in the world, and lets you create a simple, secure workspace in about 60 seconds. Workspaces drive engagement and collaboration. A workspace is a live, evolving document – but gives you user tracking and access controls to monitor your workspace at all times. You can make your workspace public or private or anywhere in between. No matter what, PBworks keeps your students’ information safe.

[|Wikis, blogs and podcasts in class]:
A slideshow covering the creative use of technology in class. Discusses benefits, considerations, resources, and examples regarding the use of wiki, blogs, and podcasts in the classroom.

[|WebQuest.Org]:
A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. The model was developed by [|Bernie Dodge] at San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early input from SDSU/Pacific Bell Fellow [|Tom March,]the [|Educational Technology] staff at San Diego Unified School District, and waves of participants each summer at the [|Teach the Teachers Consortium]. Since those beginning days, tens of thousands of teachers have embraced WebQuests as a way to make good use of the internet while engaging their students in the kinds of thinking that the 21st century requires.

[|JavaBat]:
This web site is specific to Computer Science teachers. JavaBat is a personal favorite of mine for use in Java and A.P. Computer Science classes. From the website: JavaBat is a free site of live Java coding problems to build coding skill ([|example problem]), created by [|Nick Parlante] who is computer science lecturer at Stanford. The coding problems give immediate feedback, so it's an opportunity to practice and solidify understanding of the concepts. The problems could be used as homework, or for self-study practice, or in a lab, or as live lecture examples. The problems, all listed off the [|JavaBat home], have low overhead: short problem statements (like an exam) and immediate feedback in the browser. The idea for JavaBat came from my experience teaching CS at Stanford combined with seeing how student's used unit-tests in more advanced courses, and crystalized when I saw an [|Owen Astrachan] demo of a unit-testing thing he uses with his Duke students. JavaBat is now a fully built-out server, so anyone is free to use it, email it around, or whatever.

[|Inspiration]:
[|Inspiration®] applies visual learning methodologies that engage students' learning in language arts, science and social studies and support planning and thinking. Use these examples and resources to help you start using Inspiration with confidence and creativity.