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Richland School District Two is honored with the 2014 ISTE Sylvia Charp Award

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Award Winners Will Be Recognized at ISTE 2014 in Atlanta, June 28-July 1

WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 6, 2014 – Today the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE^®) announced its 2014 award winners. Each year ISTE recognizes individuals who are transforming learning, teaching and leading in the digital age. The winners will be honored at ISTE 2014, one of the biggest, most comprehensive ed tech events, to be held June 28-July 1 at the Georgia World Conference Center in Atlanta. 

South Carolina’s Richland School District Two is the winner of the 2014 Sylvia Charp Award for District Innovation in Technology. Presented by ISTE andT.H.E. Journal, in honor of the magazine’s founding editor, this award recognizes a school system for exhibiting effectiveness and innovation in the application of technology. Richland School District Two is honored for bringing innovative practices to its classrooms, through both a 1:1 and BYOD programs that are being implemented with a focus on ensuring that the proper policies and procedures to support learning are in place. Technology integration coordinator Donna Teuber and the Technology Integration team will attend ISTE 2104 to accept the award on the district’s behalf. 

What is the Sylvia Charp Award for District Innovation in Technology?

Presented by T.H.E. Journal and ISTE, this award recognizes a school system larger than one individual school (school district, school board, secretariat of education, education organization) that exhibits effectiveness and innovation in the application of technology.

Honoring Dr. Sylvia Charp, the founding editor of T.H.E. Journal, and her groundbreaking contributions and extended service to the education technology community, this award has two focuses:

• Widespread implementation: The winner will ensure equitable and appropriate technology use for all students in the system, aimed at improving learner outcomes and increasing learning opportunities.
• Innovation: Progress in education, as in all endeavors of our society, depends on new ideas.

What is going on with 1TWO1?

Update on our 1TWO1 initiative.

Richland 2 WE NEED YOUR HELP! Update your DE Streaming (StreamlineSC) Account

Over the next few months we will be making some changes to DE Streaming (StreamlineSC) and we need your help to make sure we are ready for the changes. If you have a Discovery Education Streaming account, we need to ask you to please update your email address to your school email account.

How do you can you check your account?
Go to http://www.discoveryeducation.com
Log in to your account.

Click on the Edit Profile button under your name.

Scroll down to contact information and update your email to your @richland2.org email.

Finally, scroll to the bottom of the page: check the box that all of your information is correct and click submit.

Thank you for your help with this matter. Please share this will 

all of your Richland Two teachers. 

PreK - 2nd Grade Digital Starter Kit is HERE!

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! PreK-2nd grade teachers.... were you looking for resources to integrate technology in your class? Here it is! This list is a great place to start looking. 

Start your school year off with the Digital Starter Kit

Teachers you have asked for resources and places to start for projects and assignments. Well, here you have it. Last year a team of your colleagues worked with the District 1TWO1 Strategic Planning committee to create this wonderful resource. The District 1TWO1 Digital Starter Kit is here to help you design technology rich lessons.

This list is NOT a comprehensive list but a great starting point if you want to try something new. You can be assured that all of the links on this list are also OPEN and available to students. 

With this list, we have some NEW additions of sites available district wide for teachers and students. All of which can be accessed from your Google Apps Account. 

1. Voice Thread-  VoiceThread is a cloud application, so there is no software to install. The only system requirement is an up-to-date version of Adobe Flash. VoiceThread will work in any modern web browser and on almost any internet connection. Upload, share and discuss documents, presentations, images, audio files and videos. Over 50 different types of media can be used in a VoiceThread. Comment on VoiceThread slides using one of five powerful commenting options: microphone, webcam, text, phone, and audio-file upload. Keep a VoiceThread private, share it with specific people, or open it up to the entire world. VoiceThread can also be accessed through the iPad app.

2. Lucid Chart - Collaborative tool to make flow charts, diagrams,mind maps, etc.  Integrates with Google Drive. Free account features: Drag and drop simplicity, Extensive shape library, Real-time collaboration. Use your Google Login to access your account.

To access VoiceThread or Lucid Chart please login to your Google Apps Account and from the black navigation bar at the top, click on More and select the application you would like to use.

3. WeVideo - Online collaborative video editing  platform.  Integrates with Google Drive. More information will be forthcoming on how to access the district license of WeVideo.




Some other sites to highlight:
1. Educlipper - Have you been looking for Pinterest for education? Well, now it is here. Educlipper allows you to create a teacher account and students can create student accounts. Pin away with educlipper!

2. Padlet - Padlet is an Internet application that allows people to express their thoughts on a common topic easily. It works like an online sheet of paper where people can put any content (e.g. images, videos, documents, text) anywhere on the page, together with anyone, from any device. It's a great way to have student brainstorm, comment, or ask questions on any given topic.

Take some time and look over this list. I assure you soon your head will be bursting with great ideas of integrating new and engaging activities in your classroom.

Richland School District Two Technology Integration Team receives SC TIPS award

SC EdTech Awards Luncheon: (L-R) Don Cantrell (SDE), Lisa Knoche, Donna Teuber,
Pam Hanfland, Janine Sears, MaryAnn Sansonetti-Wood, Chuck Holland

Richland School District Two was recognized by the South Carolina Association for Educational Technology (SCAET) at the annual SC Educational Technology Conference (SC EdTech 2012) held in Greenville, October 24-26, 2012.

SCAET recognizes that there are many outstanding programs and activities in the state that showcase innovative uses of technology in education. The SCAET Innovative Programs Award was established in an effort to honor those best practices.

This program acknowledges South Carolina schools or districts as having exhibited excellence in the integration of technology in education. South Carolina schools continue to lead the way in educational technology and high quality work, both of which are exhibited by this year’s winning programs.

The following is a short summary of Richland School District Two’s innovative technology program:

Program Title: “Inquire, Ignite, and Inspire with 1TWO1”
Description: The 1TWO1 computing initiative is an integral part of the Richland TWO Story.
Using technology, students will inquire and explore their world. Transformative technologies
will ignite a joy of learning in our students and inspire them to become 21st century learners.
Students will work collaboratively on authentic problem and project-based activities which
enhance creativity, critical thinking, communication, and problem solving. Through personalized, authentic, and collaborative experiences, our students will develop the skills to prepare them for a future that we can only imagine.

EdTech, South Carolina’s premier educational technology conference, is designed to promote the use of educational technology to enhance student learning. The mission of EdTech is to bring educators, administrators, technology professionals, college faculty and staff, public and academic librarians, business and industry trainers, industry representatives and policy makers together to think, discuss, listen and learn the best strategies to plan for, implement, and use educational technology in our schools.

The South Carolina EdTech conference is planned and delivered by the South Carolina Association for Educational Technology (SCAET), represented by multiple South Carolina partners that include K-12, higher education, state government agencies, and telecommunications business partners. Partner members of SCAET this year include: The South Carolina State Department of Education, South Carolina Partnership for Distance Education, Technology Services, South Carolina Educational Television, Association for Applied Interactive Multimedia (AAIM), South Carolina Association of School Librarians, AT&T, Relational Technology Solutions, South Carolina Budget and Control Board Office – Division of State Information Technology, the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science, and College of Charleston School of Education.

Richland Two is a Project RED Signature District

We’re excited to announce that Richland Two has been chosen as one of 20 Project RED Signature Districts nationwide. Project RED conducted a comprehensive national study on the link between instructional technology usage and student achievement. In the study of 1000 schools and districts, the Project RED team found that technology, when properly implemented, does improve student achievement and have a cost savings benefit.

The team identified nine key implementation factors which will lead to improved student achievement. The key factors in rank order of predictive strength are:

1. Intervention classes: Technology is integrated into every intervention class period.
2. Change management leadership by principal: Leaders provide time for teacher professional learning and collaboration at least monthly.
3. Online collaboration: Students use technology daily for online collaboration (games/simulations and social media).
4. Core subjects: Technology is integrated into core curriculum weekly or more frequently.
5. Online formative assessments: Assessments are done at least weekly.
6. Student-computer ratio: Lower ratios improve outcomes.
7. Virtual field trips: With more frequent use, virtual trips are more powerful. The best schools do these at least monthly.
8. Search engines: Students use daily.
9. Principal training: Principals are trained in teacher buy-in, best practices, and technology-transformed learning.

As a Signature District, our 1TWO1 Design Team will be working closely with the Project RED team to develop a detailed project management plan and implement the key factors. Many of our principals and assistant principals are attending monthly professional learning opportunities to learn about the key factors and how to implement them in their schools. Our school instructional technology specialists are also identifying resources and providing professional learning experiences that will assist teachers in implementing the key factors.

With the support of our Getting to Outcomes (GTO) evaluation team from the University of South Carolina and the Project RED team, we know that we will achieve our desired outcome of improved student learning. As surveys, classroom observations, focus group information, and student achievement data is analyzed, we will share the results with our readers.