EdTech Innovator: Terri Simpson, Middle School English Teacher

Original Air Date: March 8th, 2013

edWeb.net and T.H.E. Journal are co-hosts of a series of webinars on edTech innovators. Listen to an interview with Terri Simpson, a middle school English teacher at Maplewood Middle School in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Terri is the T.H.E. Journal "Innovator of the Month" for March 2013. Terri began using technology with Palm devices to download Shakespeare plays. Her students begin rewriting the plays in their own words and even put on their own production. She now uses iPods, digital cameras, iPads, student voting systems, and cloud computing to improve technology skills and make learning fun. Terri has written several grants to support her use of technology in the classroom.

Using a Blended Approach to Learning for Elementary Math Instruction

Original Air Date: February 8th, 2013

Dr. Timothy Hudson, Director of Curriculum Design at DreamBox Learning and Lisa Schmucki, founder and CEO of edWeb.net, talk about the value of an online professional learning community to help educators understand and use a blended approach for instruction. Dr. Hudson discusses how blended learning helps teachers provide more personalized, differentiated instruction. Dreambox Learning has just launched a series of webinars and a professional learning community on edWeb.net to help principals and teachers learn more about how to integrate a blended approach into classroom instruction. DreamBox Learning offers a groundbreaking combination of intelligent adaptive learning, rigorous elementary mathematics curriculum, and motivating learning environment.

Supporting School Librarians with Online Communities

Original Air Date: January 11th, 2013

Marlene Woo-Lun, the publisher of Librarian Media Connection and Lisa Schmucki, founder and CEO of edWeb.net talk about how online communities offer school librarians a place to explore the challenges, opportunities and resources that make school libraries vibrant, vital research and learning environments. Library Media Connection has created a community on edWeb.net, LMC @ The Forefront, to help librarians turn their school libraries into a thriving hub for 21st century learning and teaching, and help librarians feel valued for their role as professionals in the school community. Lisa Schmucki talks about recent research on educators and social networking that shows that librarians are the educators who are most engaged in using online communities.

Improving the Teaching Profession with Social Networking

Original Air Date: December 14th, 2012

Elizabeth Foster, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at NCTAF, and Lisa Schmucki, founder and CEO of edWeb.net, discuss technology enabled collaboration. They share best practices and lessons learned throughout a multi-year partnership between NCTAF and edWeb.net to link student teachers, mentor teachers, and faculty in both face-to-face meetings and online as part of the TLINC (Teachers Learning in Networked Communities) program.

The TLINC program began as a result of NCTAF research which showed that teacher turnover results from teacher preparation that remains unaligned with the realities of the 21st century classroom. Ms. Foster explained: "We want to build this movement to encourage collaboration in teacher preparation; it is important to support education professors to use technology so they can support new teachers in training. In teaching there are often few opportunities to innovate and grow, so using technology to enhance teaching practices can lead to continuing growth over an educator's entire career". Ms. Schmucki pointed out that online communities provide a way for schools of education to remain engaged with their alumni after graduation, linking cohorts in communities despite geographic distances. Finally, online communities of educators help combat the isolation felt by many novice teachers and provide educators at any stage of their career with access to mentoring, professional development, and resources to improve their practice with the aim of reducing teacher churn in schools over time.

Educators and Social Networking:
The Connected Educator

Original Air Date: November 9, 2012

An interview with edWeb's founder and CEO, Lisa Schmucki, and Kelly Stewart, Senior Marketing Director at MMS Education, on new research — The 2012 Survey of K-12 Educators on Social Networking, Online Communities, and Web 2.0 Tools. This new survey of teachers, principals, and librarians shows that 82% of educators have joined a social network, up 32% from 2009. Listen as Lisa and Kelly talk about the findings. Read articles about the survey in eSchools News and Education Week. To request a copy of the survey, email survey@edweb.net.

School Libraries and eBooks

Original Air Date: December 13, 2011

Michelle Luhtala, New Canaan High School librarian and 2011 winner of the "I Love My Librarian" award joins us for a discussion of school libraries and ebooks.

Michelle is the presenter of a webinar series on edWeb, Using Emerging Technology to Advance Your School Library Program.

New Teacher Training

Original Air Date: August 4, 2011

Shannon Holden has been a high school and middle school teacher and administrator in North Dakota, Texas, and Missouri for 20 years. Holden built a website, www.newteacherhelp.com in 2009 to help reduce the 50% five-year attrition rate for new teachers. He is with us to discuss new teacher training.

He is also the presenter of the New Teacher Help professional learning program on edWeb.net.

Using Social Networks to Create Professional Learning Communities

Original Air Date: February 4, 2011

In this interview, Lisa Schmucki, founder and CEO of edWeb.net, talks about how edWeb is creating new models for professional development by combining live, interactive webinars with a social networking community. edWeb's programs make it possible for educators to stay connected over time to build on the group's knowledge and experience. edWeb currently has programs for school librarians, school leaders, teachers of students with autism, new teachers, and for educators interested in gaming. To learn more and for information on sponsorship opportunities, contact PDprograms@edweb.net.