Up to speed
Many ASD staff development
programs focus on improving
technology in the classroom. In
2001-2002, numerous seminars
were made available to the school
district staff to help keep them
technologically up to speed. These
programs included 38 credit courses,
and numerous seminars focusing on
technology-related topics offered by
the Instructional Technology
Department. In addition, 75 teachers
were trained on a program "Marco
Polo Internet Content for the K-12
Classroom." These teacher/ trainers
in turn are providing training for
their schools this year.
Online assessment for
instructors and students
ASD Instructional Technology
Department partnered with Lower Kuskokwim School District,
a rural
Alaska school district to create an
Online Assessment System for
Instructors and Students (OASIS)
through Technology Literacy
Challenge Funds (TLCF). The result
was a comprehensive online scoring
system allowing students and
teachers in grades 5 and 7 to input
student writing and receive online
scores using the Six-Trait rubric. In
addition, 40 teachers were involved
in "Lesson Exchange", two 2-day
classes where teachers presented
their favorite lessons and in turn
were exposed to their peers' method
of teaching.
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New database and Apple
iBook computers for
teachers
In the fall of 2002 nearly 600
Apple iBook laptop computers were
purchased for elementary school
teachers. The laptops allow the
teachers to access the district's online
student reading assessment
database. The database provides
detailed information to each
teachers about their students' progress
in reading, information that is especially critical
in the primary grades. The district hopes to provide
all teachers with easy access to data
in the near future.
Resources for teachers
The Anchorage School District
Instructional Technology
department continually provides
current, in-depth, comprehensive
resources to teachers and students
through their Web site. |
