Digital Eyes

As a SmartBoard district, we have many teachers using SmartBoards, Airliners, and, of course, Notebook software. So as a Notebook user, I am very excited about the new version 10 that has recently been released. It has many great new features which I will be sharing in later posts. However, as the primary trainer for users of Notebook software, this transition raises many questions about the value of updates. Many of our users are new to Smart Notebook software. I have trained about 100 people this year alone. Now I need to go back to them and tell them that this great tool I showed them is about to look quite different. To a third of them, this will be welcome news. They want the updates. They want the new features. They will pick it up quickly. To a second third, this will raise trepidation. Just when they are getting the hang of it, they go and change it. They will require a fair amount of support to bring them up to the same level of comfort with the new version. That leaves the re...

Last week, my colleague, Ken, and I presented at the MASA Conference for administrators. Our session was on 10 Reasons Why Administrators Should Use Web 2.0 Tools. Here is a link to our presentation wiki. Please feel free to offer ideas and suggestions on the off chance we are ever asked to do another similar session. Thanks. https://dzukorwiki.wikispaces.com/ The most important idea we tried to get across is that teachers need to see these tools being used in a professional capacity to begin to buy into the fact that these are important tools for their jobs. Administrators can create 21st Century Work Environments that model how these tools should be used. This would send a clear message that using these tools are strongly encouraged while also giving real world examples of how to use them. I hope the message got through!