Edina Digital Age Learning

April 18th was the TIES Key Instructional Contact meeting. Here are my raw notes and thoughts from the meeting. The official agenda and notes are here . Podcasting & iTunes U in Minnesota Christine Dufour from the Minnesota Department of Education started off the meeting discussing how the University of Minnesota is using iTunes U. She is looking for school districts with content that could be utilized on the site. Districts must sign a contract initially, then they can put up content into an album. Once that content is up there, it can be organized by subject and grade level. Students are comfortable using iPods and mp3s There is a shift to mobility Minnesota iTunes U can leverage all districts. Launched in December, there have been 15,000 downloads. By contrast, in their first 9 months, Ohio has had 1 million downloads! The content can be both staff and student produced, preferrably in the 2-5 minute range, and it must be free. You can include photos, videos, pdf files fo...

Photo courtesy of Nathaniel Lindley My colleague, Molly Schroeder recently entered our district in a contest for a billboard featuring our use of Google Apps for Education . Well, we were selected as one of the 10 world-wide winners of the " Gone Google Campaign contest ", and now, drivers along Interstate 494 in Richfield can view the sign! On Thursday, Molly appeared on Channel 9 in the Twin Cities and was interviewed regarding the billboard contest and our use of Google Apps for enhancing student learning: Edina Public Schools Have Gone Google: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com Molly did a great job discussing the ways that students are using the tools for communication, collaboration, and creating meaning for their learning, and the fact that "the secret to student success is great teaching." She also made an important point regarding the number of colleges and universities that have embraced these tools, and how our use of these tools is helping prepare our students for the...