If you are interested in taking graduate education courses in using technology in the classroom at The University of Southern Maine this summer, here is a listing of the courses being offered:

Summer 2009
• EPB 599 Digital Storytelling
• EPC 511 Learning to Use Podcasting and Vodcasting for Teaching and Learning
• EPC 500 The Read/Write Web in the Classroom
• EPC 508 Technology Integration for the Classroom Teacher: Mac
• EPB 510 Technology Integration for the Classroom Teacher: Windows
Fall 2009
• EPC 512 21st Century Teaching and Learning with Technology
• EPB 599 Digital Storytelling
Spring 2010
• EPC 511 Learning to Use Podcasting and Vodcasting for Teaching and Learning
• EPC 500 The Read/Write Web in the Classroom

You can download the brochure: technologyflyer

A professional development project and virtual extension of the TESOL Convention.

For six weeks , participants can engage with ESOL experts in collaborative, online discussion sessions or hands-on virtual workshops of professional and scholarly benefit. These sessions will bring together participants for a longer period of time than is permitted by the four-day land-based TESOL convention and will allow a fuller development of ideas and themes of the convention or of professional interest in general.

The sessions are free and open to all interested parties. You do not need to be a TESOL member to participate.

To view the 2009 EVO sessions, go to Call for Participation 09.

You may join sessions after January 2nd.

Explore the use of web 2.0 online tools that support student learning, collaboration, and communication that extends beyond classroom walls. Educators will become familiar with what it means to be literate in the 21st century classroom. Weblogs, Wikis, RSS, Online Photo Galleries (such as Flickr), Social Bookmarking (such as del.icio.us), Podcasts, Internet Safety and other online tools will be explored. Registrants may bring their own laptop or use computers provided in the USM lab. Note: Students are encouraged to make sure their USM logins work before the first day of class to avoid problems.

Class Wiki
Class Blog

Teachers will explore the use of audio and video tools that support student learning, collaboration, and communication that extend beyond classroom walls. Audio and video content can be accessed online, created by individuals or groups and used for collaborative conversations. The first step of the course is acquiring and organizing existing content available from online. Next, is learning to use podcasting tools to create content. Participants can then expand from podcasting to screencasting and video to make use of the distributed, collaborative potential of these tools. The ability to easily publish content online will encourage teachers to rethink the way they communicate with students, and the way curriculum is delivered. Educators will become knowledgeable about 21st Century Literacy skills as they fit into the classroom.

Here are the directions:

Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2008 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.

Here are the rules:

1. Pick 3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
2. For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/01/08).
3. Post the above directions along with your 3 goals on your blog.
4. Title your post Professional Development Meme and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/353.
5. Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme.
6. Tag 8 others to participate in the meme.
7. Achieve your goals and “develop professionally.”
8. Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.

Here are my goals:

1. Attend EduBloggerCon East and Building Learning Communities
2. As I prepare to facilitate summer classes at the University of Southern Maine, I find I learn a great deal as I prep for the courses and I learn even more from the students in the classes.
3. I am hoping to finally read Wikinomics this summer. It’s been on my bookshelf for a year, so maybe publicly declaring that I want to read it will make me do so! I also want to read Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody

I tag:

• Catie Wooten
• Cathy Wolinsky
• Crystal Priest
• David Trask
• Deb Barrows
• Ernie Easter
• Kern Kelley
• Sharon Betts

• I believe students should have voice in their learning.
• I believe students should be part of the curriculum process.
• I believe we should listen to what our students have to say!
• I believe that educators should take risks and push ourselves to learn at least one new thing every year.
• I believe technology enhances learning possibilities and provides opportunities to classrooms that encourage research, communication and global citizenship.
• I believe that students and teachers should take time to see what their peers are writing about… everyday.

I suspect that this is a list that can continue forever. So, I’ll stop and maybe add to it over the summer. For now, I tag:

1. Mike Arsenault
2. Mike Richards
3. Suzanne Hamilton