EIU Rural School Initiative

RSI Professional Development

Teacher Tech Tuesdays
(Resources for Teachers)

Please click here to view all Calendar of Events

Past Professional Development
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Spring 2023 GYO Technology Sessions

Sessions offered in-person, Zoom-live, and Video on Demand.
Sign-up or questions can be sent to tsullivan@eiu.edu

Using Microcontrollers to Teach Logic and Programming - Mar 23, 2023

Registration

EIU - G.Y.O Staff   (Jana Sebestik, from MSTE at UIUC will  assist via Zoom)
Location: EIU, Buzzard 1140; 4:30-5:30pm
Problem solving and Logic are foundational skills for all student learning.  The availability of under $20 microcontrollers provides and opportunity to engage students in visual, high interest lesson activities to develop those skills. Schools have 1:1 laptops or tablets available and the new Illinois C.S. Standards require the content. Microcontrollers offer an opportunity for teachers to meet those needs.

Session to be offered in-person, but streamed and recorded for those not able to attend.  Examples will use the Micro:Bit controller designed  for teaching, but the activities will adapt to Arduino and Raspberry-Pi, devices as well.  The session will guide participants through a variety of sample lessons using block coding to program the controllers. The primary focus is on creating instructions to transfer to the device. Depending on time and the makeup of the group, additional activities will try interfacing controllers with external LED lights and motors using instruction sets to control them. The capstone will be to collect data by reading temperature, light, motion sensors. All sample activities will be appropriate for classroom use and able to be adapted from primary to secondary.

Using Kami for Document Management and Lesson Design - April 20, 2023
Registration

EIU - G.Y.O Staff and a Local Expert from KamiApp (called a Kami Hero)
Location: EIU, Buzzard 1140; 4:30-5:30pm
Teachers are expected to manage electronic documents and be able to teach in a remote or hybrid format. The time needed to prepare and manage online lessons and the accompanying documents is arduous. Kami is a popular service specifically created to deal with these issues. It is offered in a free as well as premium fee based format. Some teachers are not  aware of Kami and most have never been exposed to the  breath of services available even  in the free version. (zoom session)

Session to be offered in-person, but streamed and recorded for those not able to attend. The session format will follow al Kami orientation presentation with demonstration and opportunity for participants to try the tools.  Kami is a universal PDF online document annotation and markup tool. You can highlight, underline, and strikethrough text in PDF and other document formats. You can also add text boxes, shapes, and images. Kami works natively with Google Drive and Classroom. Kami allows collaboration on documents in the classroom while avoiding the hassles of printing documents.  The program is optimized for converting traditional lesson documents into interactive electronic activities. It handles document submission, grading, and return.  Those are its basic functions but Kami is much more. It is a complete lesson creating and management tool. 

Understanding Trauma and Trauma Responsive Educational Practices
... more info