The IT4Educators instructors joined more than 2,400 educators, administrators and technology specialists and over 100 vendors at the TIES 2010 Education Technology Conference in early December at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  We attended the conference as both participants and contributors.

Andi Bodeau presented Using Moodle as an Assessment Tool. During the session, she modeled and showed examples of the various Moodle activities that can be used to assess student learning. Participants also learned how mobile devices can be used as assessment tools in Moodle. Rojanne Brown presented a session called Google Search Discovered. Participants gained ideas on how to integrate Google tools such as Google Custom Search and Google Search Story into teaching and learning.

Amy Kretsch demonstrated BrightLink, Epson’s new interactive whiteboard solution – a short throw projector with interactive capabilities that does not require an interactive whiteboard.  Ryan Semans, presented a session on using SMART Response Systems to promote higher-order thinking skills, investigating how student response systems can support teacher and student learning with respect to assessment strategies, lesson intentionality, vision for extension activities and higher-order thinking skills integration.

Some of us from IT4Educators are heading to Denver this weekend for the 2010 ISTE Conference.  We are looking forward to increasing our knowledge regarding cutting edge educational technology.  You’ll hear more about our conference adventures in future posts.

Differentiated Instruction is an instructional philosophy that increases learning for ALL students.  The concept of differentiated instruction is based on the fact that students come to school with a wide range of experiences and prior knowledge, variances in academic ability, learning styles, and interests.  When teachers differentiate instruction, they use a variety of practices and strategies to match learners’ needs with appropriate materials.

IT4Educators‘ courses offer instruction tools and strategies that fit right in with the differentiated instruction model.  Also, there is a myriad of Web 2.0 tools available for the educational setting that embraces differentiated instruction.  This wiki from Kent ISD is one terrific resource: Technology Tools for Differentiation

Hard to believe but YouTube is celebrating it’s 5th birthday! Seems like it’s been around much longer. YouTube can be a great educational tool for instruction. Check out these 100 videos which may inspire you to try it out. My favorite is #33, the Math Teacher Shadow Trick!