Diary of a Digital Learning Coach

Every year, I look forward to the week we celebrate Hour of Code, but not for the reason you might think.  Sure, the exploration time and engagement during HOC is exciting, but what I really look forward to is what happens AFTER the Hour of Code. I wanted to triple like this tweet by Jon Samuelson .  Since I couldn't, I am posting it here: Preach it, @jonsamuelson! The Hour of Code is meant to spark further engagement and interest in coding and robotics.  So as you head into winter break, consider: How does your classroom #continuecoding? What part does coding play in your learning experiences and curriculum?  My teammate, Megan Kozar wrote an amazing blog this week about taking the Hour of Code further.  It outlines the why we must continue experiences past the hour, how CISD's Code2Learn initiative is designed to build the thinking skills behind coding and robotics into the curriculum  and  how we as Digital Learning Coaches can help . ...

Early this school year, Schoology advertised a new feature which goes at the top of my 2017 "game changers" list.  After months of using the force copy trick  to share links in Schoology,  we finally learned that Schoology was adding a tool that could do it for us.  We could assign a Google Doc to learners directly from Schoology, have it make an individual copy and let us interact using comments and all we love about docs within Schoology. A few of us jumped on it and then pulled out some of our hair when it didn't work the way we needed it to.  (Cue Digital Learning Truths #1 and #2 from above.)  After working with Schoology support on our struggles and applying some patience, we recently tested it again...and it works!  (Cue Digital Learning Truth #3) Now that we know it is working, let's learn how to use it in under 3 min!   First, make sure your learners' Schoology apps have been updated and that they are running iOS 11....

This year, our Digital Learning Team is facilitating the creation of mini PLNs (personal learning networks) throughout our district. What is a PLN?  Take a look at this quick video by Marc-Andre Lelande that explains it beautifully! Coppell ISD readers, from January to April of this year, you'll be able to learn with your PLN through a variety of modalities. Your PLN might choose to do a book study, participate in a Twitter chat, meet in person or virtually. The sky is the limit - whatever will help you meet your digital learning goals. Interested?  Visit this form to join a professional learning network by Friday, December 15th. You will receive an email from your PLN facilitator the week of Jan 3rd with next steps on beginning your PLN journey. Have questions? Check in with me! I'd love to talk to you more about how joining a PLN can help you reach your digital learning goals this year! __________________________________________________________...