4. Michigan Educational Technology Standards The following are standards I would like my staff to meet within the year. 9-12 Creativity and Innovation (CI) By the time students leave the 12 th grade they should know how to create a webpage and use a variety of media and formats. 9-12 Communication and Collaboration (CC) Students should be able to plan and collaborate with other students using webinars, videoconferencing, interactive websites, and discussion boards among other things. 9-12 Research and Information Literacy (RI) Students will be able to evaluate online sources and use research strategies to assess information located on a webpage. http://www.michigan.gov/documents/9-12_150927_7.pdf
5. Time for change Last year, the district superintendent of schools initiated a new turn around model for improving teaching and learning known as project based learning.
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12. Google In addition to being a great search engine, Google allows users to create their own blogs through blogspot.com. Consider joining mine. http://21centuryeducator.blogspot.com/
13. Final Thoughts There are numerous technology tools that exist today to assist teachers in engaging students and improving instruction. Blogs and wikis are just examples of two that provide a wealth of opportunities in any classroom. Projects, course readings, literacy tasks, math problems, even essays can be completed using one if the two tools. Just get in there and have fun! It will be well worth the effort.