Kyle Walker, the Digital Teacher Librarian at Kullerstrand Elementary, shares the passion of robotics and coding with his students. This year, with the help of a generous donor, Kyle started the Robotics and Coding club at his school. Every Monday afternoon, students collaborate and work together to engineer a robot that can be coded to perform unique tasks.

Kyle has reached out to various community members to help build career connections between computer science and robotics. The School of Mines Robotics Club made a visit earlier this year and shared their own robotics project and mentored the students. Jason Roadman, an engineer at NREL visited the club and shared some of his own engineering expertise with wind turbines, allowing students to build real world connections.

Jeffco's Educational Technology Team visited 3 Apple Distinguished Schools in St. Vrain Valley Schools, as part of Apple's school visit program. Although these schools were 1:1 iPad schools, the following 5 strategies can be implemented at any school site to aid in integrating technology.

Flip through our presentation to view the strategies and see some examples from real school settings.

If your school is implementing any of these these strategies, please share your success with our team! We'd love to see your photos and hear your ideas!

Jeffco's Educational Technology Team visited 3 Apple Distinguished Schools in St. Vrain Valley Schools, as part of Apple's school visit program. Although these schools were 1:1 iPad schools, the following 5 strategies can be implemented at any school site to aid in integrating technology.

Flip through our presentation to view the strategies and see some examples from real school settings.

If your school is implementing any of these these strategies, please share your success with our team! We'd love to see your photos and hear your ideas!

As Digital Teacher Librarians (DTLs) it comes as second nature to find the collaboration opportunities in all that we do. Multiply that times two and the energy becomes an unstoppable force, something akin to the thing superheroes are made of (Did you know Batgirl was a Librarian during her “off” hours?).

When we combine the energies of our Jeffco DTLs and the Jefferson County Public Library (JCPL) resources amazing things happen for our staff and students. Just as Gru’s Minions each have unique talents, when they work together they are able to accomplish extraordinary tasks.

At the January Leading Student Achievement (LSA) Days, the Jeffco Ed Tech Team presented Technology Planning, Budget and Instruction: What You Need to Know. We invited achievement directors, principals, assistant principals, DTL’s and technology committee members to gain resources in support of successful technology planning. 

The Ed Tech Team understands that there are many forces that drive how your school plans for technology. There are many stakeholders in this work. Your school makes technology decisions based on budget restrictions, assessment requirements, device life cycles, instructional goals and many other outside forces!

Some important information has recently been shared regarding technology equipment and will have an influence in your upcoming technology purchases.

Are your work and personal spaces cluttered with sticky notes reminding you what you need to get done? Do you ever wish you could easily collaborate on your to-do lists or keep them all in one handy place? If so, Google Keep might just be the tool you didn't know you needed.

• Add audio, drawings, photos, lists and checklists to your "stickies."
• Keep is available on your computer and other mobile devices (smart phone and iPad).
• Set time and location reminders so you don't miss a thing! 
• Collaborate on a individual "stickies" by adding another person's email address. When another person is added, you can see their changes in real time! 
• Change the color of your "stickies" to highlight important lists. 
• Filter your notes by different attributes to find things quickly.
• Archive old "stickies" so you can refer to them again, without having them take up space on your screen. 
• Copy your note to a Google Doc for even more options! 

Watch this quick tutorial to learn how to get started with Keep! Finally, don't "Keep" this great tool to yourself, show it to your students so they can collaborate and stay organized, too!