LAUSD - Instructional Technology Initiative Newsletter

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Welcome Back!

The Instructional Technology Initiative (ITI) team under the direction of ITI Director, Sophia Mendoza, welcomes you to the 2022-2023 school year. We are honored that you are part of our amazing professional learning community. This issue will help start the new year and offer resources to support the implementation of instructional technology, digital citizenship and computer science. We value your dedication to support all students and look forward to collaborating with you. Have an amazing school year and welcome back!

Inside The
Issue

Spotlight
ITI Bulletin Board
Recognition and Certification
Tapping Into Digital Resources
Opportunities For Educators
Perspectives From The Field

Celebrating LatinX Heritage: Elevating School Climate Through Artistic and Collaborative Knowledge Construction

By John Muir Middle School Creative Communicator Team Teachers, Ms. Andrea Bolden, CTE Teacher, Ms. Amelia Lopez, 6th Grade Magnet Math and Science Teacher, Mr. Pedro Soto, 6th Grade Math and Computer Science Teacher, Ms. Sandra Cuautle Herrera, Instructional Technology Facilitator. South Mid-City Community of Schools, Local District South, Board District 1

Knowing students needed opportunities for meaningful interactions with their peers after a full year of remote learning as well as relevant and authentic learning experiences to reacclimate them to the structured daily school routine, John Muir Middle School’s principal, Dr. Sonia Leffall, created a community building activity to kick off the school year.

Featuring up-to-date information on what's happening with instructional technology in L.A. Unified.

ITI BULLETIN BOARD

The Instructional Technology Initiative (ITI) supports all schools in using technology to create real-time, real-world learning experiences that are authentic, relevant, inclusive, and aligned with the essential skills of future learning and work. Key efforts supported by ITI include digital citizenship, computer science, and the dissemination and integration of the ISTE Standards for Students. ITI’s rigorous and robust website provides a wealth of information and lessons to support educators around technology integration. From ITI’s Professional Learning Catalog to the school Readiness Resources Center, the website is a treasure trove of resources and opportunities to learn all about instructional technology integration!

ITI Readiness Resource Center

The ITI Readiness Resource Center contains all of the Readiness Resource items to support LAUSD schools with technology integration. These items consist of a series of instructional, operational, and technical readiness activities that guide schools in successfully creating sustainable integration practices for device distribution.

Documentation and Parent Communication (RUP, Media Release, etc.)
Staff Training (Fall Distribution, Student SSO Activation)
Verification (MiSIS)

Learn more

ITI Digital Citizenship Resources

ITI provides policy, professional learning, and school-site supports to ensure coherent digital citizenship efforts Districtwide. As part of our mission to advance digital citizenship practices among L.A. Unified educators and the broader education community, the Instructional Technology Initiative suggests the following resources to get the school year started.

Leading for Impact Podcast

The Leading For Impact Podcast is an opportunity to listen in on how L.A. Unified is making an impact with instructional technology. In the monthly podcast, you will hear directly from educational leaders who are leveraging technology along with sound instructional practices to transform teaching and learning in equitable ways.

Enjoy the Leading for Impact podcast at bit.ly/ITI-Podcast or listen on:

L. A. Unified Digital Citizenship Week

October 17-21, 2022

Digital Citizenship Week has been an ongoing Districtwide celebration since 2014. Each year, ITI supports schools in showcasing their commitment to digital citizenship during the month of October.

ISTE Certified Educator

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and ITI are partnering for the ITI ISTE Certification for Educators Program, a rigorous, competency-based, device-neutral certification designed for ambitious educators who want to use technology to catalyze learning. Designed to build competency with the ISTE Standards for Educators, the certification combines face-to-face and online pedagogy-focused professional development with a competency-based evaluation.

If interested please complete the form below:

ISTE Interest Form

Practitioner Schools 7.0

Congratulations to this year’s participating schools! The Practitioner Schools (PS) 7.0 Empowered Learner Program focuses on strategically and systematically ensuring that L.A. Unified students are granted intentional exposure to leveraging digital resources and to developing and integrating foundational 21st century practices within the K-12 classrooms. The goal is to create learning experiences that grant students opportunities to be interconnected and practice 21st century skills, engage computer science education, and leverage digital citizenship dispositions on a daily basis.

ITI Teacher Leader Network

The ITI Teacher Leader Network (TLN) is now inviting interested teachers to join its cohort for the school year 2022-2023. Teacher Leaders participate in a series of learning sessions, guided by the International Society for Technology in Education Standards for Educators (ISTE), to reflect upon and refine their practices in order to accomplish their self-selected goals.

If interested please complete the form below:

TLN Interest form

ITI Education Leader Network

ITI is encouraging interested principals and aspiring administrators to apply and become part of the ITI Education Leader Network (ELN). The ELN was created to support administrators who share a common interest in cultivating their leadership skills around 21st century learning.

If interested please complete the form below:

ELN Interest Form

ITI Computer Science Cadre

In efforts to expand computer science education (CSEd) in L.A. Unified, ITI will launch a Computer Science (CS) Cadre for the 2022-2023 school year. If you are interested in taking your CSEd professional learning to the next level, this CS Cadre is for you! This quarterly weekend professional learning series will ground you with CS foundations around equity and access, CS instructional and assessment design, and CS leadership to bring inclusive, equitable, and rigorous CS instruction in your role and context.

If interested please complete the form below:

CS Cadre Interest Form

Instructional Technology Planning Cohort 2022 - 2023

We invite school Instructional Leadership Teams (ILTs) to join us for a 3-day cohort to dialogue and develop an informed, effective school-wide plan for digital age learners. This is a professional learning opportunity which provides school Instructional Leadership Teams guidance in developing an Instructional Technology Plan for digital learning tailored to each school’s needs.

If interested please complete this form.

ITPC Interest Form

Recognizing L.A. Unified educators that have achieved certification in the areas of digital citizenship, computer science and instructional technology.

RECOGNITION & CERTIFICATION

Common Sense
Education Recognition

We would like to celebrate our 63 new educators in L.A. Unified who have achieved Common Sense Education recognition for digital citizenship. Click on the directories and the map to the right to view all Common Sense Certified Education recognized educators and schools across the district:

Common Sense Educator Directory

Common Sense School Directory

Learn more Common Sense Education Recognition

Google Certified Educator Program

Congratulations to our current Level 1 and Level 2 Google Certified Educators! Click on the map to the left to view all Google Certified Educators across the district:

Google Certified Educator Directory

Learn more Google Certified Educator Program

Featuring recommended resources and tools for the classroom that have completed the District’s Unified Digital Instructional Procurement Plan (UDIPP) process. Check UDIPP approval here.

TAPPING INTO DIGITAL RESOURCES

Pear Deck

Support your students as knowledge constructors with Pear Deck! What if you could engage every student in your class, every day? What if you could instantly see who’s confused and who’s ready for more? That’s the power of Pear Deck. And now, with the Pear Deck for Google Slides Add-on, you can add the magic of formative assessments and interactive questions to your presentations right from Google Slides.

Highlighting resources and opportunities that support implementation of instructional technology and 21st century education.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR EDUCATORS

KQED Teach

Virtual - Ongoing

Today’s digital learners need skills to use digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others. KQED offers a range of opportunities to learn media-making and media literacy skills that are perfect to help prepare for the opening of the school year.

Learn more

California STEAM Symposium

October 1-2, 2022 - Anaheim Convention Center

Throughout the event, participants will come together to explore high-quality strategies to cultivate systems that promote life-long learning for everyone through inclusive and targeted practices, high-impact techniques, and policies, whether from a classroom or organizational point of view.

Learn more

Highlighting the latest research and promising practices in the field of instructional technology and 21st century education.

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD

What’s in Your Back-to-School Toolkit?

The theme of this month’s newsletter is Back to School with a Knowledge Constructor focus! Check out this article to help you prepare your Back-to-School toolkit and support your learners as Knowledge Constructors with these tech-related strategies!

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