Looking at the UTB trainers' calendars is a great way to reflect on how varied our days are! So many exciting things going on in so many different places.
In the last fortnight we had trainers running Google Certified Educator boot camps in both Australia and New Zealand. Sam was working with some corporate clients in Cooma (NSW), Canberra and Sydney. There was also a whole lot of STEAM and digital technologies training going on across both countries.
In the next few months we'll have trainers working in Hong Kong and Singapore as well.
Lara spent a couple of days filming with our friends at PBTech in Auckland. We're working together to develop a series of short videos discussing our favourite STEAM tools and exploring aspects of pedagogy. We'll let you know when they are online!
Something we think you'll like...
MINECRAFT EDUCATION EDITION FREE FOR NEW ZEALAND SCHOOLS!
We were delighted to hear the news last week that the New Zealand Ministry of Education and Microsoft have renewed their agreement, which gives all NZ staff and students free access to Microsoft's learning and collaboration tools. BUT we were even more excited to see that this also now includes Minecraft Education Edition - FREE! This has been available to many schools in Australia for a while now so we're stoked (kiwi as!) to see New Zealand getting the same access!
Here at UTB we love Minecraft EE and its unlimited potential to support student creativity, collaboration, computational thinking and resilience. This tool is incredibly powerful and the huge amount of resources out there will either ensure you find something already made that you can use or adapt, or will spark your imagination to create a new learning space for your students. We've seen first hand how much fun, engagement and learning happens in Minecraft EE - both with teachers and students!
If you haven't experienced Minecraft Education Edition before we suggest you give it a go. Head over the Minecraft EE website and have a look around.
We will be continuing to run STEAM and Minecraft workshops in all locations to help teachers get started or for those who are already using Minecraft to help you dig deeper and connect with other like minded educators. If you are keen to host us in your region or school please fill in this form!
blog posts you may have missed
Check out the practical, helpful tips in our blogs below.
Something you want us to blog about? Make a request here or check out our website to see all our posts.
3 ways Google Calendar makes it easy to work across multiple time zones - Here at Using Technology Better, we have team members located in three different countries and across four different time zones. We also work regularly with clients from across the globe. This can make scheduling meetings and working collaboratively challenging! However, Google Calendar has three really useful features that can help make this much easier. By Samantha Vardanega
Share to Classroom - Power up your use of Google Classroom - If you are using Google classroom you'll love the ‘Share to Classroom’ Chrome extension by Google. Teachers love Google Classroom! Many are only just discovering the ‘Share to Classroom’ extension which allows you to ‘Push’ sites to students and create announcements, assignments and questions quickly and easily. Check out this blog post to see how! By Lara Kirk
How to schedule an email in Gmail - One of the most frequent questions I am asked by people who are transitioning from Outlook to Gmail is “How do you schedule an email in Gmail?”. At present there isn’t a built in feature in Gmail that enables you to schedule emails. However there is a browser extension called Boomerang for Gmail that provides this functionality. By Samantha Vardanega
Something to make you think....
are there organisations in your community who can help you get your students excited about steam?
As teachers we know that the best learning for our students happens in authentic, relevant and fun contexts.
We love seeing community organsiations and businesses get involved, working alongside educators to develop resources, programmes and pathways for students. Thinking about their future careers and seeing a range of opportunities is such a key part of a school experience.
How are you engaging your community with your learners? Are there people in your area that can offer expertise or real life situations where STEAM subjects are highlighted for your students to experience? Can they inspire your students?
If you've already got some great ideas for connecting with the community, or great resources we'd love to hear them! Post your ideas on this Padlet - share the love!
Read on to find out more about a couple of organisations working within their communities to support students and a chance to win an iPad.
crunch time - wIN AN IPAD!
Get your students to test their knowledge about energy and science with this fun online game from the Genesis School-gen programme.
Competition finishes on Friday August 31 so get your students engaging for the chance to win one of three iPads.
SNOWY HYDRO + AUSTRALIA NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK
Last week Australian schools celebrated National Science Week. This coincided with Sam delivering G Suite training to Snowy Hydro, one of our regular corporate clients. For those who aren't familiar with Snowy Hydro, they are the company behind one of Australia's largest and most renowned engineering projects - the Snowy Mountains Scheme (an integrated water and hydro-electric power utility). Snowy Hydro provide resources and programs to help students in their local communities get excited about STEM, including a competition specifically for Science Week.
playing with cars.....? design thinking!
upcoming events
Did you know that we travel extensively and love going to regional areas to support teachers? Simply reply to this email, or click on the link below, to find out how easy it is to host an event in your region and receive some free tickets for doing so!
Kick off, or delve deeper with our highly recommended STEAM day, tailored to your school! Your UTB trainer will highlight and outline STEAM education in a fun, hands on, practical workshop related to the New Zealand Digital Technologies Curriculum.
Pedagogy, planning, integrated curriculum are all addressed in this action packed day.
A range of STEAM activities from unplugged activities through to coding and robotics, we help you to discover how you can start to weave the New Zealand Digital Technologies Curriculum into your current practice to improve student outcomes and engagement.
These boot camps are fast paced, 2 day courses that cover a wide range of G Suite tools and how to use them in the classroom. You will also sit the 3 hour Google Certified Educator exam, where you will demonstrate your knowledge with multiple choice and practical scenario questions.
STEAM is an integrated curriculum approach that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics to inspire, learn and share with others. Teachers everywhere are realising its potential for making cross curricula links and equipping their students with important digital learning skills.
Our STEAM Digital Technologies Curriculum will deepen your experience, understanding and resources to become an even more COMPETENT and CONFIDENT STEAM facilitator with your class and for your school!
Credits:
Created with images by White77 - "boys funny faces expressions friends siblings brothers" • Samuel Zeller - "Discussions at a long table" • TeroVesalainen - "thought idea innovation" • PublicDomainPictures - "background berries berry"