Tailored Toolkits By Audience
Outreach Ideas
Information and Resources
- School Leader Outreach
- Advice From Leaders For Leaders
- Showcases of Schools and Classrooms Implementing Digital Learning Effectively
- Lesson Plans to Share with Educators, Instructional Coaches, and Librarians
- Components of Whole-School Reform
Digital Learning Day Events
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School Leaders
The Alliance for Excellent Education invites school leaders to host their own celebration of Digital Learning Day on February 1, 2012 to call attention to the current practices, need, and potential of digital learning in their schools. The events leading up to, during, and following Digital Learning Day will provide school leaders with an opportunity to highlight innovative teaching practices and encourage exploration of how digital learning can provide more students with opportunities to ensure they are prepared to succeed in college, a career, and life. The Alliance views digital learning as a broad array of technologies, resources, tools, and approaches in which technology can help school reform efforts and improve instructional strategies and learning (Details on the rationale and benefits of digital learning can be found in the new Digital Learning Imperative policy brief available at http://www.all4ed.org/files/DigitalLearningImperative.pdf).
What Are Schools Doing?
As a school leader of a participating school, you can decide how to meet the needs and potential for your school through Digital Learning Day (DLDay). A toolkit full of ideas, sample documents, and activities is available to download at http://www.digitallearningday.org/toolkits/; and the School Leader Toolkit highlights several promising practices, instructional strategies and ideas, and outreach materials, including the following:
- Help teachers plan and implement technology and digital learning on DLDay. Work with teachers and teams, (e.g., through faculty or planning meetings) to decide how to best highlight how digital learning already is or can be used on DLDay. Ideas to consider:
1) Use technology for one lesson or commit to using digital learning throughout the day.
2) Ask middle and high school teachers to “flip the classroom” by recording a lecture for students to watch as homework. Then during class time, the teachers can change their role to serve as a guide for students as they explore issues, work to solve problems, or engage in a discussion.
- Implement a schoolwide content-area or project-based learning (PBL) lesson or topic for the day. Using PBL frameworks and sample lessons in the toolkit, choose an overall topic, (e.g., the environment, energy, or the upcoming election) to develop a schoolwide PBL framework that can be adapted by grade level. Also consider some type of product sharing digitally or in person.
- Invite parents to witness digital learning in action. For schools in which digital learning is already used extensively throughout instruction, invite parents, district leaders, and community members to watch digital learning in action.
- Raise awareness. Send periodic emails to teachers, parents, district leaders, and staff to garner excitement in the school and its district.
- Reward participation. Present a certificate of achievement signed by your superintendent or you (provided by the Alliance).
- Host a showcase. Sponsor a showcase at your school or district office highlighting innovative teachers and students.
- Make a proclamation. Ask your school board or superintendent to proclaim February 1, 2012 as Digital Learning Day.
- Award excellence. Present a teacher, grade-level/content team, or student with a district specific DLDay award geared toward using technology and digital learning to augment successful instructional strategies.
- Launch or join a virtual community of practice in your school. Use DLDay to encourage and facilitate the development or joining of a “community of practice” in which educators in your school can communicate and share ideas, lesson plans, and challenges in using digital learning and technology.
- Celebrate the day. Check out the Awesome Ideas! page to see what others are doing to celebrate Digital Learning Day.
The School Leader Toolkit includes the following:
- School Leader Outreach
- Advice for Leaders from Leaders
- Showcases of Schools and Classrooms Implementing Digital Learning Effectively
- Lesson Plans to Share with Educators, Instructional Coaches, and Librarians
- Components of Whole School Reform
Are there other documents you would like to see on the list? Have you developed something to share? Please contact Sara Hall at shall@all4ed.org with your ideas.