Resources
We will be running two contests for students this year. Please check back for more information.
Remote Learning Resources for Covid-19/Coronavirus School Closures
View our Curated Resources for Planning to Reopen Schools in the Fall
Join our live support chat on GroupMe: https://web.groupme.com/join_group/58660524/7kLFdzeJ
Join our collaborative Google Doc and view and share the latest remote teaching and learning resources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-7lwdPJiexS6KDI0ulvjTQ1vsvPyX3VbDCjfLIOmPew/edit?usp=sharing
As many of our member school districts move to remote/virtual learning in order to maintain social distancing during the COVID-19/Corona Virus Health Crisis, NJECC is here to support you. In addition to moving our member meetings and professional development workshops online, we have curated some of the best FREE online resources for your teachers to use as they quickly learn how to build and teach their classes remotely. This list will be updated frequently as new tools and resources become available. Please feel free to suggest a FREE resource to be added to this list by sending the link with a brief description via email to info@njecc.org
- Google Classroom Teacher Training Center - Resources include brief videos on how to set up a Google Classroom as well as use many of its popular features such as posting assignments, creating an auto-graded quiz and moderating comments by students.
- GSuite for Education Teacher Training Center - Resources include brief videos on how to use Google Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Hangouts, among others.
- How to Share Google Classroom with Parents
- Guide for Parents to Access Google Classroom
- How to Create a ScreenCast (video) Using Screencastify and Google Slides
- Fundamentals of Using Schoology (social learning network) for Teaching and Learning
- Beginner's Guide to Setting Up and Using Free Zoom Video Conferencing for Your Class
Free Remote Learning Instructional Planning Template
Free Online Teaching and Learning Resources/Activities
- Growing List of Amazing Free Educational Resources
- Here's The Entire List of Education Companies Offering Free Subscriptions Due to School Closings
- WeAreTeachers.com List of Free Online Learning Resources broken down by grade level
- Scholastic Classroom Free Activities for Students in Remote Learning By Grade Level
- Swing Education - 20 Free Online Resources to Get You Through School Closures
- SchoolChoice 37 Free Online Resources for Schools Affected by Corona Virus
- Remote Learning via Free Khan Academy
- How to talk to children about the CoronaVirus
- CDC Guidelines for Staying Healthy at Home During Corona Virus
Articles on Rapidly Bringing Instruction Online
- What teachers in China experienced as they went to virtual learning last month via Edutopia
- ISTE Strategies for Remote Learning during Coronavirus School Closures
- COSN Letter on School Districts Preparing for Remote/Online Learning during Coronavirus School Closures
- EdSurge Navigating Uncertain Times: How Schools Cn Cope With Coronavirus
Sample Student Remote Learning Schedules/Agendas
100's of Activities and Resources for Parents to Engage Their Children During School Closures
In addition to posting resources on the NJECC COVID-19/Coronavirus Support Page, we will continue to tweet/retweet important information and resources via @NJECC
Below is a selection of research relevant to the field of educational technology organized by Dr. Christopher Shamburg, Professor and Coordinator of the Doctoral Program in Educational Technology Leadership at New Jersey City University. New Jersey City University is a partner of NJECC.
Please feel free to contact Dr. Shamburg at cshamburg@njcu.edu if you have any questions regarding this list or would like to suggest research to be included in this list.
Below is a selection of research relevant to the field of educational technology organized by the NJCU Educational Technology Department.
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2017, June 29). Communications planning for innovation in education: New guide and district profiles [Video file]. Future Ready Schools. Available at https://all4ed.org/webinar-
Ensuring effective communication in schools is pertinent for innovation to occur. The webinar highlights the aspects of creating a culture of engagement, transparency, and mutual trust between school stakeholders and families and communities for technological advancements to take hold in classrooms across a district. Includes real-world examples from schools across the nation, as well as helpful tools in implementing effective communication strategies for school improvement.
Bers, M. U. (2012). Designing digital experiences for positive youth development: From playpen to playground. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
This text focuses on the pertinent aspect of digital landscape design in order to promote the positive cognitive, emotional, social, civic, spiritual, and physical development of children.
Buechley, L., Peppler, K., Eisenberg, M., & Yasmin, K. (2013). Textile messages: Dispatches from the world of e-textiles and education. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
This book focuses on the emergent trend of e-textiles in the K-12 and higher education spheres. The authors focus on how e-textiles are influencing technology education, and includes a collection of tools to help tech coaches create and learn with e-textiles.
Carnahan, C., Crowley, K., & Zieger, L. (2016). Drones in education: Let your students’ imaginations soar. Eugene, OR: ISTE.
For educators looking to incorporate drones in education, this book covers everything the novice educator or tech coordinator requires to begin implementing drones into a curriculum safely and effectively.
Chang, J. (2015, November 8). Bridging the racial gap in STEM education [Web log post]. National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering. Available at http://www.nacme.org/news/
The article focuses on underrepresented minorities (URM) in STEM career fields by focusing on the nature of the problem regarding underserved populations in technological education programs. The author suggests strategies for parents in encouraging 21st-century competencies in URM groups, as well as suggestions for stakeholders to foster inclusionary practices.
Cheung, A., Slavin, R.E. (2012, April). The effectiveness of educational technology applications for enhancing reading achievement in K-12 classrooms: A Meta-Analysis. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Research and Reform in Education. Available at http://www.bestevidence.org/
This review was based on over 84 studies involving more than 60,000 participants in the K-12 arena on the effects of technology on reading achievement. The report includes four major categories of educational technology reviewed, including: computer-managed learning, innovative technology applications, comprehensive models, and supplemental technology.
Freeman, A., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Davis, A., and Hall Giesinger, C. (2017). NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2017 K–12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Available at https://library.educause.edu/~
The research contained in this comprehensive report examines emerging technologies and their possible impact on and utilization in teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in K-12 schools.
Greene, J. A., Sandoval, W. A., & Bråten, I. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of epistemic cognition. New York, NY: Routledge.
Focusing on how to integrate multiple sources of information into coherent and useful knowledge is an issue in 21st-century teaching and learning. This book emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to how people ascertain, understand, justify, change, and apply knowledge in formal and informal contexts. A comprehensive look into the future of knowledge and knowing.
Lankshear, C, Knobel, M. (2011). New literacies: Everyday practice and social learning. 3rd Edition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
This book focuses on the social practices and new literacies required of students learning in the 21st-century. Despite the prevalence of existing paradigms and didactic teaching practices in current educational settings today, the authors posit that new knowledge is intrinsically interconnected with digital learning.
Malouf, D. B., & Taymans, J. M. (2016). Anatomy of an evidence base. Educational Researcher, 45(8), 454-459. Available at. http://journals.sagepub.com/
This article focuses on some educational interventions outlined by the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) are examined, and reveal scant justification and support from technically adequate research studies. The text suggests that new approaches or policies are needed in the reexamination of research practices to shape evidence-based interventions.
Maslyk, J. (2019). Connect to lead: Power up your learning network to move your school forward. CA: ISTE.
As schools move to ensure they are “future ready,” school leaders can reference this text as a source for strategies to leverage innovations in a host of district settings. The text emphasizes meaningful professional learning networks (PLNs) in the age of digital teaching and learning.
Merga, M. K. (2019). Collaborating With Teacher Librarians to Support Adolescents’ Literacy and Literature Learning. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.
The author explores teacher librarians’ ideas about teacher collaborations around literacy and literature learning, roles in collaborations, and the characteristics of good collaborations. Productive and strong collaborations between librarians in schools and their teacher colleagues can enhance students’ learning experiences and outcomes.
O’Neil, C. (2016). Weapons of math destruction: How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy. New York, NY: Crown.
The mathematical models and algorithms that pervade educational domains are examined at length in this book. The author details how big data models are unregulated and can even reinforce discriminatory practices that may be responsible for dismantling our social fabric.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2015). PISA 2015 Results (Volume 1). Available at http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/
The results contain a series of reports by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an assessment taken by students in over 80 countries in mathematics, science, and language instruction. The report examines global competence. The 2018 results of PISA will be released on December 2, 2019.
Picciano, A. G., Dziuban, C. D., & Graham, C. R. (2013). Blended learning: Research perspectives (Vol. 2). New York, NY: Routledge.
How can blended learning transform today’s learning environments? This text seeks to answer this question by examining research on practitioner perspectives and best practices in designing and delivering hybrid courses, student interaction and engagement, and strategies for training and supporting professional staff in implementing blended environments.
Reiser, R.A. (2012). What field did you say you were in?: Defining and naming our field. In R.A. Reiser & J.V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Available at http://www-fp.pearsonhighered.
The chapter emphasizes the historical influences and trends that have led to the rise in instructional design and technology. Reiser focuses on the contextual history that has impacted the definition of the field based on multiple perspectives from a variety of disciplines.
Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. MIT press. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Using game studies and design theory, the text seeks to expand on rules, play, and culture of gaming in culture, impacts on society, and teaching and learning.
Salen, K., Torres, R., Wolozin, L, Rufo-Tepper, R, Shapiro (2011). Quest to learn: Developing the school for digital kids. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Available at https://mitpress.mit.edu/
Focusing on an innovative school in New York City that emphasizes a “game-based” approach to learning, the text is a culmination of research that identifies successes of gamified learning spaces as an innovative approach to student-led inquiry and engagement.
US. Department of Education (n.d.) What works clearinghouse. Available at https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/
The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) relies on high-quality research to discern the best evidence-based practices for interventions and programming in schools.
Wing, J. (2012). Computational thinking [PowerPoint slides]. Microsoft Research Asia Summit 2012. Available at https://www.microsoft.com/en-
This comprehensive presentation on computational thinking defines the concept, places it within specific contexts with considerations towards intended use with particular audiences, and provides examples of computational thinking using an interdisciplinary approach.
The New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative (NJECC), while not a grant maker, recognizes that its member district's budgets for digital learning are often small or even non-existent, resulting in the increasing need for schools to obtain grants and E-Rate funding to support technology needs.
As a starting point, the federal Office of Educational Technology has put together an excellent overview of the questions district's need to ask themselves before seeking federal funding for their digital learning initiatives - http://tech.ed.gov/funding/
In addition, the Federal Communications Commission offers guidance on how to apply for and properly utilize E-Rate funds to meet district digital learning needs - http://www.universalservice.org/sl/
T.H.E. Journal compiles a weekly list of grants and funding opportunities to support districts digital learning/educational technology initiatives - https://thejournal.com/grants
While we recognize that each grantmaker requires their own unique proposal format and data to submit a successful grant application, we recommend you view the follow article to get a sense of how to craft a winning educational technology grant proposal - https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/03/26/7-proven-strategies-for-winning-ed-tech-grants.aspx
Finally, if you or your staff are seeking small educational technology purchases for individual classrooms or teachers, please consider creating an education focused crowd-sourced fundraising campaign using a service like https://donorbox.org/or DonorsChoose.org
The New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative (NJECC) offers it's members several resources include access to a vibrant online social network via Google Plus, a annotated directory of New Jersey based research on the impact of digital teaching and learning in schools as well as an annotated list of grants and funding opportunities for educational technology projects.