Saturday, November 24, 2007

TIE Members Master Technology in Augusta

GPB Education's TIE Network "kicked off the school year with technology" in Augusta on Monday, September 24 with a successful football-themed event! Members of the TIE Network from the Department of Education, Columbia County, Glascock County, the NSC ETTC and the First District ETTC were all in attendance.

During the event, members were shown all of the great features of the TIE website, PowerPoint presentations with a dash of animation tricks, and all of the cool Google resources (Google Earth, Google Docs, Picasa). Members also received a great presentation by Jeff Giddens, TIE Network advisory board leader from the First District ETTC, on how to edit audio files using Audacity.

"At the end of the day, we uploaded projects to the TIE Network Resource Center and we agreed that time flew while we were having fun," said Katherine Aiken, TIE Network Manager.

This engaging event is just one of the many that go on throughout the year in the TIE Network. Please check the TIE Network calendar for more upcoming regional events and webinars for TIE Network members.

Upcoming TIE Network Regional Events:

Thursday, November 15, 2007
7:00 PM - 9:30 PM
TIE Network dinner in Atlanta during GaETC

Old Spaghetti Factory
249 Ponce de Leon Ave.
Atlanta, GA 30308
TIE Network members must RSVP online to reserve a seat since space is limited.

Thursday, December 6, 2007
Columbus TIE Network All-day Event

The location has not been confirmed yet, but you can go ahead and reserve your space now. Please check the TIE Network calendar for more updates. TIE Network members must RSVP online to reserve a seat since space is limited.

Please take a moment to look at the opportunities above and RSVP only if you will be able to attend the event. Since these regional get-togethers are for TIE Network members, please apply for TIE Network membership before RSVPing for events. When you RSVP for an event, we are counting on your attendance and we have allocated funds for your participation.

Step 1
Apply for TIE Network Membership:
1. Visit www.tienetwork.org.
2. Click on the Register link on the right-hand side of the page.
3. Enter the following information into the template provided:
First Name, Last Name, Username, E-mail, Password and Verified Password.
4. Click on the Zoomerang link at the bottom of the template to access the online TIE Network membership application.
5. After you submit your Zoomerang survey, you will receive a Zoomerang Code that you will enter into the website template in the Zoomerang Code field.
6. Submit your information by clicking on the Send Registration button.

You will be notified via e-mail when your TIE Network website account has been activated.

Step 2
RSVP for TIE Network events:
1. Log into the TIE Network website at www.tienetwork.org.
2. Click on the "Links" tab in the green toolbar towards the top of the page.
3. Click on the "TIE Network Event RSVPs" link.
4. Locate the TIE Network Event link listed at the bottom of the page.
5. Click on the link you plan to attend.
6. Complete and submit the event RSVP online survey.

Join GPB at the Georgia Educational Technology Conference

The Georgia Educational Technology Conference (GaETC) is celebrating its 20th year November 14 -16 in Atlanta! For two decades, GaETC has been providing invaluable information to educators for integrating technology in the classroom. During the conference, educators have the opportunity to network, attend a number of engaging concurrent sessions, listen to nationally known speakers and presenters, attend workshops on the latest technology and software, and explore endless amounts of technology in the exhibit hall. Attendees also have the chance to receive PLU credit through the Educational Technology Training Center at Kennesaw State University. The Georgia Educational Technology Conference (GaETC) is sponsored by the Georgia Educational Technology Consortium, Inc., with the support of the Georgia Department of Education.

Remember to stop by GPB Education's booth at GaETC!

FREE Family Literacy Training Sessions

Learn how to use everyday family activities to help children become better learners and readers using stories from the rich Latino cultures and traditions in Lee y serás: Family Album's FREE two-day training sessions available the beginning of 2008. These training sessions are brought to you by GPB Education and the Department of Technical and Adult Education's Office of Adult Literacy in partnership with Scholastic, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and Verizon.

Lee y serás® is a national Latino early literacy initiative that empowers and engages families and communities to foster children's literacy development. By providing research-based, in-culture, and bilingual curricula and materials for families, childcare providers and leaders, the program's goal is to create long-term attitudinal and behavioral change in an effort to help close the education achievement gap.

If you are interested in attending these training sessions, please contact Carol Veatch at CVeatch@gpb.org. Seating is limited.

For more information visit www.leeyseras.net.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Georgia's F3 Program Keeping Children Safe Online

We live in a fast-paced world where it seems as though everyone is multitasking while they are multitasking. Most of this can be credited to the fact that technology and the way and how we communicate - social networking sites, blogging, texting, video phones, etc. - just keeps on changing and growing at a pace that none of us, not even the tech-savvy ones among us, can really keep up with.

This is a big concern when it comes to how to keep children and students safe from the threats that can come along with the technology. This harm is in the form of predators and not-so-child-friendly websites that are lurking out on the internet - just waiting to find them.

"Before the issue was getting schools connected to technology and now it is cybersafety," said Claudia Huff, Principal Research Associate for Foundations for the Future at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

Foundations for the Future (F3), a collaboration of Georgia Tech researchers working with government and industry support to ensure universal K-12 technology access and effective use in Georgia, has been around since 1996 helping schools and school districts around Georgia acquire technology and use technology through technical assistance, professional development workshops, proposal writing assistance, technology demonstrations, conference sponsorship and strategic planning.

With all of this information and technology know-how, F3 is now on the forefront of cybersafety research. To date, F3's research has concluded that there has been a significant rise in cyber crimes against children within the last decade. Some of the findings include that the rise in cyber crimes may come from the fact that 39% of youth have given out personal information online; only one in four youth who received a sexual solicitation online reported the incident to an adult; and more than 1/3 of students in grades five through eight say their parents would disapprove if they know what they did online.

F3 has also identified common threats for children online, including online child predators, access to inappropriate materials, cyberbulling and harassment, identity theft, and the list goes on.

These overwhelming statistics and threats brought on an initiative by F3 focused on cybersafety for K-12. This initiative is a holistic approach which focuses on awareness and prevention among teachers, parents and community organizations. According to F3, one of the main issues with cybersafety is that children just aren't taught how to be safe and what precautions to take.

"Adults today really aren't teaching children how to be safe on the net," says Jessica Pater, Cyber Security Researcher for Foundations for the Future. "It's not about taking technology away, it's about grooming children to be responsible," Pater adds.

F3 believes that preventive measures for cybersafety need to be taken beyond just common awareness-building levels. and on to comprehensive knowledge applications that aim towards altering behaviors of children while on the internet and using all types of communications technology. As a result of these proposed preventive measures, F3 is confident that children will be able to better protect themselves while using the internet and other forms of communications technology.

This cybersafety initiative is a collaborative effort between F3 at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), the DeKalb County School System, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) and GPB Education.

F3 and its partners have created a 5-year plan for reaching its goal of prevention by raising awareness and taking action in the state of Georgia. F3 believes this initiative could be implemented nationwide.

Claudia Huff, Principal Research Associate at F3, may have summed everything up best by saying "Keep up, keep ahead and keep informed."

More information about F3 and the Cybersafety Initiative.

Check out F3's monthly newsletter that lists safe websites for the whole family to enjoy.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Irasshai a Success at JapanFest

On September 29 and 30, GPB's Irasshai enjoyed its presence at the annual JapanFest held this year at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. This year marked the 21st anniversary of this exciting event, organized by The Japan-America Society of Georgia, and The Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Georgia, and supported by the Consulate General of Japan. The festival had historically been held at Stone Mountain, where Irasshai has been an active participant since the event was moved there in 1996.

JapanFest attendees made their way through the convention hall to watch and sometimes take part in demonstrations, performances, and various workshops including bonsai, ikebana, and kimono-wearing. In addition, there were many Japanese companies who are based in Georgia displaying their products in the Made in Georgia exhibition. More serious shoppers browsed the vast array of Japanese household goods, books, masks, toys, ceramics, traditional clothing and more.

The Irasshai booth was center of the popular trivia bowl, where participants challenged three rounds of Japanese language and culture related questions. Everyone walked away a winner, with the top prize being the highly-treasured Irasshai T-shirt for the more than 40 participants who were able to answer all three questions correctly.

The event was also an opportunity for Irasshai students to meet their A.I. (telephone) teachers, and to practice their Japanese. Host and TV teacher, Tim Cook, was also on site for a photo opportunity with Irasshai students. Program facilitators from Georgia high schools who were also able to attend got the chance to meet and chat with the Irasshaistaff. JapanFest was once again an excellent opportunity for people to experience first-hand the many wonderful aspects of Japanese culture.

Irasshai will be present at the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) conference in San Antonio, TX on November 16-18, 2007!