Friday, December 21, 2012
Iowa Dept. of Education Transitions from EdInfo System to EdPortal After Dec. 31
As was stated in the Department's December School Leader Update, all applications currently available at www.edinfo.state.ia.us will be available only though the Iowa Department of Education Portal after December 31, 2012. EdInfo users with an A&A (Authentication and Authorization) account will be migrated to the portal and will retain access to the same applications as currently available to them. In order to migrate users, the e-mail address on the A&A account must match the email address on a user's EdInfo account. For more information about creating an A&A account or verifying email addresses on the two systems, click here.
Des Moines Grant Funded Principal Academy, Jan. 17
The Center For College and Career Readiness is hosting a free, grant-funded session for district Administrators and Principals on January 17.
This Leadership Academy includes just published information from assessment consortia, new examples of assessment items, the latest research on College & Career Readiness and direct guidance on High Fidelity Impact Strategies. Create a coherent approach between Marzano, Common Core, and current state standards.
Agenda topics include:
Sign up for a personal afternoon consultation with Larry Hahn, Vice President of the Center for College and Career Readiness.
The Center for College & Career Readiness has dedicated more than $500,000 in grant funded professional development for Principals and District Leaders.
If you have questions about this event, please contact Linda Berz at Linda.berz@commoncoreinstitute.org or (800) 318-4555 ext 133.
This Leadership Academy includes just published information from assessment consortia, new examples of assessment items, the latest research on College & Career Readiness and direct guidance on High Fidelity Impact Strategies. Create a coherent approach between Marzano, Common Core, and current state standards.
Agenda topics include:
- Common Core: Measurable Requirements
- Common Core Assessments: Specific Examples, Overview of Requirements, What to do NOW
- Breaking Research Data and What It Means: Writing & College/Career Readiness
Sign up for a personal afternoon consultation with Larry Hahn, Vice President of the Center for College and Career Readiness.
The Center for College & Career Readiness has dedicated more than $500,000 in grant funded professional development for Principals and District Leaders.
If you have questions about this event, please contact Linda Berz at Linda.berz@commoncoreinstitute.org or (800) 318-4555 ext 133.
UNI's Continuing and Distance Education to Offer Online Master of Arts in Education
University of Northern Iowa's Continuing and Distance Education is accepting applications for its upcoming Professional Development for Teachers cohort degree program, beginning in the fall of 2013 and leading to a Master of Arts in Education degree.
This program is designed to fulfill the professional development needs for classroom teachers and other teaching professionals who wish to deepen their understanding of the teaching and learning process. Students will have a variety of opportunities to develop strategies for implementing innovative practices in the classroom and for thoughtful analysis of issues and problems facing teachers.
"This program is especially well-suited to busy teachers who are interested in a cohort-based master's program that challenges them to expand their expertise in a broad range of educational topics," says program coordinator Michelle Tichy.
This degree will be earned online. Coursework begins in the fall of 2013 using a cohort model in which a group of students moves together through a course sequence, with the degree to be awarded in the summer of 2015. To learn more about the program and how to apply, visit www.uni.edu/continuinged/prof-dev-for-teachers.
For information about additional offerings available through Continuing Distance and Education at UNI, visit www.uni.edu/continuinged or call (319) 272-2121 or (800) 648-3864.
The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.
This program is designed to fulfill the professional development needs for classroom teachers and other teaching professionals who wish to deepen their understanding of the teaching and learning process. Students will have a variety of opportunities to develop strategies for implementing innovative practices in the classroom and for thoughtful analysis of issues and problems facing teachers.
"This program is especially well-suited to busy teachers who are interested in a cohort-based master's program that challenges them to expand their expertise in a broad range of educational topics," says program coordinator Michelle Tichy.
This degree will be earned online. Coursework begins in the fall of 2013 using a cohort model in which a group of students moves together through a course sequence, with the degree to be awarded in the summer of 2015. To learn more about the program and how to apply, visit www.uni.edu/continuinged/prof-dev-for-teachers.
For information about additional offerings available through Continuing Distance and Education at UNI, visit www.uni.edu/continuinged or call (319) 272-2121 or (800) 648-3864.
The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Happy Holidays from Heartland AEA
Best wishes to you for a very joyful holiday season. Please click here to view our holiday card.
Next Issue of Educator Connection with World of Media Now Available
Earlier today, we sent out the latest issue of the Educator Connection with World of Media. Like the one in the fall, this edition is an interactive, online e-magazine that replaces the past print, PDF and blog editions. We took some of your suggestions to include tabs that identify the content. Please do not hesitate to contact the Heartland AEA Communications Dept. at comms@aea11.k12.ia.us with more feedback on our new resource!
Click here for this issue which includes information on using ebooks to support the Iowa Core standards, professional learning opportunities and updates, interactive simulations for math and science and much, much more!
Click here for this issue which includes information on using ebooks to support the Iowa Core standards, professional learning opportunities and updates, interactive simulations for math and science and much, much more!
December Impacting Lives Update
Read the latest Impacting Lives update at http://aeas4iowa.wordpress.com/. In this issue, you'll find information about how the AEAs support English Language Learner needs in Iowa as well as how AEAs support technology tools and resources that are used to impact learning.
Preparations for August 2013 Online Training System
This past August during the peak season of traffic to our online training system (http://training2.aea11.k12.ia.us), many users experienced a delay in website load time. In fact, a few days saw the average load time for a page at over 30 seconds. The reason for these delays was an unexpected 125% increase in the number of people taking online trainings. In order to make the make the user experience better, we have come up with a series of solutions and recommendations.
Our solutions for 2013
To solve the issue in August 2012, we instituted a “maximum concurrent users = 100” policy. Immediately doing so, the performance level improved to normal. For 2013 we will be keeping a concurrent user cap, but we will be raising it as we make some other changes.
The biggest change we are making is distributing the training system over many different servers. This should allow more processing power for our system. We are also looking at re-optimizing our server software to see if we can minimize the load an individual user has. We will be testing this new environment this winter with some pilot schools. We are confident that we will have a successfully working system next August.
Our recommendations for 2013
While these changes will help, with the additional trainings we will be adding, we could see numbers double again. Therefore, we have some suggestions for districts to make the experience better for their employees.
1. Encourage employees to take trainings earlier. If your district sends out a welcome-back to school letter in July to employees, encourage them then to take the trainings. July is a down time for usage of the server, so the chances of hitting that cap are very small.
2. If you are having staff complete the training in August, avoid the heavy usage dates. To the right, you can see our projected usage chart for next August, the darker the color, the heavier the usage.
3. Avoid having your entire staff take the training at once. While this practice might be very convenient for the planning of pre-service days, it also greatly enhances your chances of hitting the cap, meaning some will be logged into the site and some will not. Plus, all the individuals from your school accessing the same training could impact your own district bandwidth, slowing down the experience as well.
4. Target district inservice days. Waiting until your first early-out can save a lot of frustration for your teachers. Do take note that many districts use Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as an inservice day, and we see a spike of usage on that day as well.
Our solutions for 2013
To solve the issue in August 2012, we instituted a “maximum concurrent users = 100” policy. Immediately doing so, the performance level improved to normal. For 2013 we will be keeping a concurrent user cap, but we will be raising it as we make some other changes.
The biggest change we are making is distributing the training system over many different servers. This should allow more processing power for our system. We are also looking at re-optimizing our server software to see if we can minimize the load an individual user has. We will be testing this new environment this winter with some pilot schools. We are confident that we will have a successfully working system next August.
Our recommendations for 2013
While these changes will help, with the additional trainings we will be adding, we could see numbers double again. Therefore, we have some suggestions for districts to make the experience better for their employees.
1. Encourage employees to take trainings earlier. If your district sends out a welcome-back to school letter in July to employees, encourage them then to take the trainings. July is a down time for usage of the server, so the chances of hitting that cap are very small.
2. If you are having staff complete the training in August, avoid the heavy usage dates. To the right, you can see our projected usage chart for next August, the darker the color, the heavier the usage.
3. Avoid having your entire staff take the training at once. While this practice might be very convenient for the planning of pre-service days, it also greatly enhances your chances of hitting the cap, meaning some will be logged into the site and some will not. Plus, all the individuals from your school accessing the same training could impact your own district bandwidth, slowing down the experience as well.
4. Target district inservice days. Waiting until your first early-out can save a lot of frustration for your teachers. Do take note that many districts use Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as an inservice day, and we see a spike of usage on that day as well.
December Blog Updates for AEA PD Online and AEA K-12 Online
The AEA PD Online and AEA K-12 Online blogs have been updates are now available. See below for more information.
Go to www.aeapdonline.org/ for AEA PD Online updates or click on the direct article links below. For real time updates, follow AEA PD Online on Twitter at @aeapdonline.
Recent Updates:
Go to www.aeak12online.org/ for AEA K-12 Online updates or click on the direct article link below.
Recent Updates:
Recent Updates:
- Preparations for August 2013 Online Training System
- SoftChalk: A Tool Brought to You by AEA PD Online
- Upcoming Course Offerings
- External Partners Webinars
Recent Updates:
Reminder: Clarification on Home Language Survey Usage
We have received guidance from Dr. Jobi Lawrence, Director of Title III and Education Consultant at the Iowa Department of Education, regarding the use of the Home Language Survey. Please see below for the message.
Please be advised regarding the current use of the Home Language Survey for all students. Based on guidance from our Title III program officer, until further notice, school districts are to provide the Home Language Survey as a hard copy in its full form to new enrollees and maintain that paper copy in a student folder. This form is located on www.TransAct.com and is identified as Form A. This will allow access to the form in 23 languages.
In light of the upcoming Title III visit to Iowa next year, we will want to maintain this practice. We will provide updated information as it becomes available.
Please be advised regarding the current use of the Home Language Survey for all students. Based on guidance from our Title III program officer, until further notice, school districts are to provide the Home Language Survey as a hard copy in its full form to new enrollees and maintain that paper copy in a student folder. This form is located on www.TransAct.com and is identified as Form A. This will allow access to the form in 23 languages.
In light of the upcoming Title III visit to Iowa next year, we will want to maintain this practice. We will provide updated information as it becomes available.
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