Digital Learning Day Local Events
What happens here is up to you! Tens of thousands of teachers and librarians have already signed up to "try something new" or do one of the Digital Learning Day interactive lessons to celebrate the potential of digital learning in schools. They are all included as the orange dots on the map below.
Educators across the country are participating by starting a conversation, trying something new, showcasing success - And in many cases, hosting a community or school based event. Check out some of the great ideas and examples of awesome local events happening on Digital Learning Day!
Awesome Ideas for 2013!
Black Hawk Elementary School, Rapid City Area School District, South Dakota
Check out this video that answers the question "What does digital learning look like?" It was filmed as a collaboration with 3rd grade teacher Denise McCormick and her students as they worked on a project with librarian Jack Batchelder. Greg Seefeldt, the district technology integrationist also helped with the actual production.
Vance High School, North Carolina
Students at Vance High School created this video invitation, Getting Digi with It, for their Digital Learning Day event.
Pine Grove Middle School, New York
In celebration of National Digital Learning Day, the Pine Grove Library invites staff and students to the Digital Learning Day Virtual Quest Contest from January 17 through February 5. Events include:
- Gamers Unite - Join us to play or learn about Minecraft, Magic: The Gathering, Wii and other games on personal hand-held devices.
- Tech Smackdown I - Bring your own device and share your expertise with the group.
- Tech Freebies - Bring your own device and learn how to download music, books other cool stuff for FREE! Families welcome! Light refreshments will be served.
Mountain View Elementary School, Virginia
Students at Mountain View Elementary School in Purcellville, Virginia, will celebrate Digital Learning Day by reflecting on all the ways that technology touches their lives in school every day. Students will also take part in an electronic survey to identify their top three favorite classroom technology activities. The results will be displayed in the school’s main lobby during the month of February. Additionally, the fourth-grade students are creating video commercials showcasing examples of technology at Mountain View for the morning news show leading up to Digital Learning Day.
Kearney Jr. High, Kearney, Missouri
8th grade science students will be visiting the library throughout the day to learn ways to describe the workings of a computer to their grandparents in a lesson called, "Granny in Cyberspace". They will also use the website futureme.org to send themselves an email describing what they did for digital learning day. These emails will be set up to be received next Feb. (2/2014) in time for next year's digital learning day.
Ranson IB, North Carolina
On February 6th, Ranson IB will be celebrating with scholars, staff, parents and community partners the uniqueness of Digital Learning at Ranson IB. Parents will be invited to take tours of our digital learning classroom activities. Scholars will be designing the digital learning experience of the future and tweeting their ideas to Denise Watts and Alison Harris. They will respond to them live in a unique experience of direct communication between 1,100 students and their school and district leaders. Guest speakers will come enlighten our scholars on the state of digital learning today across the world. Several prizes will be handed out throughout the day to scholars, parents and teachers. Please join us on February 6th to celebrate Digital Learning@Ranson IB.
Spalding University, Louisville, Kentucky
Spalding University is hosting "Flip the University" where students will be given an opportunity to show faculty and staff what their favorite apps are and teach how to use them. This is an opportunity for faculty and staff to learn from the students what they use to enhance their learning or might help enhance teaching, learning and life at Spalding University.
Miami Springs, Florida
One of my challenges as a teacher is getting the students to do their homework. Once they leave the classroom, I have no way of communicating with them to help them and keep them on task. I hope that by introducing Twitter as a way to follow up with them at home, they will be motivated to complete homework assignments on time and to the best of their ability.
Loudoun County Public Schools: Mountain View Elementary, Purcellville, Virginia
Digital Learning Day is February 6th. Mountain View is celebrating by having the students reflect on all of the ways technology touch their lives in school each and every day. On Wednesday, February 6, 2013 each student will take part in an electronic survey to identify their top three favorite classroom technology activities. The results will be displayed in the school's main lobby during the month of February. The fourth grade students will be creating video commercials show casing examples of technology at Mountain View for the morning news show leading up to Digital Learning Day. Check it out.
Brookfield High School, Brookfield, Connecticut
The community and parents will be invited to the Digital Learning Day Exposition to visit student led demonstrations of iPad apps and other digital technologies. We are a 1:1 iPad school and want the community to see the great things our school is doing with technology.
Racine Unified School District: Dr. Jones Elementary, Racine, Wisconsin
2nd grade Dual Language Classroom. 20 students ~50/50 split between native English and native Spanish speakers. This is the first iPad project we have attempted (popplet lite for graphic organizer and educreations for a 'virtual postcard' of one of the three communities studied) This link is from an English native speaker who is a high level student. This link is from a Spanish native speaker who requires more direct assistance to obtain his academic goals. You will notice that question prompts allowed him to express his ideas with out having to generate the entire concept on his own. At the end you will hear him state why he enjoyed and thrived using this application. The student, as well as his teachers, discovered an alternative avenue for him to express himself in a way that he could not previously accomplish. His take was that he did not have to "use my hands"! He was able to excel in expressing his ideas using this technology. Something he was not able to do previously as he is aware that he has difficulty using his fine motor skills.
Hawaii Stream Academy, Honolulu, Hawaii
As the most innovative early childhood center and pre-school we focus on STREAM, integrating Reading and the Arts into STEM education. Our curriculum approach is creative play and our program utilizes the curriculum for technology through the Creative Academies, a phenomenal hands-on approach to hands-on learning. Our activity for Digital Learning Day is the development of an app using Scratch with our three year old students. We first have them draw the background, take a picture of it, upload it as their background. Then they use the Wacom tablet to draw freehand and make a simulation based upon a letter of the alphabet, then they create a "sound" based upon the letter and record it. Eventually it is the entire alphabet with art work developed by the students, creating a simulation (by the students) and then shared with the parents.....WAIT this is 3 year olds!!!!
Walled Lake Consolidated: Mary Helen Guest, Walled Lake, Michigan
My kindergarten students each have their own blog page attached to our classroom blog. They blog regularly (at least once a week) from school and as often as they choose to from home. We have a Smartboard in our classroom and use it often throughout each day in a variety of ways.
McKinna Elementary School, Oxnard, California
Students in our school use technology daily. We will celebrate Digital Learning Day with a special event in our After School Program. Parents will be invited to the computer lab from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. to see how their students are using Scratch to make video games. Other students are making animated films using stop action. If you go to our website, you will see some projects from last year.
Stillwater Area Public Schools, Stillwater, Minnesota
Stillwater Area Public Schools will be hosting an all-day event for Digital Learning Day 2013! This day will have two parts - the morning dedicated to sharing K-12 projects from MN districts and the afternoon dedicated to talking about Professional Development in technology integration for teachers. We will be both face-to-face and virtual (to our global audience). Visit the link below to register for the day. There is no cost to participate. Upon registering, you will receive location information and virtual connection details. Hope to see you!
National Center for Literacy Education, Urbana, Illinois
Guided Tour of the Literacy in Learning Exchange--A Digital Learning Day Special Edition February 6, 4-5pm CST In celebration of digital learning for educators as key to strengthening the digital learning of students, join this informal walk-through of the Literacy in Learning Exchange. In honor of Digital Learning Day, this tour will focus primarily on how the Exchange provides digital learning opportunities and resources for educators, especially as they explore questions associated with digital literacy teaching and learning.
Troy 30c School District, Plainfield, IIllinois
My students are investigating 5 different cultures around the world which have experienced discrimination from an event in our history. My students will be working with their teams to research online with Ebscohost. Each group will participate in online discussion questions generated by me or created by their own thoughts and post their answers on www.edmodo.com. After mini lessons on research, speaking and listening, and speech writing they will present using an online resource @ glogster.com or utilizing the program on prezi.com. The students are super excited about using technology and talking about their thoughts online. I think they are most excited by discussing their perspectives with a partnering school in Hiroshima, Japan. My aunt in Japan is equally excited to practice their written English, extending their ties with our class and working on a culture unity activity. We are super stoked and we will keep you posted on our progress!!
Miami-Dade County Public Schools: Kendale Lakes Elementary, Miami, Florida
Practice addition and subtraction math facts in Leon the Chameleon’s Math Dojo. Based on the popular children’s learning site, iKnowthat.com, Math Dojo uses engaging animation and sound to make math fun. You can select from six topics (single and double digit addition, subtraction, and mixed) covering hundreds of unique problems.The link is from Discovery Education.
Klein ISD, Klein High School, Klein, Texas
Being enrolled in the Master of Education degree program at The Sam Houston State University, two my peers and I designed the website and the lesson for educators and students to teach them about how to stay safe online.
Denmark Middle School
Denmark Middle School in Denmark, Wisconsin is hosting a Digital Share Out with parents on Friday Feb 15, 2013 from 8 am to 11:30 am. Student groups will present digital projects to groups of students and parents.
Beitel Elementary School
Beitel Elementary school in Laramie, Wyoming is hosting Family Tech Time to celebrate Digital Learning Day. Got a new gadget? Want to know about the newest, coolest educational websites and apps for kids? Join us for a Family Tech Time on February 6, 2013 from 5-6 p.m. We'll show you some of our favorite ed tech and share some advice about device security, staying safe online, and more!
Folger Mckinsey Elementary School
Meet Jackie Torrelli, a fifth grade teacher, from Folger McKinsey Elementary School in Severna Park, Maryland. She has developed a cross-cutting project to help her students learn persuasive writing, math, science, and social studies while advocating for the use of digital learning in her school. She is hosting “Folger McKinsey's Apprentice Challenge” – a program that offers team building, communication and collaboration, business and critical thinking as well as addresses core language, math and science standards.
She has divided her class into three groups who meet regularly during class time to create comprehensive strategies that promote the benefits of investing in digital learning. The students are developing their campaigns over the next 12 weeks. Ms. Torelli is bringing in expert speakers, guiding students to do research, reaching out to members of the press, and engaging community leaders in this effort. Each of the student teams will present their campaign to the principal who will act as “Donald Trump” in the Apprentice to pick a winning team. The winning team will present their findings to the PTO this February – The ultimate celebration of Digital Learning Day will be for the students to convince their local PTO to allocate precious resources to technology!
Westwood New Jersey Regional Jr/Sr High School will be participating in Digital Learning Day Feb 6, 2013 by highlighting how teachers and students teach and learn using technology. In recognition of the effort to promote digital learning and use of technology many teachers will be engaging students in motivating, content driven and technology infused experiences. On Digital Learning Day, these and other such activities will be happening around the school…
- Teachers across the curriculum will be integrating technology into their classroom instruction, including various Web 2.0 applications and cloud based software.
- Students will be awarding the Digital Badges to teachers who they feel have inspired them with the use of digital technology
- Students will be creating a video and audio project– using I-Movie and Audacity to film the activities during the week of digital learning day.
- Students will be participating will be participating in the BLOG – “How do you learn with technology? where they will share their digital experiences from the classroom and online
- The Alliance for Excellent Education daylong webcast on Digital Learning Day will be made available for viewing by students and staff throughout the day in the library media center and the Interactive Webcast will be made available to staff in a Smart board Lab.
- A looping electronic gallery of digital projects created the first semester will be displayed on the mounted TV’s in the hall and lunchrooms of the school.
- Finally, students and faculty will take the survey “ How do you infuse technology and utilize digital learning into your teaching?”
- The “day” will be over the course of our class rotation cycle schedule to assure that every class has an opportunity to participate.
Middletown Township Public Schools
District Technology Challenge
In celebration of Digital Learning Day on February 1, 2012, teachers were challenged to implement new technology resources in their classrooms. The challenge was held during the month of February for secondary teachers and March for elementary teachers. A website blog was set up and throughout each month over 20 different technology challenges were highlighted. Teachers were encouraged to collaborate via the blog by commenting on how they used each technology tool in their classroom. For every comment a teacher wrote, their name was entered into a raffle to win a prize, which included an iPad!
District Technology Expo
On May 29, 2012 the Middletown Township School District held its first ever Technology Expo. More than 85 elementary through high school students became teachers that night and taught their parents and other adult community members technology applications used in their classrooms. Over 40 instructional workshops were presented on applications such as iPad, Microsoft Word, Prezi, Skype, Blogger, MovieMaker, SMART Board, etc. The Technology Expo was very successful and the District plans to offer it to the community again next year.
Awesome Ideas!
See what others did to celebrate Digital Learning Day last year!
Avon High School and Avon Advanced Learning Center (Indiana)
Robyn Young, librarian at Avon High School and Avon Advanced Learning Center, developed this "Things to Try on Digital Learning Day" flyer and resource for educators in her district to guide them on what they can do on Digital Learning Day. Please feel free to use, adapt, and share these great ideas.
Benjamin Elementary Digital Scavenger Hunt (Bloomington, IL)
Benjamin Elementary's digital scavenger hunt has seven steps for a great online digital learning experience. The hunt is designed for children in third grade. Skills like taking screen captures, using search engines, and creating QR codes are all explored as are finding online resources and websites.
Merton Community School District (Wisconsin)
This “Try Something New” flyer from the Merton Community School District in Merton, Wisconsin offers myriad ways to try a new digital learning practice or technique in the classroom. Ideas cover all grade levels and can be applied to multiple content areas. A handy reference for educators just beginning to blend digital learning into their classroom and for educators already comfortable with digital learning.
New Milford High School (New Jersey)
Teachers at New Milford High School share their plans for Digital Learning Day. This document includes ideas for social studies, art, business, and more!
Pikesville High School (Baltimore, MD)
Pikesville High School in Baltimore, MD is hosting a “Don’t Worry … Be ‘Appy’ Party” on Digital Learning Day. The purpose of the party is to provide the community with an opportunity to share, learn, and explore “apps” for their mobile devices. It promises to be offer an engaging, interactive, and collaborative learning environment that will foster a deeper appreciation and understanding of mobile learning.
Saint Peter’s College Digital Learning Top Ten Tips (Jersey City, NJ)
Saint Peter’s College's School of Education has assembled this handy top 10 list of how to incorporate digital learning in the classroom. Looking for ideas? Start here!
Westwood Regional Jr./Sr. High School (New Jersey)
The Westwood Regional Jr/Sr High School, a regional public school serving grades eight through twelve for the towns of Washington Township and Westwood, New Jersey has made a commitment to infusing technology into its teaching and learning to implement the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The Westwood Regional Jr/Sr High School Media Centeris the place where teachers collaborate with the media specialist to teach students how to be effective researchers, enabling them to handle a problem, assignment, decision, or task by utilizing the necessary information literacy skills while utilizing the latest in digital technology and engaging the students in digitally driven learning experiences in the classroom or online. In this document, media specialist Mr. Peter Richter has collated some of the digital and blended learning that has taken place so far in the 2011–12 school year.
On Digital Learning Day, in addition to many instructional activities involving technology, Westwood Regional Jr./Sr. High School students will be participating in a school-wide BLOG and awarding Digital Badges.
- Digital Learning Day Blog: Students in Ms. Morgan, Ms. Ondrof , Mr. Delaney’s classes and other members of the school community will be participating in media specialist Mr. Richter’s library media center Blog – “How do you learn with technology?” Students will be sharing their personal experiences of how technology helps them learn, and talking about how teachers are using use technology in their classes and online. This will include the projects they have created and the digital activities they like best.
- Digital Learning Day badges: Also, during the school day, students will be given Digital Badges that they can award to any other student or teacher who they feel uses technology effectively to learn or teach.
- Student-produced event video: Students in Mrs. Lazarsky’s Digital Media class will be videoing teachers and interviewing students about their digital experiences and will produce a culminating video of the event.
