Blog Archives - INTEGRITY TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Increasing poverty rates

6/20/2012

Poverty rates: Most U.S. counties see increasing poverty rates
It’s hardly news that the Great Recession pushed millions of Americans into poverty. In 2010, “poverty” meant having an income of less than $22,113 for a family of four; 15.1 percent of Americans were below that line. As this map shows, some areas of the country fared worse than others…

Crystal Jensen, Guest Lecturer for Pepperdine’s SEC Program, Teaches “Empowering Social Entrepreneurship & Change With Technology”

6/20/2012

Los Angeles, CA June 5, 2012

Pepperdine doctoral student Crystal Jensen has served as an ongoing guest lecturer for the Master of Arts in Social Entrepreneurship and Change at Pepperdine University, emphasizing the role technology can and does play in influencing positive change in our world today. Students in the program are interested in philanthropy, advocacy, and non-profit management and the degree program builds skills in business, management, and leadership. Ms. Jensen’s lectures serve to inspire and equip graduate-level students with the tools, strategies, and technological philosophy needed to effect the change the candidates hope to achieve with their work.

Pepperdine University – GSEP 2011 Scholars Award Banquet

New Mexico – Tewa Women United: Youth Creating Beloved Communities

6/19/2012

Join us on Saturday, May 5th at Northern New Mexico College for YOUTH CREATING BELOVED COMMUNITIES ~ Presented by Tewa Women United

::: Attend workshops on Youth Activism, Healthy Relationships, Higher Education, Empowerment Through Art, Empowerment Through Agriculture. 8:30 am to 3 pm ~ Screening of film “Maria Full of Hope: An Equal Voice Story” at 1:30 pm

::: Sponsored by Tewa Women United, Associated Student of Northern New Mexico College, Until Three, Santa Clara Systems of Care and Marguerite Caseys Foundation’s Equal Voice Youth Empowerment Project.

::: Location: Rooms AD 101 / 102 in the NNMC Administration Bulding, Espanola campus

::: IT’S FREE! (lunch included!)

May 2012 Seminar: Native Nations Institute and Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy’s Tribal Leader’s Constitution Seminar in Tucson, AZ

6/19/2012

By C. Branchflower & X. Ryan-Klevecka
June 9, 2012 Los Angeles, CA

In May 2012, Crystal Jensen attended the Native Nations Institute (NNI) and Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy’s Tribal Leader’s Constitution Seminar in Tucson, AZ. The Pasqua Yaqui Tribe hosted over a hundred key Tribal leaders from various Native American and Indigenous tribes around the U.S. and Canada. Crystal was one of three of non-tribal leaders chosen to attend this meeting. This first-hand experience allowed her to network with Native American leaders; who shared their communities unique needs and perspectives. Therefore, this gathering did and will continue to inform her and Integrity Technologies’ utilization of technology for Native American Tribal capacity building.

More about: NNI

“The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI) was founded in 2001 by the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation and The University of Arizona as a self-determination, self-governance, and development resource for Native nations.

NNI’s mission is to assist in the building of capable Native nations that can effectively pursue and ultimately realize their own political, economic, and community development objectives. This effort, which we call nation building, is the central focus of NNI’s programs.”

May 2012 International Travel: China’s Cultural and Educational Technology

6/19/2012

By C. Branchflower

In May of 2012, Crystal Jensen traveled to Bejing, Xian and Shanghai to learn more about China’s efforts to integrate technology into rural settings and become immersed in their language, culture, and traditions. The China tour involved meetings with educational technology leaders of Intel, Mozilla, Capital Mandarin International Online School, Normal University in Guilin, and Yew Chung International School (YCIS) and Pepperdine University in Shanghai.

Ms. Jensen had the opportunity to experience China’s historical, modern, and natural sites such as the Great Wall, Xian’s Terracotta Warriors, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Shanghai’s cultural and shopping districts. This provided a cultural perspective to the study of a civilization that stays connected to a rich ancient history while using innovations in technology to reach into the future.

About Me: Crystal Jensen

6/19/2012

Crystal Jensen is a learning technology consultant whose Native American roots have led her to research and develop methods of incorporating technology in urban and rural areas that will strengthen the capacity of Native American schools and communities. She has traveled the world, including China, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Great Britain, France, and Mexico in an effort to research methods used in other countries, and to network with educational leaders in a variety of forums. She is also the president and founder of Integrity Technologies, and CERCle, two organizations designed to provide 21st century capacity building for communities in need, thereby helping bridge the digital divide.

Ms. Jensen has coordinated and taught technology in rural and urban, public K-12 schools for the past 10+ years, including mobile and online virtual environments. Her experience as an educator has given her a unique perspective on the specific needs of students, administrators and community in regards to the use of technology in education. One of her primary goals is to empower youth to utilize technology to improve every area of a school.

Crystal has also served as the president of Pepperdine’s Association of Computing Machinery and as East Bay Computer Using Educators Vice President and Grant Coordinator. Most recently, she was honored as a 2011-2012 Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) Emerging Leader and 2011-2012 American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) Fellow. Jensen’s current doctoral dissertation research highlights the core issues in the information and communication technology (ICTs) gap experienced by Native Americans, other national and International Indigenous populations, and communities in need, especially those in rural areas. More about her work can be read in her May 2012 article, “Tribal Education and Communities in Need” published in Pepperdine’s Alumni Magazine, The Colleague – http://colleague.pepperdine.edu/2012/06/tribal-education-and-communities-in-need/

Happy Father’s Day!

6/17/2012

Happy Father’s Day from Thoreau, the “father of environmentalism” and ecological and biodiversity studies leader.

“There is no remedy for love but to love more.”

http://www.thoreausociety.org/_news_abouthdt.htm

Pepperdine’s Colleague Magazine, ”Tribal Education and Communities in Need” by Crystal Jensen

6/6/2012

The Doctor of Learning Technologies (DELT) program at the Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) has afforded me many personal and professional opportunities, as a result of its unique design and commitment to diversity and the success of all students. With the support from GSEP, my Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma chief Gregory Pyle and tribe, my family, and Greater Native American community, I have had the opportunity to stay connected to my family in Oklahoma, create two organizations that utilize learning technologies to empower Native Americans and other indigenous people in need, attend extracurricular scholarly conferences and meetings throughout the U.S., and connect with other faculty and students during scheduled trips for the program all while staying current with my course work.

The DELT program, including the expert and altruistic faculty and staff, has created the space and support for me to journey on the trail to the roots of my existence, plant the seed of who I am, and begin to evolve into what I will become next on the journey to achieving my life’s purpose—for which I am eternally grateful ...more

Hot off the presses: New June East Bay CUE Newsletter

6/6/2012

June 2012 – EBCUE News, Grant Winners, and Resources

EBCUE Newsletter

June 2012

11-12 Issue 3

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http://www.eastbaycue.org/

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Inside This Issue

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* From the President

* Cool Tools 2012 Recap

* 2012 EBCUE Doug Prouty Grant Winners

* Curriculum Links

* Money Savings

* Tips & Tricks

* Professional Development

* Dates to Remember

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EBCUE Board

President: Stephen Politzer

Vice President: Crystal Jensen

Eileen C. Walters

Anna Massi

Adrienne DeWolfe

Jim Freese

Stephen Politzer

Alberto Nodal

David Malone

Gerald McMullin

Theresa Gabor

Karen McMillan

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From the President:

Education in California has taken some huge hits these past few years, and the near future is looking bleak. Budget deficits, program cuts, increasing class sizes, and teacher layoffs are casting dark clouds over the coming school year in districts across the state. It’s hard to stay positive, BUT then along come moments of inspiration that give me hope. I’d like to share a couple to end this school year in a positive way.

Below, you’ll get to “meet” our 2012 East Bay CUE Doug Prouty Grant winners. They’ve got some amazing projects planned, and EBCUE is excited to be able to provide the funding to make them happen. You may think that funding these grants provided one of the moments that inspired me, but that’s not it. What inspired me is the number and quality of grant submissions we received this year. Hard decisions for the grant scoring judges? Absolutely, but it’s inspiring that so many teachers get it!

Another moment that inspired me was a professional development day held for Oakland Unified School District middle school teachers on a Saturday in mid-May as a part of their School2Home project. With a beautiful day outside, six teachers and a couple of classified support people sat indoors at my session for integrating technology tools for writing in English language arts and social studies. In the room next door, other teachers did the same with mathematics. You may think that these teachers, immersed in technology integration and excited for their students, provided one of the moments that inspired me, but that’s not it. What inspired me is that the school principal and assistant principal sat in on the sessions.

It’s inspiring to interact with educators who believe in integrating technology, who want to harness the motivation their students feel when using technology tools for learning, and who understand that students “powering up” can promote, not impede, learning… a glimmer of hope. See you in 2012-13…

Stephen Politzer
President, East Bay CUE

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COOL TOOLS 2012 RECAP
It was a great Saturday conference with many firsts. More than 200 attendees, many of whom were first-timers at Cool Tools, joined us at our new location of Head Royce School in Oakland. After registering in the library, attendees headed over to the Head Royce Cafe to enjoy the wonderful array of chef-inspired morning goodies. As participants came in and grabbed a bite, they were welcomed by our East Bay CUE President, Stephen Politzer, along with Mike Lawrence and Micheline LeBlanc from CUE. After the morning welcome, off people went to find their first session of the day. The morning was filled with two concurrent sessions that participants could pick and choose from (another first!) There were iPad sessions, grant writing, sessions about interactive websites, vendor sessions and many more. Since we were at a school, most sessions held 25 or fewer participants so the sessions were up close and personal. Then came a delicious lunch along with plenty of networking as participants prepared for their afternoon hands-on sessions. Participants were able to learn about Flip Video cameras, Going Google, Flip Teaching, Edmodo, Worthy Websites and much more. After the afternoon session, everyone walked down to the Community Room for our final wrap-up and prizes, prizes, prizes! Yes, iPads, Livescribe Pens, Kindle Touch, Snowball USB Microphone, iTunes cards, Gorilla Tripods, Flip Video Camera, and more were given to winning participants. Of course, everyone left with something. If you didn’t go home with one of the fabulous prizes, you went home with a whole new bag of tricks to try in your classrooms on Monday.

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2012 EBCUE DOUG PROUTY GRANT WINNERS
The Board of EBCUE extends a sincere thank you to all of the teachers who submitted applications for the 2012 Doug Prouty Classroom Grant Program. The Board congratulates all EBCUE teachers for doing such a fine job of integrating technology in the classroom and is proud to announce the following winners of the 2012 Doug Prouty Grant awards:

Linden VanWert – PK-8 English/Language Arts

Purpose – Create a podcasting station that students can use independently to create book reviews that are instantly uploaded to an online portal.

Outcomes – Students will be actively involved in using the library, including regularly checking out books for “”free reading”” times. Books checkout for 5th – 8th graders will increase. Use of the library during free times (before school, after school, recess and lunch) will increase.”

Jann Geyer – 6th English/Language Arts

“I want my sixth graders to create podcasts and visual book trailers on iPads. Currently, students “book talk” live to a single audience—simultaneously celebrating and advertising a loved book. …Creating podcasts and visual book trailers on the iPads will establish a library of student recommendations, allow for re-dos and quality improvement, reach a wider audience, and entice a different type of student to give book talks.”

Lyn Goodness/Patricia Snyder – 7th/8th Science

“Our project intends to expose and engage students in the process of investigating, developing and employing engineering principles….Our project is to use Lego Mindstorms Education Robotics and their computer software to design, construct and operate functional robotic structures.”

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CURRICULUM LINKS
Summer reading for students:

Teachers And Families Summer Reading
http://www.teachersandfamilies.com/open/summerread.html
Summer Reading project from Network for Instructional TV, Inc. Pick a grade level, or search by author to get started.

Reading lists from TeacherVision:
Pick a grade span and get ready for find some great reading suggestions.
Pre-K through Primary
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/summer/reading/6084.html
Grade 4 through 5
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/summer/reading/6098.html
Grades 6 through 8
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/summer/reading/6099.html
Grades 9 through 12
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/summer/reading/6097.html

Reading Rockets Author Video Interviews
http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews
Watch Reading Rockets’ exclusive video interviews with top children’s book authors and illustrators. You’ll discover if Chris Van Allsburg is really as spooky as his books, where Jon Scieszka gets his wacky ideas, and why Patricia Polacco’s warm family tales seem so real. Browse through more than 70 interviews!

Summer Reading
Ah, summer! Time to relax and recharge those batteries for the next school year. It’s also a wonderful time to learn something new and avoid that “summer slide” for teachers. So, when you start making plans for the fall, check out some of these websites.

10 Simple Ways to Keep Your Kids Safe Online This Summer
From Common Sense Media
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/advice-for-parents/10-simple-steps-internet-safety
Add “first time on the Internet” to the list of milestones every parent tracks for their kids these days. But once your kid starts going online, the “firsts” come fast and furious. Some firsts are good — like the online game that taught your preschooler the ABCs. But some didn’t go so well. Here are answers to parents’ most common concerns about keeping the Internet a safe, productive, positive experience.

Blogs for Teachers:
http://ilearntechnology.com/
Kelly Tenkely writes this blog on innovative uses of classroom technology. She shares easy-to-read, to-the-point reviews of tools, and describes what it is and how to integrate it into your curriculum.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
Richard Byrne’s award-winning blog is among the most popular websites with teachers. Spend just a few minutes on this site and you’ll understand why. From his free downloadable e-books to his daily posts about sites and tools for education, you’re certain to find something you can use in your own classroom.

http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/
Shelley Terrell’s blog includes her 30 Goals project in which she challenges educators to accomplish short-term goals related to education, especially where technology and social media are concerned. Her blog is also filled with many resources and ideas for using them with and for students.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Summer Viewing
You don’t need to spend all of your summer vacation money to attend a conference this year. Why, you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your own home to hear from some of the leaders in education.

http://k12onlineconference.org/
The K12 Online Conference is held each year at a computer near you! The conference is completely online with all of the sessions being archived for future viewing. Visit the conference website to find archives for each year the conference has been held and learn from educators around the world, all at your own convenience.

http://www.youtube.com/edutopia
Visit Edutopia’s YouTube channel to find their videos all of which are education-related. Topics include: project-based learning, educational leadership, and classroom management. You will also discover all of Edutopia’s STEM videos for your reference.

Leading Edge Online and Blended Teacher Certification
Leading Edge Certification (LEC) for the Online and Blended Teacher is a national program to prepare instructional leaders for online learning. Content includes online pedagogy, moderating online discussions, building community in online learning environments, supporting diverse learners, and online assessment and evaluation. Time to complete the curriculum is estimated at 45-60 hours, including portfolio work, but will vary based on participants’ experience with the tools used. The recently revised curriculum is completed and has been vetted with a pilot group of teachers. We are happy to announce that we will be hosting our first round of LEC training beginning June 18th.

The course will run from June 18th through August 6th. To register for this training, please go to http://bit.ly/LEC-OT-June18.

DATES TO REMEMBER

Fall CUE Conference — October 26-27, 2012, American Canyon High School, Napa Valley, CA

AERA 2013: Call for Proposals Now Open

6/6/2012

AERA 2013: Call for Proposals now open. See more

Here’s the Environmental Education SIG example:

Enclosed please find the call for proposals for the EE SIG for next year’s annual AERA conference, slated to take place in San Francisco during April 27-May 1, 2013.

Environmental Education SIG

American Educational Research Association (AERA)

Call for Proposals for Papers, Roundtables, Posters, and Sessions

Annual Conference 2013—San Francisco, April 27–May 1

Submission Deadline: July 22, 2012

AERA’s General Theme this year states:

Education has long been seen as a way out of poverty. Educational systems also perpetuate cycles of poverty and wealth. Poverty interacts with education through local, national, and international systems of financial markets and the global knowledge economy. The goal is to consider the relationships of education and poverty. The theme is conceived broadly to include the ways that education theory, research, policy, and praxis contribute to alleviating economic, intellectual and moral poverty.

Let us consider the meaning of this for the Environmental Education SIG. How does/can environmental education and research (conceived broadly) relate to either the alleviation of poverty or its further instantiation as an economic, intellectual, political, or moral reality? Has environmental education changed in these respects over time? Does it work differently across comparative contexts—possibly privileging local and regionally scaled economies at the expense of others or, vice-versa, does it work for global forms of sustainable development that represent types of enclosures? How can environmental education, or its research arm, serve to bridge disparities in poverty between the urban and the rural, the suburban and the inner-city, or the Global North and South? Can it aggravate and broaden them in turn?

Of course, to speak of poverty in circles of environmental education research immediately names a topical emphasis on ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE for our SIG this year. What, then, are the ways in which the working poor specifically face unjust ecological burdens and how have they learned to navigate and act transformatively as leaders upon these challenges through educational ventures that deserve more attention in environmental education research generally? Moreover, critical educators have long demonstrated the connections between environmental injustice and environmental racism, as well as the ways in which poverty intersects with other forms of oppression and social antagonism. The EE SIG thus especially seeks proposals that explore the theme of poverty and environmental education intersectionally in order to account for the social and cultural matrix in which poverty appears as a symptomatic outcome of or pedagogical tool for hegemonic ideology and its enforcement.

Last year in Vancouver, the Association and the EE SIG arguably made important inroads in appropriately honoring and building bridges with Indigenous scholars and peoples. Therefore, a thematic focus on environmental justice this year demands a special need to push forward on the issue of DECOLONIZATION. In this, we aspire to a program that can speak to ways in which environmental education and research contributes to undoing forms of colonialism and settler colonialism, and we likewise seek proposals that explore the decolonization of environmental education research itself as a White supremacist space or other countervailing domain that has not gone far enough in disestablishing its connections to systems of domination that work against the conservation of environmental and social well-being.

Finally, in naming such systems as connected to questions of poverty, the EE SIG this year hopes to solicit proposals that raise critical questions about how environmental education and research relates to issues of POLITICAL ECONOMY. For example, how does environmental education and research serve to effectively interrogate or challenge capitalism (in its neoliberal and other variants)? What are the cutting-edge forms of environmental education taking place within Blue-Green alliances? How has the Occupy and related social movements expanded our knowledge of environmental education and research? Or, how does environmental education and research explore or support alternative modes of commonwealth in connection with ideas of planetary sustainability? Proposals that can inform our group about emergent types of social or solidary economies, commons-based undertakings, and other gift-giving or partnership-based communities, especially as these provide or result from powerful environmental education initiatives, are very much welcome this year.

While this CFP hopefully frames the general will of the SIG’s upcoming program, all proposals are very much encouraged and welcome for submission, whether or not their authors believe that they engage directly with this call. Ideally, though, proposals will attempt to find ways to articulate with some aspect of the conference’s General Theme and the way it is particularly situated herein. Indeed, excellent proposals will find ways to dialectically survey or otherwise integrate topical emphases of environmental justice, decolonization, and alternative modes of political economy within the research being presented. Further still: the best proposals will do this while also finding imaginative ways to “walk their talk,” thereby opening up inclusive and reconstructive potentials within the space of the SIG and larger organization such that our conference itself contributes most positively to the matters we hope to study, promote and advocate.

Please distribute this call for proposals widely. It is important both for the life of the SIG, and as a performative matter that demonstrates our ethics and clear concern for these issues, that we generate an unprecedented number of submissions this year! Also, the number of program slots allocated to the SIG is the result of active membership ($5) and the number of submissions we receive. Please then be sure to renew your membership in the EE SIG when submitting your proposal.

Again, the deadline for submissions is currently: July 22, 2012. As a reminder, text length for proposals may not exceed more than 2000 words for individuals or 500 words for each paper or presentation in a multi-presenter session. Joint sessions with other SIGs or Divisions are also possible (please plan early!), as are pre-conference workshops. We encourage all formats: symposium, paper, poster, roundtable, innovatively interactive sessions and more. All proposals must be submitted electronically at the website and may not be submitted via email.

In closing, please consider volunteering to serve as a Session Chair or Discussant for the EE SIG in 2013. The current deadline to do this is: August 31, 2012.

To advance a paper or session submission, or to volunteer to serve as a Chair or Discussant, please login.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the SIG Program Chair.

Sincerely,

Richard Kahn, Program Chair, EE SIG

[email protected]