EIU Rural School Initiative

Past Professional Development

Spring 2023

Using Kami for Document Management and Lesson Design 
Recording

EIU - G.Y.O Staff and a Local Expert from KamiApp (called a Kami Hero)
Location: EIU, Buzzard 1140; 4:30-5:30pm
Teachers are expected to manage electronic documents and be able to teach in a remote or hybrid format. The time needed to prepare and manage online lessons and the accompanying documents is arduous. Kami is a popular service specifically created to deal with these issues. It is offered in a free as well as premium fee based format. Some teachers are not  aware of Kami and most have never been exposed to the  breath of services available even  in the free version.

Session to be offered in-person, but streamed and recorded for those not able to attend. The session format will follow al Kami orientation presentation with demonstration and opportunity for participants to try the tools.  Kami is a universal PDF online document annotation and markup tool. You can highlight, underline, and strikethrough text in PDF and other document formats. You can also add text boxes, shapes, and images. Kami works natively with Google Drive and Classroom. Kami allows collaboration on documents in the classroom while avoiding the hassles of printing documents.  The program is optimized for converting traditional lesson documents into interactive electronic activities. It handles document submission, grading, and return.  Those are its basic functions but Kami is much more. It is a complete lesson creating and management tool. 

Session on Artificial Intelligence for Teachers
EIU - G.Y.O Staff with consultation from Joe Fatheree (Doctoral student & teacher at Effingham HS). Former IL Teacher of the Year
Artificial Intelligence is becoming a primarily driver of all our interactions in society. It controls the content and pacing of online individualized student learning programs. It manages public health decisions and impacts all public policy.  It is a driver of the world students are being prepared for. They need to understand how big-data and A.I. work. There are major ethical consequences they need to be exposed to. The same is true for the teachers preparing students for a world dominated by big-think.

Session to be offered in-person, but streamed and recorded for those not able to attend.. The G.Y.O. staff will lead a discussion of A.I. in society. Examples will be provided. Participants will have time to try a free online lab where data is “fed” into an A.I.engine for training. The system then makes decisions based on the data sets submitted. It is appropriate for student use. This discussion leads into many of the big questions around A.I.  Issues of reliability and ethics in both education and society will be an anchor discussion topic.
Notes    Recorded Session

Using Microcontrollers to Teach Logic and Programming
EIU - G.Y.O Staff   (Jana Sebestik, from MSTE at UIUC will  assist via Zoom)
Problem solving and Logic are foundational skills for all student learning.  The availability of under $20 microcontrollers provides and opportunity to engage students in visual, high interest lesson activities to develop those skills. Schools have 1:1 laptops or tablets available and the new Illinois C.S. Standards require the content. Microcontrollers offer an opportunity for teachers to meet those needs.

Session to be offered in-person, but streamed and recorded for those not able to attend.  Examples will use the Micro:Bit controller designed  for teaching, but the activities will adapt to Arduino and Raspberry-Pi, devices as well.  The session will guide participants through a variety of sample lessons using block coding to program the controllers. The primary focus is on creating instructions to transfer to the device. Depending on time and the makeup of the group, additional activities will try interfacing controllers with external LED lights and motors using instruction sets to control them. The capstone will be to collect data by reading temperature, light, motion sensors. All sample activities will be appropriate for classroom use and able to be adapted from primary to secondary.

Circuit & Microcontroller Playdate

Assistive and Adaptive Technology for the Classroom - cancelled
Dr. Amy Rosenstein, EIU Dept of Special Education
Addressing the learning needs of every student is a fundamental responsibility for teachers. Today with most schools offering 1:1 programs with universal access to laptops and tablets students have a device always available with free and  low cost services to meet their needs from organization, adjusting reading level, guiding reading, or formatting in a manner needed by the learner. In service and preservice teachers are often not aware of what is available or where to seek support.

Session to be offered in-person, but streamed and recorded for those not able to attend. Dr. Rosenstein teaches assistive technology and works with state consultants in her position. She will share her experience and offer guidance. In the session participants will discuss the most common learning challenges for students and the types of support available through technology. The history and current state of services will be discussed in an open format. How to utilize, where to find, and how to configure free utilities will be high priority, but time will include sharing of specialized services.  For regular ed teachers particularly they will learn where to get support and resources in the future.