IT Tools for Teachers

• The course aims to equip teachers of all levels with basic computer user skills and introduce them to free online IT tools for easing their work, saving time, and using in classes or material preparation.

Target Audience

• Teachers with basic computer knowledge who want to use digital resources in the classroom but lack the skills to find them.

Exploitation Systems

• Uploading resources as a class block,
• Projecting resources onto an Interactive Digital Board (PDI).
• Having a range of resources to simplify tasks.
• Organizing classes and using resources.

Introduction to Generalities

• "Escuela 2.0" has been the latest project for integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in schools by the Ministry of Education (INTEF).
• Its goal has been to implement 21st-century classrooms equipped with technology and connectivity.
• The "Escuela 2.0" program has been based on the following intervention axes:
• Digital Classrooms
• Equipping students and teachers with ICT resources, such as laptops.
• Ensuring Internet connectivity and interconnectivity
• Guaranteeing Internet access for all equipment within the classroom and for students' homes during special hours
• Promoting teacher training in technological, methodological, and social aspects for integrating resources in daily teaching practice.
• Generating and facilitating access to educational digital materials tailored to curricular designs for both teachers and students.
• Involving students and families in acquiring, safeguarding, and using resources.

About ICT

• ICT stands for Information and Communication Technologies, previously called "New technologies."
• ICT, the Internet, and other technological means have been incorporated into daily life at an impressive speed.
• Students often surpass teachers in their knowledge of ICT.
• ICT has "invaded" education, and schools that fail to promote it risk being alien to it.
• Improving student interactivity in the teaching-learning process
• Providing better attention to diversity and flexibility.
• Responding to Special Educational Needs.
• Providing immediate access to knowledge.
• Fostering collaborative learning.
• Fostering "learning to learn."
• Changes in pedagogical forms.
• Increasing student interest in what is taught.
• Creating own content.

Teacher Types in the Face of ICT

• Consider the type of teacher you are when adopting new technologies.
• Javier Tourón suggests the possibility of phasing out "n.0" schools.

Blogs

• Many teachers create their blogs to facilitate contact with students and offer various resources to support learning inside and outside the classroom.
• It is recommended to understand and consult blogs.
• A blog can be defined as an interactive personal diary posted on the Internet.
  • Each entry has a publication date, allowing the author and readers to follow the content.
  • Readers can post comments and the author can respond.
  • Blogs can be personal, economic, journalistic, technological, educational, or political
  • There are many tools allowing to administer blogs without advanced knowledge.
• Blogs have become a widely used educational tool due to their versatility, ease of use, and free availability.
• The course aims to provide tools for teachers who have not yet incorporated ICT into their teaching and to provide a collection of resources to optimize time and facilitate resource searches.

Documents of Interest

• Documents that provide general information and glossaries about the world of computing

Google Classroom

• Google Classroom has become the perfect tool for distance education in recent years.

Modalities of ICT

• Teachers should familiarize themselves with the infographic that shows common use for technologies

School 2.0

• A "2.0" teacher knows how to use new technologies and integrate them into their classes
• Most schools consist of a computer, a projector, and an Interactive Digital Board (PDI).
  • Schools are currently installing "macro tablets" with Apps.
  • With this technical equipment and the resources shown in the course, teachers can include new technologies in their classroom and make lessons more attractive and easier.
  • The objective is to provide a collection of online resources that can be useful for tutorial and support work.
  • This collection can save time when preparing classes.
  • Each resource will include a small introduction to explain its use and a link to the resource.
• The main idea is to allow teachers to have their classes "prepared" and allow textbooks to be an auxiliary tool, using a digital platform (like a blog).
• Download a trial version of Smart Board Notebook to check the ease of projecting PDFs or using interactive activities.

Resources

• Clicking on the link and testing the resources is worthwhile.
• The curated collection consist of useful and free resources commonly used.

Calligraphic Generators

• Calligraphic generators are useful for early childhood education, apprenticeships, and acquAINltance for new learners.
• It is recommended to download and save them on your computer when testing.
• All "generators" documents can be downloaded in PDF format, which won't cause problems with letter types, is compatible with most computers, and can be projected on PDI.
• Resources can be printed for students to work on, and project them to correct in front of everyone, or have students complete it, saving the need to copy on the chalkboard.

Online Activity Collections

• Interactive resources that can be used in computer classes for students to reinforce learning individually, or to hang/incorporate them onto a platform. (blog, Moodle).

Bank of Images with More Functions.

• Though images are tailored for communication, it is a good way to minimize the amount of time needed for pictures.

Activities

• The worksheets have a fun component to ensure engagement as if it were a game.
• They can be filed in PDF and printed as well as projected on the PDI.

Translator and Language Queries

• Translation and language queries can be made easily

Catalan Orthography

• Provides a collection that encompasses resources for people to practice catalan online.

Syllabic Separators

• It is ideal for explaining accentuation rules in both Spanish and Catalan.
• It separates words into syllables automatically and indicates the type of word, ideal for organizing queries or performing exercises.

Downloading Fonts to the Computer

• Since school computers often lack the same fonts used when creating an exercise, test, or material, it is always advisable to convert the documents to PDF.

List of 150 Generators of all Types of Activities.

• There are many generators of activities online that can be used in schools.

Generator of Word Search Puzzles and Crosswords.

• As puzzles always attract the students.

Collection of Interesting Blogs and Websites

• The teacher should be able to consult webs of different sources for their work. Educational websites can be assessed in themes.

Educational Resources

• Educational resources are great for special needs
• The best page for finding experiments.

Libraries

• Audio visual libraries

PDF

• Characteristics of PDF
• It is multiplatform, that is, it can be presented in the main operating systems (GNU / Linux, MacOS, Unix, Windows), without modifying the appearance or structure of the original document
• It can contain any combination of text, multimedia elements such as video or sound, hypertext elements such as links and bookmarks, links and thumbnails
• PDF files do not lose the format when sending to other users, as it happens when sending text documents (the pages are disordered, the paragraphs are disorganized, etc.).
• It is one of the most widespread formats on the Internet for exchanging documents