Just two weeks until UCET / UELMA 24. Are we going to see you there?

In this week's newsletter, you will find:

• UENVideo with Students in Focus and Teacher Tips
• UEN Homeroom Podcast: New episode "Digital Teaching and Learning (DTL)"
• Course Spotlight on Getting Started with Nearpod
• eMedia Hub Spotlight: Adobe Create UT
• UEN Leading Schools 2024 Registration
• Civics Learning Week Webinar Series
• 2024 PBS KIDS Utah Annual Writers & Illustrators Contest
• Upcoming Professional Development opportunities from UCET, UELMA, and Edcamps
• Resource Share: UEN at UCET / UELMA 24

Students In Focus shines a spotlight on the talents of young student filmmakers across Utah. In this episode, student host Katie Neal sits down with Liz Adeola, producer and host at PBS Utah, to discuss her career path and passion for storytelling. We also showcase captivating student documentaries and news segments that cover topics important to Utah’s students today.

Want to improve formative assessments in your classroom? In this video, Braxton shares a few tips and tricks on using Nearpod’s Draw It Tool to elevate your assessments by encouraging student creativity and providing valuable insights into their learning progress.

Welcome back to UEN Homeroom!

Join hosts Dani and Matt on this episode of UEN Homeroom as they explore the Digital Teaching and Learning (DTL) grants given to Utah schools to support technology purchases. Dani and Matt speak with experts from the Utah State Board of Education to discuss the details of the DTL grants - including how these grants are funded by the state legislature, what the funds can be used for and most importantly, how educators can utilize the new technology to enhance teaching and learning. Tune in to learn more about this impactful initiative to support digital instruction and innovation in Utah's schools.

In this course, we’ll cover the basics of using Nearpod. What is it? How does it transform learning? What content is included? You’ll learn how to create engaging lessons by using the presentations that you already have and explore the thousands of premade lessons, videos, and activities in the Nearpod lesson library that are ready to use. You’ll also learn how to seamlessly deliver Nearpod lessons in Canvas and Google Classroom. Nearpod is available for free to all Utah K-12 public and charter school teachers. (This course was previously 'Nearpod Certified Educator'.)

This course, along with many others, can be started and finished at any time during the 2024 calendar year.

Register for any course using the links below!

Adobe’s Creative Suite empowers students and teachers to express their creativity.

Utah has a statewide agreement with Adobe for their world-class creativity tools. Want to learn more about Adobe? Below you’ll find information and opportunities to help you use Adobe tools effectively in the classroom.

UEN invites school leaders to participate in this unique professional learning summit free of charge. Participants will be guided alongside their peers through a design-thinking process to work on self-selected problems of practice across three days.This year, the Leading Schools Summit will take place in the Zions Bankcorporations Technology Center and Lucid Software in the Salt Lake City area on June 18-20, 2024. Throughout the summit, each attendee will get the benefits of:

• Personalized Problem-Solving: Engage with peers to explore current opportunities to implement personalized and competency-based learning strategies.
• Job-Embedded Training: Learn with experienced principal coaches in key areas, including school culture and change management, professional learning, communication, and community engagement.
• Tangible Examples of Innovation: Explore tested leadership strategies and visit spaces of innovation.
• Network of Support: Collaborate with school leaders with similar challenges during the summit and with a growing network of innovative leaders after the summit.
• Improving Communication: Acquire strategies for having difficult conversations with staff and community members.

If you want to attend Leading Schools, please visit the website at uen.org/leadingschools and complete the application.

We are kicking off a series of professional learning opportunities for Utah teachers during Civic Learning Week, a national celebration of all things civics. There are some incredibly effective proven practices in civics education, and we will focus on those with four webinars. We will follow with additional webinars celebrating effective social studies teaching.

All webinars will be at 4:00 pm MST via zoom and will be recorded.

March 11: Learning Civics through Academic Service Learning

• Justin Powell, Youthlinc; Georgiana Simpson, San Juan School District, Adam Brickley and Rachel Humphries, Bill of Rights Institute

March 12: Learning Civics through Simulations of Authentic Civic Processes

• Dawn Harvey, We the People; William Shields, Jordan School District

March 14: Learning Civics through Navigating News and Media Literacy (You can register separately for this webinar)

• Erin Olson, News Literacy Project

March 20: Learning Civics through History Case Studies

• Dr. Jeff Nokes, BYU

Water is life, the circulatory system of our state. From the Great Salt Lake, to Lake Powell, the Colorado river, Jordan River, and countless creeks streams, wetlands, and reservoirs, it affects every aspect of life. For this year's PBS Utah Writers & Illustrators Contest, look to Utah's water ways and the way you interact with water for inspiration. Where is our water? How are we caring for our water? How can we support our future by supporting our water sources? What can we do to care for water? What adventures do you have with our waterways? Let the creativity flow and share with us your stories. Children Kindergarten-6th Grade are invited to participate!

Teachers, learn more about this contest and materials to help teach the project at the link below.

The UEN Professional Development Team is excited to come to your school and work with your teachers on a variety of topics ranging from podcasting to Minecraft, digital literacy, or a variety of technology tools (Adobe, Nearpod, Google, Canvas, Canva, Utah's Online Library, and eMedia) and more. Request Free Professional Development

Join UEN at the UCET / UELMA 2024 conference on March 19th-20th at the Salt Palace in Downtown Salt Lake City! UEN will be at the conference throughout both days. Here are some ways to join UEN in celebrating at UCET / UELMA 24:

• Stop by our booth at 503 (right behind the UCET/UELMA booth)! We will have space to check out all the resources UEN has for Utah educators and space to stop and have a conversation.

• UEN is hosting room 258 (right above the keynote mainstage) with sessions throughout both days of the conference. Here are some of the sessions we will host:

• March 19th
• "Unleash Creativity and Innovation with the New Adobe Express" with Rob Bentley at 10:15
• "Empowering Educators and Learners Through Open Educational Practice (OEP)" with Katie Blunt and Camille Cole at 11:30
• "Using Canvas to Facilitate Project-Based Learning in a Blended Environment" with Val O' Bryan at 12:45
• "UNLEASHING THE POWER OF PCBL (Student Agency)" with Kayla Towner at 2
• "Teach Informational Literacy - Wait, but how?" with Kayla Towner at 3:30

• March 20th
• "Mind-Shifting: Strategies for Leaders in a Digital Age" with Dani Sloan, Darren Hudgins, Theresa Gibson, and Nancy Mangum at 10:15
• "Shifting Mindsets to Support Emerging Technologies" with Dani Sloan, Darren Hudgins, Theresa Gibson, and Nancy Mangum at 11:30
• "Flipping It: Student-Generated Resource Banks for MLs and MTSS" with Braxton Thornley at 12:45

UEN trainers will also present in other rooms throughout the conference! Make sure to check out the whole schedule at the link below. We hope to see you there!

Learn more about Utah Education Network including our free professional development courses, media productions, professional development at your school, and more at UEN's website.

Email: training@uen.org
Website: https://www.uen.org/
Location: 101 South Wasatch Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Phone: (800) 866-5852
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UtahEducationNetwork
Twitter: @UENnews