#ETTChat: Kathy Schrock

 

Here at EdTechTeacher, we take pride in the fact that all of our Instructors and Presenters have been experienced classroom teachers and dynamic speakers. They not only have a wide array of knowledge in their field, but insights into the future of education. This summer and fall, we want to introduce you to some our EdTechTeacher Instructors and iPad Summit Boston Presenters and  in a series called #ETTchat.

Kathy Schrock
Kathy Schrock

 

This week we interview Kathy Schrock. Kathy has been a Director of Technology, an instructional technology specialist, and a librarian. She is currently an online adjunct professor at two universities and an independent educational technologist. Since the early 1990’s, she has been involved in educational technology as an Adobe Education Leader, a Google Certified Teacher, and a Discovery Education STAR and Guru. Her award-winning site, Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything, helps teachers easily wade through the many resources on the Web.

 

 

Q: What is your role in educational technology today?

Kathy: I am an adjunct instructor in the Instructional Media Master’s program at Wilkes University (PA) and an independent educational technologist who speaks all over the world about effective uses of technology to support teaching and learning.

 

Q: What was your professional journey to get you to where you are today?

Kathy: After getting my library science degree in 1981, I worked in many different kinds of libraries, and technology was always a component of that. When I became a middle school librarian in 1990, I incorporated the pre-Web Internet into teacher training and created a resource Web site for teachers in 1995. I knew more about educational technology than anyone in the district (all learned by making many mistakes), became the Tech Director in 1997, and then moved to another district as Technology Director from 2001 until 2011 when I retired from schools. I had always been training teachers, writing books and articles, and doing presentations while I was in the schools, and that is what I continue to do today!

 

Q: What is the #1 piece of advice you have for teachers looking to bring iPads and other devices into their classrooms?

Kathy: It not about the device. Think of the device as a creation tool that can help students develop products and projects to showcase both their creativity as well as their mastery of the content knowledge. See where you can redesign your lessons and assessments to be more project-based and student-centered. There are no shortage of apps you can pick from for students to use!

 

canva-logoQ: What is your favorite tech tool or app today?

Kathy: My favorite app is Canva. I am not very creative, and I find it to be a great tool to easily express my thoughts and ideas in an appealing way so others are drawn to my publications! It takes the “work” out of design and allows me to spend more time on the development of the content…something we want students to do, too!

 

Q: What comes to mind when you think of the classroom of the future?

A: Movable. Comfortable. Wired to the world. Individual devices. Support hardware for production purposes. Noisy. Organic in nature. Student-driven. Choice.

Q: What are you up to for the rest of the summer or this fall before the Summit?

A: I will be starting up my online teaching, conducting a few Webinars, creating new presentations, and looking forward to meeting the EdTechTeacher iPad Summit attendees!

 

 

Kathy will be speaking at the iPad Summit in Boston November 17-18th presenting on Utilizing iPads for Activator and Summarizer Strategies.  Determining what students know prior to classroom.  teaching with an activation strategy and helping them synthesize and retain what they have learned via a summarizer strategy is an important component of informing instruction. This presentation will help you develop ways to use activators and summarizers via iPad apps and tools, as well as present some new strategies to take advantage of the power of these mobile devices. Discussion of various pedagogical models which support these strategies will also be included.

Learn more about her and more sessions at ettipad.org/Boston

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