Current update

News from and about eMINTS. This week's news Greetings from Washington, D.C. New program for veteran eMINTS teachers Missouri S&T, NASA launch 'spacebook' blog   Standing offers Newest and updated eThemes

Current update - November 18, 2008

Greetings from Washington DC

This week Monica Beglau writes from Washington D.C. at the State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA) meetings. Last night Deborah Sutton, Director of Missouri's Department of Instructional Technology and Rick Gaisford, Director of Utah's Department of Instructional Technology were nominated for the 2008 SETDA Leader of the Year. Their accomplishments and contributions in bringing eMINTS to their states and in providing the leadership needed to support educational technology were shared with the group. Congratulations to both Deborah and Rick - two great state leaders.

The award was won by Jayne Moore, Director of Educational Technology from Maryland.

New program for veteran eMINTS teachers

eMINTS is pleased to announce that registration for the new veteran eMINTS/eMINTS4All Teacher program is now open ....

The program provides access to eMINTS professional development materials and resources as well as to the new Tech4Learning Recipes and Snacks resources for teaching and learning common software skills. Two webinars will be provided to help teachers learn to access the materials and Tech4Learning resources. The program also includes a short online course that starts in January. Costs are $25 per person for just access to the Tech4Learning resources and eMINTS PD modules and $125 per person for access to those resources and an online course with discounts available for 3 or more participants from the same district for the course.

eMINTS and eMINTS4All teachers who completed their professional development programs prior to spring 2008 are eligible to participate. We welcome veteran teachers from all across the United States in this special new program. Hurry! Registration for this year's program ends December 1, 2008. Please direct questions about the program to emints-info@emints.org

Missouri S&T, NASA launch "spacebook" blog

This week, NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, a graduate of Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, MO, is scheduled to launch into orbit aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour for a four-month stay aboard the International Space Station. During her stay, she will be contributing to a Missouri S&T blog called spacebook aimed at getting more kids interested in science.

In addition to entertaining blog posts from Sandra, the site will include links to other educational resources from NASA and related websites. When you visit the site, you'll notice artwork submitted by participants of Missouri S&T's Aerospace Camp. Groups of campers designed their own mission badges. Your students are invited to do the same and they will post your school's mission badge on spacebook. Please consider incorporating spacebook into your lesson plans over the coming weeks.

Sandra's stay aboard the International Space Station is expected to last for four months, so the opportunities for your students to stay connected with a NASA astronaut who went to college in Missouri should continue through March 2009.

Find more information ....

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Monica Beglau
Executive Director, eMINTS National Center

Reviewed November 18, 2008.