Apple Teacher Courses

I recently completed two courses that are provided by the Apple Teacher Learning Centre focusing on Foundational skills for Mac and iPad. 

I confess to being a big fan of Windows due to their availability and simplicity along with their famous office software which can easily be utilised on either Windows or Apple operating systems without the integrity, layout and formatting of files being comprised. Microsoft have removed those problems in recent years.

From doing both Mac and iPad courses, I was impressed by the options that software such as Pages, Numbers and Keynotes offer. I found that content can be more interactive than Microsoft office such as the easiness in embedding audio and media files and with Keynotes - animinations.

I found iMovie to be incredibly easy to use, even when editing some TV clips that I sourced for enjoyment and Garageband makes recording audio or creating music to be an easy process. 

You can view my learning logs by accessing the following links:

Mac

iPad

I have been advised that courses undertaken through the Apple Teaching Centre can count towards your Teacher identified PD hours as part of maintaining accreditation at Proficient Level in NSW.

For Catholic School Teachers in NSW, Catholic Learning Online also provides courses. You can either complete the ones provided online for 2021 or you can wait for 2022, when they intend to provide the courses again. 

But what does it mean for me? If a school has Macs as part of its device program, the opportunities open up. I can see myself sharing my knowledge with my colleagues, particularly in encouraging interactive presentation of information in the classroom. Students can record their own videos, take photographs or audio and embed them into their work. 

I can see that digital storytelling has the greatest scope, because Apple software allows creativity in the drafting and publication of books. They can be shared online too. It also makes me think of the school where Year 7 students as part of their English studies, are required to prepare a picture book. They should use Pages to prepare their book. 

Library Procedures Handbooks

A recent posting on the OZTL-NET forum focused on what to include in a Library Procedures Handbook and I decided to respond to the posting. 

During my work at Waverley College in 2015-2016, the library team drafted a Library Procedures Handbook with procedures to guide library staff in the management of the library collections, spaces, catalogue (including how to add new items and undertake a stocktake), communications, programs and initatives. 

In 2018, while filling in for Carolyn Mock at Strathfield Girls' High School, I also had access to her manual that she created for her library. Carolyn also made the decision that year to share it through a NSW Public School Teacher Librarian Messageboard (Independent of the NSW Department of Education) and is popular with Teacher Librarians.

I suggested to Teacher Librarians in my posting based on what I had experienced to consider the following if creating a handbook:

• Your existing library policies if already prepared (otherwise create them)
• Procedures for ordering new items e.g. what steps are needed to purchase a new library book through the school
• How to catalogue items using the Library Management System e.g. OLIVER including screenshots.
• Stocktake procedures
• Opening and Closing the library each day
• Overview of library collections
• Procedures for organising specific library programs and activities e.g. NSW Premier's Reading Challenge
• How to book library spaces and manage them.
• How to operate library equipment
• Copies of forms e.g. Permission form to borrow from the senior fiction collection

Margaret Sinnott, Learning Resource Centre Coordinator & Teacher Librarian at Emmanuel College in Warrnambool responded with a resource from the Australian Library and Information Association that can also be used to in assist in the creation of a handbook. Click here to access the link. Thank you Margaret for sharing this with me.