Welcome to the latest edition of the Action Bulletin, your source for up-to-date information and reminders to successfully implement and sustain your PLTW program.
There are some new items and updates for your attention:
- Now is the time for teachers and delegates to update and verify their information in the PLTW Extranet.
- A new and improved School Locator is now available on the PLTW Web site.
- Our LEA partners have been identified for our i3 Grant application.
We also encourage you to visit our past issues to catch up on new information and reminders about the program.
An Action Bulletin archive is available in the Virtual Academy under the Welcome section as well as in the Program Support section of the PLTW Web site.
We would love to hear your feedback on the Action Bulletin. What are the topics you would like us to cover? Send your comments to Trevor Sparks. |
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Verify School & Teacher Information in PLTW Extranet
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As you prepare for the 2011-12 school year, this is a good time to check your information in the PLTW Extranet and make any necessary updates.
Delegates - Update your email address and phone number (if necessary).
- Make sure the addresses and phone numbers of your participating schools are current.
- Update principal and counselor information (if necessary).
- Verify that only active teachers and schools are listed (unless the school is otherwise noted as deactivated).
Teachers- Update your email address and phone number (if necessary).
- Indicate the courses you will be instructing during the 2011-12 academic year.
If you have any questions or need assistance, contact School Relations.
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New and Improved School Locator Now Online
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PLTW's new School Locator is available on the PLTW Web site. You can search for schools by:
- City
- State
- Zip Code + radius
- School Name
Search Now!
Search results will highlight schools on an interactive map. Along with contact information, schools will be identified as offering GTT (Gateway To Technology), PTE (Pathway To Engineering) and/or Biomedical Sciences (BMS) programs. Certified Schools, Post-secondary Schools, University Affiliates and University Partners receive special notations.
Your search results may also be exported to an Excel spreadsheet.
School contact information for the School Locator is pulled from the PLTW Extranet so it is critically important that Delegates maintain accurate information for their schools.
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PLTW Identifies LEA Partners for i3 Grant Application
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Nearly 500 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) showed interest in partnering with PLTW on an i3 Grant application. A select group of candidates were chosen for interviews. Our third-party, independent evaluator reviewed the information from the interviews and four LEAs have been selected to partner with PLTW at this time.
These were difficult decisions, as there were many highly-qualified candidates in our applicant pool. We sincerely appreciate the time and effort the LEAs devoted to this process. The four initial partners have been notified and we plan to release their names upon the submission of our grant application in August.
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Reminders: Parts Lists, Curriculum, Overviews
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PLTW VEX Parts Lists
Parts lists for the PLTW VEX kits (AE, DE, POE and GTT) as well as the VEX Classroom Lab Kit upgrades (for GTT and POE) are now available on the Purchasing Manual Web page and Virtual Academy.
Core Training Curriculum
Core Training Curriculum is now available to the PLTW network through the Virtual Academy (VA).
- It is imperative and required that all Core Training Instructors and participants use the updated Core Training curriculum.
- All teachers, regardless of their participation in Core Training, are encouraged to review this release as they prepare for the upcoming school year.
- All curriculum CHM files have been updated from the previously posted 2010-11 academic year version and most have undergone slight revisions since Core Training Prep in April.
- On August 1, the 2011-12 academic school year curriculum CHM files will be released to the PLTW Network through the VA.
- To ensure program quality, including exam alignment, all PLTW teachers are required to use the August release for course instruction at their schools throughout the 2011-12 academic year.
- If you are offering GTT, POE, CIM, DE and/or AE -- or plan to for the first time in the 2011-12 school year -- it is imperative that you closely review the VEX Robotics Equipment and ROBOTC Software Transition Fact Sheet to understand equipment and software options.
- If you are offering courses from the Biomedical Sciences (BMS) program -- or plan to for the first time in the 2011-12 school year -- closely review the Biomedical Sciences Software Update Fact Sheet to understand your software options.
Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Design & Development Overviews Overviews of the newly released curricula for Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Design and Development are located on the Virtual Academy in the respective course sections. This is an opportunity for teachers to hear directly from the curriculum teams for these courses about changes and enhancements to the curricula. VEX/ROBOTC Instructional Video Series
To provide instructional support and professional development opportunities to teachers who are transitioning to the VEX Robotics platform, the VEX/ROBOTC Instructional Video Series is available in the Robotics Platform Resources section on the Virtual Academy. |
