During the second session of Wakelet Community Week 2024, we were thrilled to feature Monroe One BOCES, a cooperative educational board just outside Rochester, New York, which has been supporting teachers and students with Wakelet in a variety of programs including CTE (Career and Technical Education), special education, and professional development (PD) initiatives.
Throughout this blog, we will uncover how Wakelet is effective and applicable for everyone to use in all areas of education. It was highlighted that Wakelet’s value, adaptability and usefulness for those involved in special education, alongside teachers and students proved vital in aiding the evolving needs for the whole of education and this has become an ever-increasingly employed tool that educators and pupils are finding huge success with.
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Wakelet Utilisation
01. Special Education
Sandy Johnville highlighted how Wakelet is used to streamline information and resources related to special education:
a) Office for Special Education (OSE) Partnership Information: This collection includes essential information about the Office of Special Education Partnership, federal regulations, and training links. Over recent years, this department has gone through various name and structure changes. In turn, the cruciality of Wakelet’s ability to share information with people to present their purpose and long-term goals has ensured that OSE’s vision was not lost but instead enhanced. Moreover, the ability to categorise separate aspects into different collections has allowed for a greater capacity to organise and be more resourceful.
b) Individualised Education Program (IEP) Training Modules: Wakelet is used to host video modules and resources for creating individualised education programs (IEPs). This makes training materials accessible and updatable in real time. Additionally, the fact that everything is stored in one place whilst being able to be readily updated with the click of a button discards the previous hassle of sending emails with random links and attachments to colleagues – instead everything is updated in real-time for everybody.
c) Combined Training: For comprehensive training, such as those combining IEP creation and testing accommodations, Wakelet organises all relevant materials, making it easier for educators to access and understand.
02. Teacher Centre
Leading on, Nicki Burgess demonstrated how the Teacher Centre uses Wakelet to manage professional development offerings:
a) Catalogue of Offerings: The Catalogue is used to learn about Monroe One BOCES’ professional learning opportunities and offerings but the catalogue is extremely large making it incredibly difficult to navigate through what the teaching centre offers. Since using Wakelet, everything has been able to be captured concisely and accurately in one easy-to-find spot due to its easy access and enrollment links.
b) ‘Teacher as Leader’ Program: This collection organises a seven-week training cycle for new teachers, detailing meeting schedules and resources. Thus, Wakelet has meant communication can become more streamlined alongside allowing for what is happening on each different week to be cohesively mapped out.
c) New Educator PD Series: This collection includes session agendas, resources, and assignments for newly hired teachers, allowing for seamless navigation and ongoing access.
03. Student Portfolios and Classroom Use
Following up, Jackie Kavanagh showcased various student uses of Wakelet.
a) Special Education Portfolios: Students create digital portfolios to participate in their IEP process, sharing personal stories, goals, and progress. This is a great way to allow students to connect with their process by giving them the platform to create and arrange their aims and objectives.
b) Student Career Focus: Collections of resumes and profiles can be built. For example, for a student’s culinary program, chef profiles and restaurant menus can be stored and displayed with links to feedback forms so they can improve for the next time.
Teacher and Staff Use Cases
Teachers and staff at Monroe One BOCES also leverage Wakelet for 4 various purposes:
01. Class Activities: Teachers use Wakelet to share information on cultural activities and resources with students.
02. Visual Communications: Students collaborate on a Wakelet collection to share drawing techniques and resources.
03. Digital Footprint Lessons: Educators use Wakelet to create lessons on digital citizenship.
04. Resource Sharing: Wakelet is used to compile and share additional resources for lessons and support staff.
Benefits and Feedback
Through using Wakelet over the last year, staff, teachers and students summarised why they loved using Wakelet in 3 key points:
01. Organisation: Wakelet helps organise and centralise resources, making them easily accessible for teachers, students, and support staff.
02. Collaboration: The platform facilitates collaboration across districts, regardless of whether they use Microsoft or Google.
03. Ease of Use: Both teachers and students find Wakelet easy to use, enhancing their ability to share and access information.
Monroe One BOCES has both effectively and successfully integrated Wakelet into its educational and professional development programs, showcasing its versatility and efficiency. To streamline the learning experience for all involved in education more creatively and conveniently, use Wakelet. If you're interested in seeing how your school or District could implement Wakelet then check out the Wakelet School and Districts plan or reach out to the Wakelet Team for a demo.