Links to Other Resources

The positions or viewpoints in the resources collected here reflect their authors and source organizations. They do not represent the Resource Center for CareerTech Advancement, the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education or any employee of the state agency. No endorsement of organizations or viewpoints is implied by inclusion in this collection or on this web page.

Resources in many topics are also available on our Resource Profiles page.

• Oklahoma Department of Libraries - Extensive resources for all libraries, for state employees, and for all Oklahomans.

• Department of Libraries (oklahoma.gov)
• Digital Prairie (oklahoma.gov)
  
• Research + Discovery – Oklahoma Digital Prairie (digitalprairieok.net)
  
• EBSCO Offerings A to Z – Oklahoma Digital Prairie (digitalprairieok.net)
  

• Educational Technology Primer: A Guide for Pre-Service Teachers - The Educational Technology Primer seeks to bridge the gap between the novice pre-service teacher candidate and the teacher who is a technology-using expert by embedding technology within the instruction of teaching methods.

• Curriculum Design Process Protocol - The Center on Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI) developed this protocol document to support districts and schools through curriculum design, review, and revision processes. This tool stems from CSAI's work with a school district on curricular redesign and reflects questions and considerations that can be incorporated into planning. The guiding questions and resources included in this protocol document can be used to identify needed actions for a range of curriculum-related processes, including curriculum review, design, and implementation. This protocol document can be used to develop plans, identify progress measures, and identify desired outcomes.

• Ryerson University's Learning and Teaching Office - Resources to enhance the classroom learning environment, including an archive of past issues of Ryerson's monthly newsletter, Best Practices.

• Microsoft Hacking STEM Library - A library for downloadable, hands-on, teacher-tested projects and activities that use everyday materials to make STEM affordable, accessible, and fun for everyone.

• Computer Science-in-a-Box: Unplug Your Curriculum (2018 Update) - This curriculum from the National Center for Women & Information Technology introduces fundamental building blocks of computer science - without using computers. Use it with students ages 9 to 14 to teach lessons about how computers work, while addressing critical mathematics and science concepts such as number systems, algorithms, and manipulating variables and logic.

• The ADHD Guide to Mobile Apps and Digital Tools - 100+ recommended tools to improve productivity, organization, memory, sleep, creativity, and school skills.
  

• Wabisabi Resources and Guides - Free and premium guides, infographics, posters, and more for making learning magic in your classroom.

• Creating Effective Multiple-Choice Exams - Guidance from San Francisco State University’s Center for Teaching and Faculty Development. The purpose of this module is to raise instructors' awareness of the strengths and limitations of multiple choice exams, help instructors distinguish between high and low quality multiple tests, and to improve the way instructors assess student learning.

• Creating and Using PowerPoints - This tutorial provides helpful and problematic characteristics of PowerPoint slides, suggestions for building PowerPoint presentations, slide samples and decisions regarding content and style, self-guided critique of sample PowerPoint presentation, and a link to Academic Technology's "Strategies and Best Practices." From San Francisco State University’s Center for Teaching and Faculty Development.
  

• How to Stop Saying “Um,” “Ah,” and “You Know” - How to eliminate crutch words. August 2018 presentation guidance from Harvard Business Review.

• Tips & Tricks to Ace Powerpoint - This handy infographic provides best practices for PowerPoint slides and data visualizations, as well as handy shortcuts, resources, and design inspiration. October 2015.
  

• Top 10 Evidence-Based Best Practices for PowerPoint in the Classroom - Traditional PowerPoint® in the classroom resembles static electronic overheads that tend to decrease learning and retention of the content presented. This article by Ronald A. Berk, PhD, professor emeritus of The Johns Hopkins University, synthesizes the PowerPoint® literature and translates the research findings into a state-of-the-art, concise top-10 list of evidence-based, best practices in design, engagement, and multimedia. Other articles are also available on the author's website. April 2012.

• Center for Research on Learning and Teaching - Resources from the University of Michigan, including preparing to teach, teaching with technology, diversity and inclusion, testing and grading, and other topics.

• Work-Based Learning Manual - Work-based learning (WBL) is a set of instructional strategies that engage employers and schools in providing learning experiences for students. WBL activities are structured opportunities for students to interact with employers or community partners either at school, a worksite or virtually, using technology to link students and employers in different locations. The FHI 360 Work-Based Learning Manual is a how-to guide with suggestions and tools for planning and conducting specific activities. December 2017.

• Teacher Talent Toolbox - Free tools, regularly updated, from innovative schools, districts and states around the country.

• Educator’s Accessibility Toolkit - Resources to help educators in creating accessible learning environments, including considerations in course planning and teaching tips.

• Making Connections: PreK–12 OER in Practice - Across the United States, a growing number of states and school districts are looking to open educational resources (OER) to improve student learning. These resources will allow educators to start their own OER search and discovery.
  

• Teacher Talent Toolbox - The Toolbox’s free tools are regularly updated from innovative schools, districts and states around the country. With nearly 450 resources from more than 50 great schools and districts, it’s the ultimate toolbox for improving your school’s instructional culture.

• Digital Prairie - An electronic library for the people of Oklahoma, providing access to research and discovery resources and state digital collections. Includes categories such as Research and Discovery and EBSCO resources with more than 5,600 journals and magazines that deliver full-text articles.

• Buck Institute for Education Project Design Rubric - The Project Design Rubric uses the Essential Project Design Elements as criteria to evaluate projects. The rubric aligns with BIE's Gold Standard Project Based Learning model. Definitions and practical examples are used to clarify the meaning of each dimension. The rubric helps educators understand the difference between a simple "project" and rigorous Gold Standard PBL. Teachers who are new to PBL can see how to move from beginner to expert.

• hundrED innovations toolkits - 100 inspiring innovations that are changing the face of K-12 education today.

• Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool - This resource from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “can help school districts, schools, and others conduct a clear, complete, and consistent analysis of health education curricula based on the National Health Education Standards and CDC’s Characteristics of an Effective Health Education Curriculum.”

• Models of Best Practice in the Education of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders - This guide from the Virginia Department of Education “is designed to guide all schools’ practices for educating students with ASD and to promote consistency of programming across educational environments.”

• Accessibility Resources - Information, instruction, and resources on creating accessible course content, from George Mason University.

• Contextualized Math for the Energy Industry - From the Center for Energy Workforce Development, this resource covers topics on pre-employment tests in the energy industry. The modules include word problems that use math concepts. All of the questions in the modules reflect the context of specific occupations.

• Getting it Right: Reference Guide for Registering Students with Non-English Names - Getting a student’s name right is the first step in welcoming him or her to school. Staff members who work with student-level data also know the importance of accurately and consistently recording a student’s name in order to track student data over time. This set of naming conventions reference guides can help you accurately enter names for students with home languages of Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese. It also helps school staff address and greet parents and other family members in a culturally responsive and respectful fashion.

• How to Develop and Write a Grant Proposal - A May 2017 resource from the Congressional Research Service.

• Periodic Table of STEM Occupations in Oklahoma - A handy graphic from the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.

• Oklahoma Licensed and Certified Occupations - A periodic document of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.

• 2017 Education Research Highlights - Overviews of studies that educators should know about, from Edutopia.

• What researchers mean by… - Easy-to-understand definitions of common research terms in the health and social sciences.

• Compendium of Knowledge Solutions - This compendium from the Asian Development Bank profiles dozens of tools to build competencies in strategy development, management techniques, collaboration, knowledge sharing and learning, and knowledge capture and storage.

• Fair Use Resources - A variety of resources about fair use and fair dealing, both of which are essential limitations and exceptions to copyright that allow the use of copyrighted materials without permission from the copyright holder under certain circumstances.

• Microsoft Education Lesson Plans - Lesson plans that educators have created, free to download or view, on topics including STEM, business and entrepreneurship, digital literacy, and other topics.

• Better Feedback for Better Teaching: A Practical Guide to Improving Classroom Observations - A free guide to improving classroom observations, provided by the Gates Foundation.

• Guide to Data Visualization: A Resource for Education Agencies - The purpose of this 2016 publication is to recommend data visualization practices that will help education agencies communicate data meaning in visual formats that are accessible, accurate, and actionable for a wide range of education stakeholders.

• An educator’s guide to questionnaire development - This guide, developed by REL Central, provides educators with a process for developing questionnaires. Principals, superintendents, state-level personnel, or other school or district personnel can use this guide when they need to make a decision about an education policy or practice but (1) lack the information needed to make that decision and (2) lack a preexisting questionnaire that can be used to gather the information. This guide can help these educators collect information about attitudes, perceptions, or factual information to inform their decisions.

• Guide to Taking Action with Education Data - The Guide provides stakeholders with practical information about the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to more effectively access, interpret, and use education data to inform action. The document includes an overview of the evolving nature of data use, basic data use concepts, and a list of skills necessary for effectively using data.

• Preparing a Career-Ready Student - This infographic identifies ten evidence-based practices for career counseling.

• State Jobs Picture - A map from the Economic Policy Institute that shows the current unemployment rate in each state, and the percent change in the number of jobs in each state over the preceding 12 months. Clicking on a state will also show the change in that state’s unemployment rate or change in the number of jobs over the last 3 months, 12 months, and since December 2007—the peak of the previous business cycle.

• Simply Measured Resources - Free guides from Simply Measured, Inc., on topics such as Twitter marketing, Facebook marketing, and other social media topics, plus related templates and checklists.

• Tips for Funding Technology - Ten tips to help you find the funds you need to implement and sustain your critical technology strategy, from TechSoup.org.

• Higher Education Best Practices - Teaching and Learning - The National Education Association's Thriving in Academe guides include guides to using social media in the classroom, how to command the attention of students, how to "flip" your classroom, how to teach for "deep learning," and more.

• Behavioral Insights Toolkit - Behavioral Insights leverages work from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics in considering what influences how people think and behave. By blending insights from seemingly disparate fields, Behavioral Insights has created a new perspective – evolving from the traditional “rational actor” model that portrays decision-making from simply a cost-benefit perspective. Instead, Behavioral Insights understands that while some decisions are made rationally, people sometimes make decisions that are not in their best interests, due to factors such as expediency, peer pressure, marketing, and the power of habit, to name only a few. Behavioral Insights is the study of why we act as we do.

• Work-Based Learning Framework - Work-based learning supports a continuum of lifelong learning and skill development for a range of workers and learners—K-12 students, young adults, college students, adult jobseekers, and incumbent workers.

• Innovation 101 - Innovation 101 is designed to be an introductory module that can be used by schoolteachers, youth service providers, instructors in colleges and universities as well as trainers in a corporate setting. It details basic tenets of innovation and invites participants to explore the various traits and processes used by innovators, past and present.

• Career Ready Practice Assessments - Career Ready skills, or “soft skills,” are important to assess. These rubrics were developed to help teachers/mentors/business partners assess the student/worker in those skills and provide everyone with common terminology and a common definition of what is meant by Career Readiness.