Bill Pulte of ESU #3 and Andy Boell of the NNNC join The Good Life EDU Podcast his week to provide an update on the present efforts to ensure that Nebraska schools, educators, and students are safe from cyber-attacks. This episode highlights the concern, the current collaborations taking place, and the proposed bills being discussed in the legislature to keep information and hardware safe.

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This week, we are joined by Brian Buffington who serves as a tech integration specialist at Pioneer RECA in Cleveland, Georgia. This episode focuses on some of the fun stories and innovative practices that Brian has seen and led in his region in an effort to enhance his support of school leaders and teachers. This episode previews the message of an upcoming session that Brian will be leading for AESA’s Small Staff Community of Practice titled, Buff Nuggets for Leaders: Empowering Others.

For more on the AESA session, access the following link before March 23rd. 2023-24 Small Staff ESAs Community of Practice | AESA (growthzoneapp.com)

For more Buff Nuggets from Brian Buffington, access https://briankbuffington.com/

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On this week’s episode, Deanna Ingram and Zuzi Sulcova of uBEATS (from UNO and UNMC) join us to point educators and learners alike to the tremendous online materials available for free through the uBEATS program. Listeners will learn about the health science modules uBEATS has available for grades 6-12, and not only is the content vetted by university experts, but it is also aligned with national science standards AND is FERPA and COPPA compliant. Additionally, these on-demand, asynchronous materials come with their own teacher guide!

So the only thing left to do is listen to the pod and then access the uBEATS website at https://www.unmc.edu/ubeats

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Educators everywhere are turning to Canva as their one-stop-shop for creating any one of a number of things from presentation slides to infographics to video production, editing, and more. For this episode of The Good Life EDU, we are joined by Canva Learning Consultant, Tisha Richmond, who shares her wealth of knowledge on not only what Canva can do but also where those possibilities meet the teaching and learning going on in the classroom setting. And did we mention that – best of all – CANVA for EDUCATION is FREE!

For more on Canva for Education, visit https://www.canva.com/education/

For more from Tisha Richmond, check out her site https://www.tisharichmond.com/

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Dr. Dan Schnoes of ESU 3 is back again this week to share his insights on a topic that was recently on the front page of the Omaha World-Herald, paying student teachers for their time spent student teaching. Here’s the link to that OWH story.

On the pod, Dan provides the backstory of this effort, the details of its implementation, and the immediate impact it has already garnered in Nebraska. Our conversation also entertains some of the potential unintended consequences in the future while also noting just how imperative it is to be innovative in how we invite new and potential teachers into the workforce.

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This week we welcome back Gold Bug Interactive’s CEO and Co-founder, Dr. Paul Darvasi, for an episode that illustrates how Gold Bug is designing creative learning experiences on an international scale. Throughout the pod, Paul shares about numerous projects, each with a very different aim. Despite their differences, every example has a common goal of seeking to understand and engage the learner in experiential opportunities for personal growth and to acquire new knowledge. This conversation offers listeners a chance to think about learning experience design from a lens that is outside of the traditional way we might think about education, and that perspective shift can incite new ideas and innovations in the way in which we support students and educators alike.

To learn more about Gold Bug Interactive, access https://www.goldbuginteractive.com/

To learn more about the iNaturalist app mentioned on the show, access https://www.inaturalist.org/

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On February 8th, 2023 US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited ESU 3 in Omaha, Nebraska to learn more about the innovative work being done in the state to support student and educator mental health. This episode of the pod features Dr. Dan Schnoes, CEO at ESU 3, whose advocacy led to the Secretary’s visit. We also welcome several Nebraska education leaders including Dr. Kraig Lofquist, Dr. John Skretta, Dr. Scott Blum, and Dr. McKayla LaBorde who all provide their own personal insights about this event. Additionally, Dr. Joan Wade, the Executive Director of AESA, joins us to provide some national context regarding the significance of this historic visit, the first where an acting US Secretary of Education has visited a service agency.

For more on the story of Secretary Cardona’s visit, access ESU 3’s press release: February 8, 2023 ESU #3 Visit with Secretary Cardona

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In this episode of The Good Life EDU Podcast, Shara Johnson of ESU 2, Matthew Burg, a business teacher at Freemont High School, and Jess Bland, superintendent at Oakland-Craig Public Schools, join us for a conversation that speaks to the impact that the learning management system, Canvas, has had in their building.

On the pod, Shara notes that schools only have until February 28th, 2023, to join the Canvas Consortium this spring to have their implementation costs covered by NDE.

To learn more, visit: Canvas Statewide Consortium – Nebraska Department of Education

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In this episode of The Good Life EDU podcast, we are joined by the ESU 2’s own Mike Feit, Brad Hoffman, and Aryn Halsey for a conversation about their YouTube show, “Behavior Bites.” Our conversation delves into the backstory, creative process, and content that these three educators have experienced during their efforts to deliver concise, relevant, and practical strategies through this effort. Listeners should expect to learn, laugh, and hopefully derive some inspiration from the “Behavior Bites” Team as they strive to enhance their support of educators as they work with and serve students.

To access the episodes, follow this link to the ESU 2 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@educationalserviceunit2788.

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