An Educational Resource for Everyone

 Don’t let the title fool you! Educational Technology and Mobile Learning is a website directed to active teachers, but the resources available are valuable to everyone. Chapters and states are looking to technology, specifically Google Drive, to improve communications. This site will help in that journey.
Each day, at least one and sometimes as many as three new postings are made to the website at https://www.educatorstechnology.com
Information can be accessed by grade level (through Grade 8), subject matter, or topic. A wonderful chart of great websites for specific subject matter is available.
The site covers Android, Chrome, and iPad. It is easy to search for your topic. For example, a search for “graphics” yielded 19 recent postings. Need a template for a newsletter? This website has links to several.
Google Drive is addressed in detail. Cheat sheets, charts, and posters help to explain concepts. Guidelines are itemized (see Figure 1); however, new items are constantly added. For example, “5 Important Google Drive Collaborative Features Teachers Should Know About” was added in February (see Figure 2).
Everything is free to use.
If you choose to follow the site on either Facebook or Twitter, you will get notifications when new items are posted.
It is well worth your time to investigate this website. There will always be something you can use, and you will return to it again and again.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Meet Darya, a DKG World Fellowship Recipient

Darya is a Fulbright scholar from the Ukraine, a brilliant World Fellowship recipient with very high aspirations. Get to know her better by reflecting on her thoughts as she expresses them through her Personal Essay.

In her own words…
In 5 years from now I plan to put in action a new methodic approach in language and culture teaching, and this step is crucial for me. For now, a real chance to attend a university in America, the land where teaching methods have been getting the nation forward for the last two centuries, appears to be a dream come true for enriching my knowledge and improving myself as a professional. Thereby, it will contribute not only to my personal development, but also lead to the further prosperity of philological science and the methods of teaching in my country. Since I started learning foreign languages at school, I have been fascinated by my studies. I always realized that knowing several languages, and English in particular, can build the best bridges of understanding between people to share experience, interests and knowledge …. I discovered that intertextuality of culture, represented in various works of art and literature, appears to be the key to understanding how diversity merges with unity.
Understanding the dialogue of intermedia, their confluence, basic trends of cooperation, and the unique sense of time inside media matrix has not been studied profoundly. I would be able to compare Ukrainian, European, and American teaching schemes and trends and analyze them. Prospectively, I see myself writing a PhD thesis on implementing the outcome of my research in Ukraine… I have been creating events, translating written works, and interpreting speeches of foreign volunteers coming to my native land, helping in organizing cinematic, scientific and social events in Ukraine and abroad, coordinating and managing the work of charity and youth organizations. I aspire to be a part of my motherland’s future, and I strongly believe that bringing back all the knowledge and experience I will get in the USA is going to help me in becoming the leader of opinions for my folk to be proud of.

Rethinking Regional Conferences?

I encourage you to consider the benefits and opportunities Delta Kappa Gamma membership provides and HOW you access those opportunities. Annual international meetings—conventions and conferences—serve to enhance women educators professionally and personally. Members can attend any international conference, not only the one hosted in their regions.

That raises this question: Why do we continue to divide this international organization by region? Why not have international conferences instead of regional conferences? International conferences focused on various educational topics would benefit the modern educator. A Leadership Conference at which you train the state organization leaders as well as any members who want to develop their leadership knowledge would be efficient and productive. Other international conferences emphasizing educational trends or research or technology would better serve the modern educator. This would necessitate changing a paradigm.

Travel from any state or member country is easy. Communication is inexpensive and instant. That has not always been the case. Regions were created when there was a need for them. During World War II, the Society was developing patterns of events. We had national conventions every year from 1930 to 1943. The fourteenth national convention in 1943 could not be held because permissions to travel could not be secured from the Office of Defense Transportation. Nevertheless, 131 Executive Board (renamed the Administrative Board in 1952) members and delegates who could travel met in Chicago. Voting was done by mail on proposed amendments to the constitution and the election of officers.

In August 1944, President Dr. Margaret Stroh convened 14 Society leaders to project the work for the coming year. Among the considerations was a suggestion that I did not approve made by previous president Dr. Emma Reinhardt—that regional meetings would be a way to spread enthusiasm and information about Delta Kappa Gamma. At the meeting, the idea was expanded to include the proposal of having regional directors.

As a result of the discussion and wanting to generate support for the Society, the group made plans for seven regional (or sectional) conferences. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana members gathered in Seattle in November 1944. California members met in Los Angeles in December. War restrictions caused the other five to be cancelled.

With the war over, the 1945 National Executive Board business included a unanimous vote to adopt a plan for regional meetings that had been tried and then discontinued because of transportation difficulties.

The result is that 73 years ago, regional conferences begun with difficulty due to war-time regulations became a part of the national pattern of regular events.

In 2018 members do not have the same travel and communication constraints that we had in the early years of Delta Kappa Gamma. An improved economy, more freedom for women, instant communication, and ease of long distance travel erase the need for meetings based solely on geography.

I want you to consider the best way to meet the needs of women educators in this modern world. Women educators seek personal opportunities, of course, and also professional experiences. You have access to instant information, and you want to improve what you teach and how you teach. Delta Kappa Gamma is the ideal avenue for your personal and professional development.

Focused-topic conferences would serve women educators more fully than a conference based on geography. When you are making decisions about the future of Delta Kappa Gamma, you must base those decisions on solid judgment and not on emotions. Make decisions using what you know and not just what you feel.

The New DKG App is Ready

 The new and greatly improved DKG app is here. This app will quickly become your “go-to” source for information from International.

Download and Login Instructions

First, delete the old app. (Need directions for deleting? Follow these links: Apple. Android)

The new app is free to download and is password protected. Once you have accessed the app, you will be prompted to login. Please use the email that the DKG has on file for you, then push the 'Email Password' button. You'll receive an email walking you through how to establish the password of your choosing. Once completed, login to the app with your email address and new password and explore! Navigate using the Menu button (3 horizontal lines) in the upper left corner.

To get the Delta Kappa Gamma 365 mobile app :

- iPhone and iPad users--search “DKG 365” or “Delta Kappa Gamma" in the Apple App Store.
- Android users--search “DKG365” or “Delta Kappa Gamma" in the Google Play Store.
- Blackberry, Windows, laptops--go to this address on your smartphones or computer browsers (omit www): https://dkg.gatherdigital.com

 What is in the new app?

You will have access to calendars/deadlines, news, messages, links, documents, and more. The headings clearly define each section. All topics, messages, news, and links are hyperlinked … just click and go!
(See Figures 1 & 2)

Figure 1 Screenshot from an iPad 

Figure 2 Screenshot from an iPhone

 

This portion of the app is aptly called “365” because the information applies to all 365 days of the year. As we approach the 2018 International Convention, a second portion will be available that will apply to all aspects of the convention.

Coming Soon: Headquarters staff are working on an update of the “This App’s for You” training video.

Get Onboard!
You will not regret getting and using this app. DKG communication has just taken a giant leap forward.

Banding Together to Inspire, Mentor, and Strengthen Female Leaders

The Educational Excellence Committee has three goals for the 2016-18 biennium. The first goal is to empower women through leadership opportunities. One way to achieve this goal is to inspire, mentor, and strengthen member’s growth as leaders. This idea has been marinating in my thoughts, not only as a DKG member, but as a leader in my community. Do women inspire, mentor, and strengthen other women, or is it the opposite?  

In the past weeks, two different groups have emerged in my community that support leadership opportunities for women. The first group is focusing on empowering women to seek political office. The second group is working with and creating financial opportunities for female leaders in business, education, and civic engagement. Key themes in both groups are finding leaders and supporting them.  

Women participating in these groups have listed lack of time, lack of training, and lack of mentorship as hurdles to overcome. Female leaders have shared a sense of isolation when they lead because there isn’t a network of support. I am guessing that these thoughts and concerns are not unique to my community but rather are common across our world. 

Knowing this information, DKG members have a golden opportunity to inspire, mentor, and strengthen women leaders. Ideas include, but are not limited to: 

• Words of encouragement to potential leaders 

• Financial backing of female candidates 

• Creating a leadership forum 

• Babysitting someone’s child so that she can attend a leadership forum 

• Mentoring new leaders 

• Volunteering to assist educational leaders in our schools 

Many of our DKG members are leaders in education and community, so they know the challenges that women face. My hope is that we band together to inspire, mentor, and strengthen female leaders in our midst.

Making a Difference

We Founders wanted to make changes in society that gave women educators the same rights and opportunities given to others. My female colleagues and I were frustrated and disappointed that we were held to a standard different from our male colleagues. We twelve were merely women educators who wanted equal standing. We were like thousands of other women teachers. We did not have extra powers or insight. We were ordinary women educators who seized an opportunity to make a difference. We did not want to be required to work twice as hard and twice as long for less pay to prove that we could chair academic departments, deserve scholarships, lead committees, and make financial decisions. We just wanted to be given equal career opportunities.  

DKG can lead social change by protecting and speaking for the underprivileged, the “different,” the needy, the displaced, the frightened, the unschooled, and the unnoticed. In fact, women educators are the most influential population in making changes that benefit all.   

YOU—the woman reading this—have the same power of resolve and the same spirit of what is fair that the Founders had. Every day YOU have the opportunity, challenge, and right to lead the way for tolerance of others, fair treatment, and strong direction that impacts individuals of vast numbers. I encourage you to seek out situations where you can be an example and a living leader of fairness, kindness, shared resources, and change for the better. It will not be easy, but it will be right.  

The way you approach directions in society is the same way to approach directions in DKG. Know your options, gather your information, form your thoughts, and act on what is right to make a difference for all.