10 Amazing Uses for Wolfram Alpha. You may have heard of Wolfram Alpha, which is a “computational knowledge engine.” That makes it sound a bit scary, but it’s a great tool once you can wrap your head around it. Apple’s Siri uses Wolfram Alpha for 25% of its searches. You can leverage that magic and put Wolfram Alpha to work for you — the empty search box on its homepage holds endless possibilities. Comparisons Enter two terms with a vs in between them and you’ll get a comparison. For example, you could compare websites to see the differences in traffic between them.
You can compare cities, books, foods and almost anything else you can think of. Nutrition Information Enter a type of food and Wolfram Alpha will provide you with its nutrition information. Complicated Math Wolfram Alpha is ideal for the sort of math that Google’s calculator and most other calculator websites will choke on. Where Am I? Ask where you are and Wolfram will use your IP address to track you down. Days Until Something Generate a Password Am I Drunk?
Parents Need To Be Reminded That Teachers Are People Too. Be kind to your children’s teachers. Be damn kind to your children’s teachers. If you drop off your child in the classroom, say hello. Compliment the new decorations. There’s a good chance he or she worked off the clock to make the room festive. Remind your children to listen to their teachers. Be understanding to your children’s teachers. Be realistic in your expectations. Stop it with the snide remarks. By the way: “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach”? Show your gratitude. Tell them this. Be active with your children. Be kind to your teachers. They are not miracle workers. So you better be damn kind to your children’s teachers. Seven Free Platforms for Teaching Online Courses. More and more high schools are embracing online courses to reach more students and all times of the day. While you can spend a lot of money for online course software, you don't have to. Here are seven free platforms for teaching online courses.
This list cannot begin without mentioning Moodle first. Moodle is an free platform that is commonly referred to as a course management system or virtual learning environment. To use Moodle you have to either install it on your own server(s) or have someone host it for you. Claroline is an open source program that gives users the freedom to create their own online classroom. Udemy is a new free platform for teaching courses online.
RCampus is a free, web-based, platform for creating and conducting courses online. Learnopia is a free service that offers hosting for online courses. Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) is an online community of people sharing their knowledge through university-level courses. BYOD and the Paperless Classroom. At New Milford High School teachers are adapting their professional practice as we continue to evolve into a Bring Your Own Device school where student-owned technology integrated effectively. NMHS teachers are also beginning to to integrate social media tools that are blocked and banned in the majority of schools across the country. Ms. Smith’s science class has gone paperless. Students complete assignments whether it’s homework, class work, projects and tests all online using various websites, such as, Edmodo, Tumblr and Instagram on their BYOD devices.
They also use their smart phones, iPads, iPods and digital cameras to take notes or to capture information. All pictures, notes and assignments are posted on the websites, e-mailed or placed on their private homework blogs. Image credit: Teaching and E-learning. Otter - Create a Simple Page for Distributing and Collecting Assignments. Otter is a new service that makes it easy to create simple webpages on which you can distribute information and collect assignments from students. Otter provides four widgets that you can add to your page. Those widgets are announcements, calendar events, hosted documents, and homework uploads.
The widgets appear in that order on your page. Hosted documents can be uploaded from your computer or imported from Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox. Students can upload their assignment submissions through your Otter page. Applications for EducationOtter doesn't allow you to change layouts or customize color schemes. It's just a no nonsense tool for quickly building pages through which you can distribute information and collect assignments. Otter was developed by Scurry Labs who also developed a neat bookmarking tool called Sqworl. The Teacher's Guide To Digital Citizenship. The horror stories of young people not grasping the reach and influence of the content they put online are familiar to all of us. From the loss of job opportunities due to unprofessional pictures or comments on social media, to the more serious threats of abduction, and even the self-harm inspired by cyber bullying, the stakes are high.
While students may often seem clueless to these dangers, some are starting to understand the risks. In a recent Rasmussen study on digital literacy, details of which you can see in the infographic below, 37% of millennials aged 18 – 34 said they consider the internet scary, which is more than any other demographic. Still, millennials know just as well as any other demographic just how important digital literacy is and will continue to be to their working lives. As such, studies like these serve to demonstrate how crucial teaching digital literacy — particularly at a young age when that digital footprint is still lightly drawn — has become. Online Safety.
Livescribe 3 Review. I was sent a Livescribe 3 Smartpen for the purpose of this review. Here is a video introducing the new Livescribe 3 Smartpen. I was really excited to get my hands on the new smartpen after I saw the video. I loved the idea of seeing my writing appear on my iPad to be instantly moved over to my Evernote notebook when I was done. I was also interested to see how well the software could ready my writing and transfer it into text. First, the connection to my iPad was quick and seamless and the writing popped up on the screen with only a slight delay. All of the pencasts can be saved directly into Evernote into shared notebooks so students can access them from their own accounts wherever they are. For me, the goal of technology in my classroom or professional life is to sometimes make everyday tasks a little bit easier.
I had the $149.95 Livescribe 3 Smartpen and it was just perfect for me. If you have been thinking about getting a Smartpen, but were not sure when to do it, now is the time. iPad as the Teacher's Pet [Infographic] Update: iPad as the Teacher's Pet was updated to Version 2.0 Click to see the new version! Hey, teacher! Got an iPad? Then you've got a toolbox that you can fill to help you be an even better teacher! Spend some time with this infographic to discover how your iPad can be your handy assistant. It's filled with apps and services that you'll wonder how you ever lived without.
It's all about verbs, that is, the things teachers can do with an iPad. Those actions include showing your screen on a projector, managing the classroom, assessing student work, interacting with students, accessing your files, making instructional media, and expanding professional learning. So take a peek to see how iPad can help you capture learning artifacts, plan lessons, poll students, visualize concepts, share demonstrations, and much more. Do It On Their T.E.R.M.S. | Rob Furman. I take being the instructional leader of my building quite seriously. As a part of my instructional duties as the building principal, I am constantly sharing with my teachers the latest and greatest apps and websites out there.
I am always very excited to see the teachers incorporate the new technology into their lessons. I am blessed to have a staff that loves technology and I am proud to say that they have become really expert at working with these new apps/websites. I must admit that at first, it wasn't so easy to get the teachers to feel comfortable when using new technologies. A common question was, "Where do I start? " I had to ponder this question for myself. Time: The first thing you have to consider when introducing new technology is the need for TIME. Encouragement: As with any good teaching/learning experience, you need to ENCOURAGE your teachers to do their best and enjoy the experience. Share success: It is so important to be positive with your staff.