The Crazy Facts About Apple's Role In Education. Today’s children were born and raised in a world of digital convenience, so it’s no surprise that mobile is so popular on the playground. Apple has long realized the potential of the pre-teen set and has targeted them with iPads, learning apps, smart devices and other mobile tech to meet their educational and developmental needs. To demonstrate how digital and mobile technology are gaining momentum with children, MDG Advertising created this informative infographic.
Cradle to the Classroom It shows how Apple is infiltrating the lives of our children from the cradle to the classroom, as well as how these smart devices are having a real impact on literacy and learning levels , along with the benefits of these digital tools for special needs education. Take a look at how Apple is rapidly increasing its presence and popularity with our kids. More Mobile Than Ever This collection of more than 500,000 free video and audio materials has already been downloaded 700 million times. This Is What Happens When You Deploy Android Tablets In A Classroom. We’re constantly hearing chatter about deploying iPads in classrooms. For good reason, as iPads represent the vast majority of tablets in the market today.
However, schools can’t always afford these premium devices and instead opt for lower priced Android tablets. That’s exactly what the Learning Untethered project did for a 5th grade classroom during the past academic year. They’ve just released a must-read report that details every aspect of how it went. The report offers a high-level step-by-step guide to deploying Android tablets (or really any tablet like an iPad is also applicable to an extent) that would be helpful to anyone considering a deployment.
Key Takeaways Here are the bullet points if you’re in a time crunch. How It Worked: An entire 5th grade class of 27 students was given a set of 7″ Samsung Galaxy Tabs running Android 2.2. Your Next Steps Again, these are just the key takeaways from the study. Have you deployed technology and found different results? Technology In Schools: Poll Finds K-12 Teachers And Parents Support Greater Digital Use In The Classroom. A recent poll by the Leading Education by Advancing Digital Commission has found that the vast majority of K-12 teachers and parents support greater use of technology in education, and believe that school systems should do more to improve access.
The poll, which surveyed 883 parents and 812 public K-12 teachers, determined that 96 percent of teachers and 91 percent of parents think that applying technology to teaching and learning is important to the education of American students today. More than half of both audiences also believe that technology will play a much bigger role in educating students during the next decade.
Responses also indicated that the country is somewhat or far behind the curve when it comes to American public schools’ use of technology in education, especially when compared to other parts of the economy. More of the poll's findings: Furthermore, both parties acknowledge the degree to which technology can better enable teachers to provide faster feedback to students. OLPC software update packs WebKit, text-to-speech. Fast Times at West Philly High | FRONTLINE. Obama’s Shout-Out to the West Philly EVX Team July 18, 2012, 11:31 am ET · by Gretchen Gavett “This is the kind of thing that just isn’t going to get a lot of attention initially,” said the president, referring to the success of the West Philly High EVX team. Live Chat Wed. 2:00 pm ET: Beating the Odds in West Philly July 17, 2012, 11:21 pm ET · by Nathan Tobey Join a live chat about “Fast Times at West Philly High” on 7/18 at 2 p.m. The Automotive X Prize: A Primer July 17, 2012, 9:38 pm ET · by Gretchen Gavett More on the history of the competition, the organization that sponsored it and other prizes that push the boundaries of innovation.
What is Project-Based Learning? July 17, 2012, 9:37 pm ET · by Kyna Doles Background on the alternative approach to education featured in Fast Times at West Philly High. Tonight’s FRONTLINE Will Make You “Tearful and Smitten” The Tabula Project Aims To Turn Tablets Into Teaching Tools. A crowdfunded project by tech blogger Noah Kravitz is going to try to turn around the sclerotic business of education software. Dubbed the Tabula Project, the crowdfunded system will allow teachers to create their own lesson plans on almost any tablet without fuss or training.
In short, it aims to make educational software far easier and, more important, far cheaper than it has been in the past. “I’ve wanted to take what I’ve learned, and who I’ve met, in my life as a tech blogger and apply it somehow to the educational space. TechnoBuffalo, where I’m still blogging, gave me the chance to explore some ideas and brainstorm with my education world friends,” he said.
“Some schools are already adopting iPads, and many more are keeping a close eye on the emergence of sub-$200 Android tablets. And, of course, Windows 8 could shake things up as well. So it really felt like the right time to look at tablets having a place in schools.” Tabula is like groupware for teachers. It's Time For Technology To Disrupt Education.
Dundee student designs Passive Play toy cube to stimulate parent interaction with autistic children. TED's New Site Turns Any YouTube Video Into a Lesson. TED launched a new online tool on Wednesday that turns any YouTube video into a lesson. The conference series is calling the process "flipping a video," a reference to the idea of "flipping the classroom" that has been popularized by Salman Khan and his YouTube school Khan Academy. When a teacher flips the classroom, they assign lectures to watch at home and save class time for working on homework together. When a teacher flips a video, they add supplemental content such as questions and additional resources. Here's how it works: Users can search YouTube from TED Ed's new website. When they find a video they'd like to use as a lesson, they hit a "flip it" button.
TED Ed's lesson editor makes it easy to add a brief description, questions, additional resources and closing thoughts to the video. The lesson editor looks like this: And the published lesson looks like this (You can also see a live sample here): Teachers can keep track of participation and responses through a single dashboard. Why gamification is changing the face of 21st century education. Every human being is born to learn because we’re all innately curious, and the moment we stop learning is when we stop living. That was the message from the education startup Skillshare‘s first ever conference held in New York City last Friday where nine speakers advocating 21st century education presented their speeches on how society can reimagine the educational experience.
The Web has made it easier for anyone to become both a student and a teacher. In one speech, director of digital for The Onion Baratunde Thurston shared his experience learning to write his new book by live screen-sharing his computer screen as he typed the chapters and using feedback from whoever was watching to stimulate his thought process. Another instance is Adora Svitak, a 14-year-old high school student who hosts an English class online every morning before she goes to school. There are many ways technology can reshape the future of education. “Algorithms are misunderstood by people,” Sims says.
How Machine-Based Tutoring Could Disrupt Human Tutors. Microchip-embedded 'intelligent' t-shirts used to track student truancy in Brazil. The Rise Of The Explainer Video. Editor’s note: Rico Andrade a former executive producer at Transvideo Studios and Picturelab. Follow him on Twitter @andrade_rico. Two years ago, Jason Kincaid wrote a short but influential post titled “The Underutilized Power Of The Video Demo To Explain What The Hell You Actually Do.” He said: During my time at TechCrunch I’ve seen thousands of startups and written about hundreds of them. I sure as hell don’t know all the secrets to building a successful company, but there are a few things I’ve seen that seem like surefire ways to ever-so-slightly grease the road to success.
Here’s an easy one: make a video demo and prominently promote it somewhere where new visitors can find it. Jason was spot-on with his assessment. Many individual companies do A/B testing of these specific types of videos on their own home pages, but these numbers are not usually disclosed, and I have yet to see industry-wide studies looking at the effects of these specific videos. Why Video? - Repurpose elsewhere. Why Is There A Lack Of Innovation In Educational Technology For Children? Why iPad Textbooks Are Still Too Expensive for Schools [INFOGRAPHIC]
When Apple announced its initiative to bring iPads into schools and provide textbooks in digital format, the reaction among many was enthusiastic. iPad textbooks are more interactive, they can be easily updated and they can't be easily vandalized. The price Apple announced at their launch event — $14.99 per textbook — also sounded like a steal, certainly far cheaper than traditional textbooks.
But when you dig into the fixed costs associated with digital textbooks vs. their paper counterparts, there are some major reasons to believe that iPad textbooks might not be coming to a school near you any time soon. The biggest is that the textbooks themselves don't turn out to be cheaper. A representative of textbook publisher McGraw-Hill made clear to Mashable shortly after Apple's announcement that the functional cost of a digital textbook for a school will actually be the same as the paper version, despite the much lower sticker price.
SEE ALSO: Why the iPad Won’t Transform Education — Yet. Entrepreneurs: Now's The Time To Target Teachers. Kids Prefer Robots To Teachers And Parents. Apple Just Incentivized Every College Kid To Get An iPad. As For High Schoolers… As I watched Apple’s iBooks event in New York City last week, my mind began to race about the ramifications of such announcements. Everyone had a pretty good idea for weeks (or months if you read the Steve Jobs biography) that textbooks would be a focal point for Apple, but there wasn’t much thought given to what this would mean. During the event itself, I just kept thinking, “wow, Apple just incentivized every college student to get an iPad”. Except, they didn’t. Not yet. The weird thing about Apple’s event was that it mainly focused on high school education. Yes, the iTunes U update is fantastic, but for now, the textbook side of the equation is about high schools.
And again, that’s weird because the iPad plan seems better suited for college students. In kicking off the event, Apple SVP Phil Schiller noted that high school students in the U.S. that enter as freshman only have a 70 percent chance of graduating these days. The problem is that the cheapest iPad is still $500. 3 Social Learning Trends to Watch in 2012. This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. According to the 2011 Training Industry Report from TrainingMag.com, total expenditures in training appear to be increasing. The amount spent on training jumped about 13% from 2010, including increases in overall training budgets and payroll, and spending on outside products and services. It’s anticipated that training will continue to be a major focus for organizations in the upcoming year, which makes sense: As our economy continues to move in a positive direction, consumers will demand better service.
This translates to a need for customer service, management and leadership training, which are poised to see increases in 2012. Along with the increased attention on training comes a discussion about value and retention. 1. Companies are paying attention to the benefits. 2. 3. Sharlyn Lauby. Montessori Activities for iPad and iPhone - Montessorium. Piazza gets $6M Series A to help with college homework. Piazza founder and CEO Pooja Sankar Piazza, the social network that lets college students and instructors discuss material online, has closed on $6 million in new funding. The funding round, which serves as the Palo Alto, Calif.
-based startup’s Series A, was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with the participation of previous investors Kapor Capital and Felicis Ventures. This brings Piazza’s total outside investment to approximately $7.5 million. Growing beyond Q&A and STEM studies Piazza will use the money to expand its service to more schools and add more features beyond its existing Q&A format, said founder and CEO Pooja Sankar in an interview this week. Another priority in the months ahead will be making Piazza friendlier to disciplines beyond science, technology, engineering and math (also referred to as STEM fields.) Taking on study group snobbery Screenshot of Piazza questions and dashboard Big growth, but no revenue yet For all that growth, however, Piazza doesn’t make any money. Education: Coarse work. YouTube for Schools Is Education Hub for the Digital Age. YouTube is launching a brand new tool to help teachers and students get their learn on. "YouTube for Schools" is a portal that helps curate education materials and videos on subjects such as history and math while filtering out potentially offensive or distracting content.
YouTube for Schools was created thanks to demand from teachers and schools across the country. "YouTube for schools is a technical solution to allow schools that normally restrict access to YouTube to gain access to it," says Angela Lin, head of YouTube EDU. A blog post on YouTube further explains: We’ve been hearing from teachers that they want to use the vast array of educational videos on YouTube in their classrooms, but are concerned that students will be distracted by the latest music video or cute cat, or a video that wasn’t appropriate for students. The filter also raises some tricky questions on what counts as "educational. " "Video has always been incorporated into classroom teaching," Lin say.
Will Free Benefit the Rich? How Free and Open Education Might Widen Digital Divides. Tuesday, Janary 17, 12:30 pmBerkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floorThe event is at capacity; this event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET and archived on our site shortly after. The explosion of open education content resources and freely available collaboration and media production platforms represents one of the most exciting emerging trends in education.
These tools create unprecedented opportunities for teachers to design and personalize curriculum and to give students opportunities to collaborate, publish, and take responsibility for their own learning. Many education technology and open education advocates hope that the widespread availability of free resources and platforms will disproportionately benefit disadvantaged students, by making technology resources broadly available that were once only available to affluent students. About Justin I’m a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Fellow at the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society. Apple's plan to get its products in schools? Educate the educators. Apple products have penetrated multiple markets, shaking up the way people work, create, design and learn by using the company’s range of desktop computers, notebooks and handheld devices.
The company’s new CEO, Tim Cook, recently told media at its iPhone 4S launch event that the iPad was now being deployed or tested by 92 percent of the Fortune 500 within their enterprises, rising from 75 percent last quarter. Just under half of the Global 500 have adopted the tablet – using it in medical establishments, in construction and a whole range of different environments. One area that we know has grown substantially over the years is how schools, colleges and universities are rapidly adopting Apple products, shifting from paper textbooks to ebooks and digital publications. Apple products are often much more expensive than other devices on the market, so how does Apple tempt schools to deploy its Mac computers and supply their students with iPads?