Why Go 1:1 iPad? In a response to a well written and thoughtful post that I recently read by @jmcconville1000, "Why the iPad is bad for education", I felt compelled to respond from my personal experience of rolling out a cart of 30 iPads in a shared high school environment. Fundamentally I believe that an iPad can neither be good or bad. All it can ever be is an iPad. I argue instead, that when used effectively and with specific goals in mind, iPads can have a positive impact on education. Seeing that schools are investing money on these devices, the perspective to adopt is not a combative one, but rather one that explores how to effectively integrate the devices. Time & Space: iPad features related to time and space are incredibly important. The iPad is Not a Computer... The device shouldn't be looked at as a computer, because it isn't...it is more than that. One User Devices: In an ideal world, iPads in schools would not be shared between students. All in One: Is everything easy to do on an iPad?
How My School Is Transitioning to Digital Textbooks: Organizing (Step 1 of 5) Overview: The Role of iPads There is no denying iPads are becoming a dynamic tool for education. However, with the integration of new tools into the classroom, there is a learning curve. The evolution of the iPad has created more than just a learning curve, but a cultural shift in the way we access information and connect with the outside world. This fall, Burlington High School will transition to a 1:1 school exclusively with the iPad 2. One of the goals of this initiative is to slowly transition curriculum and textbooks to ePub format. ePub file format allows anyone to create a file that is readable on an iOS device or Kindle like a book. Multi-district Collaborative Event While this transition is exciting and new, there are not many examples out there of the ePub format in use. The organization of the event was lead by three Massachusetts Superintendents: Dr. Event Planning and Organization Once the website was live, we started planning opening keynotes for the first day of the event.
50 resources for iPad use in the classroom The transition to the more extensive use of technology in classrooms across the West has resulted in the integration of bring your own device (BYOD) schemes, equipping students with netbooks and tablet computers, and lessons that use social media & online services. Gesture-based technology is on the rise; according to the latest NMC Horizon Report, gesture-based technological models will become more readily integrated as a method of learning within the next few years. The iPhone, iPad, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect technology are examples of these kinds of developments, and in particular, resources for Apple products in education are becoming widely available online. For teachers, some of which are just beginning to use tablets and mobile devices in class, these resources can be invaluable in promoting more interactive classrooms and understanding how best to use and control such products. Tutorials: 1.) iPads for learning: Getting started 2.) 3.) 50 iPad2 tips and tricks 6.)
Tech Teacher: iPod, uPod The gizmo phenom also shines in class. Like mushrooms after a spring rain, podcasting is sprouting up everywhere. Chalk it up to the insanely popular Apple iPod, which at last count has sold fourteen kajillion units. Not content to merely listen, iPod devotees now want to jump into the broadcast booth. Anyone with a microphone and an Internet connection suddenly seems to have a podcast, and for good reason: It's very easy to produce and upload audio clips. The tools are cheap, the files are easy to share, and just about anyone can do it. For years, savvy teachers have used various media to help their students connect to the world. The cool thing about podcasting is that you really don't need much equipment -- essentially, a computer with a microphone jack, and a microphone. The final stage is to get that podcast onto the Internet so the world can absorb your students' auditory insights. Think of this feed as your own personal radio channel.
Free Internet lessons challenge textbook market for public schools “I don’t really use my traditional textbooks,” Shulman said. “There’s almost too much good stuff online.” Enterprising teachers have long scoured the Internet for ways to improve on their textbooks or local curricula. Fueling the trend, most states in the past two years have embraced national standards for what students should learn in English and math classes. As classrooms become better equipped with interactive white boards and other gadgets, more teachers are looking for digital content and adopting an assumption that prevails in much of the World Wide Web: That content should be free. “Now that expectation has entered the American classroom,” said Jay Diskey, executive director for the school division of the Association of American Publishers. Analysts say private vendors are likely to regain their edge as school budgets improve, but the market is undoubtedly changing. U.S. Much of the growth in free online resources still comes from the grass roots — teachers sharing with teachers.
Gamify Your Class with VoiceThread Mobile The following is a post by Michelle Pacansky-Brock and originally appeared at Gamification involves integrating game mechanics and design techniques into your class to boost learner engagement and provide problem-solving opportunities. How you gamify your class is a creative process, but one key method that opens new dimensions of brainstorming is locating a tool with unique characteristics, like VoiceThread Mobile. What is VoiceThread Mobile? VoiceThread Mobile is the app version of the original, web-based VoiceThread. VoiceThread Mobile is powerful because it frees learners from the boundaries of classrooms, homes, and offices. Note: VoiceThread Mobile is available for iOS devices only; Android version is in development. How do I use VoiceThread Mobile to gamify learning? To see how other instructors are using VoiceThread Mobile, watch the VoiceThread below by clicking the play button. Additional Tips for Success
The iPad as a research tool I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog lately reflecting on Big Education ideas. During that time, my little buddy the iPad has felt a little neglected and unloved. So I thought I’d get back to talking about everybody’s “favourite little tablet that could”. Today, I want to explore the possibilities the iPad has as a tool for researching information. One criticism of the iPad is that it has the “one app open at a time” limitation. WikiNodes is a different way of browsing and collecting information from Wikipedia. A welcome extra feature is how WikiNodes allows the user to save, store and organize information from the Wikipedia article. Notability, which I’ve mentioned in previous posts, is a versatile note taking app that I think has some useful features for research. An additional feature of Notability is the ability to browse the Internet within its own browser. Often research involves using specific articles that are given to us to read.
10 tips to encourage quality student filmmaking in the classroom Reposted from: Did you know that filmmaking helps to develop higher order thinking skills? Check out Niko Theodosakis’s The Director in the Classroom: How Filmmaking In..., and explore how making movies fosters important skills like visioning, research, problem solving, logic, planning and analyzing. With apps like iMovie, making quality films in the classroom is easier than ever. Check out these 10 tips below to really support quality filmmaking in your classroom: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Why the iPad Works for Writing When the first iPad launched in 2010, critics were quick to lampoon the device for being geared too heavily toward content consumption. The criticisms weren't entirely without merit, especially considering that the first-generation iPad didn't even have a camera, and external media slots are still nowhere to be found. Over time, the iPad has evolved into something that's much more creation-friendly. It still doesn't compare to a desktop or laptop computer for many things, but it's great for quite a few others. Writing is one of them. I happen to write things for a living, but the practice is far from limited to those who earn a paycheck by doing it. It's Easier to Focus One of the aforementioned early criticisms actually turns out to be part of what makes the iPad ideal for writing. To be sure, there are distraction-free writing apps for Windows and Mac desktops, and it's not exactly rocket science to simply close one's IM, email and Twitter clients for an hour or two.
7 Tips for Effectively Managing Your iPad Classroom **** Interview from THE Journal... The full article is at iPads are a great tool to encourage continual sharing and collaboration in the classroom, says education technology consultant Sam Gliksman. Gliksman runs iPads for Education, a Ning network that has drawn several thousand educators and other people interested in exploring the use of iPads in schools. He has captured much of what he's gleaned from working with schools and teachers on their iPad programs in a new book, iPad in Education for Dummies. 1. iPads Aren't Meant to be Shared From its earliest days, the iPad was designed for personal--not "institutional"--use, Gliksman said. "In grades one, two, and three, you're probably fine with that. 2. According to Gliksman, what catches most schools up is that they buy iPads "and just assume that it's a different form of computer and they can handle them the same way--and they simply can't." 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
20 Amazing iPad Apps for Educators When one looks at how technology has changed education over the past decade, one can’t help but be blown away by the sheer number of iPad apps for educators that have absolutely flooded the electronic marketplace. There are so many iPad apps for teachers released every month that even the most plugged-in educator would have a difficult time processing and utilizing them all. Luckily, when teachers are looking to learn how to use iPads in the classroom, they need to look no further than TeachHUB magazine and TeachHUB.com -- an educator’s primary go-to resource when researching iPad apps for teachers and iPads in the classroom. Read on to learn about TeachHUB magazine and TeachHUB.com’s updated list of the hottest iPad apps for teachers and iPad apps for education, destined to forever alter your curriculum landscape, organized here by subject. Scroll down for an index of many of TeachHUB's helpful iPads in the classroom app reviews and more of the best usage of iPads in the classroom. Trello
Create an All-iPad Class Radio Show with AudioBoo, Bossjock, GoodReader, & SoundCloud <div class="greet_block wpgb_cornered"><div class="greet_text"><div class="greet_image"><a href=" rel="nofollow"><img src=" alt="WP Greet Box icon"/></a></div>Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to <a href=" rel="nofollow"><strong>subscribe to the RSS feed</strong></a> for updates on this topic.<div style="clear:both"></div></div></div> Do students in your classroom regularly create online “radio shows” to share information with parents and others? With more people than ever (over half of U.S. adults) owning smartphones capable of accessing Internet websites and playing digital audio files, classroom radio shows can potentially reach a larger percentage of your parents than ever. You may have noticed I’ve used the phrase “classroom radio show” instead of podcast in this post. On this day..
Middle school boys who are reluctant readers value reading more after using e-readers Public release date: 27-Mar-2012 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Margaret Allenmallen@smu.edu 214-768-7664Southern Methodist University Middle school boys rated reading more valuable as an activity after two months of using an e-reader, according to a new study. The findings come from a study of 199 middle school students who struggle with reading and who participated in a reading improvement class that included Amazon's Kindle e-reader, said one of the study's authors, Dara Williams-Rossi, Southern Methodist University, Dallas. The researchers found that boys consistently had a higher self-concept of their reading skill than girls both before and after using the e-readers. Technology motivated boys; girls appear to prefer actual books "The technology appeared to motivate the boys to read, while many girls preferred the actual books," said Williams-Rossi, who is also director of undergraduate programs in Simmons. [ Print | E-mail AAAS and EurekAlert!
A Digitized School Needs a Digitized School Paper I asked senior Newsprint editor, Catherine Denton to guest post about how technology permeates our award winning publication. Like all things Mercy, the school newspaper, Newsprint, has been following a “digitized” path for years. The monthly print version of the paper is designed via Adobe. Newsprint came to a technological “full-circle” with the advent of their website in 2010. Since then, Newsprintnow has strived to adapt to Mercy’s changing technological conditions. In an effort to better cover the entire school community, the editors decided to create Newsprintnow “beats” for staff members to cover. Alternate story forms, or stories not written in the traditional paragraph format, have been a staff-wide focus on Newsprintnow, as well. Speaking of tweeting, the @mercynewsprint Twitter has over 100 followers. Paralleling the school’s continuous technological growth and maturity, the computer lab is also being redesigned next year.