Monthly Archives: February 2012
Apps in Education
Sometimes we intimidate people because the lists we create are just too big. Sometime bigger is not better. Yesterday I found a perfect example of this. I came across this website on twitter via @meesterkurt. I love the idea of having the apps organised by what you want your students to do. This makes so much sense, even from the students point of view.What is the task – what apps can I use.
via Apps in Education.
Free Technology for Teachers: How Twitter Helps Overcome Inequity With Rural Internet Access
While it seems like “all the world” is accessing the internet freely and quickly these days, the truth is that there are still areas in Canada where high speed internet is unavailable. In our rural K-12 school in southern Manitoba, approximately 20% of our community has access to the internet only through dial-up, with the rest having access through high-speed connections. So how can we communicate in a timely fashion, using technology to reach ALL of our community, when dial-up is an obstacle? The answer–tweet!
via Free Technology for Teachers: How Twitter Helps Overcome Inequity With Rural Internet Access.
Broadband, Social Networks, and Mobility Have Spawned a New Kind of Learner — THE Journal
Students are different today because of technology. Every educator knows this, of course, but this change is about much more than agile thumbs, shriveling attention spans, and OMGd vocabularies. According the Pew Research Center, the combination of widespread access to broadband Internet connectivity, the popularity of social networking, and the near ubiquity of mobile computing is producing a fundamentally new kind of learner, one that is self-directed, better equipped to capture information, more reliant on feedback from peers, more inclined to collaborate, and more oriented toward being their own “nodes of production.”"These three elements together have changed the context of learning,” says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Centers Internet and American Life Project. “Today, knowledge is literally at your fingertips.”Rainie spoke to attendees at the 2011 State Educational Technology Directors Association SETDA Leadership Summit in Washington, DC. The Pew Centers Internet and American Life Project is a non-profit, non–partisan “fact tank” that studies the social impact of the Internet. Rainie is a co-author of Up for Grabs; Hopes and Fears; Ubiquity, Mobility, Security; and Challenges and Opportunities–books focused on the future of the Internet. Hes also co-authoring a book, expected to debut in early 2012 from MIT Press, on the social impact of technology.”I dont have to have an opinion,” Rainie joked during his keynote. “I just have to find out whats true.”
via Broadband, Social Networks, and Mobility Have Spawned a New Kind of Learner — THE Journal.
Welcome to My Resource Cloud
If you want learners to learn you must first engage them. The concept behind My Resource Cloud is that each educator tailors interactive content to suit the needs of their own learners. Thus increasing enjoyment, allowing for greater individual expression and, above all, making the work of the educator easier and more effective.My Resource Cloud consists of a number of resource sections: My Language Cloud, My Maths Cloud, My Science Cloud and My ICT Cloud.My Resource Cloud content and interactivity becomes individual to the users and their students. It is a Cloud Learning Environment CLE, providing a conceptual bridge for learners between formal education and the personal web.My Resource Cloud allows users to integrate web, printed, mobile and social media based technologies to help motivate learners.Complementary and premium content and services can easily be added and subtracted.Once you select content and interactive ellements you are free to use these with ALL your students.Open and closed social media integration can be easily tailored to your own needs.Enables a tailored learning enviroment where the educator can choose their own blend that fits.
Report says giving iPads to Auburn kindergartners increases test scores — Education — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine
AUBURN, Maine — Kindergartner David Hall worked on math on his iPad Wednesday morning.Playing “Feed the Hippos Hot Peppers,” the Sherwood Heights Elementary pupil counted aloud as his fingers moved peppers into a hippo’s mouth.Early test results of kindergarten pupils like David who used iPads for nine weeks last fall — compared to kindergartners who did not — show the iPads pupils did better, according to an Auburn School Department report released Wednesday.In 9 of the 10 areas of testing around pre-reading skills, the group of 129 students with iPads made slightly larger gains than the 137 students without. Testing included listening and comprehension, identifying letters, reading, vocabulary and identifying letter sounds.Only one area, however, was statistically higher: recognizing sounds and writing letters. In that test, students were dictated words. They had to translate the sounds into letters and write the words. Kindergartners with iPads gained 13.72 points, compared to an 11.58-point gain for students who didn’t have iPads. That difference is significant, said Mike Muir, the Multiple Pathways leader for Auburn schools.
Business & Technology | Lots of options for getting students into computer programming | Seattle Times Newspaper
Mathew Kennedy started programming with LegoMindstorm when he was 8. Now, at age 15, he creates games and applications for phones and computer systems. His father, William Kennedy, applauds the hobby and wishes all kids could be exposed to programming.”Its fun,” said Kennedy, who has hired hundreds of software engineers at Microsoft, “and it will be more and more important in the job market as these kids grow up.”Until computer programming becomes standard curriculum at middle and high schools though, families can turn to the Web for free resources and programming games for students.Computer programming helps develop critical thinking skills, such as how to break down a problem into manageable parts or how to put tasks into a logical sequence, as well as the importance of precise communication. “These skills are completely transferable,” said Lauren Bricker, a computer science teacher at Seattles Lakeside School. “Students can use them to write a computer program or a history paper.”
A first-hand look inside a flipped classroom | eSchool News
There have been many school reform trends over the past few years: student response systems, video games for math, mobile phones for learning—but none have completely transformed the notion of learning like the flipped classroom.Flipped learning, in essence, turns the idea of traditional classroom instruction on its head by asking students to watch videos of teacher lectures for homework, then apply the lesson with the teacher in the classroom.Using this method, proponents say, teachers have the opportunity to help students learn as individuals, and students can learn concepts more quickly.Yet, since its takeoff, skeptics have questioned whether students have the time management skills to watch the videos at home and whether in-class work really does affect student achievement. Some have even questioned whether students and parents like the new approach, and if flipped learning is just a fad.
via A first-hand look inside a flipped classroom | eSchool News.
Edudemic+: Elana Leoni On Social Media-Driven Teacher Improvement | Edudemic
In an Edudemic+ session, Terry Heick @/+terryheick chats with Elana Leoni @/+elanaleoni of Edutopia @/+edutopia about the role of technology in teacher improvement, especially social media. The following is an excerpted transcription of that conversation. Lisa Dabbs also participated in the session, and her comments will appear in a proceeding transcription. Also appearing are comments by Amy Borovoy @videoamy, also from Edutopia
via Edudemic+: Elana Leoni On Social Media-Driven Teacher Improvement | Edudemic.
How New Technologies Can End Age-Graded Schools Part 3 | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
So what about high-tech as the vehicle for upending the age-graded school? Why not replace self-contained classrooms where teachers dole out chunks of curriculum in bite-sized pieces every day for 36 weeks with multi-age groups of students in ungraded schools where students learn individually and at their own pace from lessons tailored precisely to their intellectual needs? Or simply have students learn at home? No more teachers preparing lessons for 25 to 35 students. No more end-of-year high stakes test. No more kids failing a grade. No more social promotion. No more 8th and 9th graders taking algebra … No more age-graded school.
In Some Cash-Strapped Schools, Kids Bring Their Own Tech Devices | MindShift
At Mankato Public School System in Minnesota, students bring their homework, their lunches, and books to school like most students across the country. But they also bring whatever tech devices they own — and they don’t have to hide it or turn it off when they walk into class.Mankato has joined the growing Bring Your Own Technology movement that allows students to use their own Netbooks, laptops, and tablets — anything that connects to the school’s wireless network — during class time.“By allowing kids to bring in their own devices, you free up school resources for the kids who don’t have access,” says Doug Johnson, director of media and technology for the Mankato Public School System. Johnson wrote the book — literally — on the subject; The Classroom Teacher’s Technology Survival Guide is published this month. For example, in classrooms that have a group of four computers, finding time for all 30 students to use them can be challenging. In Mankato, 90% of the students have some sort of wireless-capable device, which leaves only eight students in a typical class who will need to use the class computers.
via In Some Cash-Strapped Schools, Kids Bring Their Own Tech Devices | MindShift.
