I have had an iPad since May and this semester (fall 2010) I have a class of pre-service teachers that I was Santa Claus and gave them all an iPad. Boy, was that a fun day in class and a huge surprise for them. Anyway, WE (my student and I) are doing lots of exploring and using of our iPads. We are on the lookout for articles, blog posts and anything we can find about iPad and using them as a teacher, as a student and in the classroom with kids. Today in Ed Galaxy: Where Education and Technology Meet, Kevin Cummins has an interesting post 5 Apps that will make you a more productive teacher. I agree with Kevin when he says there is no shortage of apps and like Keven we are all wondering if it might just replace our laptops in the classroom. What do you think?
Kevin recommends the following apps and to read his full post, CLICK HERE
Numbers for iPad: wow, first on Kevin’s list, but would not be first for me. I don’t even use Numbers or even Excel on my laptop, just not a spreadsheet person, in fact, I run kicking & screaming when somebody wants me to use spreadsheets. But, I also know I am not normal! I am sure I just need to get over it!
GoodReader for iPad: “access your documents including pdf files, MS office documents, iWork, html files, hi res photos, up to 1 gig in size and even audio and video straight from your school or home network in seconds via wireless or USB cable.“ I have installed, but have not used it yet, so no opinion, do you have an opinion?
DropBox for iPad: Dropbox is software that syncs your files online and across your computers. Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you’ve installed Dropbox on (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!) Because a copy of your files are stored on Dropbox’s secure servers, you can also access them from any computer or mobile device using the Dropbox website. HINT: read the instructions and watch the tutorial video, it is save you time in the long run. Again, I have installed, but have only used a little.
Omnifocus all in one organization tool for iPad but is one of the more expensive iPad apps at $37.99. OmniFocus for iPad combines the in-depth task management functionality of a desktop app with the advanced mobile experience of the iPad. With flexible viewing options, location-aware task lists, and on-the-fly task entry with voice notes and image attachments, OmniFocus for iPad is the trusted system you need for managing everything in your busy life. Wow, 37.99, I have to come up some really compleeling reasons to need it to fork over that much money.
Pogo Sketch: OK, I like this idea, I bought one of these for my iPhone to make typing text messages easier, but I kept loosing them. But since I got my iPad, I kept thinking I would like a stylus of some type. I also noticed in the Sunday Flyer for Best Buy, that they have a Tagus Stylus for iPad. And of course, there are others, here is a link to the BoxWave site with a variety of different brands, features and prices for iPad Stylus. I think a stylus is in my very near future. And with the Stylus, WritePad looks to be a good handwriting app.
Evernote: I have written about this before and I have to admit that I still have not given it a good try. But Kevin feels it is is a must have app.
By the end of this week (hopefully Friday), there will be a post about the top apps my class has landed on, I hope you will be back to learn what these future teachers have to say.
Click on Comments and tell us what your favorite apps for education or personally are so far.
Students at Florida’s Clearwater High School are using Kindle e-readers instead of textbooks this year as part of a new initiative. The students will have access to all of their texts on the district-owned Kindles, as well as additional features that allow them to take notes and highlight text as well as access word definitions and text-to-speech technology. The school opted for e-readers over laptops because of the lower cost, which is roughly equal to the price of two textbooks, the principal said.
Read the full story, T.H.E. Journal (9/2)
Learn it in 5 is a must see resource for every teacher. It has lesson ideas, video tutorials, visionary apps and loads of tools and content you can access quickly and easily. This has some real useful content and I am sure you will find something new and innovative to try with your students.
Check it out here.
Institute of Education, University of London just published a new study that says:
“Children do better in their exams when their teachers focus on learning, rather than on test results.”
Chris Watkins believes that schools have two challenges:
- To recognize that passing tests is not the goal of education, but a by-product of effective learning.
- To recognize that even when we want pupils to do their best in tests, pressure and performance orientation will not achieve it.
Read more at: IOE – Focus on results can make children do worse, study finds. The study doesn’t seem to be online, but this article is worth reading. I am going to walk out on a limb here, I believe we need leadership that shares this perspective and research finding. AND changes in educational leaders at state and national levels who have the courage to stand up to the destructive educational policies of the NCLB. NCLB, No Child Left Behind seems to be leaving many children behind!!
Last week Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers posted a survey asking his readers about new things they were trying in their classrooms this fall. He is has put together a great presentation with 140 items. Wow, just packed full of good ideas. Check out his presentation at:
What is Teachers TV?
Through engaging videos, practical resources and an active online community, Teachers TV supports the professional development of anyone working in school, enabling them to widen their skills, develop their practice, and connect with others in the field.
Instant access to up to date professional development videos and resources
Learn from other education professionals by going inside their classrooms and into their schools
Save time with practical tips, lesson ideas and classroom resources
Help across the year to meet classroom targets and achieve personal goals
Keep informed with content covering the latest developments in the education agenda
In addition to the website, Teachers TV programmes are available on the TV Channel on Sky 880, Virgin Media 240, Freesat 650 and, most recently, through iTunes U.
Rick Rees, and Apple Professional Development trainer recently conducted a workshop in Tupelo. The teachers that he worked with were introduced to iLife & iWork and would you believe they started school this week, first week of August. Braden Bishop, one of the workshop participants contacted Rick to share his iMovie that he made to introduce himself to his students.
This is the scenario:
Braden connected some big desktop speakers with a subwoofer to his computer and had everything set to go. After his new high school students came in to his Economics class on the first day of school, he shut the door, didn’t say a word, turned out the lights, and turned the video on. He said “they were kinda floored.” and that “three of my six periods stood up and clapped…and DIDN’T EVEN know me!”
Thanks Rick for sharing Braden’s project, it is simply amazing. What a creative way to use iMovie too! Check out Braden’s work. When you watch it you’ll know why his students were excited. What a great way to start the year. Although, starting school the first of August, oh my!!
Web helps boost school supply drives
A new study confirms what most of us in education already know: Teachers dig deep into their own pockets to make sure their students don’t go without.
Teachers spend an average of $623 annually on everyday supplies like paper, crayons, and pencils, according to the study, which was sponsored by OfficeMax.
About 97 percent of teachers surveyed in April reported using their own cash to buy supplies, prizes and incentives, snacks, and materials for arts and crafts projects.
To read the full story, CLICK HERE
OK, I hate to be sarcastic, but is this a surprise to anybody? Gee whiz, staff development does work!! Ok, I know it has to be the right professional development and it has to be QUALITY, but come on , really!!
In Birmingham, Ala., teachers are participating in workshops to help prepare them to teach using laptops. Teachers begin by learning about the low-cost computers provided through the One Laptop Per Child initiative. Workshop organizers say the success of such programs is dependent on how comfortable and familiar teachers are with the technology. “Some participants weren’t even using them in class because they didn’t know what to do with them,” said the University of Alabama at Birmingham associate professor who developed the training. Read the full story at T.H.E. Journal
I teach a technology class to future teachers (5 sections of about 30 students each + 1 small honors class) at Kansas State University in the College of Education. In fact, every education major has me for this class, I am the only one that teaches it. Good or bad, it does make for consistency.
Anyway, in the fall, I will now teach an Honors section and I just learned (yesterday) that my request to have an iPad for each of the students in my Honors class has likely been granted. Yippy Skippy! I am so excited. These students will have the iPad checked out to them for the entire semester. How cool is that!
Of course, there is a catch, first, I have to include information about how they will be utilized in my syllabus (by tomorrow) as well as, the fact that my students and I will be doing lots & lots of digging, playing and experimenting on how they can be used productively in the classroom by teachers, students, and administrators as well as personally. Ultimately I hope my students can write an publish an article about he experiment and even present at a conference.
So far, this is what I am thinking for my syllabus, I have begged and borrowed from many sources. It is too long, so looking for help in condensing it into something very concise. If you have suggestions, ideas, thought, please comment below.
Very, Very–ROUGH DRAFT
As we move education toward the future, there needs to be a balance between past, present and future, it is essential. Each student in the honors section of DED 318, fall 2010 will receive an iPad to use during the fall semester. Clearly, the iPad is poised to revolutionize the classroom in an abundance of ways. The iPad is likely change textbooks, note taking, turn classrooms paperless classroom, studying and reviewing, student interest level, and may help to individualized curriculum. The iPad will provide the chance to move into becoming 21st century as learners and teachers. The iPad will be in your (my students) hands 24/7 and you will experience “living” with the tech.
There’s an app for every student, every learner, any minute of the day. Ken Robinson and his book “The Element” comes to mind when I think of having students discover their gifts and specialties…..finding…”their element.” And, the iPad is a tool that can do just that…help students/teachers find their element.
The iPad is so new that we have more questions than answers at this point. Our research during the fall semester will try to answer the many, many questions about iPads in the Classroom.
- Where does the iPad fit in education? i.e. K12 and higher education
- Where does the iPad fit in each grade level and content are of K-12 classrooms?
- What is the iPads potential to change education?
- What are the stumbling blocks for school, students and teachers?
- What can the iPad be used for in the classroom? Is it a better method or not?
- What apps are available for use in the classroom?
- How will iPads have an impact on reading or the way we teach reading? Or any content area?
- Can the iPad move us forward to a paperless environment?
- Can the ipad move us forward in meeting 21st century skills?
- How about Project Based Learning, Differentiated Instruction?
- Is it cost effective and could it help save money in a school?
- Is the iPad constructed to hold up to the rigors of use by elementary students?
Resources for additional information
apptivities: Its applications of apps for learning: This website is the response to our challenge at the ADE Summer Institute 2010 at Full Sail University, Orlando, Florida. Our Challenge: Support teachers in using mobile applications effectively to improve student learning. Our Solution: The apptivities website at http://www.apptivities.org/ We ask our ADE (Apple Distinguished Educators) colleagues to contribute your apptivities, a specific learning activity using apps on mobile devices. A key part of our vision for apptivities is to provide media resources that give a “view” into best practices in the classroom. apptivities: Models for successful instructional practices with mobile devices
It’s the application of apps for learning.
This blog is from a teacher who began using ipad in their classroom last April when they first shipped. There are links to the previous post about the experience. 7 Reasons Why the iPad is Going to Change Education
iPads in Education 1:1 with first through 5th graders
Measuring the Potential for iPads in Education
Where does the iPad fit in education? from Ed Galaxy Blog
iPad in the Classroom, a running discussion on Classroom 2.0 site
The Potential of the iPad to Change Education
Wired Educator: An iPad in Every Classroom: First Impressions of Apple’s Tablet in Education
iPad in the Classroom All things related to the iPad™ in schools
This picture was made using green screen and PhotoBooth. Kevin Honeycutt, Mike Cook and others from ESSDACK built this VW Bus out of plywood. It was also used and the check-in desk and Podcasting studio during the conference!! In fact, this is what Kevin was working on when I interrupted and had him SKYPE into my class and talk to my summer tech class of pre-sercvice teachers.
Link to Photos from Kevin from the conference
I just returned from the Podstock 2010 conference in Old Town Wichita. It was AMAZING. I mean amazing. I presented two sessions, Celebrate Kansas Voices and the first session I did, Changing the Face of Teaching one Teacher at a Time was packed out the door. That is a bit unnerving for sure. But what a great group of teachers, it truly was the audience that made my session interesting, they had questions, and shared resources and had opinions. It was a rich discussion. Such fun!!
Actually, as I was walking from my hotel room in the very cool Hotel at Old Town that morning to the conference facility across the street, I was thinking to myself, “I sure hope nobody shows at my session, so I can to one of theother sessions. Man, there were so many good sessions. I am feeling very honored needless to say.
I do think it speaks more to the conference organizers Kevin Honeycutt and ESSDACK, for having the right variety and number of sessions for the number of folks in attendance. Podstock is just a different kind of tech conference. There is tons & tons to learn from the sessions, but more from the people. The conversations are so very rich. It is not overwhelming or high pressure. I don’t know about you, and I do love to attend ISTE, but ISTE is somewhat overwhelming, just because of the size. Podstock is small by comparison. I think the intimacy is what makes it so darn powerful. There really is the opportunity to get to know and talk to everyone at the conference. I met so many teachers that I now feel connect to. My PLN just grew, which means I grew and have more people to call on for help when I need to.
Everyone was sharing resources and things from sessions via Plurk. So even if you weren’t in the session, you could get the resources. My Plurk handle is (cyndidannerkuhn). I have been a Plurk user for some time, but, I always considered myself more into Twitter (cyndidannerkuhn). BUT, this experience really showed me the power of the conversations that can take place in Plurk. I think tomorrow in my summer class of Pre-service teachers, I will show Plurk in-depth, usually I do Twitter in-depth and just mention Plurk.
So, please be watching for the shout-out on both about 2:00 Monday and help my very apprehensive pre-service teachers learn about Plurk and Twitter and the power of a PLN.
I brought a friend with me to Podstock, Cathie Klein, teacher, Seaman High School, 9th grade center. Cathines teachs a career life skills type class. She had never been to a tech conference before and during our 2+ hour drive home we talked about the conference non-stop and how she could convince her administration that more teachers from her school needed to attend Podstock next summer. She told me about all the ideas she learned to integrate into her classroom this fall. We were going a hundred miles a minute (talking, not driving). Anyway, it is so exciting the impact this had on us both.
I wish more tech coordinators and administrators would attend Podstock next July 15-16. It would be an eye-opener for them for sure. I am sure it would hlep them move forward with technology in their schools. At the very least, it might give them a new perspective and get the conversation started.
My wheels are turning! I am trying to think of a way I could make PODSTOCK2011 a required part of my summer technology class. It would be such a rich experience for my pre-service teachers to come learn and become a part of the conversations with these amazing teachers. Not sure how to make it happen, but clearly, I am going to be doing some serious researching, thinking and likely arm twisting. If you have ideas or suggestions, please post them in comments.
So, I guess, what I am really trying to say is, mark your calendars for July 15 & 16 next year and plan to attend Podstock 2011. Join the Ning at http://podstock.ning.com/ so you can keep up on developments. You will be glad you did!! I PROMISE.
Links and Resources for Podstock2010 (I will keep adding more as I find them)
Podstock, or What’s a New Yorker doing at a Kansas regional ed tech conference?
Wallwisher site with tons of resource
Voicethread, the Power of Plurk
Digital Revolution on Wallwisher
Plurker with Podstock resources
Kimberly Wrights Website (Mayor of Podstock or was it Podsock?)
Diigo Bookmarks from Karin Bell
School Principal touts the POWER of PD through PLN’s. Deciphering the coder, PLN stand for Personal Learning Network and of course PD stands for Professional Development. And to top it off a tech savvy principal!! No how often do you see all three of those in the same sentence?
Wesley Fryer, Moving at the Speed of Creativity Blog passed this on and apparently it was passed by another Principal Eric Sheninger on his blog Principal Reflections. Actually I am familiar with Eric, he has a great site about PLN’s , Twitter Help For Educators and has all his teaching involved. Eric also started a Ning site some time ago called The Educator’s PLN, The Personal Learning Network for educators. If want to hook up with educators using a PLN, this is a good place to begin.
H/T Miguel Guhlin or on Plurk http://www.plurk.com/mguhlin/
This grew from an article in the Washington Post: Ravitch on teachers and her critics.
Cloud Computing & Flash drives
During an ISTE 2010 Denver session by Google Certified Teacher Chris Atkinson, the video below was shared to illustrate the benefits of cloud computing, particularly the use of Google Docs. Chris shared this clip from the CBS sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, and explained that he tells people that they can avoid the problem of forgetting a flash drive by using Google Docs. This is the best way to explain Cloud computing I have seen.
Educational Change Challenge
Do we know what we are doing? Does society know what it wants? Are we still working towards reform… Ask yourself…
Who seriously believes that locking 25 students in a small room with one adult for
several hours each day is the best way for them to be “educated”?
Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.
– George Evans
Why do we think every 6 year old is going to be at the same place in math, english and all the other subjects so we clump them together.
We already live in a time of disconnect, where the classroom has stopped reflecting the world outside its walls. The classroom is born of an industrial mode of thinking.
Greatest hurdle in ed reform is that society doesn’t have a clear vision of what school is for
“If you put a doctor of 100 years ago in today’s operating room, she would be lost, yet if you placed a teacher of 100 years ago into one of today’s classrooms she wouldn’t skip a beat. ”
Molebash 1999
Moving from the one-room schoolhouse to the one-world schoolhouse is now a reality.”
Cisco Systems
“If we don’t focus on the experience dimension of learning, we run the risk of mistaking the publishing of information for learning and training”
Elliott Masie
In education the Use it or lose it rule may mean If you don’t use tech for learning , you may lose relevance. An educator must be relevant.
Teachers need to exist in the spaces the students exist, understand their culture. You have no credibility if you are not where they are.
“Because the generation of students that I am teaching is an instant pudding, drive-through, microwave, download-it-from-the-Internet, media-driven generation, I know that I must be innovative to keep their interest and to inspire in them a creative curiosity.”
Doug Martin
Do I create lifelong learners.
Am I preparing students for my age or theirs?
Social Media Revolution
Social Media Revolution: Is social media a fad?
Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? This video details out social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore. This video is produced by the author of Socialnomics.
Taylor Mali – “What Teachers Make”
From Def Poetry. Visit www.taylormali.com or look him up here on youtube.
‘The Class’ DU innovation Class
For fans of the TV show the Office….. Warning, if you don’t watch the Office regularly, you might not get the point of this one. But for those of you who are Office fans, you will love it and hopefully you there are no classrooms like this at your school.
Results reveal that one-to-one computing programs can have a big impact on achievement if properly implemented
Schools with one-to-one computing programs have fewer discipline problems, lower dropout rates, and higher rates of college attendance than schools with a higher ratio of students to computers, according to the results of a major new study. But for one-to-one programs to boost student achievement as well, they must be properly implemented, the study found.
Sixty-nine percent of the schools in the study reported that their students’ achievement scores on high-stakes tests were on the rise. Among schools with 1-to-1 computing programs, that figure was 70 percent. But it was 85 percent for schools with 1-to-1 computing programs that employed certain strategies for success, including electronic formative assessments on a regular basis and frequent collaboration of teachers in professional learning communities.
To read the FULL story, CLICK HERE
Among the findings: New teachers aren’t more likely than veteran teachers to use technology
Contrary to popular opinion, newer teachers aren’t any more likely to use technology in their lessons than veteran teachers, and a lack of access to technology does not appear to be the main reason why teachers do not use it: These are among the common perceptions about education technology that new research from Walden University’s Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership appears to dispel.
Prepared by Grunwald Associates based on a 2009 survey of more than 1,000 teachers and administrators conducted by Eduventures Inc., the study argues that the more K-12 teachers use technology, the more they recognize its potential to help boost student learning and engagement and its connection to developing key 21st century skills.
To Read the FULL story, Click Here
WoW, here is some real food for thought for Weekly Standard.com by BY P. J. O’Rourke.
The school year is drawing to a close. Time to balance the educational accounts and see what’s been learned. Though not by my kids. I don’t worry about them. They’re geniuses like your kids and soak up knowledge the way a sponge (or a SpongeBob) does. Muffin, in sixth grade, has learned that Justin Bieber is very talented and doesn’t—really, Dad—sing like a girl. Poppet, third grade, has learned how the Plains Indians made tepees. (They waited until after dinner to announce that their “Lifestyles of the Cheyenne” project was due tomorrow so that all the Cheyenne dads were up until one in the morning gluing dowels and brown wrapping paper to a piece of AstroTurf.) And Buster, kindergarten, has learned he can make himself giggle hysterically by adding “poop” to any phrase. The Little Engine That Could Poop.
To read the FULL story, CLICK HERE, (You really do have to read the entire story!)
“We can’t ask students to move to personal learning and then have us as their teachers own the assessment.” – Dean Shareski
Dean Shareski Digital Learning Consultant and author of the Ideas and Thoughts blog, of Moose Jaw, SK, Canada believes that school and learning must transform. We must put students in charge of their own learning. As he puts it, the real-time, read/write, social web is “making this more of a reality and possibility than ever before”. He echoes the sentiments of last week’s blogger of the week, Aaron Eyler in his efforts to liberate student evaluation and assessment.
To read the full story, CLICK HERE
by Bill Wolff’s Composing Spaces, assistant professor, department of writing arts, Rowan University
- Use the Flip Video Camera and get students to play with it right away
- Ensure that students have the ability to edit video outside of class and from home
- Teach students more advanced editing techniques over time
- Talk with students at length about best practices for working with video files, moving video files to and from USB drives, and backing up their work
- Provide multiple avenues for file conversion and anticipate some problems
- Require students to use only Creative Commons approved music
Bill has a a great deal of good information and resources. It is worth the read.
To read the full story and see all the resource, CLICK HERE
WHERE ARE YOU IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM?
Are tech tools improving your teaching or just a distraction? The quiz below will rank you on our technology integration scale and provide you with smart tips to extend your tech comfort zone. Get started! – Take the 10 question Quiz and see where you rank! It takes about 3 minutes to take.
Ok, I just took it and I am an All-Star Advanced, Yippy Skippy!!!!!!!!!!!
All-Star (Advanced)
You are a wired wonder, comfortable adding a technological dimension to your teaching, learning, and life. The challenge is now to keep up with the pace of innovation and your student’s accelerated mastery of digital tools. Plus, how do you bring your school colleagues along with you? How do you bring like-minded folks into your school community? Click these links and get pro-active:
- Share your wisdom and help spread the word in one of Edutopia’s groups:
Multimedia Literacy
Online Learning
Technology Integration (Elementary)
Technology Integration (High School) - Explore how technology integration can give students a more personalized learning experience.
- Try using screen-capture software to explain a difficult concept and post the video on YouTube so your students can review at their own speed.
(See this example math video.) - Check in with other Twitter-savvy teachers for new ideas. And tune into the weekly #edchats, held every Tuesday at 12 p.m. EST/5 p.m. GMT and 7 p.m. EST/12 p.m. GMT.
- Don’t let the budget stop you. Learn how to find and write grants so you can get the funding to support important technology initiatives at your school.
- Help students make constructive use of social networking.
- Go the way of the wiki and build online creativity and cooperation in your classroom.
- Use online simulations and games as teaching tools:
- Explore the world of Wii
- Find real-world games on environmental sustainability
- Save the world with games that tackle social issues like solving world peace
- Discover how avatars teach teens about self-image
- Get some inspiring lesson plan and new media ideas from other Edutopia students and teachers.
- Join a professional organization, such as the International Society for Technology in Education, that guides and supports what you’re trying to accomplish with technology in the classroom.
