Edutopia has a great post Technology Tools for the First Week of School, by Mary Beth Hertz. Mary Beth has created a Google Doc that is a result of Twitter Tweets and contains lots of great ideas for technology tools. Check it out, I am sure you will find an idea you can use in your classroom.
Making the Case for Social Media in Education
by Betty Ray
During the time it takes me to write this intro (approx. one minute), 42,000 people will update their Facebook status, 36,000 tweets will be sent, and fifteen hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube.
Undoubtedly, the world as we know it is quickly becoming wired through social media. Our guest blogger, Steve Johnson (@edtechsteve) sheds some light on the current state of social media in schools and even provides some handy talking points to make the case to lift internet filters within schools.
–Betty Ray, Community Manager (@EdutopiaBetty) and Elana Leoni, Social Media Marketing Coordinator (@elanaleoni)
The 3/9/10 #edchat discussion was another example of the most scrolling fun you can have in an hour on the Internet. The topic this time was “How can social media create real change in education?”
Right away, folks got busy reframing the question in more “real” terms:
Recently ranked in the top 10 iPad apps. Kinda like MobileMe for Google Calendar, but less expensive. MobileMe is $99.00 a year.I use MobileMe, but also use BusyMac for syncing my iCal and Google Cal so I can post of my website.
Supports full editing as well as viewing of shared Google calendars. So if you are a Google Calendar user, you might just love this app, even if it does cost $6.99. http://pocketinformant.com/products_info.php?p_id=pocketinformant_iphone
“Pocket Informant® is an integrated calendaring and GTD®-based tasks solution for the iPad. Our purpose is to fuse together best-of-class calendaring with best-of-class tasks into one great solution.”
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-informant-hd-calendar/id380732176?mt=8#
Steve Jobs announced an update to the Apple TV. The new stuff for Apple TV includes:
- new matte black color
- 1/4 of the size
- added HDMI and digital audio outputs
- NO internal storage—only rentals from the iTunes Store
- day-of-release HD movies rent for $4.99; HD TV shows rent for $.99
- $99 price tag
- includes the remote
Of course, I am not sure what the “old stuff” was on the original Apple TV since I didn’t have one. Jobs said that people “don’t want to manage storage… they just want to watch movies and TV shows.” And that whatever hardware we have has to be “silent, cool and small.” I more or less agree! I hate to admit it, I am into the “cool factor.”
I currently pay for some premium channels with my cable subscription, and only watch them now & then. If I really think about it, likely a waste of my money, I am wondering if it would be cheaper to just have basic cable and an Apple TV. It is important to note that my 82 year old parents live with me, so, I do need basic cable for Mom & Dad. Maybe I could cut my cable bill in half with just having basic cable, buy Apple TV for me in my room and do the pay as I go thing when I wnat to!! That is something to think about. I have training my folks to use their cell and just eliminated my land line! So we are moving forward. I even have my dad reading the USA Today on my iPad!
You can subscribe to Netflix streaming for $8.99 a month on the new Apple TV, and stream from MobileMe, YouTube and Flickr. That all sounds good, but Flickr? That would mean I should take better advantage of my Pro-Flickr account. MobileMe, no doubt I do not take full advantage of my $99 a year price tag (which is pretty steep) and I looked into streaming Netflix a while back, and there was not much there I cared about watching, has it really improved that much?
AirPlay, replaces AirTunes, which I have also never used. AirPlay allows streaming from a device to Apple TV—for example, from your iPad to your new Apple TV. Jobs demonstrated this by streaming a movie from his iPad to an Apple TV using Wi-Fi. Hmm, this sounds interesting, still not sure it is something I would really take much of advantage of yet. Boy I am full of “yets.” Maybe an Apple TV really is in my future.
When Apple TV is available in October, ABC and Fox will offer their HD shows for rental at the 99 cents. RENTAL, what the heck? Altough I would just pay for what I watch. Can I subscribe to a series? Will it be cheaper if you buy the season rather than 99 cents per show? 99 cents each could get pretty expensive for a full season of your favorite show!! That scares me just a bit. Although, I do love the no commercial thing!!
And what about all the other networks, I like ABC & Fox, but come on, I want all of them? I don’t think pre-ordering is in the cards for me, although it is only $99.00. But it seems that I have to pay for everything I watch. I just can’t wrap my brain around it. Kinda think it might equal out to lots more money than cable in the long run, might just be me and my poor math skills.
It doesn’t appear as though I could eliminate cable completely just yet, and when I do want to watch TV, I just want to watch TV, not have to plan for it!! So, the jury is still out on Apple TV for me at least. I think maybe I must be living in a different world when it comes to TV entertainment than Steve Jobs! Maybe there is more FREE stuff out there that I can stream and I just don’t know about it.
Clearly, I better do more research before I make up my mind. How about you, what are your feeling about AppleTV?, Where do you stand? Please comment!
More Information
http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html
Purchase Apple TV: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/apple_tv
Apple September 2010 Music Event-The All New Apple TV Media Streamer
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)
Be a part of the excitement!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
The 2nd annual ASSET Educator Institute… EXPERIENCE PBS for PreK, K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 Educators and early childhood care providers! 4 Strands… LITERACY… SOCIAL STUDIES… STEM… ARTS… NATIONALLY recognized programming… NATIONALLY researched resources… LOCALLY aligned/standards-based resources. SPACE is LIMITED! TEAMS of staffs encouraged to attend. Professional development hours provided for participation.
A few Tips & Tricks for Student filming in the Classroom
http://langwitches.org/blog/2010/09/01/a-few-tips-tricks-for-student-filming-in-the-classroom/
With the wonderful small, but high quality, Flip Video cameras (and similar
brands), it has become affordable (around US$ 150) to bring video production
into the classroom.
TO READ the full story, CLICK HERE
Pages Templates… The laconic and clean-cut Pages Templates 5.2 extends the fourth version’s tradition by offering a comprehensive collection of documents for business and personal use that focus heavily on design quality. Like its predecessor, Pages Templates 5.2 fuses an up-to-date print style with bold lettering, contrasting colors, and tasteful minimalism. But it’s just a bit lighter and fresher…and half of its contents is completely, absolutely new.
Pages Templates 5.2 includes 105 complete templates: 50 from the previous version and 50 brand-new additions. The kit offers a variety of documents, from brochures and photo albums to posters and invitations. Most of the templates include up to 10 different sections, so the package provides an extensive array of 360 layouts to meet your most exclusive needs. Each layout, from the plain refinement of text-only pages to the bold mix of pictures and slogans among the advertisement and photo album templates, features prime design quality which is set apart by attention to detail, high usability, and abundant creativity.
Most of the 105 templates are available in both paper size A4, the standard prevalent in most countries in the world, and US Letter, the most common paper format in the US and Canada. Besides, users of the previous version will notice improved functionality and a significantly boosted level of intuitiveness, which will make every document appreciably easier to adjust according to individualized needs.
The Pump Challenge
How much did Americans pay for a gallon of gas at the pump in 1920? How much money would that be in 2005 dollars, and 2010?.
Time saving tip: Formulate a search query before starting the timer. Time to beat 10 minutes!
There are several technology tools that teachers should use within weeks after school begins, according to an elementary-school computer teacher. Mary Beth Hertz suggests — with the help of subscribers to her Twitter feed — that teachers use programs called QuickieQ and AnswerGarden to survey students and their parents on the first day back at school. She also suggests the social-networking site Twiducate, which is designed especially for students. Hertz also includes information about Prezi, which can be used to create classroom presentations similar to PowerPoint.
To read the full story and access all the resources: Edutopia.org/Mary Beth Hertz’s blog
Open Culture – The Open Culture app gives you mobile access to educational audio and video collections. Now, you can learn whenever you’re on the go. And it’s all free! Note: This app works with WiFi, not Edge (per Apple’s requirements). All media files open in native iPhone software — iTunes, Safari, the YouTube player, etc. You can learn more about the Open Culture app at www.openculture.com/iphone. With this app, you can access:
- Free Audio Books
- Free University Courses
- Free Foreign Language Lessons
- Ideas & Culture Podcasts
- Music Podcasts (Classical, Jazz, Rock)
- Science Podcasts
- University Podcasts
- Intelligent YouTube Videos
- Daily Blog Posts from OpenCulture.com
myHomework– a simple and easy to use iPhone application that allows you to keep track of your homework, classes, projects and tests while interacting with a really cool design. myHomework’s design tends to resemble our day to day notebook, the sections are separated by colorful “sticky pads” that marks the page. You can quickly enter your class schedule and use it to differ between homework assignments. myHomework will also notify you when you have late and upcoming assignments by numbering them on your application icon. Late assignments will be marked in red, next day upcoming assignments will be marked in orange, and all other upcoming assignments will be marked in blue. So you can easily identify which homework you definitely need to look into. www.myhomework.rigoneri.com/mac
Free Translator – This application provides an interface to the free Google Translate API for many languages including Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Quick Graph – For math fanatics, this high quality graphing calculator is sure to help out. This calculator has both 2D and 3D capabilities. It can display equations and inequalities, as well as coordinate systems. Sharing features allow you to send or save your results to the library.
Formulus Free – Formulas for Calculus – – Awarded “Best” award from www.iPhoneAppsPlus.com Have you ever needed to know that one math formula that you always forget? Do you spend minutes flipping through your textbook or searching the internet for it? Then you need Formulus Free – Formulas for Calculus! Formulus Free is the perfect study tool. It is a simple, easy to use, easy to navigate collection of the most important formulas and topics for high school and college students taking Calculus and Differential Equations. Includes the following subject areas:
- Calculus
- Algebra & Geometry
- Derivatives
- Graphing
- Hyperbolics
- Integrals
- Limits & Continuity
- Matrices
- Series & Sequences
- Trigonometry
- Vectors
- Differential Equations
- 1st Order Linear Equations
- 2nd Order Linear Equations
- Laplace Transforms
Support for Linear Algebra equations COMING SOON!!!
100% Free and easy to use service.
Create Web forms and surveys, collect & download results
KwikSurveys offers the following benefits over traditional subscription services.
- NO hidden charges, it’s FREE !
- Unlimited number of questions, answers and surveys
- Secure and Reliable service
- The most popular free survey software
- We do not send unsolicited emails
- Quick and simple survey builder
- Downloadable results (MS Word, Open office)
- Customizable Surveys, Logo’s and themes
- Embedded surveys directly into HTML webpages, forums etc..
- Email Notifications upon survey completion
- You can use your own email provider (eg. Gmail, Hotmail …)
- Send surveys via our email facility
- Surveys can be sent by email or linked to
- Anonymous or tracked surveys
- Skip logic
- Results filtering
- Question builder with question preview & spell checker
- Support for unicode languages
- Star rating questions
- Multiple choice matrix questions
- Read more…
SimpleDiagrams is a small desktop application that helps you express your ideas quickly and simply. There’s just enough functionality to describe a thought or capture a process. SimpleDiagrams keeps the visual expression clear through the simple design of library items and backgrounds.
- Drag, drop and size symbols from libraries
- Add photos and post-notes
- Various background styles (chalkboard, whiteboard, etc.)
- Save diagrams on your computer
- Export your diagram to PNG
And, since SimpleDiagrams is build on the Adobe AIR™ platform, it will run smoothly on Mac, Windows and Linux.
Wordia.com is a high-quality online dictionary: a professional authoritative textual dictionary but with one big difference… Like a traditional dictionary, Wordia allows users to search for the spelling, meaning and etymology of a word but what makes Wordia unique is the ability for users to explore the personal connotation of word through video.
Video brings words to life!
In professional, semantic terms, Wordia takes the denotation (the textual definition of a word) and encourages members of the public to explore the connotation (the personal meaning) through the familiar medium of video. We’ve found that video helps a user to learn or recollect the meaning of a word much more easily then just a textual definition. Video gives the dictionary a new dimension and new contextual richness.
Your words, your video!
Wordia is a collaborative resource: anyone can explore the meaning of a word and more than one person can explore the meaning of same word. Where we have more than one video definition for the same word, we rank them, so the community can vote on their relevance. You can bring words to life and explore the personal connotations of a word in anyway you chose. Filming styles such as rap or comedy, poetry or performance are a cool way to express yourself.
We love an expert!
The Wordia team also creates professional knowledge-based video with experts, authors, sports-stars etc. These ‘Orators’ (as we refer to them) bring a unique insight and expert authority to the words they explore on video.
We’ve recently launched Wordia Schools: a private learning resource that groups curriculum subject vocabulary – the subject key words that educators teach on a daily basis.
Sharendipity is the fun and easy way to create social games or multimedia experiences, and share them with your friends. Or simply browse and play the creations of others, challenging your friends to beat your high score! Sharendipity provides a great opportunity for creating educational games and learning tools. Customize an existing study template, or create your own apps using our free creation tools.
Write.fm is a super easy way to share text and file attachments with just a shortened URL. You’ll notice there is no “Save” button. Whatever you write in or attach to your Write.fm sub-URL is added immediately and viewable/editable by anyone you share the URL with. If you want to delete the contents you do so manually, removing the text and clicking the remove button on the file attachments. Write.fm is a free service that requires no registration. it is one of those sites ht you say, it can’t be this easy, “I must be missing something,” but you aren’t, it really is that easy. In the Classroom, Write.fm is a great way to share and have whole group discussions on pictures, articles and other documents. By creating your own URL you can also have students participate in class projects without using a single piece of paper. Check it out! http://write.fm
by Michael Zimmer , The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness
I tried to abbreviate this post and send you to right off to Michael’s blog, but for the life of me, I could not do it justice. So, here it is in full with a link at the end to Michael’s site where you can comment. I hate to copy completely, but…..so my apologies to Michael…….and Thank you for some excellent ideas.
1. Standard Homework Assignment: Create a poster board over a book/person/event.
Technology Alternative: Create a Glog using Glogster for Education
2. Standard Homework Assignment: Find an article about a certain topic (Current Event maybe) and bring into class with a write up discussing the content
Technology Alternative: Have students find that article online and post a link to it on a blog or wallwisher wall discussing the content. Share the blog/wall in class the following day.
3. Standard Homework Assignment: Complete the questions from a certain section or chapter review in your textbook.
Technology Alternative: Create a Back Channel Chat using a site like TitanPad and discuss the questions from the book at a certain time that night.
4. Standard Homework Assignment (Math): Do a certain number of problems from your book and bring them in to check for correctness
Technology Alternative: Use a site like Twiddla and provide a whiteboard area for students to collaboratively work together on the problems.
5. Standard Homework Assignment: Complete a worksheet and turn in to the teacher the following day
Technology Alternative: Create the worksheet and make it available to students online (Use a Word to PDF converter or on a Mac>Print>PDF). Have students search the Internet for the answers and provide a link to the source for where they found the answer.
6. Standard Homework Assignment: Read a poem/story/section of a book and be prepared to discuss in class the next day
Technology Alternative: Read a poem/story/section of a book and create a blog or Twitter account for students to discuss the night they read it. Then share the comments on the blog with students to facilitate the discussion in class the next day. It also provides a way to grade them for participating in the reading. If they do a blog response, they get a grade, if not, they don’t.
7. Standard Homework Assignment: Write a Poem.
Technology Alternative: Use a site like PicLits and write the poem using an image as inspiration. Email the completed poem to the teacher. Share in class.
What Technology Alternatives do you have for the Standard Homework Assignment? Feel free to comment on Michael Zimmers Blog, Click Here
While e-books are exploding in a host of genres, e-textbooks are falling behind. Inkling, a startup begun by a former Apple employee, is one of several new companies that are adapting textbooks for the iPad. The key, these companies say, is creating interactive texts that eschew big blocks of black-and-white text in favor of color pages and video that make the most of touch-screen technology.
Reach the full story at The Wall Street Journal (8/19)
TeachTechie.com. This is a cool little site. There are resources for many content areas. Check it out. It is clear it was created by a teacher using iWeb on a Mac. Nicely done, simple and full of resources. http://www.teachtechy.com
Teacher Gradebook
This is the best gradebook software on the web. Our beautiful design and wonderful user experience makes you wonder why you’ve been using other gradebooks. Plus we’re free. Your new found productivity means you can spend more time doing what you do best: teach.
All Your Accounts — In One Place
Now you can have one place for all of your accounts. Manage your gradebook, lesson plans, calendars, scheduling, and more from one place: LearnBoost. Once you switch, you’ll wonder what life was like before LearnBoost.Get your free account!
What is LearnBoost?
LearnBoost’s product allows teachers to manage their classroom by offering an amazing gradebook and software for managing and creating lesson plans, tracking attendance, maintaining schedules, integrating calendars including Google calendars, seamless tagging of Common Core State Standards, and so much more.
Who are the investors?
LearnBoost raised a seed round from leading venture capital firms such as Bessemer Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures, RRE Ventures, and Atlas Ventures. LearnBoost’s angel investors include Naval Ravikant, Bill Lee, James Hong, Karl Jacob, Othman Laraki, and several others.
Our investors have backed successes like Twitter, Skype, LinkedIn, Tesla, and more. They’ve also backed recent innovative education companies like Knewton and Grockit.
Soungle is a free site, developed by Southern Codes, for finding all kind of sound FX and musical instruments samples on our mega online library. As different from most of similar sites, Soungle is NOT a Web search engine. It only searches in our growing monster database. Our goals are to keep it simple to use (search, preview and download) and to keep it free.
Keyword searches are performed by entering any word or phrase in a search box. The retrieved results of a keyword search are displayed ten to a page. Clicking on play icon allows you to preview a file. Download button instantly downloads the sound effect or musical instrument sample file. A short description of the sound appears on top of every sound , followed by the frame rate, duration and bit rate. Remember, all of our sound effects and samples are royalty free for downloading.
Soungle has over 100,000 royalty free sound effects for your students to download and use in multimedia projects. No need to register and extremely teacher and student friendly.
