Group items tagged

"At TeachThought, we often provide lists of digital resources, and many of them are apps. Apps for struggling readers. Apps for struggling writers. Apps for project-based learning. Any while many of these apps are for students, the following list of apps from Sam Gliksman can be considered for both teachers and students, and an excellent foundation slew of apps for any 21st century teacher. From GoodReader and Slide Shark to Printopia and Air Display, all fill different niches of 21st century learning, and the many possibilities the iPad affords."

"My first take on 'special needs' is: Don't all students have special needs? Aren't we beyond the cookie cutter education that lines students up and feeds them from the same trough? Yes and yes, but for the purposes of this article, I'm going to reign my pen in and discuss what we traditionally consider 'special needs' and technology's affect on those students who function outside of the normal bell curve of pedagogic expectations."

"There are few things more valuable to small business owners than time. Research shows small business owners consider time to be a more valuable asset than computers, mobile phones and the company's office or storefront. In addition, one-quarter of small business owners would pay $500 for one extra hour in their day."

"Stories bring us together, encourage us to understand and empathize, and help us to communicate. Long before paper and books were common and affordable, information passed from generation to generation through this oral tradition of storytelling. Consider Digital Storytelling as the 21st Century version of the age-old art of storytelling with a twist: digital tools now make it possible for anyone to create a story and share it with the world."

"The iPad is not going to replace teachers or 'fix' education. There is a cost implication that must be taken into account and only an educator will know if it is right for their students. Indeed the cost-benefit analysis for an establishment must take into account a host of factors when considering iPad use in the classroom. However, if there are iPads in the classroom, there are a number of applications that can enhance learning and assist the educator in developing student skills. In fact, the iPad allows educators to build on existing styles and increase flexibility in their classroom whilst personalising learning."

"If you want to edit and create videos on your iPad, consider using the Pinnacle Studio for iPad app. It may seem expensive for an iPad app at $10, but my formative experiences with it this weekend were VERY positive. IMHO it's worth the money. "

"Makerspaces are a really hot commodity in schools and the focus of a lot of the conversation that surrounds improving learning spaces.  That's exciting, and an opportunity to provide new spaces that add capability for students and teachers is always a good thing. So, given this interest, what are some design questions to consider when thinking of adding a space that has maker capabilities?  Here are my top five which focus on the design of such a space:"

"It's pretty self-explanatory to most people why kids benefit from virtual field trips: They present learning matter in a very vivid and entertaining way. And this is great.  But still, once the hardware has found its way into the classroom, it makes sense to explore possibilities beyond the mere consumption of readymade content. Namely: let students create virtual realities themselves. There are some reasons why teachers should consider experimenting with this possibility:"

"Earlier this year, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York, visitors paraded through the fifth floor to see a retrospective dedicated to the abstract expressionist Frank Stella. Although many of the works on display were four or five decades old, in some ways the show felt tailor-made for the Instagram age: a riot of vibrant colors and textures, 20-foot-long reliefs, and sculptures as jagged and dynamic as 3-D graffiti. Visitors one busy Saturday afternoon stopped in front of artworks, lined up shots on their phones, snapped a few photos, and then moved on to the next piece. Some paused briefly to consider a particular painting; more stared down at their screens, furiously filtering. Few noticed an elderly gentleman sitting on a bench in one of the smaller rooms, watching the crowd engage with his work. The only visitor in the gallery not clutching a phone was Stella himself. Museum directors are grappling with how technology has changed the ways people engage with exhibits. But instead of fighting it, some institutions are using technology to convince the public that, far from becoming obsolete, museums are more vital than ever before. Here's what those efforts look like."

"If you're thinking about starting a Makerspace in your school, one thing you might want to consider is how to make sure kids are digging deep in their learning.  Questions to ask include: How can we tie the maker mindset into existing curriculum? How might we ensure that our students are going deep with their creativity, problem solving, and reflection? What learning experiences and opportunities do our students need? These questions are way more important than, "What stuff do I buy?""

"Ahead of the official launch of our Resource Library's Professional Development category in fall 2016, we are excited to offer a preview of three professional development modules around maker education. Each module is centered around a video and contains prompts to consider and comment on in the Professional Development section of our online Google+ community and on Twitter with #makered and @MakerEdOrg. Dive in and join the conversation!"

"Filmmaking is increasingly being used in the classroom by teachers who understand the wants, hopes and aspirations of their pupils. Recent BBC documentary The Rise of the Superstar Vloggers was an extremely interesting insight into what many people wrongly perceive to be a frivolous activity and an easy route to fame and fortune. Contrary to popular belief, becoming a superstar vlogger involves hours and hours of researching and writing content. When we consider how popular video is with children, it becomes clear that filmmaking is the secret weapon for accelerating progress in schools. By using filmmaking as an incentive to write, pupils are working to produce the kind of media that they love, while the teacher is easily able to coerce them to improve their writing and reading using video as a constant hook. One such school who took the plunge into filmmaking is Northway Primary School in Liverpool, nominated for the Educate Awards Innovative & Creative Literacy Award. Over the course of 11 weeks, the pupils planned, drafted, edited, performed and filmed their very own adventure film based on El Dorado, the search for the lost city of gold in Colombia made famous by Christopher Columbus himself."

It is difficult to have not noticed that the Presidential Election in the United States of America has been somewhat controversial. The same conclusion can be drawn about 'Brexit'. The implications of these events will keep historians, political analysts and indeed educators busy for many years. Regardless of your political leanings there are genuine implications for educators in these events and a considered response now and in the coming months (even years) will be required. 

"A number of national initiatives are underway to support getting students access to maker skills and tools, including 3D printers. As schools and educators are seeking advice on what to get, it is important for them to recognize that the needs of students in a classroom are different than those of hobbyists or professional makers. Here are a few important criteria for educators to consider when evaluating 3D printers for their class:"

"Design thinking is an approach to learning that includes considering real-world problems, research, analysis, conceiving original ideas, lots of experimentation, and sometimes building things by hand. The projects teach students how to make a stable product, use tools, think about the needs of another, solve challenges, overcome setbacks and stay motivated on a long-term problem. The projects also teach students to build on the ideas of others, vet sources, generate questions, deeply analyze topics, and think creatively and analytically. Many of those same qualities are goals of the Common Core State Standards. (What Does 'Design Thinking' Look Like in School?) I use the following activities to introduce elementary students to the design thinking process. The ultimate goal is for the learners to work on their own, self-selected problems in which they will apply the design thinking. Introducing the general design process to elementary student occurs through showing the following video about the engineering process:"

As teachers we hope our lessons are engaging and that our students are engaged. We understand that positive learning experiences are more likely to occur when we are engaged cognitively and affectively by what we are doing and that when we are, new ideas and skills are more likely to stick. Engagement is an important consideration in learning and as such it is worth taking time to consider what it means to be engaged and perhaps how we bring the benefits of engagement to our teaching and our learning. 

"Everyone in Canada should be able to access high-speed Internet, the country's telecom regulator has declared, setting bold targets for speeds and establishing a new fund that will invest up to $750-million over five years to expand broadband services to remote regions. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled Wednesday that broadband Internet with download speeds of at least 50 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 10 Mbps will now be considered a "basic telecom service." It also said all customers, even in rural areas where plans often have low caps on data usage, should have access to unlimited data options."

"Virtual and Augmented Reality apps are starting to hit the market in force. While most of the buzz for these technologies has been for immersive gaming, many companies are getting involved in realizing the potential that Augmented and Virtual Reality may have as educational tools. The fraction of projected VR and AR market value taken up by education may seem small, but considering how large whole market is, this "small fraction" still represents Billions of Dollars. This article will discuss 22 virtual and augmented reality apps for education that are already available, in beta, or still in the testing process. Some of the apps are aimed at parents and preschool teachers, while most are for primary school teachers. Others will interest anybody, including higher education students, and even non-students."