Group items tagged

"Easy app creation, outside of the land of Ruby and Python, has become a huge phenomenon in the last year. And the latest company to join the fold,AppArchitect, is launching straight from our Disrupt NY stage. AppArchitect lets you build custom iPhone and iPad apps using a simple drag-and-drop interface. That's right - you need zero coding experience to build your own iPhone app. It's a brand new world."

"We discovered Book Creator App a couple of months ago and since then it's really catching on as a great option for creating beautiful looking ePub Books. We currently have a few different grades doing projects with this App."

"A notepad test: take a pen and a piece of paper or notepad and write a few words or your name. Easy, isn't it? Now what about doing that on your iPad, but add the ability to carry with you many pens and paper types, preprepared perfect shapes, highlighter pens and a virtually unlimited reference book that you could cut and paste from (the Internet). Sound a little bit better than the pad and pencil? You'd like to think so."

"It is easy to see that part of this problem is that the more time in school, the more disconnected it gets from how we learn"

"I have had many requests lately for more ideas on how to incorporate iPads into math. I wanted to share one easy way to take information from a math worksheet and transform it into an engaging and content creating activity. "

"Pinterest is growing in popularity in such a way that it presumably will be the top social bookmarking platform of choice for internet users in 2013. The visual concept Pinterest is built on is behind its popularity because the human mind is constructed in such a way to allow for easy and quicker processing of visual cues better than it does with the written code."

"Cultivating an innovative culture inside your classroom and enhancing your students inquiry-based approaches to learning is not an easy task particularly in the light of all the surrounding distraction coming from digital media. It is probably one of the major challenges facing educators and teachers in the 21st century classroom. However, no matter how big the challenge is there are always ways to come to grips with it. Our colleague Mia MacMeekin from anethicalisland has designed this beautiful graphic where she featured 27 ways teachers can help their students be innovative."

"Looking for a GREAT presentation app for your iPad? Check out Haiku Deck. It's a great way to create a quick presentation using the IPad! I'm already loving how easy it is to use. I love that you can import a pic or snap one right around you, and add it right to your slides. It speaks to the visual learner inside me. Here are a few ideas of using Haiku Deck in education…"

"This presentation will look at how easy it is for a district or school to enhance communication with their community through the development of a mobile app, without having to hire a mobile device programmer or a company to develop an app. Participants with their own device will spend part of the session starting to build their own app and should leave the session feeling comfortable in their ability to finish their app after ISTE."

"Teach hands-on projects integrated with Tinkercad and Circuits, the Web's most popular, easy-to-use online apps for makers."

"With all the acronyms that determine hundreds of different areas of education, it is easy to confuse them all. Since 2001, the letters STEM have been a normal part of educational vocabulary. The acronym STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. This program was started by Judith A. Ramaley, the former director of the National Science Foundation's education and human-resources division."

"InfuseLearning.com is a free online assessment tool that is designed to let educators make fast and easy formative or summative assessments of their students. It is a relatively new service, but one that is gathering support quickly due to its versatility and ease of use."

"It's easy to focus on academics and college transcripts when children become tweens and teens, but retaining the agency and creativity inherent in play is crucial for them, too. But what is the high school equivalent for the kind of inquisitive learning that happens when little kids play in the sandbox, finger-paint, build with blocks or play make-believe?"

"The use of rubrics in the classroom falls in and out of favor, as do other trends. This infographic demonstrates why rubrics, unlike other trends, should be here to stay. Rubrics, in essence, are an easy way to score student work objectively. They are succinct scoring charts that allow for student work to be fairly evaluated. Therefore, it can improve teaching methodologies and ensure unbiased assessment. Rubrics can also be used to help increase student agency and intrinsic motivation, a constant struggle in today's reward based culture. This infographic is neatly split into two sections, "Why Use Rubrics?" and "How to Use Rubrics?" This allows the use (presumably a teacher) to easily refer back to relevant information as needed to help deliver quality education, regardless of experience or expertise."

"When it comes to building math mastery, it's easy to find app focused on math fluency; app stores are overflowing with them. But teachers looking for tools that build conceptual understanding are often left wanting. These tools can be tough to find. But not anymore. Below are 10 apps I use with my students. These apps let students practice number concepts such as one-to-one correspondence, regrouping, and even multiplication and division in developmentally appropriate ways. Many times these are more effective than physical manipulatives. Digital manipulatives can be broken apart, put back together and moved around in ways that are not possible with bags full of Base 10 Blocks and counters.  The "aha" moments captured with these apps make lasting impressions on a child's mind, building a strong mathematical basis.  Even better, teachers who have access to only one device can take advantage of these apps by using an Apple TV or reflecting software."

I want my students to be sceptics. I believe that in the present age scepticism is more important than ever. Easy access to information, ease of publishing, scams and confidence tricksters combine to create a climate where blind trust is dangerous for our security, our finances and our knowledge bases. For students of all ages a healthy dose of scepticism is much needed not just so they may reveal falsehoods but to allow them to discover new truths.

"nce again, I am amazed every time I talk to groups and find out so many educators have not used word clouds to their fullest extent with their students. Word clouds also provide an easy way for teachers who are just getting started using web technology in the classroom. I have tried to include a multitude of subject areas. These ideas include practices shared with me, various readings, and a lot of my own brainstorming. I know this will be an article you wish to share with others. In order to better understand some of the advanced uses I suggest you may wish to read my past post entitled, 12 Valuable Wordle Tips You Must Read.  One example of an advanced feature includes putting multiple words  together in a word cloud. If using Wordle, just put a tilde (~) between them. (Example (ice~cream~cone). While I call it advanced, it is also necessary to know in order to get the most out of word clouds in the classroom..Also, keep in mind that Tagxedo and Tagul are great alternatives to Wordle. Keep in mind that word clouds are a Web 2.0 tool. Make sure your students practice proper digital citizenship and privacy. You should also check your district AUP (Acceptable Use Policy). By the way… do you have an idea I have not listed? Then just take a moment and leave a comment or email me at mjgormans@gmail.com . I thank you in advance. Now, let's explore those word clouds!"