Group items tagged

"Studies have shown that typing notes requires shallower levels of cognitive processing than handwriting, as subjects often tend to type verbatim what they hear without really engaging with its substance to the level that is required for greater understanding and better recollection. In contrast, handwriting appears to be more cognitively demanding. According to these studies,  subjects who use handwriting are generally forced to rephrase what hear into their own words, thus creating "more effective memory cues by recreating the context (e.g., thought processes, emotions, conclusions) as well as content (e.g., individual facts) from the original learning session". The evidence against typing your notes is pretty compelling. And then there were tablets Tablets introduce another level of complexity to this problem, since they can be used both to type and handwrite notes. So what are we to do? Are we to avoid using the tablets and stick to pen and paper? If we do use tablets for note taking, are we to force students to handwrite notes on their tablets using a stylus? And are we to ban students from typing up notes on their tablets? After all, that is what the research appears to suggests."

"To the annoyance of many teachers, students cannot help but doodle in class. A range of studies now shows that this displeasure is misplaced: the doodles seem to help people concentrate (by preventing them from completely falling into a daydream) and consolidate information. Also, it seems that leaders of all types have doodled for as long as pen and paper have been available. The photograph below is of John F. Kennedy's doodles during the Cuban Missile Crisis."

"If you are like me, you like to spend time building your classroom community.   Now that we have a class set of iPads to use, I have turned to technology for many icebreaker back to school Ipad activities that I used to do on pen and paper. One reason is that it is fun and something a little different for my 3rd graders.  Also it sets the tone of collaboration that will be a huge component of our classroom.  Another bonus reason to use iPads the first week of school - you are teaching your technology expectations and familiarizing your students with the iPad basics - savings, sharing, uploading, taking pictures, screenshots, etc. right away!"

From the Commited Sardine Blog

A Short History of Progress is a book-length essay penned by Ronald Wright and published in 2004. Ronald Wright argues that our modern predicament is as old as civilization itself: a 10,000 year old experiment we have participated in but seldom controlled. He examines the meaning of progress and its implications for civilizations - past and present - arguing that the twentieth century was a time of runaway growth in human population, consumption, and technology that has now placed an unsustainable burden on all natural systems.

Celery is a simple system that allows non-computer users to "be included" in email using the Celery device and service, which automatically prints incoming emails for them, and instantly sends their outgoing pen-and-paper messages as email.

"Many top educators and administrators view the idea of a paperless classroom as an inevitability in education. In today's digital age, these educators believe that a paperless classroom promotes a more efficient and organized classroom while preparing students for the practical world outside classroom walls. In other words, if every facet of life is becoming increasingly reliant on technology, then why not equip students accordingly? "We need technology in every classroom and in every student's and teacher's hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time," said esteemed author and educator David Warlick. "It is the lens through which we experience much of our world." This sentiment is shared by many educators, administrators, and parents in the educational community, and for good reason. However, implementing a plan through technological mediums still necessitates the same care and mindfulness of creating a conventional lesson plan, and transitioning to online platforms isn't without its own unique hurdles."

"The space nerds at NASA have officially hopped on the Meghan Trainor parody train with their ode to the Orion spacecraft, "All About That Space." The Pathways Interns of NASA's Johnson Space Center recorded and filmed the parody song to encourage further public interest in Orion, which saw its first successful test flight on Dec. 5. The spacecraft orbited Earth twice during its flight and traveled 60,000 miles before splashing down into the Pacific Ocean as planned. NASA's parody isn't the first space-themed "All About That Bass" parody - a group of geeky ladies penned a similar, Star Wars-themed parody in November."

"19 year old, Andrew Watts, is a sophomore Management Information Systems major (marketing minor) at the University of Texas in Austin and penned an interesting glimpse into the world of teenage (and college) consumption (or lack thereof) of the biggest social networks. We see studies day in and day out from Gallup or Pew on polling that is then interpreted by all the hot tech blogs, but very few articles actually cite real, blood pumping teenage humans. And by the time the studies are published, most likely, the stats are dated - as teenage trends move in and out so quickly. What do they actually think, in their own words, about the various social networks? Watts lays it out:"

"Imagine a world where resources were limited to what was found in the classroom or the school closet known as the "Curriculum Materials Room." Picture a world where students wrote letters with pen and paper to communicate with other students and adults outside of the building. Due to postage costs, the teacher either sent the letters in bulk or paid for stamps out of his or her own pocket. Can you recall a time when student interests like skateboarding or video were never used as part of learning curriculum because the tools needed were either too expensive or not yet conceptualized? Do you remember a time when non-traditional learners struggled, and absenteeism meant a high likelihood of students doing poorly in school, and possibly having to retake the course?"

"The dance of printing a document, taking a pen and signing it, then scanning and emailing it to a banker or client is one I think we've all done. It's also extremely inefficient, not to mention annoying. The Mac's handy-dandy Preview app makes it possible to fill out and digitally sign a document, but it's just as easy to sign from an iOS device, and of course there is no shortage of apps for that. I've whittled that selection down to these five that cover all the bases, letting you sign, fill out forms, connect to your cloud storage accounts, and use's iOS 8's share extension, among other features. The differences between them boil down to aesthetics, workflow, and pricing-which means one of them is probably just right for you."

"This is an interactive image (created using Thinglink) that features a bunch of useful iPad apps that you can use to do tasks you would traditionally do using a pen and paper. I really liked the idea of providing alternatives to do things digitally. For instance, instead of taking notes in a notebook or on paper you can use Evernote or any other note taking app to do it on iPad. The good thing about doing things digitally is that you have the added advantage of accessing, editing, and sharing your work across different devices and platforms and also saving it on the cloud to access it anytime anywhere you go. As is the case with all the interactive Thinglink images I shared here in the past, the app icons shared here are hyperlinked, just hover your mouse over any of them to access it on the iTunes app store."

"iPhone 5 Called ""Gadget off the Year"" by Time Magazine, Apple's iPhone 5 (from $199 on 2-year AT&T, Sprint or Verizon plan) is a serious piece of hardware. Along with its powerful new A6 chip, iPhone 5 works on 4G/Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks for wireless speeds that rivals your home's broadband connection. iPhone 5 also has improved cameras: an eight-megapixel iSight rear-facing camera (3264 x 2448 pixels) and front-facing FaceTime camera with 720p HD quality for video calling. Samsung Galaxy S III The Samsung Galaxy S III (from $149 on 2-year plan with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon) is a true smartphone in every sense of the word -- and we're not even referring to its stunning 4.8-inch display, fast LTE speeds or versatile Android operating system. the Galaxy S III's front-facing camera knows when you're looking at the screen, so it'll give you the bright display you seek, but if your eyes look away it'll dim itself to preserve its battery. It also knows when you want to talk: if you're messaging with someone and want to call them, simply lift the smartphone to your ear and it'll dial for you. Nokia Lumia 920 As the flagship Windows Phone 8 device, Nokia's Lumia 920 (from $99.99 on 2-year AT&T plan), has a lot to offer, including a colorful Start screen with ""live tiles""; familiar Microsoft apps like Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote; and a People hub that aggregates all your contacts into one page per person (so you don't need to close, say Outlook, to see what that friend is up to on Facebook or Twitter). HTC Droid DNA and HTC One X+ A pair of Android-powered HTC devices are also worthy of ""best of 2012"" nods: the HTC Droid DNA ($149.99 on 2-year Verizon Wireless plan) and HTC One X+ ($199.99 on 2-year AT&T plan). Protected by Corning's uber-durable Gorilla Glass 2 technology, the Droid DNA's 5-inch 1080p HD screen was built for video, games, ebooks and web browsing. Integrated Beats Audio - an

"Ever have a thought slip away and wish you had written it down? Grab one of these modern note-taking apps, and you'll be able to jot down a promising idea at the drop of a hat. For some people, there's no replacement for pen and paper when it comes to taking notes. However, if you're open to a more high-tech way to record your thoughts, you might get more mileage from one of the many note-taking apps that are available to download for free from the Windows Store. Whether you're taking down shopping lists or writing HTML code, there's a notepad app out there that will suit your needs perfectly. Here are some of the very best modern apps to help you record your ideas and keep them organized."

"There's been a lot of discussion recently on what schools should be teaching kids. Just this month, the United Kingdom announced the addition of cybersecurity to its curriculum in response to a lack of education in the field and the rising industry skills gap. I believe U.S. schools have been hesitant and even neglectful when it comes to how they discuss social media with students, and it's time for this to change. Social media is a very real and ongoing aspect of our everyday lives: It no longer makes sense that, in 2014, several states still teach cursive writing when many students can text much faster on their smart devices. We need to be educating students on applicable skills for the world that they will interact with, and that means providing them with an understanding of how social media can affect their future. The gaping generational chasm between teachers who grew up before smartphones existed and students who were raised on them has resulted in a trial-and-error model of internet education and exploration, which could potentially wreak havoc on a student's future. The internet is written in pen, not pencil."

"A driving strategy that serves students-whether pursuing self-knowledge or academic content-is questioning. Questioning is useful as an assessment strategy, catalyst for inquiry, or "getting unstuck" tool. It can drive entire unit of instruction as an essential question. In other words, questions transcend content, floating somewhere between the students and their context. Questions are more important than the answers they seem designed to elicit. The answer is residual-requires the student to package their content to please the question-maker, which moves the center of gravity from the student's belly to the educator's marking pen. In that light, I was interested when I found the visual above. It's okay to say "I don't know." Teach your students how to develop questions (because) it helps conquer their own confusion. Rebeca Zuniga was inspired to create the above visual by the wonderful Heather Wolpert-Gawron (from the equally wonderful edutopia, and also her own site, tweenteacher). The whole graphic is wonderful, but it's that I don't know that really resonated with me. Traditionally, this phrase is seen as a hole rather than a hill. I don't know means I'm missing information that I'm supposed to have."

"How do you ensure students who excel at math remain engaged? Heidi Williams intended to solve that challenge by starting an after-school coding club while she was a gifted-and-talented teacher at Bayside Middle School near Milwaukee. Instead of using pen and paper, her students created an interactive children's book on Scratch, the MIT Media Lab coding suite that lets users create games, stories and simulations. And the more of this kind of coding activity they did, the better their math test scores got. Now a computer science curriculum specialist at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Williams researches this correlation. One possibility is that the computational thinking skills developed while coding help students break down complicated problems-on and off computers, she says."