Group items tagged

"Looking for some inspirational  ideas to unleash your creativity and kickstart the new year? The TED talks below are definitely a must watch. The start of a new year is traditionally the time that most people set out goals and resolutions and create to-do lists. These talks will help you come up with creative ideas to include  in your resolutions list and most importantly, will "offer the kick-in-the-pants you need to unleash your creative spirit."

"Over the past several weeks, three headlines pertaining to education have dominated my social media news feeds: screen time, fake news/media literacy, and the ethical dilemmas associated with advances in technology. When considered together, these three topics represent the unintended consequences of innovation. The inventors of television, computers, mobile devices, and social media did not intend to unleash a slew of negative consequences for children. They did not consider the potential for shortened attention spans, lack of connection to nature, or a rising obesity rate; nor did they conceive of their tools as weapons for deploying fake news, unleashing bullying, or fueling hate groups. The Mark Zuckerberg/Biz Stone/Sergey Brin/Steve Jobs/Bill Gates of the world intended to build community, increase access to a global library of information, and provide every individual with a voice."

"Hi everyone! My name is Kate Wilson and I am the newest member of the EdTechTeacher team as the Web Coordinator. This is my first attempt at Live Blogging so bear with me but I have gotten some great tips from Beth Holland and Jennifer Carey. I have also only heard great things about Greg Kulowiec so I am excited to start off the EdTechTeacher iPad Summit in San Diego in his session "Unleashing Creativity with App Smashing.""

"In an article published earlier this year, we said "public schools' focus on teaching to the test may be squelching students' creativity." Bright students don't want to be spoon-fed information, and teachers want imaginative students who think outside the box. Learning how to foster and unleash a creative mindset in students is one solution to this problem!"

"Katie Martin is one of BIE's Directors of District Leadership, and she's also a blogger, speaker, and author. Her new book, being released today, is Learner Centered Innovation: Spark Curiosity, Ignite Passion, Unleash Genius. As you can tell from this excerpt, it's got a great message for PBL practitioners and for the whole field of education:"

"Creating picture stories can be a very effective activity in unleashing students creativity. There are now some great apps that students can use to create and narrate their stories on iPad. I have picked for you two of the most popular apps in this regard. related: Excellent iPad Apps to Create eBooks To create a picture story, students will either use the pictures they have in their camera roll or take new ones and do some customization to them then add audio narration and text before sharing them with others via emails or through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Here are the titles I have for you today:"

"This episode of ITT features the Sphero 2 robots and how the innovative educator, Sam Patterson, is using them in a robot club as well as when working with classrooms of students. From the Sphero Website: Control Sphero from your smartphone or tablet, change colors, complete challenges, earn tricks, and more. Sphero is waterproof, pet-proof, and ready to roll. Educationally savvy: Download free SPRK lessons and learn the basics of programming. Then unleash Sphero's inner robot and program like a pro. The more you play, the smarter you get."

"Digital storytelling is one of the potent educational activities to spark students creative writing and engage reluctant writers. It allows students to have their own voice, communicate their thoughts and experiment with a variety of semiotic modes including text, images, audio and video. In today's post we have handpicked for you five great iPad apps geared towards unleashing the writing gene within students. Students can use them to compose their stories and presentations and share them with others via email or social media. Check them out and share with us your feedback. Enjoy"

"The Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 5-11, is an annual initiative that mobilizes educators, parents, nonprofits and the industry to inspire all young people to learn computer science and open the door to a promising future. With our rising digital economy and the nonstop pace of technological change, we have an imperative to prepare young people to pursue careers that are in demand. Computer science refers to the academic discipline of studying what can be done using a computer and how to do so. At the foundation of this is computational thinking, a mental process that allows one to formulate problems so as to design possible solutions that a computer or human can easily understand. Coding is one way that computational thinking can be expressed. It is simply writing a list of step-by-step instructions for computers to perform what we want to do. More importantly, it provides everyone a platform to unleash our creativity to create software websites, games, and apps. More than half of today's jobs require some technology skills, and this will increase to 77 percent in the next decade, according to IDC. With youth unemployment in Southeast Asia alone almost three times that of total unemployment rate, coding and computer science serve as the gateway for youth to secure a more fulfilling career or even venture into entrepreneurship. In the Philippines for instance, an entry-level tech position pays 38 percent more than the minimum wage.   I strongly encourage everyone to try coding-and here's why:"

"Fact: Kids love Minecraft. The unique and ridiculously popular game is often compared to digital LEGO's, and at it's core, allows players to place and break blocks in a 3D world. With more than 22 million users in 40 countries, the Minecraft craze is only growing and kids can't seem to get enough. The draw of Minecraft? For kids, it's a blank slate and gives them the opportunity to let their imagination run wild. For educators, it is a perfect opportunity to fully integrate technology with learning. Minecraft is being recognized as an incredibly powerful, educational tool that acts as a medium for educators and students, alike, allowing them to unleash their creativity and fully integrate technology with learning opportunities. Because the game lives online, the multiplayer format can be utilized to emphasize digital citizenship and collaboration all through integrated project based-learning. Meet Connected Camps, an online summer camp for Minecraft that is breaking the rules in all the right ways. Yes, you read that right, Connected Camps is a virtual summer camp, that connects kids from around the country (and even the world) through a dedicated, monitored and secure Minecraft server."

"Over the weekend, I finished George Couros's Innovator's Mindset.  I highly recommend reading it to understand why we should foster a culture of innovation in our schools and where to start.  A culture of innovation makes everyone a creator in our schools, unleashing the creativity that is in all of us. The Innovator's Mindset frames the steps to create that culture of innovation in a school and it gives some powerful examples of creation in the classroom.  That's where the new book by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani picks up.  The book LAUNCH is focused on the importance of a clear framework for the creative process.  I'll dig into that process in later posts as I get deeper into the book.  But, let's start with the why of creation in the classroom."

The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent in an unprecedented way, with unlimited opportunities. But does democratized culture mean better art or is true talent instead drowned out? This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with some of the world's most influential creators of the digital era. presspauseplay.com @presspauseplay Facebook: on.fb.me/y4gEK1

"One of the tested ways to unleash kids creativity and enhance their power of imagination is through drawing. This has become even way easier and practical using the different web tools and mobile apps available out there for free. I have already featured several of these tools and apps in previous posts here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. Today, however, I want to share with you some new wonderful iPad apps for getting kids to draw. Check them out below:"

"TED Books is an iPad app that provides TED fans with short electronic books produced once a month by TED conferences. The books are less than 20.000 words long "long enough to unleash a powerful narrative, but short enough to be read in a single sitting.""

"Now it's the phone's turn. The smartphone began with a promise of productivity. Its first "killer app," in the parlance of those developing for it, was email. Smartphones let us send messages without launching a computer; that's what made them smart. Web browsing followed, but the device was still seen as a surrogate for the computer at your desk-something to keep you productive while out in the world. Today, though, the phone has become something else. The smartphone, like the PC and the Internet before it, has turned into a unique outlet for our creative impulses, and it will affect our creative lives even more fundamentally."

"If you've purchased any or all of iLife/iWork apps for iOS at some point in the past, now is the time to update your productivity suite and take advantage of the new features Apple introduced just yesterday at their event in San Francisco. It was quite a big day for the likes of iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Not only did Apple unleash a host of new features, they've also baked in deep compatibility for these apps-utilizing iCloud, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and iOS 7. Read on for some of the highlights you'll find in the updated apps."

"This week's edition of Sunday Night Teacher focuses on motivation-specifically motivating students by helping them see the big picture. These videos are all charged with hyperbole, rhetoric, and emotion. While the tones, themes, sounds, and visuals make powerful cases for motivation, what you're motivating them for and towards is on you. Yes, ideally motivation comes from curiosity and self-awareness, not rah-rah speeches you show them from YouTube-so let's use both. Prime your inquiry-based learning unit with a video, offer then a basic model, then unleash them and watch them fly."

The entire concept is really quite simple.  The Mobile MakerSpace carts that line the hallway leading into our Media Center are capable of transporting new opportunities and tools to virtually any space in our school.  Whether it's high-tech 3D printing and modular robotics or low-tech knitting and plastic construction blocks…the carts contain tools that elicit collaboration and unleash student creativity."

"The entire concept is really quite simple.  The Mobile MakerSpace carts that line the hallway leading into our Media Center are capable of transporting new opportunities and tools to virtually any space in our school.  Whether it's high-tech 3D printing and modular robotics or low-tech knitting and plastic construction blocks…the carts contain tools that elicit collaboration and unleash student creativity."