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Last year, we began a program that can best be described as "classroom modernization" across the district. Our Board of Education recognized the importance and education need for the modernization and made a commitment through its budget to support the purchase of technology to support the professionals in our classrooms. The first decision we made was to ensure all teaching staff had access to a current, mobile device. While often the focus is on ensuring all students have access to current devices (a continuing effort in our district) we realized that if we wanted classes to be engaging with digital tools, teachers needed to have access and feel comfortable with them as well."

"What separates the successful mobile learning projects from the unsuccessful? This is a 'million dollar' question, and I've thought long and hard about it. From the 17 large 1:1 projects I've worked on, only three have been truly successful in producing transformational learning. In your own experience, how many schools do you know who have transformed learning vs how many you know rely on iPads as laptop placements, focusing on web browsing and research functions only? I'm sure you'll draw similar conclusions to my own, but if a handful of schools can transform learning with mobile devices, how do we replicate it across more schools? I believe I've found the answer."

"This past year I've shared some of the reasons I love Zaption.  This app gives teachers an opportunity to make videos interactive with text, images, and questions. The new Zaption mobile player app lets teachers and students watch video lessons on the go straight from their device. This free app works on any iOS device including an iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch."

"Think back 20 years. Pay phones still worked, and only doctors carried pagers. Laptops weighed as much as bowling balls, and few of us had Internet access. In fact, much of what we now consider commonplace -- Google, email, WiFi, texting -- was not even possible. If that was 20 years ago, where are we going in the next 20? We are all going mobile! Tablets, smartphones, Chromebooks -- and yet, these devices only serve as the most recent iteration of mobile technology in the classroom. Remember Netbooks? How about those old-school Macbooks that looked like toilet seat covers? What if we go back further? What about chalk and slate?"

" The popular multimedia conversation tool VoiceThread has announced plans to launch a mobile app for iOS devices in the near future. Their blog post doesn't specify a date for its release, but hopefully it will be in time to use this fall. Watch, and comment if you like, on the VoiceThread about the mobile app embedded below."

"Last year I volunteered in my child's Kindergarten class daily for an hour with our family's three iPads. I learned a lot about selecting educational content (primarily early math & literacy apps) and how to set up an environment most conducive for learning. I was most impressed by the potential for mobile devices to improve the experience in class for both teachers and students. So this year I volunteered to bring our iPads into my child's First grade class once a week for 'buddy reading'. As I do more outreach and training for local teachers in my community, I am surprised at the large number of classrooms getting devices without any guidelines about how to integrate them into their existing institutional structures or curriculum. From these experiences, I have come up with the following five tips for starting a new program in any classroom …"

"Using personal iPhones and iPads in the office leads many people to work from them while on vacation. Our iPhones and iPads, which enable us to work and be on call virtually anywhere at any time, will lead to more than half of us working while on vacation. That's the result of a new study that looked at how technology impacts the work/life balance. iOS devices are common players in the bring your own device (BYOD) era. As BYOD programs lead many of us to use our personal iOS devices and other mobile technology for work-related tasks, they also encourage an "always on" attitude from employers and employees alike."

" Students today are more distracted than ever before. Why is this happening? To explain it simply, they are immersed in their digital devices. In the classroom, this becomes an even larger problem. A recent Pew Research Study found, "87% say these technologies are creating an 'easily distracted generation with short attention spans' and 64% say today's digital technologies 'do more to distract students than to help them academically.'" While it is clear that digital technology is distracting students, the technology is here to stay. For example, while most teachers agree the best way to turn digital distraction is to not allow mobile devices in the classroom, these same teachers agree this is ineffective in the long run. Instead, educators must be proactive and teach proper digital device usage in the classroom. Therefore, teachers must find ways to engage digitally distracted students. In the graphic below, you will find 27 ways to gain the attention of digitally distracted students."

"Last night I had one of those incredibly horrifying moments that I hope you never experience. Just as I'm getting ready to go to bed at 11 PM in my hotel room I suddenly realize my iPad was missing. Losing an iPad is upsetting - knowing the damage someone could do if they accessed online accounts using my iPad was terrifying. Fortunately I knew I had some protection because I password protect my devices and had set up Find My iPad/Phone. Which can't be said for many of the educators I noticed using mobile devices at ISTE. But had I done enough?"

"Mobile devices are transforming the way teachers are teaching and students are learning. The term "Flipped Classrooms" is becoming more mainstream in which teachers are using online methods to teach and students are using mobile devices to learn. This alphabetical list covers a wide variety of areas of interest to teachers and students alike."

"Brainstorming is an important process for any subject and helps improve writing, organizer group ideas, inspires discussion, and provides a roadmap for projects. When brainstorming is combined with sketching, drawing, and graphic organizers it helps learners to organize their thoughts for better flow and organization. Moreover, learners can make connections to previous knowledge and expand on what they already know. This means the brain will process the new information into long-term memory. Our learners can utilize free mobile apps to brainstorm on the go whenever they feel inspired. The following are brainstorming apps for IOS/Android devices. Free Brainstorming Apps"

"In past years you may have gotten in trouble with your teacher if you used a mobile device in the classroom. But this school year mobile devices are becoming more commonly accepted in classrooms. Teachers now don't automatically assume that you're texting someone, checking out Facebook or playing games if you're using your phone or iPad in the classroom. "

"A new study conducted by TRU provides a body of research which supports the idea that students use cell phones to learn, and also that schools are not acknowledging or supporting them fully, yet. This research supports the work of innovative educators who are guiding today's generation text and will help in the effort of getting more schools to stop fighting and start embracing student use of mobile devices for learning in school. Rather than banning, the study highlights the fact that if we meet children where they are we can leverage their use of mobile devices for powerful lear ning. T"

"I definitely think like a kid when it comes to technology- it has to be fun or I don't really want anything to do with it. Maybe that's why I LOOOVE Augmented Reality (AR) and the Aurasma app. Similar to the way a mobile device scans a QR code and links to a website, AR lets you see something not there in reality except when viewed through the mobile device. The best way to show you how it works is through the video of my students using it in class:"

"The concept of augmented reality has been in existence for a few years now despite the fact that many users of mobile devices are under the impression that it is a new phenomenon. New technologies such as Google's augmented reality glasses which are the first computing eyewear are still in the testing phase. This leads mobile device users to believe augmented reality is new on the horizon."

The apptivities website at  http://www.apptivities.org/ ... a specific learning activity using apps on mobile devices.  A key part of our vision for apptivities is to provide media resources that give a "view" into best practices in the classroom. apptivities: Models for successful instructional practices with mobile devices It's the application of apps for learning.

From Wes: These are my notes from Joseph Morelock's presentation, "Student as Prosumer: Content and Mobile Devices in 21st-Century Learning Environments" at the 21st Century Learning @ the West Lake Expo held Oct 31 - Nov 3, 2009 at Xi Hu, China, also known as West Lake. West Lake is in the center of Hangzhou, China, which is about an hour by bus southwest of Shanghai. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS.

"Flipboard has long been a staple on mobile devices, but last week it expanded its reach even further to add a web version. So, if you don't have access to your favorite mobile device, or you want a break from a small screen, you can quickly and easily access all your favorite articles online via a laptop or desktop computer."

"Ownership of mobile devices has grown swiftly since the introduction of the smartphone and has created more opportunities to connect to the Internet. mobile devices have meant more Internet connectivity, but a closer look at how lower-income families use that access reveals the digital divide is still a problem."