Group items tagged

"Why the Facebook Group My Students Created for Themselves is Better than the Discussion Forum I Created for Them."

"iPads are making waves in education all over the nation, even in college classrooms, where they're replacing laptops, textbooks, and notebooks. Some colleges have even gone so far as to hand out iPads to new students, helping students and faculty all work with the same technology for learning."

"Vicki Davis 06 Dec 12 07:40:01 One of my students turned up this information that Facebook is working on controls to help kids under 13 use the service. It is no surprise that 7.5 million Facebook users are under the age of 13 and that 5 million of THOSE are 10 years old or younger. COPPA, while set up to protect children, is actually keeping them from participating in society as they want to. This infographic and information is worth sharing as you educate your students. If you want until they are 13 to talk safety online, that is too late. "Last June, Consumer Reports magazine said they had unearthed "several disturbing findings" about children and Facebook, including: 20 million minors had used Facebook within the year prior to their study. 7.5 million of those users were under the age of 13 and not permitted to use the site. 5 million of those were 10 years old or younger. 1 million children had been harassed, threatened, or subjected to other forms of cyberbullying in the year prior." "

"Anyone with an iPad can create a video Videos can include your voice, drawing and a photo or background image Videos are delivered directly to your students with iPads Students can comment on the video with text or by creating additional videos"

Change Teaching by Changing Grading

Khan Academy is videos of lectures. This is nothing new. They are boring and do not allow the student to interact with the lecturer. They also focus on solving a math or science problem through basic steps, but do not focus on the actual theory behind the problem. The student may be able to solve that problem, but can they apply the concept to other problems and situations?

"As children of all ages head back to school this fall, many of them will have the benefit of having a laptop computer all to themselves. But does having this level of access to technology guarantee the individual student will be successful in their studies? According to two University of Calgary professors, access to technology is only one part of the equation"

"All students can have an iPad for use at school and at home, and initially that meant about 500 of them. There are currently about 900 students in the school and that number will rise to 1,100. It's a classic e-Learning Foundation equity scheme so it also includes families on very low incomes as well the better off. The iPad2s cost around £16 per month over three years and the cash comes from a mix of voluntary parental contributions, school funding and e-Learning Foundation mediated support."

"Like a band of summer vacation-crazed high school students, South Korea is tossing their textbooks into the great bonfire of "No More Pencils, No More Books…!" No, they're not entering an indefinite period of state-organized hooky, they are doing away with those burdensome textbooks and digitizing their entire curriculum. In an effort to enable education through technology while bringing down costs, all materials are expected to be digitized by 2015. When the effort is complete, students will be able to learn when and where they want."

"At Google, we support the education of families on how to stay safe online. That's why we've teamed up with online safety organization iKeepSafe to develop curriculum that educators can use in the classroom to teach what it means to be a responsible online citizen. The curriculum is designed to be interactive, discussion filled and allow students to learn through hands-on and scenario activities. On this site you'll find a resource booklet for both educators and students that can be downloaded in PDF form, presentations to accompany the lesson and animated videos to help frame the conversation. "

This unit was created to cover the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, Experience & Outcome pertaining to Game Production. I use the unit with students ranging from Primary 7 to S2. Students are taught to create a basic game in the programming language Scratch (available free from http://scrat More…

Today's post, however, is about a great work that has been done by our colleague Tom Barret. He has created awesome example forms for different topics. He has also , thankfully , made all these forms availabe for us to download and use with our students. I have checked all his forms and I was really amazed by the great efforts he has put into them. You can use these forms with your students for sure but remember to keep in mind the great things you can do with Google Forms if you give it a little time. Check out this list of forms below and click on any title to access its corresponding form. The pictures you see below are only  half snapshots of each form:

Welcome to Piazza-a place where students can come together to ask, answer, and explore under the guidance of their instructor. It'll save you time, and your students will love using it. It's also free, and easy to get started. Learn more...

share and model the use of currrent internet tools participate in proffesional networks assist students in building learning networks provide sufficient learning opportunities for students to become digitally literate  inspire every child to be quality global citizens

"Video games have both positive and negative effects on the human brain. They can be used to educate through repetition and feedback, but they also have some less-positive side effects. Our kids and students are excessively using video games and sometimes to the point of addiction. Adults too have recourse to them once in a while. The infographic below has some amazing facts and data about the impact of video gaming on the human brain. You need to go through it attentively and share it with your students and colleagues."

So Facebook was basically used to facilitate a discussion group, which can certainly be done with an LMS like Blackboard or Moodle or with various other tools, but the nice thing about Facebook is that many students are already familiar and comfortable with it - it's a "known entity" to them. Another positive thing, which addressed a concern of mine in this environment, was that there was a 'wall' between this academic use and the personal uses students have for the tool - by being in the group you didn't have to friend anyone or expose your personal information.

A multitude of resources for students and teachers to create resources and engage in mobile learning.

"Welcome to the Google SketchUp for Educators Community, a site to share, connect & learn This site is brought to you by Google and made especially for Google SketchUp educators and students. Come join and help us build it! Google SketchUp is an easy-to-use program that lets you and your students create, modify and share 3D models. From history to calculus, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to see your ideas in 3D. And when you're done, you can export an image, make a movie or print out a view of what you made."

Possibly the first app by UK students in Apple's iTunes Store

How to help students develop better listening skills