The Federal Communications Commission plans to circulate rules by the end of this year that will tell schools that get federal cash for computer and networking gear to comply with various child-protection measures included in the Broadband Data Improvement Act.
While many schools still do not allow cell phones, an iPod Touch bridges that gap. Wifi access provides a tremendous opportunity for students and teachers to browse the web, type a response, record audio or calculate a problem.
There are some interesting finds in this article; although, I would say we are all utilizing most of these technologies all ready as part of our practice.
I was just about to add this article when I saw you already had. I agree that we are using many of them. I would like to know more about the Epson projector that is an IWB. I believe that product is somthing to watch!
Compass provides teachers with online multimedia content and
standards-aligned curricula that are interactive and self-paced. Compass activities for students are designed to promote problem-solving and to encourage them to make real-world connections. Compass
also includes embedded assessments.
The NETP presents a model of 21st century learning powered by technology, with goals and recommendations in five essential areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. The plan also identifies far-reaching “grand challenge problems” that should be funded and coordinated at a national level.
Just as leveraging technology can help us improve learning and assessment, the model of 21st century learning calls for using technology to help build the capacity of educators by enabling a shift to a model of connected teaching. In such a teaching model, teams of connected educators replace solo practitioners and classrooms are fully connected to provide educators with 24/7 access to data and analytic tools as well as to resources that help them act on the insights the data provide.
In connected teaching, teaching is a team activity. Individual educators build online learning communities consisting of their students and their students’ peers; fellow educators in their schools, libraries, and afterschool programs; professional experts in various disciplines around the world; members of community organizations that serve students in the hours they are not in school; and parents who desire greater participation in their children’s education.
Episodic and ineffective professional development is replaced by professional learning that is collaborative, coherent, and continuous and that blends more effective in-person courses and workshops with the expanded opportunities, immediacy, and convenience enabled by online environments full of resources and opportunities for collaboration.
From the summary: "
The NETP presents a model of 21st century learning powered by technology, with goals and recommendations in five essential areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. The plan also identifies far-reaching "grand challenge problems" that should be funded and coordinated at a national level."
The iPad project arose from day-to-day demands within the school. As Head of Computing, a dozen iMacs were fixed in Fraser's classroom, and a dozen MacBooks were available for booking; but with teachers increasingly wanting to provide pupils with web access, pressure and demand grew.
Apple's tablet dealt with every problem the school had with the iPod touch: it boasted a decent software keyboard and projector connection, and Apple made office apps available for sale. On importing his own iPad from the US, Fraser was sold: "On the first day, it ran and ran. I couldn't make the battery die, and I realised this alone would transform the technology experience in the classroom."