Group items tagged

"Essentially, digital (and physical) mind mapping allows students to view the entire forest instead of a single tree. As they create a mind map, they capture the wider ecosystem of information by visually connecting short keywords and phrases rather than writing complete sentences. Upon later review-for retention, exam preparation or papers-the mind map is like a CD. You jump right to the information that interests you. In contrast, linear notes are like audio tapes-you waste time wading line by line through the content in hopes of getting to what you want. This more efficient use of space (and time) lets students see how normally unconnected ideas might fit together. Thus, the mind maps doubles as a store of information and an engine of creativity. Using it in the classroom and even giving mind mapping assignments forces students to break the linearity of their earlier education."

"Typing: It's faster. It's searchable. All in all, it's more efficient. But is it better?" Hmmmm?

"My colleague Ken Perlman is fascinated by the employee and team dynamics within large organizations. Here he shares the type of skills and sensibilities that he has observed in the most efficient workers."

I'm about 80% of the way through Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn. (Yeah, I know... I'm the last one to read it.) There's a lot that's very interesting about the book, and while we should critically examine the book, it is still a fascinating read. If nothing else, it is continuing to make me think about how much more could happen in our classrooms if we created more opportunities for students to learn basic skills and content outside of class, rather than inside class. I've been thinking a lot about math class. How many students would learn math more efficiently if they could watch math videos, narrated by a teacher with problems done "on the board" as they watched with multiple examples of concepts (think geometry here, as an example) that speak to different learning modalities.

"Smart Science® online hands-on labs provide outstanding science education. Inexpensive and efficient STEM education. Built-in scientific inquiry facilitating student discovery of science. Online hands-on real experiments, not simulations. Online lab reports, easy to write and grade. Archive of lab reports obtained with a simple mouse click. Retention of lab reports and all student work for 5 years. Differentiated reading levels" Wow, pretty impressive and just might be worth the money. Do the lite demo they provide and see what you think.

Browser add-on for searching more efficiently. Works with Chrome, IE, Firefox. Export results to Evernote, Easybib, Google Docs, Diigo etc. 

Interesting you should bookmark this now. This was in my aggregator today from the Programmable web blog: http://blog.programmableweb.com/2010/07/12/mine-the-information-behind-the-search-with-these-apis/

Google-produced cheatsheet for increased search efficiency

Using technology to increase accuracy and efficiency

Using technology to increase efficiency and accuracy

Even if you have used Photoshop Elements for some time, you may have missed some of its features. Here are 10 tips to help you work more efficiently in Photoshop Elements 7! While some of these tips work in previous versions of Elements, changing interface brightness, the Smart Brush tools, and the Action Player are brand new in Photoshop Elements 7.">IE=8

The ultimate tool for safari, allowing faster more efficient running of webpages that rely on flash

Using protocols

The National School Reform Faculty® (NSRF®) is a professional development initiative that focuses on increasing student achievement through skillful use of collaborative professional learning communities called Critical Friends Groups use protocols and activities that result in meaningful and efficient communication, problem solving and learning.

HCZ continues to offer innovative, efficiently run programs that are aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.

Open-sourcing offers great potential for AT software users. However, currently there are a number of barriers that stop its wider use within the AT community. It is generally difficult to find on the Internet and, until the OATS Project, there have been no specific websites dedicated to developing or downloading AT software. Open-source software can also be unfriendly to install, often obliging the user to download many different packages before it can be set up and used. Often it is still "under-development", poorly documented or technically demanding, something that the end user finds frustrating and irritating. To see just how complicated this can be for the lay enquirer, one need only visit the most well-known source of mainstream open-source products, Source Forge (http://sourceforge.net/). Finding OATS products here is like experiencing death by a thousand cuts! The OATS Project's repository will strip away all the technical complexity and provide via its database and search engine an efficient and intuitive way to access good quality OATS. By removing these barriers to open-source AT software, users will not only have a single point of contact for obtaining open-source software but volunteer developers will also discover a forum where they can develop ideas and write software that meets the real needs of specific end users.

Great tool for teaching students how to become efficient online researchers! Download the installation guide, sign up for webinars, check out minilessons... Don't pass this one up!

Are you looking for weekly lesson planning software? For teachers, this is an important consideration, and one that you really want to get right. These four options are among the most popular and are packed full of features that are designed to make your planning easier and more efficient.