Group items tagged

Apps for children with special needs.

Dropbox is broadening its sales focus from targeting mostly corporations to trying to attract paid users in higher ed, too. Officials say the intent is for those collaborating on research and potentially sharing high amounts of sensitive data and information to be able to do so in a secure environment that is controlled by the campus CIO. PC World reports the company does not see Dropbox Education as useful for "undergrads who may just need to turn in a paper or two."

"Staff and students are expected to be fully conversant with school email. Not only do users need to check their email regularly enough so that they don't miss important announcements but they also have to understand and apply the complex landscape of netiquette, respond to emails quickly (and politely) and action any instructions that they receive. Being on top of your email inbox has never been so important in schools. So why, whenever I help a member of staff or a student, do they have an email account that is bursting at the seams with often more than 1000 emails in their inbox? It seems that how email is managed in schools is, well, often not managed well."

Zimmertwins is a widely used animation maker. It's easy to use. Just click the scene/actions you want and make changes. View other users creations. No sign in is needed to make a movie. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Video%2C+animation%2C+film+%26+Webcams

"Creative Commons (CC) licensing allows creators and users of online, digital content to share while protecting/acknowledging the rights of others. This blog post defines CC licensing, the need for it, and how to make it happen."

by Stevina Evuleocha, Steve Ugbah California State University Abstract The quest for an ideal medium to deliver business content to Gen Y learners has led instructors to consider the Internet, since digital content that exists in databases can be manipulated by a range of programming services (Shim et al., 2006). Shim et al., have also asserted that web development has been hampered by bandwidth and difficulties of "back end integration," consequently, impacting the presentational aspects of data and user interfaces (Yang & Tang, 2005). Innovations in computer and software technologies appear to have ameliorated the technical difficulties, resulting in the emergence of new media such as podcasting, webcasting, videostreaming, blogging, and Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) technologies (Shim, 2002). These new media streams can be integrated into traditional lectures, thus enhancing the educational environment (McLaughlin, 2006), particularly for Gen Y learners. This paper discusses the efficacy of podcasting in business education, reviews the characteristics of Generation Y (Gen Y) learners, discusses learning styles and theories that support mobile learning, reviews learning styles of Gen Y learners, and discusses whether adaptations are necessary to address the updated needs of this new generation of learners in the business communication context.

Video tours of college campuses aren't a new phenomenon; many universities have provided video tours and information about their campuses to prospective students for years. But Boynton Beach, Fla., startup YOUniversity LLC is hoping to draw users to its sites by offering prospective college students an unbiased, third-party source of information about hundreds of schools in an interactive, social environment. "Most of our employees are recent grads, who are best able to share their campus experiences with others getting ready to go to college," said co-founder Ron Reis, who launched the company in January 2008. The 17-person staff has three full-time camera crews that travel around the country, shooting high-definition footage of college campuses and the surrounding area. They've already taped more than 400 top schools throughout the country and have interviewed administrators, faculty, and students about their campus experience. "They've done a really good job, and they seem to have found a niche market that people really need," said Gordon Chavis, associate vice president for undergraduate admissions at the University of Central Florida

This is a great resource full of ideas, content, professional development and more. You can sign up for newsletters. Each week something new is highlighted.

TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format.

Great resources across all curriculum along with PD's.

Article discussing shift in journalism courses (college level) and student expectations. Similar k-12?

It's like there are two types of people- those who are online and those who are not? I know that's glib and endless permutations exist but It's such an interesting chasm for in my mind I assume the future generations will all be on the same page with tech but then probably technology will always be moving on leaving a similar gap between users of the older tools compared with users of the newer? It's the disruptive nature of these tools that have lead to the need to focus on the technology rather than the written content. Journos need to curate not write content. The two worlds are overlapping but not really aligning.

Creating a video doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming. You don't even need to hire a production team. There are plenty of useful tools and services that can help you create a video fast. Good news is many of them are free. Today, we'll be focusing on the ones that are the easiest to use. We'll assume that you haven't used similar tools before, or that you don't have the time to read a thick user manual. Before we get started, though, don't forget that scripting your video can itself speed up the creation process. A script may take a bit of time to create, but it gives you a clear direction.

"10 Things School Leaders Do to Kill a Teacher's Enthusiasm for Technology" from Tech & Learning

I tried this at our school on a student system. I had hoped that it might make typing more efficient for really young users in addition to helping our special needs. It made Word load too slowly for the general population, and our special needs students receiving their own computers with co-writer or other word prediction software supported through our LEA. It had a nice interface (big icons, text is big, etc.), but it won't server our needs at this time.

good apps list but leaves out Reflection: show your iPad/phone on the Mac screen.

This is a great site for finding quality images to use in your projects. The images can be used for both personal and commercial projects and you don't even need to sign in to download them. The images have been uploaded by users for the public good. Upload your images to help others. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Photos+%26+Images

You can freely use any image from this website in digital and printed format, for personal and commercial use, without attribution requirement to the original author."

This is a great site to send kids for Public Domain Images. No need to worry about copy rights

Why change/impact is so hard... it must begin or move to the inner self. Passion-driven action... no tools, policies, initiatives, services,... are ever enough if we don't address the deep-seated ideas and behaviors that need to change.

Why cite sources?

Why does a science fair project need sources?