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"AUTHOR: ISSIE LAPOWSKY. ISSIE LAPOWSKY DATE OF PUBLICATION: 05.04.15. 05.04.15 TIME OF PUBLICATION: 7:00 AM. 7:00 AM INSIDE THE SCHOOL SILICON VALLEY THINKS WILL SAVE EDUCATION Click to Open Overlay Gallery Students in the youngest class at the Fort Mason AltSchool help their teacher, Jennifer Aguilar, compile a list of what they know and what they want to know about butterflies. CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK/WIRED SO YOU'RE A parent, thinking about sending your 7-year-old to this rogue startup of a school you heard about from your friend's neighbor's sister. It's prospective parent information day, and you make the trek to San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood. You walk up to the second floor of the school, file into a glass-walled conference room overlooking a classroom, and take a seat alongside dozens of other parents who, like you, feel that public schools-with their endless bubble-filled tests, 38-kid classrooms, and antiquated approach to learning-just aren't cutting it. At the same time, you're thinking: this school is kind of weird. On one side of the glass is a cheery little scene, with two teachers leading two different middle school lessons on opposite ends of the room. But on the other side is something altogether unusual: an airy and open office with vaulted ceilings, sunlight streaming onto low-slung couches, and rows of hoodie-wearing employees typing away on their computers while munching on free snacks from the kitchen. And while you can't quite be sure, you think that might be a robot on wheels roaming about. Then there's the guy who's standing at the front of the conference room, the school's founder. Dressed in the San Francisco standard issue t-shirt and jeans, he's unlike any school administrator you've ever met. But the more he talks about how this school uses technology to enhance and individualize education, the more you start to like what he has to say. And so, if you are truly fed up with the school stat

Google Apps Education Edition is a broad IT solution that schools can use to bring communication and collaboration tools to the entire academic community for free. Google manages all the technology details, so you can focus your time, energy and budgets on teaching your kids. Students, teachers and staff can share ideas more quickly and get things done more effectively when they have access to the same powerful communication and sharing tools. Google Apps Education Edition lets tech administrators provide email, sharable online calendars, instant messaging tools and even a dedicated website to faculty, students and staff for free. There's no hardware or software to install or maintain, since everything is delivered through a standard web browser -- anytime, from anyplace.

This article explores various iPad apps that could "transform" the classroom.  

"We all know that students find it far more challenging to answer word problems than simple equations. In Math Shake, learners practise the vital skill of solving word problems in a fun, focused way. Learners engage their critical thinking skills as they use the keywords to change word problems into equations and use interactive learning tools to visualise, image and work out their answer. Not only do learners have a range of learning tools at their fingertips, they can share their thinking by recording their working.Teachers and parents can also use Math Shake to teach learners with the interactive tools; including tens frames, number matrixes, fraction parts, number lines and counters. "

Homepage for Google for Educators. Here are links to many of the tools and applications availbable for educational use.

Everybody knows enough about some topic - be it English, science, yoga or bourbon - to teach other people about it. And every topic is covered by content scattered around the Web. The idea behind a new site called Learnist is to give everybody a spot to teach through curation. The site, which is also available as an app for iPhone and iPad, features user-created lessons that bring together Web pages, videos, Google Books e-books and other items on a specific topic. At the moment, only a relatively small group of people approved by the site - including some teachers - can create these "learnings," but anyone can check them out. Read more: http://techland.time.com/2012/09/18/50-best-websites-2012/#ixzz2KnPnZqks

Everybody knows enough about some topic to teach other people about it. And every topic is covered by content scattered around the Web. The idea behind a new site called Learnist is to give everybody a spot to teach through curation. The site, which is also available as an app for iPhone and iPad, features user-created lessons that bring together Web pages, videos, Google Books e-books and other items on a specific topic. At the moment, only a relatively small group of people approved by the site - including some teachers - can create these "learnings," but anyone can check them out.

Curation

Jennifer Roberts, a veteran English teacher in San Diego, and a Google Certified teacher, shares how she approaches plagiarism with her students and uses the tools in Google Apps & Google Search to help curb intentional and unintentional plagiarism.

"Creation-based tasks promote higher-order thinking, encourage collaboration, and connect students to real-world learning. Whether you're teaching in a project-based learning classroom, engaging students with authentic assessments, or committed to pushing students to analyze and synthesize, providing opportunities for creation is a must."

ShowMe is an open learning community where you can teach or learn anything. Watch great lessons for free, or create your own with the iPad app.

This is an iPad app and site where you can create video tutorials on a virtual whiteboard on an iPad and share it on the web to view on any device. The site has a extensive bank of shared tutorials from other educators on a range of topics, including maths, science, English, languages and more. Download the app at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/showme-interactive-whiteboard/id445066279 http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

A collection of 30 apps & website to help students learn and study for exams

This is a must try site which provides an amazing 3D world which teaches English and maths core skills. Players race against two other randomly chosen online players of a similar level. The questions start out very easy and adapt to the performance of the player. The questions are read out and some are displayed on the screen. The player just clicks on the correct multiple choice answer to increase their speed. There is a download for PCs and Macs as well as apps for iPad and Android. There are teacher accounts which allow you to make logins for lots of children quickly. When there log in students will be asked to design an avatar. Because the resource requires a sizeable download it takes a little time to set up, but because it runs on your local device game play is very smooth and quick. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Learn how Google apps and other web tools can help you meet your teaching and learning goals.

"Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything to and from almost anywhere. Create slides, draw in any color, add shapes, add text, and use a laser pointer. Rotate, move, scale, copy, paste, clone, and lock any object added to the stage."

"Few teachers are drawn to the profession for its administrative duties. But the reality of attendance taking, lesson planning, grading and parental communications is that they're a big part of the job. These tasks, however, need not take over. With help from the many online services and mobile apps designed for teachers, it can be easy to efficiently organize and complete classroom management responsibilities. Here are five of our favorite virtual tools for tackling some of the most common classroom chores."

Host Eric Robertson's conversation with Michael Truong, Associate Director of UC Merced's Center for Research on Teaching Excellence looks at technology innovations at the UC system's newest campus as an indicator for what is happening nationally. After covering topics ranging from the role of Learning Management Systems to trends in student technology purchases, their conversation focuses on UC Merced's Mobile App Learning Lounge, a resource designed to help students and faculty explore the possibilities of teaching and learning using mobile applications. Truong argues that mobile tools are dramatically enhancing assessment, communication between students and faculty, collaboration activities, and even access to and time spent with learning materials. The conversation concludes with a fascinating discussion about the challenges of teaching in an age of technology driven distraction. Referencing thinkers like Michael Wesch, Sherry Terkle and Nicholas Carr, Robertson and Truong explore how faculty can help students develop critical thinking skills in a "search culture" by moving beyond consuming knowledge to curating and producing it.

Would love colleagues' thoughts and input on this lesson!

Thanks Irene! The students did such an amazing job. You really don't have to be tech-saavy to employ this in your classroom. The software is already so user-friendly. The person who taught me how to do this was an English teacher - she would use it with poetry, so that students would have to emphasize emotion in their reading. Very effective!

Jennifer, this is wonderful! I love how you give your students choices of which app to use and how you place the onus on them to learn it and to troubleshoot on their own. This is something that I teach in my computer classes because students have to acquire and feel comfortable with that skill. Thanks!

A discovery engine of websites, mobile apps, desktop programs, and electronic products for teaching and learning.

List of web apps that could be useful for educatores