Group items tagged

Nik Peachey's post that discusses how you can evaluate apps. He clearly sets out the criteria for evaluating authentic apps that would be for use in educational settings.

As our students grow dependant on Internet being a primary source for their  information, it becomes of urgent necessity that we, as teachers and educators, should know how to evaluate web content and decipher credible resources from spam and irrelevant ones. Regrettably enough, some of the teachers who are using technology in their instruction still don't come to grips with  the mechanisms used to sift through internet content. There is a crude analogy to this situation . A teacher who does not evaluate the web content he shares with his students is like a person driving a car without having a driver license, he can still drive his car  but he does not know the real dangers he is putting himself to in doing so.

Professional Development Evaluations from Educational Technology and Life Blog

This article offers a list of questions that were developed to help teachers clarify the unique added value of a digital learning environment, and whether their assignments were making the best use of this environment. "The six questions should be used when evaluating the design of assignments and student work and if the answer is "no" to them, then the chances are that technology is not really being applied in the most innovative ways. The questions we ask to evaluate implementation and define innovation are critical."

peer evaluation editing google doc

I have teachers ask me frequently about app recommendations for different subject areas. "What app could I use to teach subtraction?" "What app would you recommend for my students to practice writing?" "I want to use iPads in my Science class. What app is good for that?" I usually sigh to myself, when I receive questions like that. While I am not against in suggesting apps ( which I love doing), I am not comfortable with the level of disconnect between the teacher (who knows her/his students best) and the curriculum related skills and objectives and pedagogical relationship that needs to be in place for an app to be a match to use in a classroom or with an individual learner.

KustomNote is a customisable note creation space where you can develop templates that can be quickly uploaded to Evernote with ease. You can start with a blank template or use one from the KustomNote community. With drop down and other SmartField assistants and Icon stamps and other features you can make appealing templates for recording all manner of reflections and observations, perfect for evaluation records and much more.

"The report is based on global research, including the 'iPad Scotland Evaluation Study' that Sciennes Primary School took part in, and seeks to explore 1) if we know enough to demonstrate if, how and when iPads support learning 2) the key ideas from the literature on the effective use of iPads and other post-PC tablet devices and 3) the implications of tablet technologies for school leaders, network managers, teachers, learners and their parents."

"The Instructional Assessment Resources (IAR) Web site is a comprehensive resource to assist you in assessing student learning, classroom teaching, and instructional technology. The site also provides resources for conducting program evaluations and educational research."

"The Technology Enhanced Learning Research group, led by Kevin Burden (Principal Investigator) based in the Faculty of Education, have recently completed the first national evaluation to investigate the use and impact of tablet technologies (in this case the iPad), across schools and homes in Scotland."

Student blogging is not a project, but a process. We are continuously striving to refine, improve and re-evaluate. As I am meeting with teachers individually, I can't stress enough the importance of READING other blogs (professional, student, blogs about your hobby, blogs about other interests you have etc.). I am trying to filter and funnel quality blogs in education, their grade level and  areas of interest to them as I come across them, so they can build a quality RSS Reader. BUT.. we need their help in having a basic understanding of blogs, its pedagogical uses, as a platform of a new writing genre (digital writing) and how our blogfolios fit into your curriculum and the BIG PICTURE of LEARNING. The blogfolios are not a platform to use only for a particular subject, but should give evidence of learning for each student.

Still not convinced Mobile Learning is something your organization should evaluate? Consider these eye-opening statistics published by different organizations such as ASTD, iPass, Towards Maturity and Ambient Insight. Data from their most recent surveys reveals some interesting facts that you might be interested in.

"The most time-consuming part of evaluating web tools for educational use has got to be looking at the Terms of Service (also know as Terms of Use or Terms and Conditions). They can go on for pages, and are so often wrapped up in so much legalese that even if you manage to read to the end, there is no guarantee you will be any wiser. And yet we can't just ignore them; it is our duty as educators and as digital citizens to protect rights and understand responsibilities online."

"Google launched an open source course building web application for the growing list of K-12 and big-name universities developing online classes. The barebones website is a lightweight way to bring course material online, track student engagement (with web traffic and surveys), and evaluate performance. "We want to use this launch to show that Google believes it can contribute to technology in education," says Google's Director of Research, Peter Norvig."