Byrne Free Technology - 0 views
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Melissa Vrabel on 18 Jan 11I've been reading through the Byrne Free Technology for Teachers blog because it answers one of my big questions regarding technology in classrooms, how is it to be afforded? He provides information, links, and education applications for free technologies. Whats nice about that is that he sums up in one blog entry what could take a busy teacher hours to figure out. Some of the technologies I liked was the Scitable app from the Nature journal which usually you have to subscribe to that provides free access to their articles, videos, etc. The only downfall is that the app is only for iPhones, the iPad, or the Droid, all of which are expensive gadgets that unless the school provides, teachers can not assume all students have access to. Unlike computers which all students in city areas do have access to whether at home, at school, or at the local library, iPads and the phones have to be purchased along with additional internet plans. I also liked the Lendlnk service described in this blog which creates a library of sharing and borrowing ebooks as I have always wondered why people would pay for an ebook when they could get it for free at the library and don't get the pleasure of a pretty book on their bookshelf! This service fixes that problem though for free, but does again require the neccessary equipment of a Kindle or a Nook (don't know what that one is). With the expensive equipment neccessary for use, this is something that can not be assigned to students to use. Another thing I liked was the edmodo program which allows a forum space for teachers to speak with students, students to speak with students, and parents speak with teachers. This one is free and only requires a computer.