Lots of talk in technology circles about 6th grader Thomas Suarez an iphone programmer.His best selling app is Bustin Jieber a Justin Beiber "Whack a Mole." He shares how he learned how to program an app. How he taught himself the iPhone Software Development kit. He started an "app club" at school where any kid at school can come and learn how to design an app. He is part of an ipad pilot program. The students are asking teachers to help them design apps for education and the money is going into local education foundation.
Features and cost of education applications are provided for anyone in search of a way to make their mobile devices useful for learning in higher education.
I bookmarked this, in spite of the column title, because I know that many of us from time to time will refer to the many things you can do with the iPhone in your pocket. Carrying around that kind of power in your pocket SHOULD change SOMETHING about how we view the role of education today, don't we agree? Add to this list the ability to control Radio Controlled cars and helocopters, play music, and so MANY more of OUR favorite apps and... the technology is just too important to ignore. Or worse - to ban!
This is just a nice collection of apps and descriptions in ten categories, from arts, to science, to math, to litereature, and more. Yes, it omits as many categories (or more) than it includes, but it's a nice place to start.
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This phenomenal special interest group of ISTE has a great quarterly newsletter which is really the best of innovative learning in all of education. On pages 15-17 there are three pages of an article from two of my students and I about teaching in a virtual world including my "quick tricks for teaching in a virtual world." Print this, share it, and learn - so many great things in this newsletter!
Intuitive feed readers - now that is fascinating in potential but also scary in that perhaps, they could be manipulated (much like our searches are manipulated.) Fascinated and yet curious at the same time.
Excellent overview of the top 10 apps for students - if you're a student and actually allowed to use your iTouch at school for educational purposes, these are the apps to review.
I don't really understand all about this project out of MIT but want to learn more about it. Thi s is what they say on their site:
"ikuli is a visual technology to search and automate graphical user interfaces (GUI) using images (screenshots). The first release of Sikuli contains Sikuli Script, a visual scripting API for Jython, and Sikuli IDE, an integrated development environment for writing visual scripts with screenshots easily. Sikuli Script automates anything you see on the screen without internal API's support. You can programmatically control a web page, a desktop application running on Windows/Linux/Mac OS X, or even an iphone application running in an emulator. "
Many commonalities are emerging in these NetGen videos -- one of which is the importance of harnessing the power of mobiles in learning. Whether or not you agree or feel that the students are being "whiney" (as many educators often think with such videos) -- there is a point to be made.
I have particularly noticed how kids keep gravitating to the itouch and iphone as useful in school - it has reappeared over and over in these student videos. They were given free reign to picture improvements in THEIR education based upon the research of their generation and they keep coming back here.
It has me thinking -- no conclusions yet, but really, they are teaching me.
Chronofencing is the principle of delivering contextually important information at the right time. It is like geofencing (triggers of contextual information at a location) but perhaps more useful. Learn to understand this term as it has important implications in education. For example, students can have triggers before leaving school reminding them what books to take home - or reminders of what to take to school - these time based reminders could be combined with location as with the iphone reminders.
Very cool likttle programmable robot for kids - you put your iphone or ipod touch on the frame and you can teach Romo how to do things (and learn programming.)
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