Group items tagged

I follow Jerry Blumengarten on Twitter and have had a few Tweet conversations with him. He has great insights about tech integration that change learning, rather than for the sake of tech integration. This page is like his version of a Diigo page for BYOD resourcs. It links to a lot of great BYOD blogs, articles, lesson examples, etc. Cybrary Man's Educational Web Sites The internet catalogue for students, teachers, administrators & parents. Over 20,000 relevant links personally selected by an educator/author with over 30 years of experience.

I've thought a lot about this topic and how BYOD makes it so plain which students are haves and which are have-nots. We are lucky to be in the cohort and to have supplemental devices in our classrooms. How can we make BYOD more universal without making economic inequity so obvious in more classrooms. It seems unrealistic to put 10 iPads in every classroom district wide, so what is the answer?

Kerry, This is a really important article, and I'm so glad you posted it. I'm acutely aware of inequity in my classroom as well, but because I teach smaller classes, I've been able to skirt it so far. I agree that it is important to raise the question so that we can discuss it openly. It's bound to spark passionate opinions and discussions, but the issue of access is one of social justice in a way, and I agree that it's important for us to address it as much as we can in the public school setting.

A really interesting reflective post about parents' concerns about screen time and our increasing use of screens as a way to encourage learning. What should schools do when curriculum and instruction conflicts with parenting? No easy answer here. Just posing more questions.

Interesting post, Kerry. I don't have any answers, either. And since I'm not a parent, it's hard for me to imagine how I might feel on the parent side of the issue at this time. It's interesting because in our jigsaw group discussion on chapter 6, we talked about a similar issue. Wagner points out how parents of the innovators he showcased in his book limited screen time, but also set an important distinction between screen time where kids are watching TV and playing video games, often independently, and screen time in classrooms where kids are engaged in collaborative learning projects. I certainly agree that there is a difference, but it makes sense that there should be some balance, or some limit, somewhere. In education it always seems that the pendulum swings from one extreme to the other before settling somewhere in the middle. It will be interesting to see how this issue unfolds. I'd also be curious to hear from the perspectives of the parents in our EBTL2 class, since they are also educators involved in the BYOD initiative and growing world of technology.

So, I'm a parent of a 7th grader and a 3rd grader, and obviously I'm also involved as a teacher at RMHS. We have 1:1 iPads in my LLD English classes but they stay at school. I haven't had any push-back from parents so far about assignments or screen time. I did look at this link, and I looked at the forum as well, and I think as a parent, what was a little concerning about the forum comments, was the lack of empathy and understanding from teachers towards parents. As a parent, I also have concerns about screen time, and I see that there are certainly ways that we can limit recreational screen time. We do as much as we can. But, sometimes if my 7th grader has a project, I might not know much more about it than she is able to communicate to me (sometimes this is a lot, and sometimes it is not much). There have only been a few times when this has happened, but I have tried to set some limit about how much time to spend on the project, my daughter has really fought it, because she's been concerned about not doing a good job, etc. Occasionally new technology or apps take longer for her to master than the intended time for the project or assignment, and so something simple or seemingly quick takes much longer than it should. Situations like this can turn parents off to technology if they don't understand the big picture, or if they don't have any confidence that the teacher understands the big picture. Sometimes we don't give kids enough time in class to "play around" with apps or new approaches before turning them loose to do an assignment independently, and that too, can lead to stressful situations at home where both parent and child don't know how to do the assignment. I think the point is that any change is going to make people uncomfortable, and some folks are going to react more strongly than others. The more we can communicate and explain what's happening, and let parents know that the technology and experimentation is a vital part of the learning proce

I know many teachers already use QR codes regularly, but I'm just getting started and enjoyed looking through this teacher's ideas. I especially love the student responsibility calendar.

Thanks for the great ideas. I love the idea of using QR codes in the classroom. I think the QR code calendar is a good one. I may try using it soon. The possibilities are endless!

We qr. coded the BYOD instructions. Qr codes are really useful.

This set of slides by Richard Wells visually represents their Responsible Use Policy. It can easily be adapted for the BYOD environment as well.

Interesting - it looks like this company is trying to make a tablet that is tailored for education. I like this idea because the iPads seem to be designed to profit the Apple company, which makes some things (such as the lack of Flash compatibility) a hindrance in the classroom.

We actually met with the rep from this company last spring. He was at MassCUE as well. At the time we could not purchase any of the tablets. They were in the beta stage. When I saw the rep at MassCUE, he mentioned that they applied many of the suggestions we made when he showed us the tablet last spring. The interesting piece was that we still are not able to purchase them yet!

Having access to a tablet specifically designed for education would be beneficial. ipads are great, but like you said, something like the lack of Flash Player can be frustrating. With increasing use of technology in schools, the devices will hopefully get more educator friendly.