Group items tagged

Ideas for using texting at school.

great article. relevant to today's discussion about web 2.0 / social media. for those who didn't read it. Here's there article's list of interesting sms based tools for education use: Remind101: Remind101 allows teachers to send text messages (and email) home -- to students and/or to parents -- to offer reminders and updates for class. Remind101 allows teachers to communicate with their classes without either teacher or students having to share their phone numbers. Poll Everywhere: As the name suggests, Poll Everywhere allows teachers to use cellphones for polling in class. Students text their responses, using their cellphones to give feedback, answer questions, take quizzes. Celly: Celly provides SMS-based group messaging. Classrooms can use the service to take quick polls and quizzes, filter messages, get news updates, take notes, and organize and hold study groups. The groups can be public or private, moderated or open. StudyBoost: StudyBoost allows students to study via SMS-based quizzes. The questions can be self- or teacher-created, and can be multiple choice or open-ended.

I like Celly for its group messaging and polling applications. Note: The link to "Poll Anywhere" is broken.

This is a free polling website you can use in classrooms.

Results of an opinion poll commissioned by Dell comparing technology use in schools in the US, Germany, and China. There's a bit of we're-falling-behind-China hysteria here, I think, but it does highlight some opportunities. Also, Dell's Education Challenge is investing $30,000 in university student (graduate or undergraduate) projects to innovate learning in K-12 schools. Deadline is at the end of October. http://www.dellchallenge.org/k12

Teens today say that the ability to freely use Facebook and Twitter at work could influence their decision to accept a job

We know a good deal about the contents of this article arlready, but its a TIME article and it links to some interesting studies and polls. http://nation.time.com/2012/10/18/higher-education-poll/?pcd=teaser and this should encourage us, as we pay through the nose for this education: David Stavens (Udacity's co-founder, and Stanford alum) concedes. "I think the top 50 schools are probably safe," he says. "There's a magic that goes on inside a university campus that, if you can afford to live inside that bubble, is wonderful." ... I agree with Mr. Stavens . I hope you do too. See you in class!

A USA TODAY report! Does this mean that Occupy is not true democratization.

I think civic engagement in general fails to capture Americans' interest if you look at voting demographics and overall participation in local government.

In order to get around the clunkiness of the LMS my school uses I am always looking for tools like this one. The problem with doing this is that sometimes they cost money, they usually expose students to advertising (which I think is an ethical issue when you're dealing with a captured audience), and they all require a time commitment to familiarize myself and my students. I'm not sure what it is about systems like Blackboard (which charges incredible amounts of money) that hamper its visual appeal and design for intuitive use.