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"iSchool: a closer look at Manhattan Beach Unified's iPad pilot program email Does Manhattan Beach Unified's iPad pilot program represent the future of education? Kindergarten students at Grand View Elementary School use iPads two times a week. Photo by Alene Tchekmedyian Kindergarten students at Grand View Elementary School use iPads two times a week. Photo by Alene Tchekmedyian Just before 8 a.m. one recent Tuesday, Andy Caine wheeled a waist-high cart into his second-floor history classroom at Mira Costa High School, as the Beach Boys' "I Get Around" played faintly in the background. On the syllabus for the day: the First Amendment. As the first period bell rang, Caine unlocked the cart. "Come and get 'em," Caine said to his class of seniors, and stood behind his podium, on which he's pasted a sticker reading, "Think for yourself. Question Authority." The students put aside their pens and notebooks and lined up at the cart to pick up an unconventional tool that school districts across the nation have been implementing into classrooms. Each student grabbed an iPad and returned to his or her seat. Caine is one of 43 Manhattan Beach Unified School District teachers chosen to try the $500,000 iPad pilot program, which started last fall. At Mira Costa, two English, math, science and social studies teachers use iPads, along with eight science teachers at Manhattan Beach Middle School and 27 teachers of different grade levels at each elementary school. The district purchased 560 student iPads (32 gigabytes and costing around $700 each), in addition to iPads for pilot teachers and administrators. A quarter of the pilot costs are grant funded, while the district supports the rest. Later this year, the School Board will decide whether, and in what capacity, to continue the pilot. Caine and pilot teachers implement iPads into their curricula two to three times a week, a total of 30 to 90 minutes. "I would use them every day if I had the po

Jul 8 Page Navigation in Google forms Today, we're excited to announce that we've expanded our logic branching capabilities in Google forms. Previously, a form creator had to add an extensive amount of multiple choice questions to the form to ensure that respondents were directed to the correct pages of the form. Form creators can now use a simpler page navigation feature to direct respondents to relevant pages regardless of their answers. Instead of using "dummy" multiple choice questions, form creators can now use "Go to page based on answer" multiple choice questions in conjunction with the new page navigation capabilities to make a simple, easy-to-follow form.

The Next Generation of Digital Books Our Choice will change the way we read books. And quite possibly change the world. In this interactive app, Al Gore surveys the causes of global warming and presents groundbreaking insights and solutions already under study and underway that can help stop the unfolding disaster of global warming. Our Choice melds the vice president's narrative with photography, interactive graphics, animations, and more than an hour of engrossing documentary footage. A new, groundbreaking multi-touch interface allows you to experience that content seamlessly. Pick up and explore anything you see in the book; zoom out to the visual table of contents and quickly browse though the chapters; reach in and explore data-rich interactive graphics.

"Everybody prefers a handwritten letter to an email. With Writing-fonts you can compose a handwritten letter online and send it to whom ever you choose. It looks completely realistic, as though you had scanned it yourself and you can even use your own handwriting! SEE EXAMPLE Upload your own personal handwriting font from your hardrive. If you don't have your own handwriting font yet you can get it made here. There are also some default handwritten fonts to choose from. Select a paper variety of your choice. Select your pen choice & whether or not you want lines on your paper. Type your letter out (or just copy & paste) Adjust the font & line spacing and size. Fill out your name & email and the recipients name & email and SEND! "

"The concept is simple. Allow students 20% of class time, or one day a week, to work on and explore one topic of their choice." - Sean Ziebarth

"The Khan Academy has been in the education news lately but it's not the kind of publicity that its founder, Salman Khan, would have chosen if given a choice."

"YouTube is packed full of educational stuff to share with students. It is usually our first choice when thinking about video resources online. It is true that YouTube interface is not student friendly particularly with the annoying ads and sometimes irrelevant and indecent content on the list of the featured videos but thanks to web technologies , we can now use these awesome tools to easily control the content that is displayed on YouTube and make it educationally relevant platform for our students. "

"Why I still want MS and HS to have a Laptop I received a tweet a couple days ago asking why I still believed laptops, in this case MacBooks, are the right choice for middle school and high school students."

HTML Gear makes it easy to add and manage multiple widgets, including guestbooks, polls, feedback forms and more. Best of all it's FREE! Guest Gear Get comments from your visitors with our highly customizable guest book. Poll Gear Find out what your visitors think! Create colorful polls on the topics of your choice. Link Gear Manage links, count clicks, and let your visitors recommend sites. Feedback Gear Get feedback from your visitors without having to reveal your e-mail address. Event Gear Share dates and coordinate group events. Text Gear Put different words of wisdom, tips, factoids, or quotes on your page each time your page loads. Headline Gear Place current headlines from a variety of hot news categories on your site.

"TRAILS is a knowledge assessment with multiple-choice questions targeting a variety of information literacy skills based on sixth and ninth grade standards. This Web-based system was developed to provide an easily accessible and flexible tool for library media specialists and teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses in the information-seeking skills of their students."

"PaperRater.com analyzes documents immediately, 24/7, in real-time. We provide in depth analysis to help the student improve grammar and writing. You would expect PaperRater.com to take into account all rules related to spelling and grammar. However, you may be surprised to learn that Paper Rater also helps the student to improve the document's readability, word choice, and style. Additional analysis and comments are provided that help the student to improve his/her writing, not only on this assignment, but in all future writing assignments. Coming Soon! Even though PaperRater.com is the most powerful writing tool available on the internet today, we are currently developing many additional features, including: * grammar and writing tutorials * grammar and writing webinars * ability to create a personal database online for essays and research papers * search hundreds of online databases automatically"

will explain the process of making a custom book from a series of wikipedia pages. The process produces a pdf, (other choices are available) downloads it you your desktop... and just waits for you to insert it into the iBooks library..... and you can custom create your chapters/topics etc.

"While the laptop remains the tech tool of choice for most college students, many are embracing portable and innovative tablets like the iPad. Since its release in 2010, the iPad has taken the tech market by storm and become a popular, educational and fun tool for both teachers and students alike. It is increasingly infiltrating college education, with some schools even offering free iPads for enrollees. Whether you're a college student looking for new apps to stock your iPad or someone just curious what kind of appropriate resources are out there, start your search with these 48 great apps. Among them, students will find help with everything from keeping homework organized to finding the perfect first date spot - and just about everything in between."

Are you a Flubaroo user? MCQ your choice? Watch this video on a new Google add-on named "Super Quiz". This may be the next best option for Google Forms.

Website designed to teach teens about Internet safety through videos, games and comics. Educators can register for a free account so they can access lesson plans, discussion questions and more.

Interesting read and twist on the influence of magnet schools and public education.