RCS Tech Share

From USA Today: "The In Your Arms video, which has received nearly 4 million views on YouTube since Grannis posted it in November, required creating 2,460 frames, each of which took between five minutes and three hours to fill in with jelly beans. The entire video took 22 months to make." Great inspiration for an animation project, no?

From the site: "We're putting everything you need to know about learning to use iPad at your fingertips. So now is a great time to get started exploring the possibilities. See how iPad gives you and your students the best way to view videos, engage with content, create projects, and turn learning into a hands-on experience."

Date: Thursday - April 04, 2013 Time: 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM Location: The Hewitt School Speaker: Jenny Kirsch   The Hewitt School 45 E 75th Street New York, NY 10021 Grades 4-12 With just a few great tools, teachers can easily provide students with a broader, more vivid learning experience. This workshop will begin with an introduction to Google Chrome, featuring specific Chrome Extensions geared to helping teachers become more efficient in their daily tasks. The morning will be devoted to exploring filters for Google and YouTube searches, and learning how to build custom Google search engines. In the afternoon you will hear from teachers and students who are using concrete applications of Google Apps for Education in their classrooms. The end of the day will be reserved for experimentation with your newly acquired knowledge of Google Apps, so be sure to come with a laptop* and a few curriculum ideas you'd like to enhance!

From the site: "Help your students become better searchers Web search can be a remarkable tool for students, and a bit of instruction in how to search for academic sources will help your students become critical thinkers and independent learners. With the materials on this site, you can help your students become skilled searchers- whether they're just starting out with search, or ready for more advanced training."

For more info, view the link below: http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/01/can-google-help-students-master-art-online-search

iPad music creation app. 

Shows how long it would take a desktop computer to crack your password. Also tells you whether your "creative" variation on a word is enough to fool a brute force attack. 

Ever heard of AutoCAD? Maya? 3ds Max? Autodesk has some of the best 3D software on the market, and they give it to faculty and students for free. 

Sort of a Rube Goldberg machine builder (read: physics puzzle) for your iOS device. 

"Creativity and design play a significant role in every part of our lives. Here you will find a new approach to design, sustainability, and creative problem-solving using Autodesk software."

Augmented reality authoring app for iOS and Android. Supports images and video. 

iPad/iPod apps, sorted by discipline, then category within discipline. Really awesome list.

This teacher chose to have his students create RSA Animate-style videos as "an easy way to make them visualize their information, make connections, and re-tell their facts in a story that had a very tight story line that flowed.  All skills that would transfer nicely to any traditional essay." He really emphasizes the preparation and planning stages, which is great. He also talks about the process, which is useful.  All said, a great resource.

Totally free, totally awesome resource for learning programming.

"How do we get people to understand programming? We change programming. We turn it into something that's understandable by people." Excellent demonstration of application of contextual understanding toward learning.

From the site: "Adobe Youth Voices Essentials provides free curricula and tools for educators to inspire young people to create digital media on issues they care about. Based on the best practices of educators from around the world, our curricula promotes youth expression, creativity, and engagement, helping young people build critical 21st century technology and life skills."

A great explanation of the power of blended learning, whether or not you think Khan's Academy is the pinnacle of the practice. "Educational technology pioneer Salman Khan maps how online learning tools can help physical classrooms evolve to become hubs for creativity and hands-on experiences, and how Khan Academy and the Discovery Lab summer camp fit into that big picture."

Full troubleshooting and learning guide. Also covers software and use.

"By working together on problem sets in math and sharing their perspectives in roundtable discussions in English, students at The College Preparatory School are making collaboration the driving force in their learning." Some great examples of collaboration -- both in practice and theory.