APPitic is a directory of apps for education by Apple Distinguished Educators to help teachers transform teaching and learning. These apps have been tested in a variety of different grade levels, instructional strategies and classroom settings.
And the plan envisions a fundamental change in the role of teachers, making them less a lecturer at the front of the room and more of a guide helping students through lessons delivered on computers
The key sentence for me is in the second paragraph:"And the plan envisions a fundamental change in the role of teachers, making them less a lecturer at the front of the room and more of a guide helping students through lessons delivered on computers" - I see that as not just related to technology but to the new strucyure for how classrooms should be organized. To make technology the scapegoat for this new organization is deflecting from the bigger issue of how to teach effectively, through lecture or through inquiry-based, project based, and constructivist methodologies.
Recently, Christine Wiser T&L's Managing Editor, asked the Tech Advisors the following question:
What do you think are the top three most important issues facing K-12 edtech this year?
1. Mobile device adoption. Especially bring your own device program implementation.
2. Getting people to really understand what is meant by 21st century teaching and learning.
3. Anytime, anywhere learning.
"the school's chief teaching tools are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles and, occasionally, mud. Not a computer to be found. No screens at all. They are not allowed in the classroom, and the school even frowns on their use at home."
"Students and Professors Sound Off on the State of the College Lecture"
Lots of personal examples, not a lot of theory. But useful to hear both sides of the experience.
skill-driven mixes interaction with a facilitator through email, discussion forums, and face-to-face meetings with self-paced learning, such as Web-based courses and books.
A classroom music experience in which 24 kids (many on iPads) and several professional musicians collaborated on a piece of digital music. The piece they created may not shatter any sales records (though it is actually on sale in the iTunes store), but it's certainly not bad for student work. It's unclear how long they worked on this piece, or how many takes were involved, but the resulting music and video are good. And the students are left with a downloadable song that they created.
So here are my questions:
- are these students learning music?
- is their learning transferable to real instruments?
- to tweak Sting's words: is technology a legitimate teacher in this case?
Report from 2006 which summarizes the state of research into educational technology's effectiveness. Positive results for different types of tech use in schools are categorized into a taxonomy of learning goals.
This is a very comprehensive review. As usual technology is shown effective only when supported well and integrated into teaching and learning with fidelity.
"Social networking is no longer an enemy of learning. Social networking should be taught more widely and in more depth in schools. No longer are we able to stick our heads in the sand about these communication tools. Nor should educators distance themselves from using them."
"I used to have to tell my students about phenomena, or have them read; now I can show them," says Jim Doane, a science teacher at Scarborough Middle School, in Scarborough, Maine. When we begin adding digital demonstrations through video and Flash animation, we are giving students new, better ways to get information."
This is sooo true - I love that I can show my kindergartners a video of a baby worm hatching from it's cocoon because the odds of us being able to see it in our worm bin despite the number of actual cocoons we may see are very,very low! Or videos of leaves changing color (in fast time) when we discuss chlorphyll and sunlight and fall. Or a magnificent closeup of our very own red wigglers as they "move" across the Promethean Board.