Group items tagged

Reviews of typing/keyboarding software for kids

Adrienne's blogpost on Software to help students manage/reflect on their time

"Sugar is a learning platform that reinvents how computers are used for education. Collaboration, reflection, and discovery are integrated directly into the user interface. Sugar promotes "studio thinking" and "reflective practice". Through Sugar's clarity of design, children and teachers have the opportunity to use computers on their own terms. Students can reshape, reinvent, and reapply both software and content into powerful learning activities. Sugar's focus on sharing, criticism, and exploration is grounded in the culture of free software (FLOSS)."

"Children who are taught how to think and act like scientists develop a clearer understanding of the subject, a study has shown. The research project led by The University of Nottingham and The Open University has shown that school children who took the lead in investigating science topics of interest to them gained an understanding of good scientific practice. The study shows that this method of 'personal inquiry' could be used to help children develop the skills needed to weigh up misinformation in the media, understand the impact of science and technology on everyday life and help them to make better personal decisions on issues including diet, health and their own effect on the environment. The three-year project involved providing pupils aged 11 to 14 at Hadden Park High School in Bilborough, Nottingham, and Oakgrove School in Milton Keynes with a new computer toolkit named nQuire, now available as a free download for teachers and schools. Running on both desktop PCs and handheld notebook-style devices, the software is a high-tech twist on the traditional lesson plan - guiding the pupils through devising and planning scientific experiments, collecting and analysing data and discussing the results."  Software is free to download

Creating videos used to require that you own expensive equipment and software. Fortunately, that is no longer the case. In fact, now there are many tools you can use to create videos online. Here is a collection of great tools for creating videos online.

Free mathematics software for learning and teaching --  Interactive graphics, algebra and spreadsheet,  From elementary school to university level,  Free learning materials

Summary via The Scout Report (May 2012): "Fashion Institute of Technology: Teaching & Learning Resources ---- Located in New York City, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is known for its excellent programs in fashion design, marketing, and related fields. What people may not know is that FIT also has a great collection of materials for teachers, courtesy of its Center for Excellence in Teaching. The site includes sections such as Printable Resources, Syllabus and Student Learning Outcomes, and Podcasts, Videos and Powerpoints. In the Printable Resources area, visitors can view 15 different handouts, including "Good Teaching Practices for Software" and "Classroom Feedback Questionnaire." Moving on, the Syllabus and Student Learning Outcomes area includes sample syllabi and information on evaluating student learning. Finally, the site also includes helpful videos titles "First-day Icebreakers" and "Tips for Teachers." [KMG]"

An interesting read about what may become important to us in the future 3D printers may become very important to us. The true potential is when we can design our own remotes, with our our own sense of flair, using design software, and then print in our own homes.  Cottage industries might emerge, contests, DIY markets - and all fueled by creativity and inventiveness.

We want to ensure student safety as well as monitor and filter their online behavior. As Web 2.0 becomes more popular and educational technology online sites replace desktop software, this has become more of an issue. A lot of subscription-based or ed tech sites require a student email address to create an account which can become a BIG issue when dealing with CIPA compliance, because a majority of students to not have a school email account. Here are 20 Web 2.0 sites that do not require a student email address to create an account. This list is in alphabetical order. 

Software from MIT will create a custom jumbotron diaplay from any number of devices arranged in space. 

""The amount of potential unlocked by the industrial revolution is dwarfed in information terms by what you can do with computers," said Ari Geshner, a senior software engineer at Palantir, a much-discussed data analysis startup whose customers include US intelligence and defense agencies. "Digital literacy is about learning to use the most powerful tools we've ever built." The tricky part comes in defining what exactly is meant by "use." Most people who use computers don't know how to build software. Does that mean they're digitally illiterate?"

"Digital literacy is about learning to use the most powerful tools we've ever built."

Twurdy uses text analysis software to "read" each page before it is displayed in the results. Then Twurdy gives each page a readability level. Twurdy then shows the readability level of the page along with a color coded system to help users determine how easy the page will be to understand.

This template was made by Tyler Sherwood, principal of Chatsworth East: With so many expensive classroom walkthrough software solutions, I decided to make something simple and easy to use for my own school. I can use this to get in and out in under 10 minutes (walkthroughs are intended to be 3-5).

interesting presentation of new definitions of digital literacies... 

"wcsmusic, formerly i music, is an exciting concept aimed at widening access to musical excellence through the production of revolutionary interactive learning materials. Due to the generosity of our funding partners, our products are available completely - FREE OF CHARGE. These include our award winning software, The Virtual Javanese Gamelan, and our second module, Virtual West African Drumming. These materials will offer a full 'hands on' practical exploration of an aspect of music from a computer workstation, integrating performance, composition and aural perception. Follow the links to discover more about the materials we are offering. wcsmusic is the trademark of Wells Cathedral School."

This looks cool... tutorials teach you how to edit progressively more complex objects. Can be 3D printed.

useful in switching from Google Reader to Feedly

To download new plug-ins, click on the name of a category in the list on the right, then click on the name of the plug-in for more details, or click one of the plug-ins in the lists below right.