Mobile learning is becoming very popular. Here are 50 mobile learning resources to help you in integrating mobile learning in your classroom.
http://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/index.php/2009/11/02/top-50-mobile-learning-resources/#iPad is King in Education! Here is why. @web20classroom
March 4, 2012
Today I was reading the blog of Steven Anderson, District Instructional Technologist with Winston-Salem Schools in Winston-Salem NC, where he was discussing “Taking a Step Back and Thinking Critically About Technology“. Take a moment to read the article to understand my standpoint below.
So why is iPad King in Education? Apps! When you have a center store filled with over 500,000 apps, with 25 billion downloads, and countless developers always creating new things, then selecting the iPad for your classroom seems obvious. Now with the creation of the iBooks Author, Apple has just added another tid-bit to entice educators more than they already do.
I agree with Steven that there are a lot of schools and districts buying iPads just to say that they have them. (Points to myself.) While I did support the purchase of the iPads for our main curriculum tool now looking back I would go another way. I am one of those educators that believes that “I” am the curriculum in my room, everything else is just a tool that I use. So why would I go with something else rather than the just sticking with the iPad? Simple, Google. The collaboration that comes with Google Docs, Calendar, Blogger, and other various tools is ULTIMATE. In a profession where collaboration works, Google needs to be used in schools more often than it currently is. While the iPad does work with Google, it does not tap into Google’s collaborative features. This is why I personally would go with the Chromebook. I like those collaborative features and students need to learn to collaborate more than they currently are.
Technology-Enhances-Learning-Infographic
February 25, 2012
via blog.socrato.com
I am not surprised by the fact that “Traditional textbooks help my students” is so high. They do, but they do not keep them engaged. I am a little surprised with the results “Traditional textbooks engage my students”. What bothers me is the “Agree somewhat”. I have NEVER read a textbook that kept me engaged until the very end. Most of the time it gets to a point where it is just drudgery but I continue on because I know that I have too. Students don’t feel that sentiment. They completely check out.
I believe that we can have the same content that is currently in our textbooks, but just delivered in a more engaging way. Currently I am exploring Apple’s iBooks Author and all of the options that come with it. I am using it to create some curriculum with readings, review questions, and videos, rather than going with my normal approach. I am very optimistic that this will prove to be much more effective.
Leading with Instructional Technology Post 5
February 17, 2012
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I was completely blown away with Doug this evening. I was anticipating that this evening would be mostly teaching about Google tools and how they work, of which I do know most of them. Hearing Doug speak into about how important it is to having students be creating material during their learning venture. Creation is the most difficult part of Bloom’s. A lot of teachers do not really spend a lot of time using that upper-end Bloom’s because they find it very time consuming and difficult. It is suppose to be difficult. Most of the learning that we experience in our lives comes from difficult tasks. Even if we were not able to accomplish it the first try, once we did we never forgot how we succeeded in that. It is time for more teachers to be innovative with their kids and get them creating authentic content. I can totally see how Google Apps can help with this.
In order for me to really start diving into this with my iPads in my classrooms I really need to have more access to technology. Students do not have email and are not allowed email access while at school. Seems a little bit backwards for me to have such a rule but then give them an iPad to use everyday.
Leading with Instructional Technology Post 4 (@NMHS_Principal)
February 14, 2012
With a very difficult and busy week, it was nice to take some time and sit down and watch some motivational videos. With the first video on motivation, I tried very hard to view the rewards system from a teacher-student standpoint rather than an administrator-teacher. It is easy to see how this would apply from employer to an employee, but how do we get kids to use those difficult cognitive abilities without performance taking a hit?
It is very interesting that the second video that was presented by Salman Khan talked about “Flipping the Classroom”. Just this week I was reading Eric Sheninger’s blog “A Principal’s Reflection” on that very topic. You can read that article here. In the article he talks about some chemistry teachers from Colorado who have completely “flipped” their classroom by recording their lectures and direct instruction and using those recordings as homework while using class time to work on projects that help support the videos.
The vast majority of classrooms, especially at the secondary level, expect all students within a class to learn the given material in one set, standard amount of time. 1:1 technology, combined with the power of the flipped classroom, frees us to allow students to complete material at a more individualized pace.
While I do agree that a “flipped” classroom like this can allow for more flexibility and individualized pace for students who need it, it is important to always remember that technology is only a tool and not a complete answer to solve all problems. While I am very big on using educational technology, I recognize that it is very important to have staff that is well trained in order to effectively use that technology in their classrooms. It is also important to have staff that are willing to take the risk and try something new. Others will follow when they see its benefits. Shoving it down teachers throats will get you no where. There must be buy-in in order to create an effective “flipped” classroom. If the teacher does not believe that it would help their students, then it won’t.
Leading with Instructional Technology Post 3
February 5, 2012
Are we living in the 21st century? Yesterday it was apparent to me that we wern’t. Saturday I took my Administrative ORELA exam. You would think that the test would be online and the results would be instant. That is something that we want our students to do to give them instant feedback on how they are doing, but when it comes to having adults get those instant results, testing facilities who determine Oregon’s highly qualified status of teachers and administrators are against this type of testing. This really made me think about what is an “optimal learning environment”. For me it is more than just the learning aspect but the assessment aspect as well. Students use new media on a regular basis and are almost given instant feedback without having to ask for it. In regards Sugata Mitra’s talk on TED, kids want to absorb information at an alarming rate. They will do almost anything too get that knowledge through technologic devices and social media. I do believe that we need to be teaching kids to create media rather than just being consumers of it. They have already gotten that skill down and it puts most of us adults to shame. At a recent conference I was at I ran into a science teacher whose entire school website is made up of every child’s blog. Every bit of their work was created online for everyone to see, share, and collaborate. They were creating and consuming on a daily basis. This is where I would like to see more school headed with getting kids to use those 21st century skills that will be required of them.
Leading with Instructional Technology Post 2 @mcleod
February 4, 2012
I really do love the entire “Did you know?” series. If you have not had a chance to see them all I have posted them below. With “Did you know? 4.0″ it really does put a lot of things into perspective as does the entire series. Times are changing and they are very exponential. Things that use to take us hours to do now we can do in minutes due to technology, and sometimes we take that technology for granted. I am sure there are some educators out there that remember the wonderful mimeograph machines. I am not of that era but I have heard tons of talk about them. I was once in a conversation with another teacher who was part of the mimeograph era where the district had ordered pallets of the duplicator fluid because it went on such a good sale that they wanted to take advantage of the savings. The very next school year the first Xerox machine was released and the mimeograph was obsolete. Now that fluid is useless and I am sure by now has been disposed of or sits in a warehouse collecting dust.
Leading with Instructional Technology Post 2 @mcleod
January 29, 2012
I really do love the entire “Did you know?” series. If you have not had a chance to see them all I have posted them below. With “Did you know? 4.0″ it really does put a lot of things into perspective as does the entire series. Times are changing and they are very exponential. Things that use to take us hours to do now we can do in minutes due to technology, and sometimes we take that technology for granted. I am sure there are some educators out there that remember the wonderful mimeograph machines. I am not of that era but I have heard tons of talk about them. I was once in a conversation with another teacher who was part of the mimeograph era where the district had ordered pallets of the duplicator fluid because it went on such a good sale that they wanted to take advantage of the savings. The very next school year the first Xerox machine was released and the mimeograph was obsolete. Now that fluid is useless and I am sure by now has been disposed of or sits in a warehouse collecting dust.
There is lots of talk about what education should have taken advantage of when a particular edtech tool was around but is now obsolete as well as on the other side of things, education waiting for the newest tool to integrate into classrooms so they can get more bang for their buck. Note to the districts on the latter, you will ALWAYS be waiting. I don’t like to use the terms never and always because they are absolutes, but in this case it is fitting. Technology moves so fast with its changes and education does not move fast enough. The minute our district purchased classroom sets of iPads for their science departments, news of the iPad 2 was officially released, so instantly we were behind. Now if we had waited six more months and purchased them, rumors of the iPad 3 started rolling out. So no matter what there is always going to be something better on the horizon and we shouldn’t as educators stay behind in this technology world waiting for the best tool for our students. Use the best tool for your students that is available to you today. Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
Here is the “Did you know?” series. These videos are created by Scott McLeod (@mcleod) from the University of Kentucky CASTLE.
Leading with Instructional Technology Post 1
January 21, 2012
Thursday was a very profound evening for me. It started with meeting some great new people in educational leadership, all with different skill sets in technology but how no matter how different our skill set, we all have the same thing set as our first priority, what is best for kids.
Watching the video Learning to Change-Changing to Learn really echoed some thoughts and reflections that I have had about 21st century skills that kids really need to be learning in schools today. I am a firm believer that students are learning more on their social networks, smart phones, and online video games than they are in some of our traditional bricks and mortar schools that we have around the country. Skills that our students need in order to be 21st century ready are currently not being introduced in many parts of the country. Having kids turn off their devices that connect them with the world is like shutting down the kid themselves. Students get up early to text message friends, check their Facebook, and learn something new all before breakfast and heading out the door to school, only to be unconnected from 8am to 3pm. Notice I didn’t say that kids were checking their email, email is outdated to this generation. If you are like me and can’t live with out your email then we are the generation that is behind the students we are educating, because those students can’t live without their Facebook pages. I go many days without checking my Facebook page, but I do not leave home without my phone that instantly lets me know when I have email waiting for me.
Careers that our current students will be employed at for the most part have not even been created yet. These careers do not require our students to be able to rattle off facts that are just stored in their head. These will require them to have a completely different skill set in order to be successful. Do our kids know where to look for answers? Do they know how to synthesis data? Communicate? Collaborate with a team to solve tomorrows problems? Thinking of these questions really brings me back to a core concept that every teacher has been exposed to, Bloom’s Taxonomy. These skills are really centralized around Bloom’s analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These are the three classifications that are the hardest for kids when working on school work in the traditional sense because they are not use to doing it, but you give them a tech tool like an iPad, it almost becomes second nature.
This responsibility of making sure that our kids are 21st century ready with a different skill set than most of us were raised with is not something that I personally lay on teachers. I lay this responsibility on the leaders of today schools. Leaders need to provide teachers with the appropriate professional development and time to use the tools that will help them educate their students with 21st century skills. Many times leaders give professional development to their staff for the sake of professional development without much follow up or further direction. If we want our students to collaborate outside the traditional classroom, then we need to give teachers the training and time to collaborate outside the classroom as well.
Recently I saw a video on TED about creating a movement that was eye opening. Creating a movement to help our kids attain 21st century skills is what is needed. Leaders need to be the first ones “out in the crowd” to be ridiculed, but it doesn’t mean they are wrong. These leaders are not the ones that help start a movement, the first follower does. They help transform the leader and create the movement. So what does this mean for me? If I am not leading people into the movement, then I need to be the first follower and show others how to follow.
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf
7 Google Tools You Don’t Know About…Yet! – SimpleK12
November 4, 2011
We all know Google Search. And Google Documents. And Google Earth. But… there are many uncharted Google tools in Google Labs (many not even released yet!) that I bet you didn’t know exist.
Leave a comment and let me know if you’ve heard of any of these…
1.) Google Body - Looking for a 3D model of the human body? Go where no student has gone before… You can peel back the anatomical layers, zoom in, and navigate through parts of the body. You can search muscle groups, organs, bones and so much more!
2.) Google Mars - Doesn’t look promising that you’ll be able to send your students to Mars anytime soon… at least not in person! Take a tour of Mars with this nifty Google tool where you can view the planet in three views: Elevation, Visible, or Infrared.
3.) Google Building Maker - A great 3D modeling tool used for adding buildings to Google Earth. You can select a city and create a real building in that city based on images provided by Google.
4.) Google Swiffy - Annoyed that you can’t view Flash files on your iPad? You’re not alone. Haven’t tried this one myself, but Google claims “Swiffy converts Flash SWF files to HTML5, allowing you to reuse Flash content on devices without a Flash player (such as iPhones and iPads).
5.) Google Music India - Listen to thousands of full Indian songs. You can search by artist, albums, or songs. Great way to spice up a lesson on India.
6.) Google App Inventor - Who said you needed to be a programmer to build great mobile applications? With Google’s App Inventor you can visually design applications and use blocks to specify application logic.
7.) Google Image Swirl - Have visual learners in your classroom? With this neat tool from Google you can organize image search results based on their visual and semantic similarities. They results are displayed in a unique exploratory interface, great for brainstorming, researching, and exploring.
nsandberg
