February 2012
133 posts
2 tags
2 tags
Using the "Instant" Polaroid emulator →
Today, I purchased a little app called “Instant” in the App store for Mac. Here are some of the picts I have played with. It is pretty sweet and simple: Drop your pict into the camera, it “develops” it, and then you can play with various filters.
Here is the link: http://instantmacapp.com/
4 tags
Video: Donald Trump Jr. reads to Cooley Elementary... →
The power of the internet:
The teacher in this class started to randomly ask celebrities on Twitter i they would read to her class as part of Dr. Suess’s Birthday. Donald Trump Jr responded back, and , using Skype for the first time ever, connected with these kids.
Lessons learned:
Don’t be afraid to ask.
Technology levels the playing field.
Use your technology to transform...
5 tags
Stop Stealing Dreams: Seth Godin →
From the Website:
The economy has changed, probably forever. School hasn’t. School was invented to create a constant stream of compliant factory workers to the growing businesses of the 1900s. It continues to do an excellent job at achieving this goal, but it’s not a goal we need to achieve any longer. In this 30,000 word manifesto, I imagine a different set of goals and start (I...
3 tags
On the Shoulders of Giants: 21st Century PD →
From the Article:
What do you think PD should look like in today’s schools?
When I posed this question on the TLN forum, teachers emphasized individualization of PD experiences, where teachers would have the opportunity to create their own professional development goals and seek out resources. Teacher-driven action research was also mentioned as an important form of PD. What should we...
How to remove your Google Web Data History
paulalexbriseno:
Do you know if Google is tracking your Web activity? If you have a Google account (for, say, Gmail) and have not specifically located and paused the Web History setting, then the search giant is keeping track of your searches and the sites you visited. This data has been separated from other Google products, but on March 1 it will be shared across all of the Google products...
2 tags
(Not) a Single Story: A freer way to read books →
opebukola:
Lately I’ve been having a major love-hate relationship with my Kindle. Before getting a Kindle, I was among those readers who swore they’d never turn to e-readers. I’ve always had a collection of books and, through moving 8 times in 5 years, my bookshelf has been one of the constants of my life….
1 tag
The Next List: Yves Behar wants design to change... →
I am still not convinced that the OLPC was a success. Yes, a bunch were sent out, but many still question giving laptops to kids that are in areas where civil war and food supplies rule the day. When I saw Negroponte at ISTE one year, he was showing a video of people using the OLPC laptop for light in their huts. So I thought…we are giving laptops to people that not even have electricity in...
4 tags
BOR: A Sobering Snapshot of Texas Schools →
Thanks to Wes Fryer for pointing this out on Twitter. The problems continue for Texas schools trying to cope with the last legislative session’s funding cuts. “Do more with less” was the mantra spouted out by the legislature and the TEA and Rick Perry. Well, look what happens when you do “more with less.” Cuts to programs, cuts to schools, closing of schools,...
5 tags
A bit more from my upcoming publication: 180...
Question 132: What ways am I using to make myself a better educator?
Today, with close to universal access to the Internet, it is easy to connect not only with other teachers, but with experts in education theory, education pedagogy, best practices in every sub-field of education, and even education technology. The question no longer is “Can I connect to make myself a better educator?” The...
For a Growing Number of College Students,... →
emergentfutures:
Paul Higgins: Great Idea - Stop complaining about the dark and light a candle
infoneer-pulse:
Wikipedia doesn’t have a stellar reputation for scholarly accuracy, but its staggering collection of 20 million articles in 283 languages has nonetheless made it the go-to reference for the world’s students—it’s even the most plagiarized source on college campuses. Now, a growing...
4 tags
1 tag
4 tags
5 tags
5 tags
8 tags
Introducing Programming to Preschoolers: Apple... →
Dear Apple:
Listen up: You need to bring Scratch and Scratch Jr. from MIT to the iPad. Here are people discussing how to do it on iPad virtually: Come on now Apple, don’t even try to get me to believe that a bunch of Kindergarteners learning how to program will somehow cause the iTunes Store to crash. That is like telling me that my iPhone can cause the 747 to crash during takeoff.
...
3 tags
New Posts from Voices from the Learning Revolution
• Patti Grayson shares her first real project-based learning adventure, 4th-grade style! • Shelley Wright also told a story with PBL angle: she’s working with a group of HS students who’ll be providing live coverage of Canada’s Rural Education Congress in late March. They’re doing all the planning for their roles as e-journalists. • Margaret Haviland offered a leadership...
5 tags
When US Compares our 1st World Standards to 3rd... →
The tempest in a teapot about Apple’s working conditions is nothing new to anyone living on the US/Mexico border, where international companies have set up factories in Mexico to access cheap labor. In the US, we decry the working wage (what? Only $2 an hour???!!) but we completely forget that we are comparing our 1st world working conditions to a third world country. $2 an hour may suck to...
4 tags
My Series on the SAMR Model So Far: Intro, S and A
Here are the three videos I have created so far on the SAMR model.
Introduction, Substitution and Augmentation
Introduction:
Substitution:
Augmentation:
6 tags
5 tags
Beware of Infographics. iPad v. Textbooks.
Interesting that this is going around. There is a lot of “assuming” in this here graphic. I wonder how the data changes if districts/states create iBooks for free? That makes a lot more sense. Do we still have to buy textbooks from publishers when there are organizations like CK12.org or Connexions? Just saying that this is skewed WAY over the top if you insist on buying your own. But...
3 tags
TechLearning: Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally →
The elements cover many of the activities and objectives but they do not address the new objectives presented by the emergence and integration of Information and Communication Technologies into the classroom and the lives of our students.
Bloom’s digital taxonomy map
50 Alternatives to the Book Report →
theteachersdesk:
Character Astrology Signs
Heroes and Superheros
Create a Childhood for a character
Critique from the point of view of a specific organization
Social workers report
College application
School counselor’s recommendation letter
Talk show invitation
Radio exchange
Movie recommendations
Create a home page
Chat room conversations
E-mail directory
Title acrostic
...
3 tags
Ten Uses for Video in Education (Flip & iPad) →
I have been saying this for years: Video is the language of the 21st Century. Students need to know how to make video as well as they know how to write.—TBH
3 tags
Questions for Congressional Candidates El Paso...
As I do every election cycle. I have begun sending 10 questions to the candidates. If the past is an indication, this will be ignored by the incumbent, and the person with the lowest polling numbers will be the first to respond. I sent this to every candidate I could find an email for, that is running for the Congressional Seats in El Paso county. Not all...
6 tags
Shut the $%&! Up about iPads vs. Notbooks Running...
Okay boys and girls.
I have been sitting back and watching some of my edu-blogging buddies try their very best to still defend the use of Linux notebooks in schools as viable alternatives to iPads. In fact, at TCEA, I stumbled and mumbled my way through a panel discussion with Ben Grey, who has done the linux thing with his school district. He beat me at the issue. he was better prepared. He was...
4 tags
5 tags
4 tags
2 tags
International Professors Project: 10 Open... →
internationalprofessorsproject:
P2PU: The Peer 2 Peer University is a grassroots open education project in which anyone can participate. Volunteers facilitate the courses, but the learners are in charge. P2PU leverages both open content and the open social web, with a model for lifelong learning.
OpenStudy: OpenStudy is…
6 tags
What is a "consumable?" The iPad App Conundrum
Miguel Guhlin, no shrinking violet when it comes to asking hard questions on his blog, started a neat little discussion revolving around the idea that apps, specifically apps purchased for iPads in schools might one day be considered as “consumable products,” meaning those that are purchased with the knowledge that they will be handed out, used and then thrown away or taken home with...
5 tags
Start developing IOS apps roadmap →
This is a very helpful and well designed guide for anyone wanting to get started making programs for iPads iPhones or iPod touches.
From the site:
Creating iOS apps is fun and rewarding, and if you’re a new developer you might be wondering where to begin. This road map provides the perfect starting point for iOS app development. On your Mac computer,...
3 tags
ACT NOW to Restore EETT Funding in FY 2013!
I wonder how effective these movements actually are?
I figure letting you know can’t hurt, but really, E2T2 was totally eliminated two years ago.
Is this beating a dead horse?—TBH
ACT NOW to Restore EETT Funding in FY 2013!
Take Action!
Schools have never needed funding support from the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program more than...
3 tags
Study claims iPad helps rise in literacy for... →
From the site:
A study conducted in Auburn, Maine suggests that the iPad may be able to improve literacy rates among kindergarten students, notes The Loop. The Auburn School Department recently assigned iPads to half of the district’s 16 kindergarten classes for a period of nine weeks. This translated into 129 students being taught with iPads, and 137 without; to gauge results, all of the...
3 tags
5 tags
Alan J. Reid, Ph.D. Student Completely Misses the...
Alan J. Reid is a Ph.D. student in instructional design that teaches English Brunswick Community College and Coastal Carolina University. He recently wrote a piece for Insidehighered.com where he took on Apple’s newest offering “iBooks Author.” In the piece, Reid expressed concern that the new free software, which allows anyone anywhere to make some...
5 tags
How to Set up a Backchannel in Your Class or...
Digital Discoveries - Backchannel from EPISD TV STUDIO on Vimeo.
5 tags
Ways Admins Can Increase Traffic to Their Websites
“Build it and they will come” is a line from the movie “Field of Dreams” where the protagonist hears voices in his head telling him to construct a baseball field in the middle of his family corn field. Of course, since it was a movie, he builds it, the ghosts show up, play a few games, he meets his dead father, and then at the end of the movie, we see lines of cars heading towards the haunted...
7 tags
Publishing with iBooks Author - O'Reilly Media →
This ebook is currently free in the book section of iTunes. Get it now!
iBooks Author is the first tool of its kind. Never before have publishers, authors, and content creators had a tool for making dynamic, interactive ebooks in a WYSIWYG environment. This book is intended to get you up and writing in iBooks Author. You’ll learn what to expect from this new tool and what its strengths and...
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something,...”
– beyond neptune
4 tags
Flipped Classroom →
From the site:
What is the flipped classroom?
A reversed teaching model that delivers instruction at home through interactive, teacher-created videos and moves “homework” to the classroom. Moving lectures outside of the classroom allows teachers to spend more 1:1 time with each student. Students have the opportunity to ask questions and work through problems with the guidance of their...
Scribble for iPad →
I came across a perfect example of (free) software this week that would be easy to adapt for a Thai classroom of pre-teens with a touch of English: Scribble Press. Even the name is a clue to children’s enjoyment and learning. I know it is an app for the iPad, but similar apps may exist on other platforms and this should be an example to inspire: reach out and do the job.
Although it is...
4 tags
Texas School Finance–How Did We Get to This Point?... →
From the blog entry:
Governor Rick Perry ran in the 2006 election on a platform of “I lowered your property taxes”. He did not mention that it had to be done or any of the other stuff that I mentioned earlier. He needed the votes and the confidence from the voters and he won.
This funding system was designed to be a temporary fix. It was obvious to the state comptroller at the time, Carolyn...
2 tags
Sharing Technology →
Deb Nortons Blog. Looks like some good resources, mostly targeted towards elementary.
4 tags
Inkling takes on iBooks Author with “Habitat”... →
Less than a month after Apple introduced its free “iBooks Author” e-book publishing platform, interactive iPad textbook startup Inkling has introduced its own publishing platform called “Habitat”. Founder and CEO Matt MacInnis, who also happens to be a former Sr. Manager of International Education Markets and Asia Education Marketing at Apple, made the announcement today in...
5 tags
Make IT Happen Award 2012 TCEA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joel Adkins, Chief Technology Officer, Kerrville ISD, President Elect-TCEA TEC-SIG, joel.adkins@kerrvilleisd.net, (830) 257-4883
Tim Holt, Director of Instructional Technology, Receives International Recognition Award for ‘Making It Happen’ in Educational Technology’
February 8, 2012 – Downtown Austin Hilton – Tim Holt, Director of Instructional...
2 tags
