Classroom app for iPad

II’ve been looking for an app to use in the classroom to get feedback from my students (something in the same vein as the clicker devices). I expect that there is at least one good one out there, but there also seems to be a number of inferior apps. I was wondering if anyone of you out there use something of this kind. And if you do, what is your assessment of the app you are using? has it been a valuable addition? A distraction?

I appreciate any help that may be provided.

 

Oh Balls – Kansas is not Eastern Standard Time

I’ve been waiting all day for the 4pm webinar on “Measuring the Educational Value of Games: How to be a better advocate for GBL” from edWeb. (http://www.edweb.net)

But, as it turns out, my expectation that all times are  given as EST and that’s where I live.. was wrong. I keep forgetting that I’m in Kansas now. And Kansas is NOT on the East Coast.

As the founder of DownHouse Software, I’m interested in learning how to go from designing and making a game to actually putting it to work in a classroom and determining not only whether it works, but why does it work – or why not. Also, does using a game as a means for teaching substitute for classical lecturing? does it complement it? Does it detract from it?

Earlier this year, I submitted a grant to the National Institute of Health asking for support for the company’s development of the game and assessment within local classrooms. I have a couple simple games that are designed to teach a few core concepts of biology that I was eager to get made and into the classroom. Unfortunately, the grant was not funded, but I don’t give up hope that it could be in the future.

What brings me to wanting to hear this webinar is that when I spoke to the program officer in charge of this grant, his major concern was that I was able to demonstrate -not whether we could make the games – but that we could assess them afterwards.

 

 

Infographic: The Internet a Decade Later

Technology (internet) growth in a decade.

Kahn Academy and the Flipped Classroom

From the article on Kahn Academy’s new iPad app:

For the growing number of schools that are adopting iPads, the most impactful potential for the app is for Khan Academy’s “flipped classroom,” in which lectures are watched at home by students, and then assignments are completed collaboratively in class, where a teacher is present. “The teacher is free to do a lot more of the human interaction,” says Shantanu Sinha, President and COO of Khan Academy.

The idea of a flipped classroom is an excellent use of new technology. This enables the lecture part of the course to be delivered at a time that is convenient for the student and retains ALL of the in-class time for questions or other interactive engagements that actually use the professor’s time for the greatest return. The assumption is that most lecturing is one-way communication. If this is true, then there is no need for it to happen in the classroom at all. Lectures should just be taped and distributed. Students watch the lectures when they want to and then come in to class prepared to ask questions.

In my mind, this could work out extraordinarily well IF everyone buys into the idea and students actively engage. I’ve had classes where students engage a lot and I can imagine this working seamlessly. But I’ve also taught classes where I stood in front of the room and couldn’t pull anything from my students if my life depended on it.

Nevertheless, this technique is new, exciting, offers something new with technology that couldn’t be done without it and may actually usher in a new way to make education work.

I’m eager to look into Kahn academy’s material and see if there’s anything I can learn there and if there is anything that I can potentially use in my own classroom.

Kahn Acadedy

I’ve written a lot about how much I enjoy and am excited by Codecademy’s computer online classes. It’s really their approach that I most enjoy. I think that they use a fairly organic way to teach that allows for a lot of hands-on practice. The downside is that since a lot of the educational modules are designed by volunteers (all?), there is a fair degree of variability in the quality and there are some problems in application – meaning that a lot of times, the lessons don’t work right, are quirky or require a high degree of precision in verbiage in order to score a pass.

Personally, I think these problems are minor and will be swept away in the wash over time. Additionally, the faults of the program actually lead to a high degree of community support among people taking the classes. Sure, there’s a lot of griping happening, but there’s also a hell of a lot of good help for new programmers.

But that’s not what I’m here to write about today.

Today, I just found a ‘new’ group joining h=the programming fray – that’s Kahn academy:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1823819/khan-academy-enters-next-era-ipad-app

Unfortunately…. I have to run, but I’ll be back to discuss this further after a class (in person – beginning programming)

Better than the book?

Better than the book?

I’m always on the look out for apps or other technology that can be used in the classroom that are better than what might otherwise be possible using more mundane means. So I was interested when my undergraduate school’s magazine (http://www.udel.edu/udmessenger/vol20no2/stories/research-poole.html) showed up in the mail with just such an app.

Unfortunately, I don’t teach English, but Kristen Poole, professor of English at UD and a Shakespearean scholar, who contributed to an app (called “The Tempest” (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shakespeares-the-tempest/id516373702?mt=8)) that has at least one of the bard’s plays in a new multimedia format. As any physical book would have, it presents the text. In addition to this, there are also popup footnotes that include everything from historical references, alternate versions of the text or expert commentary on the meaning of the passage and how it fits in the whole. The contributor from the University of Delaware also indicated that it was possible to have the text read aloud by Actors from the London Stage, a touring Shakespeare company.

From the app store description, there also appears to be a way to comment yourself on the text in a way that shares with other readers (and facebook integration for those who would like to share that way).

Another article describing the same app in the magazine Fast Company (http://www.fastcompany.com/1843216/apps-thing-shakespeare-rebooted) interviewed one of the app’s creators, Elliott Visconsi, a Notre Dame professor of English, who claims that his app will be even more fun than Angry Birds.

For $9.99, the app is a little pricey, but if they deliver all the content that is promised, it would be well worth the investment for anyone studying the play. If they continue to provide additional content – perhaps more plays with the same material, the app could become an entire Shakespeare library and would be of tremendous value.

Should any of you purchase this app, please let me know how you like it. Does it actually add value to your experience? Would you use this in a class if possible?

education, apps, apple, shakespeare, english, technology, book, ebook, ibook

myHomework / Teacher.io application

I just met a founding member of the company that created the myHomework app at a mobile developers meetup in KC last night. I wrote a quick blurb about that on the other blog (downhousesoftware.wordpress.com). If anyone out there uses this app, please let me know what your impression is.

 

Thanks

 

 

Here is an fairly typical example of technology use in an early elementary school classroom. I’ve seen lessons much like this at my son’s school. I have to say that I am conflicted in my thoughts about this. On balance I think it is probably effective in that the very fact that it is using technology rather than a simple blackboard, there may be some increased interest from the students. However, there is definitely nothing here that couldn’t be done with a blackboard or cork-board. What do you think?

Cdonnelly33's Blog

SMARTboard in a 1st grade classroom.

With the advancement of technology today classrooms are now being fit with the latest instructional technology.  However do all teachers use the technology in a way that benefits the students.

Many classrooms today have a SMART Board installed in them.  I have seen many teachers use this interactive piece of technology as just a white board and a projector.  They lack the training and/or desire to learn how to use this technology effectively. Districts should provide teachers with technology in their classrooms with staff development to help assist them in using the technology effectively.

An effective way to use the SMART Board in a classroom is to use it with the SMART Response system where the teacher can obtain instant feed back about a lesson.

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A great essay re-iterating how hardware and software (and teachers) must work together to make technology in the classroom work at its potential.

Yuza's #Techtalk

I have always been an advocate of the integration of technology in the classroom. I believe that technology can enhance the classroom experience, increase the motivation of students, and improve the overall results of education.

That is, if it is managed correctly.

Much too often I meet or read about people who thinks that “technology integration in the classroom” is equal to introducing a “laptop based learning environment”. They think that by supplying the hardware, educators and students would magically figure out how to integrate the technology in the teaching and learning process. More often than not, this mindset led to massive failures.

As nicely outlined by educator Mark Warshauer in http://edutechdebate.org,

without professional development or curriculum development, and with little of the infrastructure that makes computer use in schools effective, teachers for the most part ignore the computers, which thus go largely unused in schools.

In short, hardware should not…

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Creationism in the classroom

I have, at times discussed creationism in my science classroom because students have had questions about it.Although, I don’t typically address it as anything other than historical context for the origin of scientific theories if no student pushes to discuss it. What has your experience been? If you are a student, leave a comment about how this was addressed in your classes.