Low-Cost Portable Document Camera

Samsung Techwin has introduced an affordable document camera that’s compact, portable, and has excellent HD resolution and image quality. The new Samsung SDP-760 is not only budget conscious, but also user friendly and flexible. It has a weighted base, noise reduction technology, an 8x digital zoom lens, and can be operated with one hand. The camera works with interactive whiteboards and with the addition of Samsung’s App viewer, it can be used as a Webcam. The price is listed at $499.

Technology Is Disrupting Education

The Education Week Teaching Now Blog  (06/01/12) includes comments about the Flipped Classroom and whether it liberates or devaluates the role of teachers.  What happens when students are learning from online sources? Does this free teachers to give more attention to student needs or reduce their role in the education of their students? According to Victor Hu of Goldman Saks, “Technology is doing to education what it’s done to countless other industries: disrupting it.” In an USA Today article focusing upon the Khan Academy, Hu said that the Academy method “is part of a looming tech-education iceberg.”  Will this iceberg bring about needed change in education and help teachers, online or offline, promote growth in student learning? Is student focus on digital devices and online sources part of the iceberg? If, and when, the iceberg hits, will homes and schools have the digital resources to keep up? The blog and the article claim money is flowing into ed tech, yet schools are struggling with their deflated tech budgets.

What Should the Presidential Candidates Discuss about Education?

Joel Klein, in the March 4, 2012 WP Opinions in the Washington Post, says that Education Must Move Center Stage in the Presidential Election. Klein notes that the candidates only spent about 1% of their time talking about education reform. This is especially disheartening in an era when the U.S. “spends more on its schools than most other wealthy nations ... yet ranks in the middle to the bottom of the pack on international comparisons.” Klein says that other countries are “out-educating” us and suggests that the candidates back the following: Acceleration of the Common Core Standards, Professionalization of Teaching, and Promoting Choice and Innovation.

To Keep Your Computer Labs or Not

Schools debate over whether to keep computer labs or distribute the computers to classrooms. Some that have opted for mobile devices, such as iPads in the classrooms, have done away with traditional computer labs, but others maintain labs for use by students for work that cannot be accomplished easily with mobile devices. Many schools are keeping their computer labs because they do not have enough technology devices or mobile labs to give all students computer experiences. Even though students may only be assigned to computer labs once or twice a week, the labs provide a place where students can get instruction and practice with technologies and receive 1-1 experience with computers.

One school (Northfield Community School in New Jersey) decided to transform its K-4 computer lab to a K-4 STEM lab complete with QX5 Computer microscopes and other tools for STEM learning.  As with the schedule for the computer lab, students will come with their classes once a week, but they’ll engage in inquiry-based learning that emphasizes the STEM subjects. The lab teacher and the classroom teacher will team to work with the children as they Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, and Improve. Even though they won’t have traditional computer lab lessons, as they engage in inquiry, they will be learning the digital skills they need.

Apple TV: Beyond Interactive Whiteboards

Most teachers want interactive whiteboards in their classrooms, but the boards are expensive and not all schools can afford to provide one in every classroom. According to Tech & Learning, Apple TV is a cost-effective way to give teachers an alternative tool that allows them freedom to move around their classrooms to observe student work. In addition to teacher mobility, it provides options for switching among devices and for the sharing of individual work, which are not available with interactive whiteboards. For more information, register on the Tech & Learning site (if you aren’t already registered) and open the eBook that describes AppleTV.

Are You Using Your iPad?

It’s not easy to provide in-service training for technology because every teacher in your school is probably at a different level with tech use and tech needs for the classroom.  With the emergence of iPads into many schools, what are the best ways for teachers to prepare for using them in classrooms? A few teachers may need some basic training and encouragement, but most can learn to use them on their own. That’s not the problem; the problem is how to put these devices to work to enrich the curriculum and improve student learning. Some schools order iPads for faculty members and hand them out just before the close of school in May or June. They offer basic guidelines on use and give their teachers the charge to find and use applications, which will fit into their lessons. These teachers are generally given a small budget to cover the costs of the educational apps they want to try. With the entire summer to find appropriate apps and to think about changes that might need to be made in their classrooms, most of these teachers return to school excited about using this new tool with their students. Then, throughout the schools year, teachers get together to discuss their use of apps and iPad, to share ideas, and to get help when needed.

Often, it helps if those knowledgeable about educational apps offer suggestions for new users. Colleagues, tech personnel, and online resources often lead teachers to apps that work. Silvia Tolisano-Langwitches in the Tech & Learning Blog, gives her ideas about the best apps for becoming fluent on the iPad. They include Good Reader, iPhoto, Twittelator Mobile RSS, Zite, iThoughts HD, Noteshelf, Flipboard, Keynote, and Explain Everything.  The Appolicious Advisor calls 3D Brain, Art, BrainPop Featured Movie, Early Jamestown, Edmodo, The Elements, Frog Dissection, History: Maps of the World, GarageBand, Mad Libs, MathBoard, Motion Math HD, and NASA App as must-haves. eSchool News lists the following among the best apps for education: Word Lens, Molecules, Blackboard Mobile Learn, Today in History, Math Ref Free, PI83 Graphing Calculator, Starwalk, Cram, Essay Grader, and eClicker. Teachers can find many other appropriate apps by doing an online search or a search in iTunes, but the bottom line is to locate apps that help students with their learning, not apps that are all glitz.

Manga Guide to Linear Algebra—Changing the Way Students Think

As we try to find ways to promote mathematics and science among our students, we look to technologies, software, apps inquiry learning, online courses, and engaging resources such as those offered by Shmoop and the No Starch Press. No Starch creates cartoon-type guides that are designed to encourage students to take an interest in and learn the principles of physics, calculus, electricity, molecular biology, relativity, the universe, biochemistry, and databases. The latest offering, The Manga Guide to Linear Algebra features 260+ pages that help “math and computer science students wrap their brains around a tricky required course—linear algebra.” Students read the book, which is actually a story about a student and her karate-crazed tutor and, along the way, master the concepts of linear algebra. If you are interested in browsing the Manga guides, you can request sample copies.

Digital Storytelling Is an Art You Need to Learn

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) has a variety of excellent resources available in its store. Pricing for books, webinars, magazines, journals, online courses, and other materials is offered at a discount for ISTE members. You’ll want to browse the store to see what will work for you and your students. You might, for example, want to sign up for the course, Digital Storytelling, which begins August 6, 2012, and shows you how to identify an audience for a variety of media, create a digital story, construct a video, and publish and share your story. The eight-week course will help you enhance your lessons with video techniques and transfer your knowledge to your students.

Like Pinterest? Try Learnist.

Learnist helps you share resources (audio, video, Weblinks, text, images, photos) with other teachers. It’s similar to Pinterest, but its target audience is educators. With Learnist, you create and share your own “boards” that are organized around topics you cover in your curriculum, collaborate with others to create boards, or use the boards posted by other professionals to help you and your students. If you’d like to try Learnist, go to the site and request an invite. Because the application is still being developed, you can become one of the first to add content to Learnist.