The Wireless TabCam Streams, Records, Presents, and Shares

TabCam, a wireless streaming camera, works with iPads, Android tablets, and computers and can present live video with annotations, highlighting, and more without “being tethered to the camera.” The device captures lessons, which can be used for future reference and for use with substitute teachers and students who were not present for the lesson. The advantage of having a wireless device that has a battery life of eight hours can’t be underestimated in a mobile classroom. Take a look at the videos, which describe using TabCam for flipped and blended instruction. The price on the Touchboard site is listed at $527.99. Kathy Hagar, a Director of Technology on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, tells us that she purchased several at a price of about $515 each and that her teachers love them. If interested, do a query on the AVer site.

Wonderful, Wanderful Books Now Available for iPad and Android Devices

Harry and The Haunted House, Arthur’s Teacher Trouble, Ruff’s Bone, and other children’s digital classics are now ready for Android devices. The series, which has until now, only been available for the iPad, includes thirteen apps, eight of which are for the U.S. market and have story content in English and Spanish.  Other apps are available in UK English and in French. iPad apps for the books can be found at the iTunes App Store; Android apps, at the Google Play Store. If you haven’t tried these delightful apps, you’ll want to download the Wanderful Storybook Sampler to enjoy some very special pages from these very special interactive digital books.

Looking for Apps for Kids & Teens?

Common Sense Media offers “starter kits” to help parents, teachers, and students find essential apps for iPhone, Android Phone, Android Tablet, and Kindle Fire. The apps are listed by device in the following age categories: 2-6, 7-12, and 13-17. You can look at the selections online, download the apps, and print the guide. Essential Apps for Kids and Teens were selected by editors at Common Sense Media, independent evaluators who have children’s best interest in mind.

Coming Soon Perhaps: Bendable Devices

Teachers and parents worry over dropped smart phones and digital devices, but that won’t be a problem when bendable, unbreakable digital devices come on the market. Samsung is working on “mass production of displays using plastic rather than glass”, and Sony has been working on it as well.  There are prototypes, but the companies have not solved the problems involved in mass production. Unbreakable digital devices, when available and affordable, will certainly be welcomed in schools.

Can BYOD work?

BYOD: Sometimes it seems overwhelming, doesn’t it? How can teachers possibly handle a classroom filled with different types of digital devices? In some ways it’s not much different from working with a classroom filled with students using similar devices. It’s what you want student to do with their devices that’s important, not what they are using. For success with BYOD, however, you need to consider:

• What types of devices are acceptable, since not all devices may be able to access or use the software or apps needed for your course.
• Whether you want to allow smart phones.
• If your network is ready to handle all the devices swarming into your school.
• How students with their own devices get access to software. (Who pays for it and what are the legalities?)
• What happens when a personal device won’t work? Should your IT people work on it? Does your school have devices for students to use when their devices don’t work?
• Does your school have devices for students who do not have their own or forget to bring them to school?
• How do you manage use of different devices in your classroom?

Looking for Apps for the Android?

Digital Wish, with a grant from the Motorola Mobility Foundation, has announced the opening of the Digital Wish Apps Center, which is designed to help teachers find the apps they need and can afford for their classrooms. App searches can be done using grade level, subject, ratings by other educators, and by whether the app is free or for pay. Once the perfect apps are found, they can be downloaded from Google Play™.  Some examples of the Android apps are: Etmology Live LITE Edition, Solar System Explorer, Statistics Quick Reference, Obenkyo (learn Japanese), Baby Sign Language Dictionary, Paint for Kids, and Chemical Equation Balancer