Differences Between e-Readers and Tablets

The CNET Community, in its Tablets Forum, offers a comparison between e-readers and tablets—information that parents of your students may find helpful this holiday season. Advice is given in answer to a question from a parent of an eight-year-old who wants to know what is the best mobile device for her child. Answers include visiting an electronics store to have a salesperson demo different products, finding products that fit the interest and age level of the child, going with tablets because they have more functionality, and thinking about going to the library for traditional books if all that is needed is a book reader. Some CNET members suggest that if parents already have an iPhone, for example, that purchasing an iPad or iPod Touch is a good idea.

Parents should also keep in mind that schools are successfully putting digital devices to work in classrooms with younger children. Tablets have more flexibility for learning activities and, dressed in a sturdy case, they usually can endure time in backpacks and accidental drops. Of course, checking with school personnel about devices that children can bring to school and use in the classroom is always wise advice.

BYOD—Bring Your Own Disaster

Tech&Learning, together with Intel, offers the white paper, “Don’t Let BYOD Stand for ‘Bring Your Own Disaster’.”  To initiate a BYOD program, schools need to implement plans that include teacher training, student guidance, and an infrastructure that can handle a variety of devices. Although, it may sound good and may seem the reasonable and cost-effective path to allow students to bring their own devices, you’ll need to consider how teachers will handle the program in their classrooms. Are they prepared for BYOD? What content will they use? Is your network ready for BYOD? Are your tech people ready for BYOD? Will your administrators take the lead? What rules will you need? What professional development will be offered? The white paper covers all these issues and more.

Fun Gumdrop Cases for Mobile Devices

Rugged protection in gumdrop colors -- Gumdrop’s Drop Tech Series cases provides virtually indestructible protection for mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, and other devices and tablets. The cases feature dual material construction and reinforced rubber corners for shock absorption. Replaceable screen covers are included, as is access to ports and controls. There’s even a Designer Series, which includes Gumdrops in blue with pink, orange with blue, purple with pink, and yellow with blue. Of course, the cases also come in basic black. Then, there’s Army Green, red, etc . . . . The cases have been put to use in schools, by fire departments—even on fire engines, by medic units, and with children with disabilities. Volume discounts are available for schools. 

According to our six-year-old quality testers:

Zoe: “I have a pink and blue one, which is really pretty. My mom says if I drop it, it won’t break, but I’m not supposed to drop it.”

Lebby: “Mine is black. I use my iPad all the time because I make movies and read books with Raz-Kids. The Gumdrop is really safe for my iPad, and that is very important.”

Lighthouse Coalition

The Coalition of Lighthouse Schools is a group of educators, school administrators, and IT professionals who are working together to implement one-to-one digital learning in their schools. Coalition members, mostly from charter and independent schools, are integrating Apple mobile devices into their school curricula and are eager to collaborate with others who are also integrating 1-1 programs in their schools.  The networked educators work with Apple Computer representatives in order to better prepare their students for the future. The group is hosting its iSummit, July 24-25, in Atlanta.

Stereotyping Our Students

He’s a professor in Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, but he was a high school drop-out.  Todd Rose believes that his problem and the problem of many others in our schools, is that school wasn’t for him, and isn’t for them, a good fit. That’s why so many children who have special needs, are overly active, and/or are very bright and highly creative, have difficulty in traditional educational programs.  

Rose’s book “Square Peg: My Story and What It Means for Raising Innovators, Visionaries, & Out-of-the-Box Thinkers” tells us about his journey from being a misfit in the classroom to a college professor who is a leader in the field of educational neuroscience.  Technologies, which have the ability to individualize learning for students can save us from teaching to the average. Rose says that we are in a “self-imposed death spiral” brought on by the myth of the average.

Mastering Language Arts Anywhere

Benesse America has launched StraightAce English: Grammar and Vocabulary, a language arts program for middle school students. According to Shigeki Matsuo, president of Benesse America, “Just 15 minutes a day studying with StraightAce is enough to show positive improvements in test scores, and encourages struggling students to succeed.” StraightAce, aligned with Common-Core standards, features 1500 questions complete with explanations that can be integrated into classroom courses.  This mobile tutor is also available for math.

The Last Backpack Generation

Zachary Walker, in the SmartBlog on Education, warns teachers that students in their classes today are the last backpack generation.  No matter how reluctant some educators may be to embrace mobile learning and mobile devices, they must realize that these tools of learning are changing education as we know it.  Walker explains that mobile learning is not about the tool but about teaching and that creativity is the way we can move forward from “bells, standards, and academic calendars.” You can learn about more from Walker on his Website and @lastbackpack on Twitter.

Tomorrow’s Innovators Through Personalized Learning

Project Tomorrow’s research study, Mapping a Personalized Learning Journey: K-12 Students and Parents Connect the Dots with Digital Learning, found that students are already moving forward to personalized learning outside of school. Many, the report says, have become Agent-Free Learners, “students who do not feel that they need to be tethered to traditional education institutions and have confidence in their ability to drive their own educational destiny.” Their use of mobile devices has provided them with what could be called equal opportunity to self-directed learning. Many students said that they were hampered in using technologies at school because Websites are blocked, teachers limit how they can use technology, and students are not allowed to use mobile devices, go to social networking sites, and use their communication tools. Students suggested that schools could personalize learning through use of mobile devices for researching information, communicating, using online texts, sending reminders and alerts, collaborating, and using video review lessons. The Project Tomorrow report gives many other examples of how schools might connect the dots that will lead to greater personalization of learning through technology.

Technology in Innovation Report

The 2012 Report from The Center for Digital Education and Converge, Technology Innovation in Education, discusses how IT funds were spent in schools, K-12 key findings in areas such as digital content strategies and online courses, what digital technologies students would like to see in their classrooms, online and blended learning, cloud computing and virtualization, and data management. You can download the report to check other information available from The Center.

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.