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This post first appeared on Edudemic. As I look for entry points in working with school leaders just getting their feet wet with digital tools, I sometimes struggle to pinpoint the best place to start. I guess it is because there are so many useful tools out there that my colleagues could utilize to help them to change their workflows for the better. However, the important thing is not the tool at all. The important thing is that educational leaders are modeling the fact that they too are continuous learners who are striving to employ the most relevant resources that…
It’s hard to believe that iPad Summit Boston kicks off next week! Over 1000 educators from around the world will converge in Boston for three days of hands-on workshops, keynotes, concurrent sessions, and conversations about putting iPads in the service of learning. If you can’t join us in person, you can follow along online! Check back here to the blog for posts from our team Follow #ettipad Check our Facebook page for daily updates and pictures Presentation materials will all be posted on the iPad Summit web site! There is still time to submit a proposal for iPad Summit San…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. There have been some questions that have been bugging me (again) recently. What is the relevance of the skills and content we teach; and who has decided that we, as teachers, know best? Who decided that we can’t trust the choice and direction of young people? Why is it OK to impose boring, unengaging lessons for the sake of a student’s “TBD future?” How many schools and how many classrooms allow student choice? And, in adult-centered spaces, how often do young people have the opportunity to make important decisions? Our mainstream educational machine is…
What a week! We wrapped up our Connected Educator Month webinar series, continued to do workshops with schools, and SOLD OUT the Boston iPad Summit! Limited space is still available in some of the Pre-Conference workshops, but register soon! iPad Summit San Diego is also kicking into full gear. The Call for Proposals closes on December 2nd and Early Bird Registration runs through January 3rd. From the EdTechTeacher Team We had a great webinar this week. Tom Daccord hosted Patrick Larkin, Carl Hooker, and guest -Eric Scheninger to discuss Connected Administrators. It was also a busy week of writing. Check…
This post first appeared on Free Technology for Teachers. Computers, and the digital tools on those computers, brought video editing to the classroom years ago. As those tools became easier to use, more and more students were given opportunities to share and demonstrate knowledge using video. iPad continues to transform the process by integrating the key elements of digital storytelling – capturing photos, videos, and audio – all in one mobile device. Through apps, iPad provides a variety of options for how to compose or combine those key elements to create an effective demonstration of learning. Digital Storytelling is a…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. “I’ve gone paperless!” The transition to the 1:1 classroom regularly goes hand in hand with a call for teachers to go paperless. The idea is a popular one for schools (and businesses) who can realize quick savings from reduced paper costs and offset the cost of the new devices. It can also be popular with teachers for a variety of conveniences when distributing and collecting materials. But what about learning? Is moving to paperless a step forward or a high tech way of doing exactly what we have always done albeit electronically? Defining Paperless…
iMovie just got a major overhaul for iOS7. The interface is much cleaner in the new version, all of the editing options are much more visible, everything is possible with one tap – as opposed to the need to single & double tap in the iOS6 version. Below are a number of screenshots highlighting the new features in iMovie. There is also an extended video tutorial , or click HERE to watch the video tutorial if you can’t wait. While most of the features are exactly the same, the major changes include: Improved user interface It is much easier to split…
We had a busy week of conferences and presentations. On Monday, Tom Daccord, Beth Holland, and Samantha Morra all presented at CECA. Tuesday and Wednesday found more of the team – Tom Daccord, Greg Kulowiec, Patrick Larkin, and Beth Holland at MassCUE. Don Orth and Holly Clark then wrapped up the week at Fall CUE. All of our instructors will be presenting at the upcoming November 13-15 iPad Summit Boston as well as the February 3-5 iPad Summit San Diego. There are LESS THAN 50 SPOTS LEFT FOR BOSTON, and Early Bird Registration as well as the Call for Proposals is…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. There is a new digital divide on the horizon. It is not based around who has devices and who does not, but instead the new digital divide will be based around students who know how to effectively find and curate information and those who do not. Helene Blowers has come up with seven ideas about the new digital divide – four of them, the ones I felt related to searching, are listed below. The New Digital Divide In an age of information abundance learning to effectively search is one of the most important skills…
We had a week of webinars and conferences. In addition to our Connected Educator Month webinar, we started meeting synchronously with several of our T21 participants. On Thursday, Beth Holland spoke at TEDxMosesBrown, and Samantha Morra presented The Flipped Classroom at NJPSA. Samantha is also at EdScape today! Next week, keep an eye out for members of the team at CECA and MassCUE! A few reminders… The iPad Summit Boston Pre-Conference Workshops are almost sold out! Register soon! The Call for Proposals and Early Bird Registration are open for iPad Summit San Diego. Connected Educator Webinar Series We had a great…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. Do you ever think an idea is just terrible, but you are forced to do it? Like this whole trend in education with all these devices being brought into schools, or in some cases, even purchased by the schools. As absurd as this may sound, it’s happening people, and it’s high time we take a stand and stop this madness. Now, something with this much momentum might be hard to derail, but I’d like to provide you with some tools necessary to sabotage a device initiative if you are having to lead one in…
We had a great week here at EdTechTeacher. Our team led workshops on both coasts! We also had our second Connected Educator Month webinar, with more to come in the next few weeks. The big news, though, is that Early Bird Registration for iPad Summit Boston closes on October 13th at 8:00pm EST. It appears as though we will have another sold out event, so please register soon! Connected Educator Month Series Thanks to Greg Kulowiec, Shawn McCusker, Carl Hooker, and Don Orth for a great conversation on Tuesday. Registration is open for the rest of the webinar series. October 15th, 7:00pm…
This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers What is AirDrop: One of the most exciting new features available with iOS7 is the ability to AirDrop files from one iPad to another, or even from one iPad to many – instantly. While sharing options such as email, Google Drive, Chirp, and Bump already exist, AirDrop makes the process easier and faster because the sharing can take place with or without a Wi-Fi connection and from any app that supports the exporting of files with the traditional iPad action or sharing button (arrow pointing up from a small box on…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. As I write this blog, I am sitting next to an older woman on a plane. She is happily reading a newspaper, while I am equally enticed by articles on my iPad. She continually struggles to make the paper fit her own limited area, by folding and then refolding the paper as she makes her way through the narratives that might already be outdated. I can see the ink on her fingers, and the smell of the paper is starting to give me a slight headache. Her reading is aided by her use of…
Today kicks off the second week of Connected Educator Month. I find great value in being a connected educator, regularly tapping into the information and social aspects of using the web for professional and personal growth. It has taken time, but has been worth it because it has transformed my practice and provided me with invaluable feedback and support. Most importantly it has linked me with other educators who opened up the world to me and my students. Twitter, Skype, even Pinterest have all become a part of how we connect and learn with each other. This initiative from the…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. Digital Citizenship is one of the hot educational buzz terms this year. But what is Digital Citizenship really? In short, it covers topics such as how to conduct yourself online civilly, refrain from inappropriate behavior (like cyberbullying), engage in meaningful discourse, and build a positive digital footprint for yourself and your institution. Just like we teach students how to behave in the schoolyard, we must do the same in cyberspace. Schools have a tendency to shy away from actively teaching digital citizenship due to time constraints in the curriculum, concerns about student-teacher interaction online,…
It’s hard to believe that this is the last weekend in September! The month has flown by, and October promises to be just as exciting. Registration is open for our October Webinar Series, and we will kick off this month-long event on Tuesday, October 1st, at 7:00pm EST with Connecting & Collaborating in Elementary Classrooms. Samantha Morra will host a conversation with Holly Clark, Beth Holland, and Suzy Brooks. October Connected Educator Month Webinar Schedule October 1st, 7:00pm EST: Connecting & Collaborating in Elementary Classrooms hosted by Samantha Morra October 8th, 7:00pm EST: Creating a Connected Classroom hosted by Greg Kulowiec October 15th, 7:00pm EST: Digital…
This post originally appeared on Edudemic. Do you remember the days when you had to pay to get online access at places like Starbucks? Well those days are over, and we all connect very easily at any of their thousands of locations. Many others businesses realize that we value being connected as well, and have made it easy for us to be online while shopping, eating or waiting to pickup an order. Just like our schools! Oh wait, (insert scratching record sound here) most schools don’t do that at all. An unfortunate number of schools are afraid of connecting students…
We had a marathon session this week going through all of the amazing submissions to the iPad Summit Boston Call for Proposals. Concurrent session titles and descriptions will be posted as soon as speakers confirm that they are coming. Early Bird Registration and the Call for Proposals OPENED on Monday for iPad Summit San Diego! We expect both events to sell out, so get your tickets while the last! October Connected Educator Month Webinars Just a reminder that Registration is open for our FREE weekly webinar series next month. October 1st, 7:00pm EST: Connecting & Collaborating in Elementary Classrooms hosted by Samantha Morra…
It’s amazing what technology can do for us. We can instantly see people in different parts of the world . We can share information in 140 characters or less. We can even have our dryer communicate with our Smartphone to tell us when the laundry’s done. With all the fervor around mobile devices in the educational space, we’ve forgotten at times that there are members of our educational community that are being left out….Parents. Whether it be 1:1 or BYOD, we are changing the game of education and what learning looks like in the classroom. While that is an amazing…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a tongue-in-cheek albeit thought-provoking post about the death of the student desk. I was inspired by new classroom set-ups, furniture and a push to an almost “Google-like” classroom workspace. Here is the “Obiturary” in it’s entirety: The Student Desk (known by several aliases, most notably the Classroom Desk) died today when teachers at Bridge Point Elementary school in Austin, TX discovered that learning could happen in a variety of spaces that no longer necessitated their use. “We just feel like kids in this new mobile age don’t need to be confined…
Wow! The Call for Proposals for the iPad Summit Boston closed at midnight last night. We received over 150 submissions from around the world. Thank you to everyone who shared their ideas! Remember that there is less than a month left for Early Bird Registration, and we expect that this will be another SOLD OUT event. October Connected Educator Month Webinars To coincide with the events of Connected Educator Month, we will host a FREE weekly webinar series featuring members of the EdTechTeacher team. October 1st, 7:00pm EST: Connecting & Collaborating in Elementary Classrooms hosted by Samantha Morra October 8th, 7:00pm EST: Creating…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. When was the last time your students said “Wow, that worksheet changed my life”? Can you even remember a similar cookie cutter classroom activity or assignment from your days as a student? Yet they were a popular tool because they were structured and efficient in getting the class to a set finish point. Education, guided by a focus on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, is moving towards an emphasis on creation and innovation in the classroom. Though technology did not spark this movement, it has fueled the process by providing students with exciting and powerful tools.…
It’s hard to believe that just about everyone is now back in school! We had a relatively quiet week, and spent the time preparing for the start of our T21 programs, our October Webinar Series, and the upcoming iPad Summits in Boston as well as San Diego. EdTechTeacher iPad Summit Boston Call for Proposals The Call for Proposals for the November 14-15 iPad Summit in Boston, MA closes on Friday, September 13th. We are seeking submissions from all education levels, content areas and specialties. Each proposal must fall under one of the following conference strands – Classroom Integration, Leadership, or Technical – and will…
Tellagami, a free iOS app that lets you create short animated movies called “Gamis,” is one of my new favorite animation apps to explore. Although the site promotes the app as a way to send greetings and messages for use within social media, I see it as a great tool in the classroom. With Tellagami, begin by creating and customizing a character. Although there is not a great deal of variety in virtual appearance, just enough options exist to personalize your character. From there, you choose a background either from a few in the app itself or your camera roll.…
This article first appeared on Edudemic. So it’s the beginning of school, and if you’re worth your salt (and you have access), you’ve probably already been in your classroom setting it up. What kind of inspirational posters are you pinning to the walls? How much scotch tape and staples and how many thumbtacks do you need? What resources do you want your students to absorb as they look around during a classroom discussion? What kind of atmosphere do you want to create? How do you want your students to feel when they walk into your room? If you share a…
It’s hard to believe that this is the last weekend of summer! By this time next week, just about everyone will be back in school. However, we do have a number of articles, resources, and announcements for the long weekend. EdTechTeacher News & Resources EdTechTeacher iPad Summit Boston Submit your great ideas! The Call for Proposals for our November 13-15 Boston iPad Summit closes on September 13th. These presentations will be scheduled as one of the concurrent 1-hour sessions planned for the November 14-15, 2013 conference. We have already received submissions from across the US and abroad. This is shaping up…
This time of year is always hectic for us. Some schools are well into the second or third week of school while others are just getting ready for students to return. The team led six workshops in five states and two countries this week to support back-to-school initiatives. Whether you are already entrenched in classes or preparing to set up your classroom next week, here are our Weekly Resources. From The EdTechTeacher Team Preparing Parents for a Year of Mobile Learning Carl Hooker and Patrick Larkin did an amazing job hosting Nat Vaugh (@nat_vaughn) and Scott Meech (@smeech) for this…
This post, co-authored by Holly Clark & Tanya Avrith, first appeared on Edudemic Digital citizenship is not a one time discussion. It is an ongoing process that needs to be taught to all grade levels and to all stakeholders. The problem is that things are changing so rapidly that it is difficult for everyone to keep up to date with the trends. Everyone has to be educated and develop an understanding of the role digital citizenship plays in our everyday lives. There is so much that goes into being a digital citizen; from taking photos of others to knowing when…
It’s been another busy week at EdTechTeacher. Tom Daccord, Greg Kulowiec, Samantha Morra, Shawn McCusker, and Beth Holland led workshops in Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia. All of that travel can only mean one thing: back-to-school! Whether you have already started classes, or are preparing for initial faculty meetings, here are a few things to help with the start of the new school year. From EdTechTeacher Preparing for a Year of Mobile Learning Our own Don Orth and Holly Clark facilitated this week’s Connected Learning webinar – Getting Going with Mobile Devices: Workflow, Organization, and Fundamentals – with Beth Holland and…
This post, co-authored by Beth Holland and Samantha Morra, first appeared on Edudemic. Have you been thinking about flipping your classroom this fall? Flipping can let you make the most of face-to-face time with your students. Rather than taking class time to introduce content and using homework to review concepts, flip the process so that students gain basic knowledge at home and then create, collaborate, and make connections in school. Creating video used to be out of reach for most teachers. It was expensive and required skills that could take years to master. Fortunately, it is easier and faster than…
We’ve had a great week of learning. Tom Daccord, Greg Kulowiec, Samantha Morra, and Shawn McCusker ran workshops in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and Illinois. Our Connected Learning webinar series kicked off. We published our August Newsletter, and we’ve been hard at work on a number of projects. NEW from the EdTechTeacher Team Preparing for a Year of Mobile Learning Tom Daccord kicked off the first webinar of this four-part series on Wednesday with guests Suzy Brooks, Todd Curtis, and Jason Heim. >>> The recording and discussion resources are now available. To learn more about the series, watch this…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. So you finally got a class set of iPads and you are not sure what to do next and where to start? Here is a very simple list of tried and true tips to help. 1. Don’t Start Collecting Apps! – This is every teachers first inclination. So Stop! Stop scouring the internet for apps you think you might use with your class. “All the apps a student or teacher really needs should be able to fit on one screen of your iPad.” Justin Reich writes about this in an article about the core…
It’s hard to believe that August has arrived! We wrapped up our summer workshop series this past week in Boston and jump straight into back-to-school professional development in the next few days. This month, we have an exciting new opportunity with Connected Learning. Beginning this week, we’ll host four conversations with fabulous educators that explore how great teachers are rethinking and reshaping their classrooms and teaching with mobile devices. Come join us for this 4-part series on Preparing for a Year of Mobile Learning. August 7th at 4:00 PM PST: Planning For Effective Teaching & Learnig with Tablets with Tom Daccord, Suzy Brooks, Todd…
This post first appeared on Edudemic and was adapted from a talk that I gave at the iPad Summit in Atlanta. The Boston iPad Summit 2013 is now accepting proposals and offers discounts for early bird registration! As an educator, when I am given a new tool my first thought is “how can I use this in the classroom? How will I roll this out?” However, I have learned over the years that I need to pause, step back, and think, “Okay, how is this tool going to make my life and job easier? How can I use iPad to make…
It’s hard to believe that next week is our LAST week of Summer Workshops. Since mid-June, our team of instructors have run over 20 workshops in 3 cities to more than 600 participants from around the world. This week, we have articles and resources from the team as well as an exciting new learning opportunity. 5 Powerful But Little-Known Ways To Use Your Apple iPad We’ve partnered with Edudemic to create a FREE online course – 5 Powerful But Little-Known Ways To Use Your Apple iPad. In addition to being packed with notes and video tutorials, each lesson includes a…
“Ms. Clark, when are we going to do that again?” Nothing makes me happier as an educator than hearing those words – and lately, I have been hearing them a lot! It is not the question, as much as the look on the faces of my students, that I enjoy the most. It’s the inspiring glow of engagement and enthusiasm plus the fire in their eyes that makes me want to keep trying new projects. Their relentless desire to do collaborative-based work is proof that they enjoy the journey, the connections, and the role of play in their learning. One…
It has been a HOT week in New England. Our final iPad Classroom workshop of the summer may have ended, but we still have room in the remainder of our sessions. July 22-24: Building an Interactive or BYOD Classroom with Multiple Devices with Greg Kulowiec and Carl Hooker July 25-26: Creating Digital Course Content for iPads with Greg Kulowiec July 25-26: All Things Google with Samantha Morra July 29-30: Teaching Elementary Grades with Technology with Suzy Brooks July 30 – August 1: Teaching History with Technology with Greg Kulowiec News from the Apple Distinguished Educators Institute (#ADE2013) Two of our instructors, Carl Hooker and Don Orth, spent the week learning and…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. For some, the technology rich classroom is easy to justify. Once you have made the transition and seen the benefits, it is easy to weigh them against the potential risks and worries about the problems resulting from having a room full of devices. For these “dive right in” types, the process makes a lot of sense. Give it a try and see what happens! These are the teachers who typically make up 1:1 and BYOD pilot programs and test groups. They are also the teachers who more often than not are going to lead professional development and share…
This post first appeared on A Platform for Good – a new project from the Family Online Safety Institute. When I was still in the classroom, my fourth graders engaged in an interdisciplinary study of Africa culminating in an Africa Travel Fair. Students created booths to advertise a country, and the school community visited the event. During my first year, we built an Africa web site. While they enjoyed the process, the lack of a tangible product made the effort feel hollow, so in the following years, we focused on physical projects. Over six years, no one questioned the increased use of…
It’s hard to believe that we are already into July. This week, we have some news as well as resources and articles for your summer learning. Welcome Holly! We are pleased to announce that Holly Clark (@HollyEdTechDiva) has joined the EdTechTeacher team as an instructor and presenter. She will be our full-time representative in Southern California. Both a Google Certified Teacher as well as a National Board Certified Teacher, Holly has taught for over 16 years in San Francisco, Chicago, and San Diego. Since 2003, she has focused on technology integration and 1:1 environments, specifically iPads and using Google Apps for Education. She…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. With all of the iPads flooding into schools these days, many other classroom systems have come under scrutiny. In particular, the following questions re abound: Do I have current resources for my class AND are they iOS compatible? What’s the best way to distribute work to students, receive the work, and return it graded? How complex do my workflow systems have to be, and how many do I actually need to get the flow the way I want it? If the school already has a system that doesn’t work well with iPad, what do…
Being 1:1 is fantastic, and if you are fortunate enough to have constant access to your own device in the classroom, then the benefits – especially in terms of efficiency – are tremendous: stored passwords, saved bookmarks, familiar file structure, and more. However, even if you don’t have the advantage of always being in possession of your own device, thanks to the versatility of the Chrome browser, and the extensions available through the Chrome Store, the web experience has become customizable and productive in completely new ways. Read on to learn more about our top 12 best Chrome extensions for…
This post was co-authored by EdTechTeacher’s Beth Holland and Vincent Day – Director of Technology Engagement & Professional Learning Coordinator at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, PA. Like many great conversations in education these days, this one began via Twitter several weeks ago. Through a series of Tweets, Direct Messages, an eventual email, and collaboration via Google Doc, we had the conversation below about the value of summer reading, and the two essentials to making it a success for an entire faculty. Beth I love to read. Given the opportunity, I will consume books like candy – both on paper…
It’s been another hectic week for the EdTechTeacher team between ISTE, the Shrewsbury Summer Institute, and the start of our Boston Summer Workshops. There are still spaces available in some of our featured sessions: July 15-16: Leveraging Technology to Differentiate Instruction: Creating Rich Curricula for ALL Students July 15-16: 21st Century Leadership July 22-24: Building an Interactive or BYOD Classroom with Multiple Devices July 25-16: Creating Digital Course Content for iPads July 25-16: All Things Google July 31-August 2: Teaching History with Technology ISTE Re-Cap from the Team Jen Carey, Carl Hooker, and Don Orth represented us at ISTE this week in San Antonio.…
I’ve had the good fortune of attending the last 5 ISTE conferences, and this one was by far the most dynamic and personalized. The session line-up really addressed the needs of all attendees, and the themes that I mentioned on my Day 1 wrap-up were common throughout the event. The amount of playgrounds, maker spaces, blogger’s lounges, and poster sessions made it much more interactive than a “typical” conference. The featured speakers were a good mix of personalities and thoughts about the future of learning in education. Needless to say, Adam Bellow’s closing keynote was a personal highlight for me.…
If you are still at ISTE, make sure you keep an eye out for our EdTechTeacher team members: Jen Carey, Carl Hooker, and Don Orth. Here are there Carl’s thoughts and reflections from Day 1. One thing I’ve learned from attending several ISTE conferences is that it’s real easy to be overwhelmed. There is such an abundance of quality sessions, speakers, and so many gadgets that your head starts spinning by about noon on day 1. A trick I learned a few years back is to take a day, or part of a day, to decompress, reflect and network rather than sit through…
If you are still at ISTE, make sure you keep an eye out for our EdTechTeacher team members: Jen Carey, Carl Hooker, and Don Orth. Here are there Jen’s thoughts and reflections from Day 1. Today was the end of the first full day at ISTE. If you’ve never heard of or been to ISTE, it’s the annual conference for Ed Tech Educators around the world. Nearly 20,000 educators plus vendors, presenters, and keynote speakers. I presented my Ignite talk on Digital Storytelling, spoke to other educators, heard some inspiring talks, saw some amazing demonstrations, and took in more information than I can…
If you are still at ISTE, make sure you keep an eye out for our EdTechTeacher team members: Jen Carey, Carl Hooker, and Don Orth. Here are there Carl’s thoughts and reflections from Day 1. I just wrapped up my first official 24-hours at ISTE and I’m pretty exhausted. Spotty wifi not withstanding (although that was a trending twitter conversation at one point), there was a lot of great content and conversations available if you knew where to look for them. I also sensed a few themes arising from the workshops, vendors, and presentations. Theme #1 – Learning should be…
Wow! It’s been a busy week! Between our Chicago Summer Workshop Series as well as onsite sessions at schools in New York, NY, Tacoma, WA, Providence, RI, Andover, MA, and Kingston, MA, Tom Daccord, Greg Kulowiec, Samantha Morra, and Shawn McCusker criss-crossed the country. Carl Hooker successfully launched the second iPadlooza in Austin, TX, and Don Orth led a three-day iPad 2.0 seminar at Hillbrook. On top of this excitement, we’ve posted some new articles and found new resources as we gear up for the start of the Boston Summer Workshops next week. We still have space in some of our sessions…
This post first appeared on Edudemic. It’s the summertime! This is when educators, free from the daily schedule of a classroom, can focus on professional development. More specifically, summer is a great time to network and to build your personal learning network (PLN). If you’re unfamiliar with a PLN, it’s a network of individuals you foster specifically to learn from and cultivate your professional skills. They are especially important in the world of education where classrooms can easily isolate you from your colleagues and peers. Starting a PLN and cultivating it is surprisingly easy and doesn’t take a lot of time.…
There continues to be a lot of difficult conversations taking place in schools surrounding social media. While I understand the default solution for individuals who have any formal legal training is to deny access to these resources and/or to create policies that prohibit students and teachers from interacting on these platforms, I disagree strongly with these decisions because they inhibit learning. For me, social media is learning media. My main use of tools like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest is to find and share resources on the topics about which I am most passionate. These resources have allowed me to interact…
This post, from Patrick Larkin, first appeared on Edudemic. I have always contended that the term “Professional Development” is an oxymoron for most educators. Let’s face it, most people do not look forward to Professional Development (PD) Days in their school district due to the fact that most of these are created with someone else deciding what is most important for the learners. While there are certainly exceptions to this approach of deciding what professionals need to learn about, the fact of the matter is that most educators do not have enough of a voice when it comes to their…
We’ve had a busy start to June, and wrap up our week of Atlanta workshops today. In case you missed out June Newsletter, we have further expanded our EdTechTeacher Team in advance of our most exciting summer and school year. Meet our New Team Members Carl Hooker Carl comes to EdTechTeacher as a part-time instructor and presenter while he continues his work as the Director for Instructional Technology in the Eanes Independent School District in Austin, TX. His unique blend of educational background, technical expertise, and humor make him a successful driving force for this change. As Director, he has helped spearhead the launch the LEAP program (Learning…
Happy June 1st! Summer is in full swing here in the North East, and we are getting ready to kick off our Summer Workshop Series. A bit of news on that front. There is still room in next week’s (June 13-14) Advanced iPad and Teaching English & History with Technology sessions in Atlanta. We SOLD OUT our Boston iPad Classroom sessions, so we added a NEW session July 8-10. iPad Summit – Boston Before you leave for the school year, don’t forget that the Call for Proposals is open for the November 13-15 iPad Summit in Boston. We received over…
Stories bring us together, encourage us to understand and empathize, and help us to communicate. Long before paper and books were common and affordable, information passed from generation to generation through this oral tradition of storytelling. Consider Digital Storytelling as the 21st Century version of the age-old art of storytelling with a twist: digital tools now make it possible for anyone to create a story and share it with the world. WHY Digital Storytelling? Digital stories push students to become creators of content, rather than just consumers. Weaving together images, music, text, and voice, digital stories can be created in…
It’s hard to believe that it’s already Memorial Day Weekend. For those of you who are already out of school, congratulations! In the North East, we still have a few weeks to go. NEW from EdTechTeacher Welcome Shawn! We are thrilled to announce that Shawn McCusker from Chicago has officially joined our team as an instructor. Though his Boston Advanced iPad workshops is SOLD OUT, space is still available in his Atlanta and Chicago summer workshop sessions. Get to Know Samantha Two weeks ago, we announced that Samantha Morra joined the EdTechTeacher team. This past week, she led her first webinar…
The following post was co-authored by EdTechTeacher’s Beth Holland & Tracy Sockalosky and first appeared on Edudemic. When we think about the tools and resources that benefit all learners, certain key attributes come to mind: multiple modalities, scaffolding, communication, collaboration, and support. While there are hundreds of tools and devices available, we have found 10 strategies to maximize the learning possibilities through creative uses of All Things Google. 1. Google Docs At its most basic level, Google Docs provides students with a foolproof means to access their work from any device. For those who may struggle with organization or keeping…
This past week, we have seen an influx of resources for our July 25-26 All Things Google workshop thanks to news from the Google I/O Keynote. We also uncovered new tools and resources for our May 21st Digital Storytelling webinar and July 8-10 Digital Storytelling & Multimedia Student Projects workshop. All Things Google Teacher’s Guide to Adding Images in Google Forms ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning Thanks to an update, it is now possible to add images to Google Forms, allowing teachers to incorporate maps, graphs, diagrams and other images into assessments. Joe the ITC: Google Drive – Adding Voice Comments We mentioned before…
This post first appeared on Free Technology for Teachers. As I wrote in Part 1, a major challenge of working with iPad is actually working with iPad. Unlike a computer, iPad does not function as well in a shared environment because of the challenges of workflow – getting content on and off of the devices. The lack of email, coupled with the Terms of Service that preclude those under the age of 13 from having a cloud storage account, further complicate the problem. In my first post, I outlined three potential approaches for distributing content to students without using email or logins. However the next…