Event Category: Past

Last week (July 23-27), was “iPad week” during our summer workshop series. We taught three days of The iPad Classroom followed by iPads, ePubs, & iBooks Author: Creating Digital Course Content. While much of the curriculum focused on the transition from consumption to creation, we also had an opportunity to explore the future of integrating iPads into the classroom. Paper + Layar + iPads = Augmented Reality One of the great benefits of using iPads – or any other mobile device – is the ability to extend learning beyond the physical four walls of the classroom. With augmented reality, it is…

In the past two weeks, EdTechTeacher’s Tom Daccord, Greg Kulowiec, and Beth Holland have traveled to schools and districts in Medfield, MA, Chicago, IL, Toledo, OH, Lafayette, LA, and Ft. Lauderdale, FL for iPad workshops at every grade level from K-12. As a result, a few new concepts and activities have come to the surface. Think of the Camera Roll as the central data source for all iPad apps – Create custom images using a drawing program such as Skitch, save to Camera Roll, and then bring them into iMovie, Animoto, ExplainEverything, EduCreations, BookCreator, ScribblePress, etc… Similarly, save video from iMovie,…

In our summer workshops, when we mention Twitter, we typically get one of two reactions: I have no idea how to Tweet! Twitter is the best thing ever! While there is occasionally some trepidation about jumping into social media, a wealth of resources exists in the “Twitterverse.” In his latest posts on EdTechResearcher, EdTechTeacher Founder, Justin Reich, writes about Teaching Teachers to Tweet. Teaching Teachers to Tweet (part I) It’s Connected Educator month here in the United States, which has me thinking about how we get more educators connected to one another. There are a number of sources of inspiration for Connected Educator…

We have been incredibly busy at EdTechTeacher as summer workshops have officially transitioned into back-to-school professional development across the country. Tom, Greg, and Beth have traveled to Louisiana, Ohio, Connecticut, Idaho, and Massachusetts to help teachers begin to prepare for the coming school year. If you missed it last week, we also released our End of Summer Newsletter. Here are a few highlights!   iPad Summit Update We received over 80 submissions to our Call for Proposals and will be announcing a schedule in the coming weeks. Applications came in from across the country as well as abroad. This is…

It’s been a busy few weeks at EdTechTeacher, so we have tons to pack in to this week’s iPad Resources and Suggestions blog post. Fall Webinar Series Greg and Beth kicked off the 2012 Fall Webinar Series with The Flipped iPad Classroom as part of Connected Educator’s Month. The presentation slides and webinar recording link are available on the EdTechTeacher web site. Come join us on September 6th for The App Backpack – Back to School with iPads. Greg and Beth will elaborate on the App Backpack post from a few weeks ago, and discuss techniques for integrating and leveraging iPads during the first…

It’s been a relatively quiet week at EdTechTeacher, so that can only mean one thing: everyone is back in school! We hope that everyone is off to a good start, and look forward to seeing you in the coming months – either in person or online. In addition to our weekly resources, we have a few other news items and reminders. iPad Summit Update – just the numbers There are exactly 60 DAYS until the start of the EdTechTeacher iPad Summit. Early Bird discounts are available for another 23 DAYS. Register soon to get your discount. After receiving over 80…

  I received this email the other day. Hi Beth. I am a student from the Harvard summer session on Teaching Elementary Grades with Technology. I have been voulun-told to teach a session on Literacy Centers using tech to staff members in a week. I am hoping you have some insight or ideas for this!? THANKS Jenn First off, I love the concept of being volun-told as that describes so much of how life evolves in a school, but I digress. Initially, I responded to Jenn by saying: … I’d be happy to help. What type of tech will you be using for…

EdTechTeacher’s Beth Holland co-led several iPad workshops this summer and has been working with schools across the country who are integrating iPads into their classrooms. She wrote the following post for Edudemic as a response to a dissuasion post about the use of iBooks in the classroom. Whatever Happened To iBooks?! Recently, I saw a post on a discussion board that asked, “Whatever happened to iBooks?” I found that a really entertaining concept, because my EdTechTeacher colleague – Greg Kulowiec – and I have spent hours on iBooks this summer in our workshops. In fact, iBooks is one of the…

With School underway & iPad programs and pilots in progress, I think it is important to reflect on and carefully consider why and how iPads can be used in the classroom.  In a recent piece written for Edudemic, I made the analogy that iPads are like Hammers.  Inspired by a shelf that my brother built for my daughter’s room and the realization that iPads are little more than tools or means to achieve an end goal, here are a few excerpts from the piece. My brother recently built a shelf for my daughter’s room. It is in the likeness of…

It’s hard to believe, but there are only 7 Days Left for Early Bird Registration to the EdTechTeacher iPad Summit! We have a list of confirmed concurrent sessions on the web site, and should have a schedule some time soon. Come join us for what is shaping up to be a tremendous event.   Weekly Resources & Suggestions App Store – Awesome Files File management and creation on an iPad. Tags: GoogleDrive, GoogleDocs, Dropbox, Box Appealing Apps for Educators: Screencasting Smackdown – Videos in the Classroom – iPhone app article – Jennie Magiera | Appolicious ™ iPhone and iPad App Directory…

Early Bird Registration for the iPad Summit ends on September 30th – as does the iPad Summit Contest. Lainie Rowell, featured presenter from California, Shawn McCusker from Chicago, and Tony Perez from Atlanta will be joining the EdTechTeacher Team as instructors for the Pre-Conference Workshops. While these workshops are currently sold-out, we are looking into additional space. Educators from around the world have already signed up for the November 7-8 iPad Summit. There are still tickets available for this international event. Upcoming Learning Opportunities The EdTechTeacher Fall Webinar Series continues next week, October 4th, at 7:00 pm EST. Join us online…

As a follow up to my post, Whatever Happened to iBooks????, I thought a lot about how iBooks and the Camera may be two of the most powerful apps on the iPad, and yet the most under appreciated. In many ways, they are essentially “invisible apps.”   Two of the most powerful apps on the iPad may be completely invisible: iBooks and the Camera Roll. However, when used together, they have the potential to create powerful learning experiences and dynamic projects. Dynamic Math Portfolios In July, Greg Kulowiec and I taught a workshop on Creating Digital Course Content. One of our…

Over the last few years K-12 schools and districts across the country have been investing heavily in iPads for classroom use. EdTechTeacher has been leading iPad professional development at many of these schools and we’ve seen firsthand how they approach iPad integration. While we’ve witnessed many effective approaches to incorporating iPads successfully in the classroom, we’re struck by the common mistakes many schools are making with iPads, mistakes that are in some cases crippling the success of these initiatives. We’re sharing these common challenges with you, so your school doesn’t have to make them. 1) Focusing on content apps The…

The big news of the week is that the iPad Summit is SOLD OUT. We are currently taking registrations for the wait list only. However, you can still join us online. Fall Webinars We have two more free, live webinars this month. Come join us on October 18th for Realities of the 1:1 Classroom with guest presenters Shawn McCusker & Shaelynn Farnsworth and on October 30th for Mobile Learning Activities with guest presenter, Richard Byrne from Free Technology for Teachers. Registration is open! If you’ve missed any of our webinars so far this fall, you can access the recording links from our web…

Online, in workshops, and even with friends, I frequently get asked What can the iPad actually do? as a sort of challenge to the worth of the device. I would rather that they ask, What can you actually do with an iPad? So last week, in preparing for the New England Reading Association Conference and the NYSCATE Mobile Learning Summit, I decided to change my approach. Rather than structure my presentations by tool, or by app, or even by project, I organized myself around desired student outcomes – aka. what students can actually do. However, before addressing that question, I asked not only WHY iPads but WHY Technology? Because….…

Many schools have struggled with Apple’s latest update to iOS6. While there are certainly a lot of glitches, there are also some great new benefits. Here are a few lessons-learned and discoveries from the past few weeks. WiFi Settings Moved – just in case you’ve been looking for it, instead of being under General, it’s now in the left menu inside settings just below the Airplane Mode switch. Some Location Services Options are now under Privacy – apps that access the Photo Roll now ask for authorization. However, if you decline, then some other apps don’t work as well. For example, some…

First off, we are thrilled to announce that we have a few spaces available for the iPad Summit Pre-Conference Workshop Day! For session descriptions and registration, visit http://ipadsummitusa.org/pre-conferece. EdTechTeacher Conference Tour You can also look for members of the EdTechTeacher team presenting at a variety of events over the next ten days: Gail Ross-McBride will be at EdCamp Chicago on Saturday, October 20th, with Pre-Conference Workshop Instructor Shawn McCusker. Tom Daccord, Greg Kulowiec, and Beth Holland will all be presenting next week at the MASSCUE Technology Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 24-25. Greg Kulowiec is a featured speaker in Chicago…

Are you a Beta-Max? Now that we are all excited about integrating iPads into the classroom, what’s next? What are we all going to do in 18.. 24.. 36.. months when the next great device comes along? Are we all going to just start over? How do we, as educators, avoid being the next Beta-Max: that flash in the pan that couldn’t scale up and adjust to a rapidly changing market? While Beta-Max may be gone, the idea behind it  – that people wanted to easily access videos and then store them to watch later –  lives on in every…