3 Epic Technologies to Transform Your Classroom – from Douglas Kiang on Edudemic 

This post first appeared on Edudemic. I am a teacher, a developer, a parent, and a techie. I love technology in all its forms. Part of my role at my school is to ask, what is the benefit of technology in the classroom? The more I ask this question, the more I realize that it is not about the technology at all. For example, what’s the benefit of scuba gear? When you take a scuba course, you learn the basics: how to put it on, how to adjust it, how to keep yourself safe. But then, relatively quickly, you jump…

What Every School Leader Should Know about Google with Holly Clark – LIVE Blog from Beth Holland 

What does Google Apps for Education bring to a school and a classroom. Google’s motto is to share and collaborate, so how do we leverage this capacity to transform curriculum? Beyond using Google to search and to word process, Holly wants us to think about the other tools available within the suite – like Google Hangouts. As an administrator, when I walk past a classroom, should I see an environment that would prepare students for 1980 or 2030? The New Digital Divide – “Those who know how to think about search vs those who don’t.” “Those who know how to validate information…

Grade Papers without Paper! with Dee Koscik – from Beth Holland 

Dee begins by explaining that this session is going to be about the workarounds possible with Google Drive. Paperless Assignment Distribution & Collection Dee prefaces her talk by explaining why these workarounds are important and why she chose to go down this path with Doctopus. The world is going paperless both in terms of students handing in work and getting digital feedback. Google doesn’t always play nice with iPads She tried a lot of things already. File>Make a Copy works on a computer but not on iPad. There was also the challenge of students not turning assignments in correctly both…

iPads for Administrators – from Jen Carey 

Jen Carey is LIVE blogging for us from the EdTechTeacher iPad Summit USA. You can also find these posts on her site – indianajen.com. Concurrent Session #1: iPads for Administrators – Chris Casal While the title of this talk is iPad for Administrators, the focus is less about administration and more on working as a leader (in every capacity) in the school. Chris works for a public school in NYC of about 1,000 students. Administrators view iPads primarily for three things: communication, collaboration, and observation. They often have a fourth goal as well: going paperless. iPad is an amazing tool for…

iPad x ___ = more App Smashing from Greg 

For over a year, we have been working to dispel the myth that there’s an app for that… However, as Greg continues to document, while there may not be one single app, two might just do the trick. Explain Everything X Google Drive = Awesome! Using iPads in the classroom and particularly workflow solutions for iPads has slowly progressed from maddening to relatively seamless. While just last year an app for Google Drive didn’t exist, it now directly interfaces quite nicely with a number of student creation apps and nearly everything can upload to Google Drive using the “open in” feature.…

Weekly Resources & Suggestions 

Lately, in addition to researching iPads, we have been exploring other tools such Google Apps, Chrome Books, and Android Tablets, as well as broader pedagogical topics like collaboration, reflection, and the impact of technology on the Common Core. This summer, we will be offering a host of workshops on these topics, and more, in Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago. We will also continue to run webinars throughout the remainder of the winter and spring. Upcoming topics include: February 12th at 4:00 pm EST: Capturing, Sharing, and Resolving Perplexitywith guest Dan Meyer February 28th at 5:00pm EST: Explain Everything: iPad Screencasting and More with guest Reshan…