Let's start today over at iLearn Technology. They have a new article covering "Smithsonian Quests: Learning Through Discovery and Collaboration." In short, the program is an online exploration of the Smithsonian. Throughout the quests, students earn digital badges to measure their progress. Many of the quests are collaborative and cover a wide range of subject-areas.
Over at EduTech for Teachers there's a new post on the "Top 5 Free iPad Apps to Use in the Classroom." In the article they cover:
- Evernote: Great for managing notes, documents, and resources.
- MyScratchWork: Lets students take notes while they work.
- Educreations Whiteboard: Teachers can create virtual lessons.
- Edmodo: Used to share homework and notes with students.
- Screen Chomp: Teachers can record and narrate lessons.
Popular Science has an article up introducing a new Xerox copier that can also grade papers! Whoa! And not only can the machine grade, but it keeps track of student data for the teacher as well. The software, called Ignite, needs teachers to scan in the assignment and answer key, so it knows where to look for the answers, but after that, it takes over! So far classroom tests have been pretty positive.
TeachThought has a new post entitled, "Exactly What the Common Core Standards Say About Technology." The article analyzes exactly what the CCS say about technology integration. In short, the standards not only suggest, but require that students be able to make "complex decisions about how, when and why to use technology."
Ed Tech Review has an article up about "How to Make Improved and Better Online Courses." It's an excellent read for anyone designing online classes and it outlines 5 major areas that curriculum designers should focus on: Using Effective Multimedia, Creating an Optimal Challenge, Giving Students Choice, Designing for Mastery Learning, and Designing for Social Learning.
For our grand finale of the day, let's head over to Edudemic! They've got three new posts up and for starters they discuss "When to Put the Tech Away in Your 1:1 Classroom." It's a great article for anyone implementing (or considering) a 1:1 environment (i.e. 1 laptop or iPad or smartphone per student) The article discusses the best times to integrate technology and how teachers shouldn't be afraid to "turn off" the technology when it isn't needed or beneficial.
Next up, they've got a post outlining the new, "CrunchU: A Partnership between TechCrunch and Udemy to Offer Online School." CrunchU will join a growing number of MOOCs (massive open online courses) to provide online lessons. Most courses will retail between $19 - $99 and they'll be starting with around 30 courses. The full class list is available at CrunchU Online.
Finally, Edudemic has a PD related post, "EducatorU Begins Offering Online PD Via Google+" Through EducatorU teachers will be able to join Google+ Hangouts to collaborate in online professional development sessions. The initial sessions will cover basic technology tools like Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, GMail, iPads, and WordPress, but they will expand and grow from there.
Finally, Edudemic has a PD related post, "EducatorU Begins Offering Online PD Via Google+" Through EducatorU teachers will be able to join Google+ Hangouts to collaborate in online professional development sessions. The initial sessions will cover basic technology tools like Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, GMail, iPads, and WordPress, but they will expand and grow from there.
And that's all for the Round Up today! Let's end with a video - "What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains." The video is an animation describing the writings of author Nicolas Carr (he wrote, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.") Enjoy!
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