Rubric for Mobile Apps

Recently I came across a great rubric from eskillslearning.net that helps teachers/educators to better evaluate and select mobile apps that they can use in the classroom.  “The rubric outlines 10 evaluative criteria to base your selection. These are: Common Core Standards alignment, Presentation of content in the app, Levels of engagement, Levels of difficulty, Does it meet students need?, Platform matches school equipment, Research based, Scholastic presentation, Self-correcting and Various modes of play.”

 

 

 

Reference:

Teachers Rubric for Selecting Mobile Apps ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2013, from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/12/teachers-rubric-for-selecting-mobile.html

Chapter 8; Collins and Halverson

This chapter talks about how schools or the education world in general can cope with technology in the classroom.  It gives us a couple ideas to start with, but the most interesting part of the chapter concerned using and implementing new curriculum designs.  It gives us a basic understanding of how the technology develops while the students develop.  I found the implementation of games most interesting.  Games can help us succeed in subjects that have been lacking over the years.  Things that once seemed boring to students, like history - come to life in the form of educational gaming.  Technology also helps us manage the schools, classrooms and curriculum much better.  Things are more organized, collaborative and user friendly in the digital classroom.

Reference:

Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2009). Rethinking education in the age of technology: The digital revolution and schooling in America. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Chapter 6 Richardson

Very interesting chapter on combining all our social bookmarking apps and websites.  I never did much social bookmarking like delicious, feedly, diigo, etc....in the past.  I like the way it works and the many uses it has in the education field.  I am always interested to learn about new technologies like Diigo and this one did not disappoint.  Diigo was the best part of this chapter and I am starting to use it on a regular basis.  When combining all of these technologies and introducing them to students, their learning possibilities can be endless.



References:

Richardson, W. (2010) Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin

We Need Schools... Not Factories

This week I found a very interesting article in the Huffington Post.  Sugata Mitra winner of the TED prize states; "Unlocking the power of new technologies for self-guided education is one of the 21st century superhighways that need to be paved."  He gives a history of why and how education needed to evolve, and then why it must change again to meet this future technology based world.  Kids, teachers and parents must evolve with technology.  The Internet and the cloud must be embraced by the education community. This is a must read!


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sugata-mitra/2013-ted-prize_b_2767598.html?utm_hp_ref=email_share

• Posted: 02/27/2013 2:47 PM
• Updated: 03/15/2013

Discovery Education Partners to Add Content

Once again Discovery is doing its part for education.  Kids and adults love the Discovery Education tools.  It has a multitude of Social Studies Apps for all ages.  One of my favorites involves current events for the middle school crowd.   "Though a partnership with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, Discovery Education introduces Global Wrap, a summary of the week’s news from across the globe.  Developed for a middle school audience, Global Wrap presents a series of short reports to help make complex news stories easier to understand.  - See more at: http://www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&entryid=6759#sthash.EgoVlu1V.dpuf."
I have already incorporated this into my lesson plans.  Current events is a big part of my social studies class.  If you have ever seen adults on the Tonight show get quizzed about who the president is or how a certain major event is progressing?  You will understand what I mean. Many Americans have no clue what is going on in the world let alone their own country, yet we allow them to vote.  A freedom that not everyone has and most in the United States don't partake in.  I am doing my best to race a generation that is involved and has a basic level of knowledge about the world.

Resource:

Discovery Education Partners to Add Content. (2013, November 16). Retrieved November 18, 2013, from www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&entryid=6759

Helping Veterans Succeed in the Classroom

I have been a United States Marine for 20 years, so this story hits close.  The military veterans of our great nation have been learning throughout their military careers.  It is a never ending process, for anyone in uniform from the GED holder to those who hold several Masters or Phds., education is always important.  “I have seen it in my own classroom — veterans bring the same determination and focus to their studies that they brought to serving our country,” said Dr. Biden, a lifelong educator and military mom.  Dr. Biden said the efforts were “exactly what the First Lady and I hoped to see when we started our Joining Forces initiative two years ago … individuals, businesses, and nonprofits working with the public sector to step up and do what they do best to help veterans and military families.” (Guest Blogger)  After 10+ years of war there are now millions of service members ready to get educated, and serve again wherever the country and society needs them. 




Resource:

Guest Blogger (2013, November 14). Helping Veterans Succeed in the Classroom | ED.gov Blog. Retrieved November 18, 2013, from http://www.ed.gov/blog/2013/11/helping-veterans-succeed-in-the-classroom/

Chapter 5 in Collins/Halverson

This week I enjoyed both Chapters in Collins/Halverson book.  The brief history in chapter 4 of American Education and how it came to be was good, but the Chapter 5 is where my interests caught a little bit of a spark.  This is education in the computer age.  It is mostly good, but the chapter is very careful to show you both sides of the story.  Here we see almost every form of technology based learning from computer software, to home schooling to distance learning and much more.  Some of these I am a fan of and some not so much, but I do agree there is a place in society for all of them when it comes to learning.  Most of these I wish were around when I was going through school years ago.  I am doing my best to get caught up on the technical side and I am enhancing the education side more and more each day.  We are all doing the Distance Education thing and are in this class for various reasons, most of which are helping us to become better teachers using technology.  This is a big contrast from the way I grew up learning, and it will hopefully be a better one for the kids of the future.

Reference:

Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2009). Rethinking education in the age of technology: The digital revolution and schooling in America. New York: Teachers College Press.