Chris selected as K12OnlineConference keynote speaker Each year the K12OnlineConference provides tremendous professional development for free, and entirely online. This year, they have selected me as one of their keynote speakers. I am thrilled to have been chosen and look forward to participating in the conversation. Read the full post announcing all the keynote speakers here.
Two quick links on Cognitive Load Theory I've been fielding lots of questions lately about Cognitive Load Theory. Here are two quick links that may be useful. First is an article talking about the practical implications of CLT on the design of learning. The second are some "recent" (as of 2003) developments regarding CLT. Happy reading! Update: I clarified the second...
Practical advice on kids and Android app development After hearing about my students' success developing an Android app, I've gotten several emails asking for more details as to how I practically worked with my kids. Here are some pointers that I offered to the first person that emailed me, perhaps they are of some use to you. Please note that your mileage may vary. It's ok to not be...
Publishing an App Inventor app to the Android Market As I mentioned earlier, my students and I published an Android app to the Android Market. See those links for more information on the background. This post is decidedly technical. First, once we finished the coding process, we packaged the app for to download to the computer. This is an option in App Inventor. This downloaded an .apk file....
Designing and publishing an Android app with kids This post is designed to provide some context around how/why we decided to build this app. The more technical details of the code and how we published it will come in a future post. My students and I recently completed and published an Android app, and here's how we did it. First, the genesis for this goes back to a question I asked...
Jun
07
Category : General
I am reaching out, here. I got the NECC Presenter Atomic Learning offer.
Is this something I should take advantage of? Or is this just them trying to sell me something…
They are offering NECC presenters six months free. Will I like it? Is it worth it?
Only you will know that when you preview the content.
I have been using http://vtccanada.com/ for three years now and love it. It is not as k12 educational focused but covers all my geek needs.
Chris,
We used to get Atomic Learning with our MACUL (Michigan) membership. They changed to something else and I miss atomic Learning. I just can’t bring myself to spend the money for it. For me it was helpful. Try it out and see what you think.
Hi Chris,
Our school has subscribed each year for the past three years and AL is a good solution for students and staff. But I find they are using it less and less as software becomes easier to just ‘work out’. That said, if there is something students want to be able to do that isn’t obvious, especially in programs like Flash and Photoshop, it is great for them to watch a specific video that covers it. It is also great how they include p[opular open source software such as Moodle and Open Office.
The other great feature is the monitoring tool in AL. It allows you to evaluate usage based on number of views etc which can help justify the money spent or decide to scrap based on lack of use.
More recently I have been investigating Lynda.com for our more technical software needs, such as programming in JavaScript. I was given a free one week trial that allowed me to evaluate it. Just ask them and they will give you a similar trial I am sure.
I look forward to the day when teachers record their own screencasts and publish them in a useful repository – maybe on teachertube or similar service?
Cheers,
Jason
I’m always looking for free solutions and love the ability to upload videos to teacher tube. I’ve created four videos of teacher tech tips, ok, not as polished as the AL videos but it is a start.
I encourage teachers to share their knowledge through TeacherTube videos. It’s really easy to do. I use Windows Media Encoder as a free screencast solution.
Technology doesn’t have to be expensive!
Hi Chris,
Our administrators and technology committee are rolling out technology standards for all administrators and teachers. So, in order to do this I am also rolling out a subscription for AL for our whole community. I teamed up with Adult Ed and bought the subscription. This will help the second wave folks. Plus I am pretty excited because they have tutorials on Moodle and Open Office. Sweet.
Cheryl Oakes