Crucial Thought Rss

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MobiOne Promo Code - app development software One of the highlights of my year thus far has been publishing iOS apps with kids. We've gotten two apps successfully published in the App Store and are working on several more. As of this writing, we have one in review that we hope will be approved soon. I often get asked how we publish apps, since this is not something that is typical...

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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.

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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...

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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...

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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....

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What to do with the school-owned iPod touch?

Category : General

Here’s me asking for help…

I found out the other day that my school bought an 8GB iPod Touch a few months ago. They had bought it with the intention of seeing whether this kind of wireless, handheld device had any serious implications for education. They’ve not seen any yet, so they gave it to me to try.

I’m sure there are loads of posts about this already, but I’d love to hear the best ways to use this in a classroom setting, my classroom to be specific.

So what do you think? How does this bad boy fit into a classroom routine?

NB: I’m not going to jailbreak it, so let’s stick with stuff that’s on the level.

Comments (10)

Hoping to post about this soon, but there is growing use of mobile video (iPod/iTouch/etc) as a way of having instant access to videos that model the correct behavior for autistic students and others. Growing research behind it!

My test school this year had great success. We’re putting it into 10 teachers’ hands next year.

Hi Chris,

Have a look at this category list to get you started:
http://joedale.typepad.com/integrating_ict_into_the_/ipods/index.html

Best wishes

Joe

Hey, Chris. Just read the end of your post after sending my tweet. I still think you should jailbreak it, particularly if you’re the guy charged with understanding its potential. It’s amazingly easy and risk free. And once you do it, you’ll realize it’s the most powerful computer you own. ;) http://edtechlife.com/?p=1991

For web based apps you can use regardless, start with the list at Apple: http://www.apple.com/webapps/

Oh, and don’t miss PocketTweets: http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/09/pockettweets-twitter-for-iphone/

IF it’s easy to restore back to a non-jailbroken state, then I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t!

I play various types of music in my classroom a lot. Have you considered trying to use it to remote control iTunes? Apparently it can be done… :-D

Chris,

There are NO uses for it public or private education. Your best option, at this point, is to immediately send it to me.

I’m just sayin’….

:-)

Chris,
I was awarded a $6,000 grant last year to obtain handheld computers with keyboards. Although not the same as the Ipod touch, I believe there are similarities that you might find helpful. The website that got me started was http://www.k12handhelds.com/
Off the top of my head:
I bet you can use keyboards with the ipod.
record data from science experiments
watch teacher prepared slideshows
united streaming and teacher tube videos
vodcasts related to your instruction
student created vodcasts
student photos- photo scavenger hunt for concepts you are teaching
Hmmm wonder if you can sync info from one ipod to another? (files etc.)

Chris,

I was considering buying 10 for a classroom where the teacher already has laptops for each student and does an already excellent job using a variety of technologies… to teach Spanish. I ultimately decided against it until the iPhone software 2.0 debuts later this summer. For us, it provided playback of podcasts/audio/video, and the obvious web experience. But since we already have iPods, and we can’t reasonably monitor what they pull up on the touches, we decided to wait it out. I hope you share what becomes of yours.

We’re considering purchasing some for princpals; it would be a nice handheld for accessing student data via our web-based Powerschool.

We have been testing these great wireless devices for about a year now. Our school uses FirstClass for the time being and it does a decent job linking to email. Contacts and calendar syncing is a bit more problematic. I blogged about this very topic in more detail.

http://antonioviva.com/2007/12/09/ipod-toucha-treo-killer

A general overview of our experience to date will be posted in a few weeks.

Una vez yo usé una Palm Tungsten E2 como puntero inalámbrico para diapositivas. Supongo que se le puede dar un uso semejante. Además, conectado a unos parlantes, se puede escuchar conferencias u otros audios de interés para la clase.

Saludos

Hi folks,
The iPod touch has great potential for use by children in Active Learning. I believe that they can use it to get over hurdles in learning under their own control providing they have the right guidance.

I’m in the process of developing apps to help with difficult maths topics. These are ALSO available in a “classroom” browser for anyone to use for free – in class or otherwise. See my site…




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