Wow.

Apparently I’m way behind, as I have been using Notes (the app that comes pre-installed) on my iPhone for a while. Evernote puts my notes in the cloud, allows access from a browser, and my Evernote iPad app does the same things as my iPhone (plus a couple more) app. Write the note and sync it with the cloud when you have network access, great for iTouchs / iPads, nice for iPhones!

I shared this and Dragon Dictation with someone at work and we went crazy with ideas around kids who have trouble writing! Have the student dictate the beginning of the paragraph into Dragon, copy it to Evernote, sync up with the cloud, do the final markup on a computer, print and the paragraph is done! I can see this working for a lot of material, both school and work.

I can see using this to take notes in meetings, class, organize the grocery / Costco list. You need to pay for the sharing feature, which isn’t much.

Looking for a cloud based solution for students as I hope we move towards a 1-1 solution with iPads in the near future. What are people using, or thinking? I’ve heard Google Apps is going HTML5 this spring, hoping that is a solution for some. The nice piece about Evernote, it just turns on, you don’t have to wait for the pages to load and connect to the server and syncing the documents later has a LOT of appeal.

Seriously.

I don’t write about games, I don’t even play games often enough to acknowledge that I do it.

Until now. Angry Birds is a blast. Part physics, part geometry, part geeky fun. Different birds are better at destroying different material (glass, wood, concrete) that protect the pigs who have stolen eggs from the Angry Birds’ nests. The angle of elevation determines where your bird is going to land. So really, I am earning 2 credits.

A great study in reward learning. Go play it if you know you have self restraint (*note that you have been warned and I am therefore, in no uncertain terms, responsible for any addiction formed to this game*). Otherwise, go read the discussion boards dispensing advice regarding level advancement. All this for a buck. Nice programming!

I just had a fantastic thought about how to use Delicious and my iPad.

Create a shortcut on your screen of the link to your Delicious account. How to: In Safari, click on the “+” sign, choose “Add to Home Screen” option and name the button. It looks like every other application on your screen, but it is really a link to your bookmarks.

While reading something at Mashable, I ran into an article about Internet trends that had two different links. One to the PDF, the other to a link that loaded into Good Reader – the 99 cent document storage system application that I reviewed a couple days ago. I was able to click on the second link, it loaded the file into my Good Reader application, and now I can read the PDF whenever, where ever!!

Adding a number of things to Delicious has been great, now I can easily access these resources from my mobile devices. This is probably a thought that others have had, it was just my 2 minutes of rock star action today. If you want to see what I’m reading, go for it!

Today we downloaded and tested eClicker on our iTouchs. It is very easy to figure out right out of the box. It works great with and without the client software (which is free). As long as the student device was connected to our network they connected quickly. If the student device is using 3G or a cellular network it becomes a bit of a challenge getting past firewalls.

I can see using eClicker for quick and easy formative assessment. Keeping records of student responses was an area that we weren’t successful in testing. Maybe it is a limitation, maybe user error.

For the money it is a great resource for teachers. We look forward to further testing and application. This would be great in a Higher Ed tool, no need to purchase a device, just use the phone/laptop they bring to class.

Looking around at apps for me new iPad and thought I would share what I am doing with it and how it really isn’t a big touch.

Good reader opens files off line for you to read. I’ve connected my mobile me account, google apps, and ep apps, so that I can download and read things when I don’t have wifi. I have also downloaded my o’reilly books.

The files stay in a cloud, so i can get to them from multiple devices.
Access is off line, helping me when I travel, and with battery life.
This would be good for students as well, getting pdf’s from teachers…reading on the bus,

Written using the word press app for my iPad, with the internal keyboard.

Good Reader Web Site

I have another stack of  iTouches outside my door – 60 (yes six – zero) to be exact.

Fantastic! AND there is a bit of work to do to ready them for the classroom.

Found a great resource today that started me thinking about how to share what we are doing, and how we are getting such great student achievement results. So, in an effort to make our success replicable, we’ve started documenting specific projects online, instead of just internally. If you have ANY questions, please contact me directly. We are just thrilled with the fruits of our labor, and most of all the success of the students!

Individuals as the content generators.

We don’t have to wait for the textbook companies figure it out, instead we can use the content that people generate and share.

I like what has been created on Khan’s web site, really appreciate the time and energy that has been put into publishing these helpful tools – for both students & teachers.

Revolutions are like that. They invent and destroy and they only go one way. It’s like watching a confused person in a revolving door for the first time. They push backwards, try to slow it down, fight the rotation… and then they embrace the process and just walk and it works. ~Seth Godin

This is from a summer of 2009 post, so while the data is a little old (less than a year at this writing). It is compelling that twice as many people are using Facebook to communicate than email. What does that say about some organizations media plans? If the organization doesn’t contribute to the communication in that medium, then the only voice out there is (usually) the crabby voice.

Isn’t it at least better to be out there, than just watching?

The WHAT. Teachers use an interactive whiteboard (Smart), microphone (generic) and screen capture software (JING) to record themselves teaching a concept (like, graphing a parabola, completing the square, factoring polynomials). Students can access these videos via our podcast server, or in class on an iTouch.

NOT rocket science. YET the results are out of this world.

Another teacher, another group of students. This time a little better statistical measure of the data. Students increased test scores by AT LEAST one standard deviation IF they watched instructional videos during the chapter of study.

Our biology teachers are recording labs with flip cams, sewing teacher recording steps of a project with the flip, math teachers do screen captures and flip (constructions), language teachers recording verb stuff on the screen, sign language with the flip.

It is amazing. It is simple, and I wish more students would use it. (AND more teachers would create material) The academic difference it makes is nothing short of remarkable.