May 12
Sir Ken Robinson’s 2006 Ted talk on creativity and our schools went viral in the education community. I think I personally saw it six times at different meetings and PD sessions. This latest talk is, if anything, even more relevant, provocative and entertaining, Robinson directs his critique toward American schools, but his arguments are equally …
May 10
Bodelin’s ProScope Micro Mobile will turn an iPhone 4/4S/5, iPad mini, or iPad 2, 3, or 4 into a professional quality microscope. Magnification ranges from 20X to 80X. The lens attaches to a sleeve that fits around your device, which means you can use it with multiple devices. You can easily take still photos or videos, …
May 09
When asked for feedback on using the iPads in the classroom, students responses were predominantly positive. They were, however, quick to point out the drawbacks, too (many of which revolved around network issues): “Explain Everything” needed a lot of time to get used to. There were features I hadn’t seen or used before, and some …
May 09
Here are some more of the positive comments from students about an assessment using Explain Everything: For a first trial, I thought it worked pretty well. I was able to easily work the program. It was the perfect application for solving a math problem using technology. It took me a few minutes …
May 09
Last week we used the Explain Everything app for an assessment in Extended Math 8. On balance, the students’ reactions were solidly positive. Here are some of their comments: The ipads…are a great addition that I would also like to see next year in the high school. When the teacher was describing about …
May 08
Sometimes Moodle has trouble with uploaded videos. You can hear the audio track, but there’s no picture. Check out this link for the fix
May 08
One of the features that makes EE so powerful is the myriad ways in which one can share their product, including Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and email. In practice, this didn’t go smoothly at all for a variety of reasons. Email won’t work if the files > 20MB. The cloud services were buggy, especially Dropbox, …
May 07
One of the best things about my MacBook Air is the Solid State Drive. In my previous computer, a MBP, I was using a “hybrid drive,” which incorporated a small SSD for frequent, routine tasks alongside a larger traditional HDD. If I were to purchase a new MBP, one of my first upgrades would be …
May 07
I’ve been using the MBA for going on two months now. I’ve been heard to say that I would “never buy a MBP again.” So, yes, I love it: It’s dramatically lighter. My daughter’s MBP felt like a brick when I picked it up the other day. It’s demonstrably faster. Boot-up times of ~10 s …
May 07
The iPads are categorized in Zimbra as resources. The 24 iPads available have been split into four groups of six iPads each (red, green, yellow, and blue). To reserve one or more sets, go to your Zimbra calendar, make an appointment for the block(s) that you want to use them, and add the iPads as …