Android Education Apps.

I have been recently focusing on the iPad and iOS devices for education primarily because this is the platform that is most used here by educators. Looking at it from a student perspective, Android tablets (such as the Kindle Fire) represent a much more cost effective solution for one on a budget. Add to that the plethora of different Android-based smart phones on the market, and this seems to me to be a segment of the education market for technology that cannot be ignored.

I just ordered an Android tablet and an Android-based phone to replace my broken Windows 7 phone. Impressions on the differences and the availability of apps for education will be forthcoming soon.

Here is the list of education apps currently at the Google Play store. More on these soon: https://play.google.com/store/apps/category/EDUCATION?hl=en

Google Apps for ePortfolios

A friend sent along this link. Dr. Helen Barrett has written an amazing amount on ePortfolios. She has been one of the major contributors to this area for many years and continues to explore and add to the body of knowledge on Electronic Portfolios. The link below goes to a site specifically designed to help educators at all levels implement electronic portfolios using Google Apps. There is a great deal of excellent information here. It goes without saying that using Goggle as a platform saves a great deal of money over using a proprietary solution, and the tools are just as robust.

https://sites.google.com/site/eportfolioapps/

There are even templates to help get started using Google Apps for ePortfolios. Here is one: https://sites.google.com/site/amslerclassroom/eportfolio-templates

In fact, University of Washington Bothell uses Google for electronic portfolios. You can see their implementation here: http://www.uwb.edu/learningtech/eportfolios/cusp, and also another implementation at Portland State: https://sites.google.com/a/pdx.edu/eportresources/ep-lab-software-tutorials/create-your-eportfolio

MS user interface design cues on web pages?

I saw this format on the local public media web site. I was immediately struck by the similarity to the tiles on Windows Phone 7. I have to wonder if the design inspiration for the tiled appearance might be Windows Phone and Windows 8? Perhaps a harbinger of design decisions to come? The fun part about that is that even the most simple CSS implementations can make use of tiles. After all, they are only colored rectangles and squares.

New Bloom's Taxonomy/cognitive domains

This is a very nice breakdown of the changes to Bloom. For me at least this is a very clear and concise breakdown with examples. Excellent! http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

How Pinterest is being used by educators

Here is an interesting article on how Pinterest is being used for educational curation by several schools. What I am finding most interesting about this is the sheer variety of application. It is easy to see (and to envision) how courses with any sort of visual learning component might be able to leverage Pinterest as either a collection or even student collected artifacts for a more social collaborative.

Why students and graduates need LinkedIn as part of their career strategy

Social networking is becoming an important tool in finding a professional position after graduating from college. Among the potential social networking sites for finding recruiters and posting resumes, the most rapidly growing site is now LinkedIn. LinkedIn is beginning to matter a great deal in the social networking environment as it is gaining popularity faster than any of its competition. In an article a few days ago in the Business Insider, it was reported that recruiters are quickly moving to LinkedIn over competitors like Monster.com and Indeed.com. Given that LinkedIn now has over 150 million users, it is important to include LinkedIn in any employment search strategy, not to mention for professional networking purposes.

The article  Why Every College Student Needs a LinkedIn Page from last year in EmergingEdTech.com becomes even more important now that LinkedIn is becoming one of the go-to places for employers. It details reasons why students should set up their profiles through LinkedIn.

The Savvy Intern has some great tips on what to put into the LinkedIn profile once that it is set up.

Based on a recent Jobvite study, 1 in 6 find their next position through social networking. LinkIn and other social networks have become an important part of the career search, too important to not be a part of.

Scanning Apps for the iPad

Intro to iPad Security

FileApp for iPad

LinkedIn for professional networking.

WebQuest Introduction Presentation

This is the WebQuest presentation for students from Tuesday in an embedded form.

Below is an example of a Google form embedded in a blog post using an iframe. The idea that I am exploring, is the possibility of including assessment for courses in a blog using Google forms.Thanks to Kent Brooks at Casper College for the idea!

Comprehensive guide to Google free tools for Teachers and Students

What an excellent presentation. Here is an overview of all of the tools that Google provides for teachers and students in one place. Google Documents, especially documents and forms are of a great deal of interest in putting together lessons, assessments, and content in a universal format that can be read in any browser. Check out the presentation: http://educationaltech-med.blogspot.com/2012/03/comprehensive-guide-to-google-free.html

101 Web 2.0 tools for teachers and another 100 just for good measure!

I'm just starting to wade through this list. Most I have heard of, but  there are many here that I have not actually explored. Good list with descriptions. http://www.goedonline.com/101-web-tools-for-teachers

And if that isn't enough to go through,  C4LP (The Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies) has its list of top 100 tools for learning: http://c4lpt.co.uk/top-100-tools-for-learning-2011/

Creating educational videos for Youtube (cheaply)

This post is from Wes Fryer's blog. It details a presentation by Marty Brandl on producing inexpensive and yet meaningful math lessons on Youtube. One of the things that was most intriguing to me about this was how little technology went into producing these lessons. Some of the text here is a little difficult to read, but it is easy enough to get the important part of the presentation, that these lessons were produced with a cheap microphone and a $35 Wacom pad. Check it out here: http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2012/03/09/creating-educational-videos-for-youtube-by-marty-brandl-swwc2012/ and then have a look at what Marty Brandl has posted on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=mbrandl11&view=videos

One of the things that struck me the most about this approach is that it does not rely on any elaborate graphics or animation. From the standpoint of reducing cognitive load through distraction, this is a marvelous approach!

Google Documents and BYOD

It really does seem like a no-brainer, but over the last two days I discovered the joy of Google Documents and presenting in a course using BYOD. The participants in the classroom had access to my PowerPoint (complete with links), and the assignment that I would normally hand out on paper through two links from Google Docs posted to my other blog. They could access my PowerPoint instantly and so have access to the items that I was discussing, including the very links that I was using in the presentation!

A simple thing perhaps, but it did make the experience much more seamless. The added benefit was in not having to be concerned about the device that they were using. Since the files were available in Google Documents, they were device independent. No more worrying about whether or not everyone in the classroom had the proper software (or version of the software).

Universally accessible documents AND no support issues, what's not to like?

BYOD?

Increasingly, what I have been reading lately has revolved around the concept of BYOD (bring your own device) in the classroom. Basically the idea is to allow students to bring in their own smart phones, tablets, notebooks, etc. and use these as a means of engagement and feedback using web pages, as polling devices, and for viewing and interacting with other web based material. This is as opposed to having a computer lab or other formal structured computer experience. One school of thought advocates that the device is an extension of the individual, and that allowing the use of these devices in the classroom increases student engagement and also allows the instructor to spend less time overseeing devices. The argument goes that since these are personal devices, learners already know how to use them, and so the amount of time supporting the device is reduced.

The other side of the argument is simple. Personal devices allow learners to be more easily distracted and the ability to use them for purposes other than classwork automatically raises the likelihood that they will be abused. A secondary argument is that the use of these devices could pose security risks if unsecured devices have access to personally identifiable information.

Here are a couple of articles that I have read in the last few days that address this issue:  http://plpnetwork.com/2012/03/09/pocket-based-learning-my-cellphone-classroom/ , and an interesting take on Polleverywhere from THE Journal (check out the comments at the bottom of the article) http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/03/07/byod-teachers-talk-classroom-use.aspx?=THEMOB
and finally http://www.ryanbretag.com/blog/?p=2767

What are your thoughts?

WebQuest PPT

This is the Introduction to WebQuests Powerpoint. Download this file if you are in the course and would like the original PowerPoint while you build your WebQuest. Here is the link to the Powerpoint

If you run into problems, your first stop should be Bernie Dodge's webquest.org. Almost any question can be answered there.

The assignment for the WebQuest itself can be found here.