Mobile Learning PD Course Offers Educators Classroom Projects and Lessons
#edtech #mlearning #edchat
Everywhere you look someone is using a mobile device. So, it’s no surprise that educators are needing to embrace these technologies as tools to impact teaching & learning. The “Going Mobile” course from Atomic Learning will expose teachers to a variety of tools and strategies to get the most out of mobile devices in the classroom.
This Instructor-Led Online PD Course focuses on developing strategies for including portable computing devices in classroom projects and lessons, including the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad™, and other cell phones and mobile computing platforms. These devices enable real time communication and feedback, as well as access to textbooks and reference sources. More importantly, they open the door to educational innovations that take advantage of ubiquitous, “always on” computing and communication.
October 29—December 3, 2012* | Weekly Webinar: Mondays, 6pm-7pm CST
*Other dates avaiable, visit https://store.atomiclearning.com/going_mobile.html to see the full schedule.
If your school or district is embarking on a mobile initiative, learn from others who have been there, done that. Check out the Atomic Mobilize solution.
Atomic Learning iPad App Review
#edtech #ipaded #atomiclearning
After coming down from the high of upgrading from my old iPhone 4 to the new iPhone 5, I had to get back down to the business of tech teaching.
Since I have given up on the idea of lugging around my MacBook Pro in lieu of just my iPhone and iPad I was happy to see that the Atomic Learning app is now available in the App Store.
Next week I need to teach my fourth graders the art of video game design using Scratch. So that was the first thing I searched for and look at all of the great tutorials I found…
The videos played beautifully on my 3rd gen iPad, and the best part of all is having the “second screen” which means, while the tutorial played on my iPad I followed along on my school’s desktop Windows XP machine. No more having to click between two computer windows.
- Brad Flickinger, Tech Teacher, Bathke Elementary
Read MoreConnected Educator Month
#edtech #edchat #ce12
With today being the first of August, my reminder app popped up and told me that today was the start of Connected Educators Month. I must have put this into my iPhone when I heard about it at SocialEdCon that happened the day before ISTE got started in San Diego. I remember someone getting up and explaining how it is important for educators that we connect with one another and start to share ideas on how to move education forward.
When I checked out their website this evening, I found that they have over 80 online events scheduled for this month. 80!
I scrolled down the list and found 10 or 12 activities that interested me right off the bat.
Next, I downloaded the Getting Started Kit so that I wouldn’t miss a thing. Going through this guide reminded me of the Spotlight series that Atomic Learning did on Collaborating with a Global Community last year (full of great workshops too).
I am excited with the prospects of this coming month, I hope to find more educators to connect with that are just as crazy about elementary edtech as I am. I find myself getting more and more ideas from my PLN than from anything else in my life, so the more I can add to this the better I get.
So join me in supporting this cause and let’s get this ball rolling.
- Brad Flickinger, Tech Teacher, Bethke Elementary School
Read MoreTeaching Students with iPads
#edtech #ipaded #mlearning
Teaching students with iPads is like nothing I have ever done in the past 13 years as a teacher. Although I have been stuck in the honeymoon stage with the iPad since I got the first generation a couple of years ago, I never imagined some of the things that kids are capable of doing with iPads. I admit at first I thought that kids would just use their iPads to do a little research on the web, but they were not happy with just browsing the web, they wanted to do so much more.
So I found a teleprompter app and started to have the students do a live news show. We soon realized that the mic on the iPad was a little too good, it picked up everything in the room, so we plugged in the iRig mic which turned out to be perfect. I am thinking about adding training on shooting news with iPads as cameras and teleprompters as part of my Teaching with iPads workshops. Here are some photos of the kids using their iPads to film their own news show.
We added a flag to the iRig mic to make it look more professional.
We filmed our news show with an iPhone.
The teleprompter is controlled by another iPad through the WiFi.
The loved using the teleprompter.
The teleprompter text was written by the students.
Here they are shooting the news.
Read More
1st Graders Blues Band
Two experiences encountered by Mr. Schwartz and his blues-loving first graders truly illustrate the phenomenal effects of this program. Early on in the year, a non-English speaking student who had moved to San Diego from Mexico in August struggled with communication and classroom involvement. For months, she had been too shy to speak with her teacher and he had struggled to find ways to reach her while working with her parents and the school’s support staff. One day, a fellow student convinced her to join the classroom’s recently formed “1st Grade Blues Band” and the result was shocking. As Mr. Schwartz says, “…here she was singing ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ in front of the whole class with a HUGE smile on her face. Her peers and the music had emboldened her and she took the leap, speaking English aloud for the first time in class.”
A few months ago, Mr. Schwartz faced a similar situation when an Asian girl moved to San Diego and entered his first grade classroom. Unlike his Spanish-speaking students who have the advantage of interacting with many bilingual teachers and peers, this girl had no one and faced severe cultural and language barriers. As he again worked with the school staff and the girl’s parents, Mr. Schwartz began to recognize the same amazing phenomenon with this girl. She was getting into the Blues and it “had enabled her to overcome her shyness, and she sang with enthusiasm and joy.”
Today, both girls are integral parts of Garrison Elementary’s “1st Grade Blues Band.” In addition to putting on a great show, this band demonstrates irrefutable evidence of the positive role that music plays in education. To find out more about the pedagogy behind music and Mr. Schwartz’s use of music in his classroom, please visit the KidsLikeBlues.org website. And you don’t want to miss watching these incredible kids get their Blues on with a rousing rendition of “Sweet Home Chicago” at their recent talent show. (Click here for the YouTube video and get ready to rock!)
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