iPad 2 for Educators
This article adapted from an earlier blog post
Has anyone else experienced techno-desire?
I’m not kinky, but my desire to purchase new technologies when they hit the market is quite organic. I know these objects will provide fulfillment in my life, even if it is only temporary, and I know I will forsake them when a newer, better, more attractive model hits the market, but that doesn’t stop the wanting.
Fortunately my bank account places adequate restrictions on my compulsive urges to run out and buy technology willy-nilly, providing me with enough deterrant to take a few moments to analyse the object of my present covetousness.
The iPad 2.
Yep, I know you’ve been there and done that, but I’ve been vassilating over this purchase for, well, a while. I’ve supported Bill over Steve for many years now and that’s despite being the proud owner of an iPhone for the past 2 years, and an iPod for 5.
The problem is I get hooked up on the barbed wires of compatability. So much of what I do relies on the exchange of ideas and documents with others, flipping between formats just makes my head spin.
A recent dinner party quenched my pusillanimous fears on this score. The iPad was our hosts portable of choice and had “changed their lives”. The work of a scholar, academic and tutor seamlessly blended every aspect of the multi-facetted roles through a versatile iPad which not only reduced the back strain but also the number of trees being hacked down for assignments which, once submitted and evaluated, would soon be forgotten. These were being submitted online, assessed on iPad and resent without a single leaf being shed. Administrivia, home financing, entertainment all neatly packaged into an attractive touch-sentitive screen.
Some logistics were identified re: online ‘office’ readers/converters, but the
problems had been minimal and insignificant. Here were two champions of the cause.
It made me think a little more about the way I can use this in the classroom. The seamless way university students can interact with a lecturer or tutor would work equally well from teacher to student. Now we can save paper, increase the level of engagement and reliance on technology as an effective tool and teach students how to use technology to their advantage.
Sure it may encourage some last minute task completions to beat the email deadline, but last minute efforts are nothing new in education.
Several of the apps were given a big thumbs up, especially pages, numbers and keynote. Our host also spoke encouragingly about the Apple development tools and the ease of developing apps.
It’s time to put one of these babies through it’s paces. Get some idea about the functionality and capacity of the iPad and start producing some engaging, educationally sound apps for students who always bring their hand helds to class with them.
Yes, Steve, it’s time.
Integrating Technology; Is it Worth the Expense?
Money, money, money.
If you were reforming an Education system anywhere in the world, what would you spend all that money on?
Would you buy the best quality teachers? Would you research the programs that have proven successful? Would you set up a school based on a tradition model or would you spend your budget on state of the art architectural design with aesthetically appealing landscaping? Would you spend your money on Science Labs, hospitality Kitchens, Musical Equipment, a Performance Hall, Sporting Fields? Perhaps you would spend it on technology; Wifi everywhere, all classrooms equipped with Smart Boards, data projectors, laptop computers, speakers, the whole shebang?
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Bring your mobiles into the classroom, please.
Street Article by Col Harrison.
Warren Beatty is quoted as saying: “You’ve achieved success in your field when you don’t know whether what you’re doing is work or play”.
Education technology has come a long way as software and hardware manufacturers continually strive for a competitive edge. The growth in sophistication within the PC gaming sector has been phenomenal. But how well has that phenomena crossed the barrier between Games and Education? Perhaps we can ask a better question. Is there a barrier between education and having fun?
Educators who live on Beatty’s fine line between education and fun are approaching a level of success which not only improves the quality of their lives but also the quality of life for their students. Simple games can impact on the quality of teaching. Not all teachers enjoy role plays, nor indeed do all students. However role play, combined with group problem solving, card games, thinking puzzles and origami memory aides can show students that there are fun ways of learning Science.
There has been a major stumbling block in the push for integration. Many ‘modern’ classrooms are equipped with a laptop, data projector and interactive whiteboard. These are wonderful examples of modern technology and it is a combination that can encourage a moderate level of interactivity in the hands of an enthusiastic, technology-aware teacher. Unfortunately it is more often is a limiting factor; one classroom, one student using the computer/IWB at a time.
What is needed is a tool which can be placed in the students’ hands.
- A tool that every student can access and use to interact with the learning material and with other students.
- A technology that can deliver information, seek information, share information and store information.
- A tool which allows students to send and receive messages to and from other students in their class, school or around the world.
- A technology that can merge real environments with virtual environments to create immersive experiences.
We already have this technology and the majority of students bring it with them to almost every lesson. It is called a mobile phone.
Read the whole article here.
Funny Teaching Experiences
I was fond of my parents’ stories on kids in class. I thought of jokes but when I saw them going every day through hilarious and unforgotten experiences, I decided to become a teacher like them.
Well, this is what has occurred in my father’s classroom his first day as a teacher:
- Maria, go to the map and find North America, said my father to a little girl.
- Here it is sir, replied the kid, showing the requested place with a stick.
- Correct! Now, class, who discovered America?
- Maria! shouted the class loudly.
This is another story that happened to my father – the funniest for him – starting with another little girl. Her name was Millie.
- Millie, give me a sentence that begins with ‘I’.
- I is…
- No, Millie! Always say ‘I am.’
- All right…I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.
From my mother, I have also two notable stories to tell. Both of them happened just before she met my father. Listen to the first one.
– Paul, how do you spell ‘crocodile?’ asked my mother, pointing at a little boy.
- K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L, replied the kid.
- No! That’s wrong, said my mother.
- Maybe it is wrong, argued the boy, but you asked me how I spell it.
The second story is about chemistry. My mother looked at one of her pupils and then asked him what the chemical formula for water is.
- H I J K L M N O, answered the young boy.
- What are you talking about?
- Yesterday, you said it’s H to O.
You understand that my mother meant H²0.
Before becoming a teacher, I successively had academic, professional and cultural trainings after having succeeded in the French baccalaureate examination many years ago. Those trainings made me go back to college in most of the cases and they totally changed the naïve young student with a general background that I was into a gentleman well-educated and firmly turned towards texts, documents or books, and their contents. I was ready for teaching but before being appointed at a primary school, I accepted to teach mathematics and French to our neighbor’s son. The kid was a rascal called Salem. We went on with multiplication. As soon as we began, I noticed that he had a strange posture.
- Salem, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor? I tried to understand from him.
- You told me to do it without using tables.
I wanted to laugh but I could not. The boy’s father was not so far away.
One day, as I came back to teach grammar and vocabulary to Salem, I saw how much he was dirty. I asked him:
- Salem, why do you always get so dirty?
- Well, I’m a lot closer to the ground than you are.
Afterwards, I went to the Atlantis Primary School, which was a good one, to replace an old teacher whose time had come to retire. Like my father, a story happened to me the first day. I wanted the children to know the difference between ‘boring’ and ‘captivating’, and I asked:
- How do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
- A teacher, replied the boy I pointed at.
“Welcome” I said to myself, smiling.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/childhood-education-articles/funny-teaching-experiences-4441225.html
About the Author
I am a professional and full-time freelance journalist based in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), West Africa . I got a DESS in journalism which is a postgraduate degree between Master and PhD. I also teach in part-time communication science at college.
Wikis for Group Work
Have you considered using a Wiki for your next group presentation?
There are a number of Wiki hosts available, I have been using wikispaces: http://passingnotesoz.wikispaces.com/, which provide an excellent range of services and a particularly good offer for schools.
Group work is fraught with difficulties. Teacher cannot always tell what proportion of the work has been done by each student and the final presentation may develop in the final hours before it is due.
Wikis provide solutions to both of these problems. Setting up a Wiki for your students allows them to go online and add or change data already there. Their activity is logged and they can work on their projects at home in such a way that their contributions can be tracked. Logged activity allows the teacher to include timings and contributions in the marking rubric and helps to keep students honest as they can see their contributions and their activity log.
Best of all, Wikis may be a way of avoiding yet another series of Powerpoints with overdone animations and sound effects. Workgroups should be small and organised so each student knows what is expected of them.
Next time you are planning a research topic, why not give the Wikis a try?
Stuck for online ideas? Visit www.passingnotes.com.au for pdf and interactive word lessons, animations and online quizzes.
List of Top Deemed Universities in India
With a severe shortage of institutions of higher learning in the country, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has proposed to establish eight new IITs, seven IIMs and thirty central Universities. While the promised schools will take some time to be established and be fully functioning, does it make sense for students to apply to deemed universities in the meanwhile? As of now, deemed universities of India are the second choice for most students.
Since the term ‘deemed’ seems to imply that it is not a full-fledged university, there are ill- conceived notions about the status of deemed universities. But they are actually as empowered as any other university. Deemed Universities don’t get priority treatment from the government either. Despite the heavy personal investment and commitment by social entrepreneurs in deemed universities, their views on higher education aren’t considered by the government, and they are ignored in policy making.
The admission criteria and selection procedure at the Universities is as stringent as it is in the top universities in India. They have also given more than a ray of hope to students who haven’t been able to make it to central and state universities. Students now have a much wider choice. They can pick and choose from the best. Ultimately, it’s the infrastructure and quality of the faculty that matters when it comes to picking the right place to study in.
Before you actually decide to apply to a university, do keep a few things in mind. Some universities get the university recognition just on the basis of contacts in the Education Ministry. So do perform a quick check on the number of years the university has been around and its faculty to student ratio – which should ideally be 1: 15.
Another foolproof method to check if a university has a good industry standing is to check where its alumni have been placed. If the university claims to be research- oriented, do take the time out to check whether its faculty members have written papers in international journals. So if your inquiries shows up that the university believes in quality education and it can indeed open the doors to a great career, do consider studying there.
List of Top Deemed Universities in India
- Indian Agricultural Research Institute
- Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
- Indian Law Institute
- National School of Drama, Bahawalpur House
- National University of Educational Planning & Administration
= Maharishi Markandeshwar University
= International Institute of Information Technology
= National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences
- Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology
- Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM)
- Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/list-of-top-deemed-universities-in-india-4446525.html
About the Author
Online Directory is one of the leading website where you can get lot of more information about Universities in India and Deemed Universities in India.
New Robotic Hand
Using technology for a better future.
Source: YouTube
VEDA: Technology Overload
in which I briefly talk about not using technology for a week and how much we rely on technology.
Source: YouTube
Medical Care – Health and Nursing Program (Ezine Ready)
Every millennium is watching and getting completely new technological innovation in medical care facts whenever it will get penetrated and place into employ. Health informatics has grown to be well-known by making a relationship in between three various factors. Affected individual, medical expert and data store are bound collectively to generally be revisited later on when the requirement takes place. Nurse and health informatics bring a lot of benefit to sufferers and also the medical care technique.
Health Information Technician Schools make college students to turn into skilled for roles in medical care career fields, attempting to framework and evaluate health data and details. If you’re searching for a profession linked to the field of medication, the ideal choice for yourself is always to take a college that provides health information technician training. Usually, health information technician programs are made up of a standard education together with several lessons in body structure and physiology, computer science, healthcare coding, data source management, appropriate legalities, and also other appropriate subjects.
Scholars in educational institutions for health information technology can obtain an Associate Degree or professional qualification, along with training models to keep skillful amounts of knowledge. Medical care market is reading well technologically sophisticated each year. With all those developments, comes an excuse for individuals who besides learn how to utilize technology, but could help to make improvements which will carry on and progress it. Among the degrees that may place you the primary focus of all of the action is really a health information technology degree. This kind of degree method will educate you on the way you use technology to gather, evaluate, watch, preserve and survey health data. If you are serious about the healthcare industry, any adverse health technology system provides a genuinely interesting level by which to investigate your interests and begin your job.
If you see nursing jobs as part of your future and wish to learn more about top nursing schools in US, right here you will get appropriate information and facts. Nursing is really a medical care occupation attacked by an incredible number of women and men around the entire world. Lots of men and some women peruse this kind of career simply because they feel that their own career takes on a huge role in the modern society. In the United States, the requirement for nurses has been continuously growing. Numerous nursing schools have got grown all over every state and offer nursing applicants with right training, and that is crucial for the achievements of the nation’s medical care system. The most effective nursing schools are the type which uses the newest technology to give a higher degree of practical awareness in neuron-scientific nursing jobs science.
Nursing is a superb career and includes a lot of advantages. People who desire to be nursing staff ought to take on lessons in numerous nursing programs and these programs are given in many schools. The most notable nursing schools are University of Washington, University of California- San Francisco, and University of Pennsylvania, John Hopkins University, Oregon health insurance and Science University and more. Generally, the two main nationally identified ratings for nursing schools, and every of which ranks colleges depending on various requirements. The U.S. information and planet report’s search rankings would be the most commonly known types for nursing schools. The National Institutes of Health’s report on investigation give financing may be the some other nationally identified ranking for nursing schools. They realize nursing schools that offer ambitious nurses with a encouraging academic surroundings and also have taken important attempts to maintain high requirements of education and learning in nursing science.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/medical-care-health-and-nursing-program-4479523.html
About the Author
Top Nursing Schools in US and Health Information Technician Schools can provide you with a very rewarding professional life. Choosing the right schools is probably one of the most important decisions in your medical career.
Managing Your Kindle
I’ve been playing around with my Kindle, and I think it’s got the potential to completely transform the way we read. First, I think it’s going to change the booklist. Currently, due to the tax laws, books that aren’t quite popular end up being taken out…(read more)
Source: Technology In Teaching
Technology for Science Education
Technology for Science Education
