Wednesday, January 27, 2010
5 Reasons Why The Apple iPad Will Revolutionize Education
It’s all about the User Interface (UI). The product is the UI. These mantras boil it down to one thing. The book is still better than the screen because it has a better UI…until today. The UI of the iPad gets us over that tipping point. The UI of the iPad will allow a student to be collaborating in Grockit in one second, in a full color page textbook the next second, and then on the internet surfing for info they are about to share with their classmate in Grockit. All this on the iPad because it will be easy and fruitful to spend your time with that sort of UI. Here are five reasons why the iPad will revolutionize education:1. Price – It’s $499 retail which means Apple can probably already sell it into schools for $299-$399 and in a couple years there should be a $199 version. This is significant. We are talking about 65M K-12 students at $199 so about $12B. They don’t need the 60GB version and they don’t need 3G. Sound crazy to spend $12B outfitting each kid in the country with a device with a UI like the iPad? Not at all. It would single handedly advance education as much as the chalkboard.
2. Touchscreen- Compare the touchscreen of the iPad to a mouse on a regular screen. If you’re learning spatial concepts in Math or any subject, being able to manipulate the object with your hands should make it more intuitive and easier to grasp than manipulating it with a mouse. Imagine highlighting. One of the distinct UI advantages about books is that you can annotate them. Annotating with writing or even highlighting with a mouse is cumbersome. Annotating with an iPad seems like it should be pretty easy and intuitive as well as giving you the additional and awesome bonus of things like searching for just areas you’ve highlighted.
3. Screen Size – There is an old saying that ‘quantity affects quality’. Well that couldn’t be more true here. The iPad is a really big iPhone and that actually fundamentally changes the equation. The interaction I described above about annotating a text book is not possible on an iPhone. Well, technically you CAN highlight with your finger in your iPhone Kindle App but that is specifically not like annotating in your textbook because the Kindle on your iPhone looks nothing like your textbook and the iPad totally does look like your textbook. Screen size also lets you work easily in an app like Grockit which, like a textbook, is fundamentally different with more real estate. And finally, we all know that we loved books with pictures the most when we were in school, even the images in textbooks. Making those images come alive and serve as a real learning medium is all about screen size and resolution.
4. Apps – Because the App Store already has hundreds, if not thousands, of apps that are either directly about learning or a useful reference when learning or studying, the iPad is essentially a product that is launching, from day one, with hundreds if not thousands of useful apps for learning. Again, the ones that have text, images or video become even that much more useful because of the screen-size.
5. iBook – Books are still a primary mode of learning in many learning environments and being able to interact with them in similar and even some better ways than you can with a real book is either here with the iPad or so close that I’m finally convinced it’s happening.
Anyway, I’m pretty pumped to get one and we’re very pumped to build Grockit as an app in the iPad to do our part to help with the revolutionizing of education.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
In response to the post: If the leaders don't get it; it doesn't happen.
Recently, I was involved in a discussion about the following questions: Are some teachers talking about using technology because it is the expectation, but not actually using it because they either are unsure of its value or insecure about implementing it in the classroom? What do leaders do about this situation?
I see where '"just" a teacher' is coming from when professional development opportunities are denied for teachers to learn about how to better integrate technology due to budget or concerns about inconsistencies in the classroom. Perhaps administrators who can do something should question the real reason for the request denial. If a plan of action was in place for a teacher to participate in training, plan for implementation and/or gather resources, implement, reflect, and share, the long term benefits would be exponential. However, personally, it has been my experience that training, in general, is not thought out to this extent. Often times it occurs, but there is no time for proper implementation or follow through which is probably why it 'seems' like a waste of money, and if a school is only looking at the immediate benefits of training, many schools/districts see a loss which yields denial of request for training and extreme frustration for the teacher.
So, I completely agree with Scott, that we need to better educate administrators with regards to how to assist teachers in effectively integrating technology into schools.
If the leaders don't get it, it doesn't happen - Dangerously Irrelevant
As I’ve said many times:
If a teacher gets it, a classroom changes. If a principal gets it, the whole building begins to change. If a superintendent gets it, the whole district begins to change. [And, if state or federal policymakers get it, the statewide or nationwide climate begins to change.]
Seems obvious, right? So why are so many government / corporation / foundation educational technology reform initiatives (money, time, training, energy, vision) focused on teachers, who at best are usually informal leaders, rather than formal leaders such as principals and superintendents? Do they want systemic change or just something they can tout for public relations purposes?
I’m all for investing in students and teachers when it comes to educational technology. But if we don’t also set aside some dedicated resources for formal leaders, the kind of changes we need are never going to happen.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century - TIME
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568480-1,00.html#ixzz0dTaQ8Ias
There's a dark little joke exchanged by educators with a dissident streak: Rip Van Winkle awakens in the 21st century after a hundred-year snooze and is, of course, utterly bewildered by what he sees. Men and women dash about, talking to small metal devices pinned to their ears. Young people sit at home on sofas, moving miniature athletes around on electronic screens. Older folk defy death and disability with metronomes in their chests and with hips made of metal and plastic. Airports, hospitals, shopping malls--every place Rip goes just baffles him. But when he finally walks into a schoolroom, the old man knows exactly where he is. "This is a school," he declares. "We used to have these back in 1906. Only now the blackboards are green."
American schools aren't exactly frozen in time, but considering the pace of change in other areas of life, our public schools tend to feel like throwbacks. Kids spend much of the day as their great-grandparents once did: sitting in rows, listening to teachers lecture, scribbling notes by hand, reading from textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed. A yawning chasm (with an emphasis on yawning) separates the world inside the schoolhouse from the world outside.
For the past five years, the national conversation on education has focused on reading scores, math tests and closing the "achievement gap" between social classes. This is not a story about that conversation. This is a story about the big public conversation the nation is not having about education, the one that will ultimately determine not merely whether some fraction of our children get "left behind" but also whether an entire generation of kids will fail to make the grade in the global economy because they can't think their way through abstract problems, work in teams, distinguish good information from bad or speak a language other than English.
This week the conversation will burst onto the front page, when the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, a high-powered, bipartisan assembly of Education Secretaries and business, government and other education leaders releases a blueprint for rethinking American education from pre-K to 12 and beyond to better prepare students to thrive in the global economy. While that report includes some controversial proposals, there is nonetheless a remarkable consensus among educators and business and policy leaders on one key conclusion: we need to bring what we teach and how we teach into the 21st century.
Right now we're aiming too low. Competency in reading and math--the focus of so much No Child Left Behind (NCLB) testing--is the meager minimum. Scientific and technical skills are, likewise, utterly necessary but insufficient. Today's economy demands not only a high-level competence in the traditional academic disciplines but also what might be called 21st century skills. Here's what they are:
Knowing more about the world. Kids are global citizens now, even in small-town America, and they must learn to act that way. Mike Eskew, CEO of UPS, talks about needing workers who are "global trade literate, sensitive to foreign cultures, conversant in different languages"--not exactly strong points in the U.S., where fewer than half of high school students are enrolled in a foreign-language class and where the social-studies curriculum tends to fixate on U.S. history
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568480-1,00.html#ixzz0dTaJHu0f
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Sharing Classroom Inspiration For Free | edte.ch
Something new is happening at the BETT show this year, the largest educational technology trade show in the world. Not a new product or technology service. Not a new website or gadget. This year some companies have handed over their brightly coloured stands to teachers. They are downing tools for 30 minutes and giving teachers the controls!
Teachers and educators have voluntarily signed up on a wiki to “takeover” these stands throughout Thursday, Friday and Saturday and will be speaking about free ideas. Sharing classroom inspiration for free. This, ladies and gentleman, is…
But why would a brave few companies allow us to takeover their expensive stands? Here are a few reasons, the first from Chris Bradford from BrainPOP UK, one of the very first companies to offer their support (and orange stand) to TeachMeet Takeover:
We support CPD (Continuing Professional Development). To support those who want to be better teachers. We know BrainPOP UK works best as part of a good teacher’s toolkit – we also know teachers call upon any number of other resources. Why shouldn’t we do our bit to encourage open minded investigation into new ways of doing things?
The second set of remarks come from another Chris, this time Chris Ratcliffe from Scholastic UK who has been instrumental in driving this idea onwards:
At BETT, I usually spend a lot of time talking to very interested consultants and advisors (and I like doing so), but I don’t spend a lot of time talking to teachers. My feeling is that as the stands are much more corporate than at the other shows, it is much more serious; and to get people to be excited to come back time and time again it needed something different.
To me, when I came across TeachMeet, it felt like the perfect solution. To have teachers standing up and talking to other teachers about what gets them excited would be just the sort of thing that would lift the show.
If you are attending the show you can see the full timetable on the wiki or why not download our flyer which has all of the details. Not only that but the flyer has details of a competition too in which you can win a £350 goody bag just by collecting some idea, here is a snap of part of the flyer.
Sharing Classroom Inspiration For Free | edte.ch
Something new is happening at the BETT show this year, the largest educational technology trade show in the world. Not a new product or technology service. Not a new website or gadget. This year some companies have handed over their brightly coloured stands to teachers. They are downing tools for 30 minutes and giving teachers the controls!
Teachers and educators have voluntarily signed up on a wiki to “takeover” these stands throughout Thursday, Friday and Saturday and will be speaking about free ideas. Sharing classroom inspiration for free. This, ladies and gentleman, is…
But why would a brave few companies allow us to takeover their expensive stands? Here are a few reasons, the first from Chris Bradford from BrainPOP UK, one of the very first companies to offer their support (and orange stand) to TeachMeet Takeover:
We support CPD (Continuing Professional Development). To support those who want to be better teachers. We know BrainPOP UK works best as part of a good teacher’s toolkit – we also know teachers call upon any number of other resources. Why shouldn’t we do our bit to encourage open minded investigation into new ways of doing things?
The second set of remarks come from another Chris, this time Chris Ratcliffe from Scholastic UK who has been instrumental in driving this idea onwards:
At BETT, I usually spend a lot of time talking to very interested consultants and advisors (and I like doing so), but I don’t spend a lot of time talking to teachers. My feeling is that as the stands are much more corporate than at the other shows, it is much more serious; and to get people to be excited to come back time and time again it needed something different.
To me, when I came across TeachMeet, it felt like the perfect solution. To have teachers standing up and talking to other teachers about what gets them excited would be just the sort of thing that would lift the show.
If you are attending the show you can see the full timetable on the wiki or why not download our flyer which has all of the details. Not only that but the flyer has details of a competition too in which you can win a £350 goody bag just by collecting some idea, here is a snap of part of the flyer.
If you are at BETT please help by taking part and heading over to the stands, you might learn something from the teachers presenting. If you are not attending be sure to follow along on Twitter, the hashtag for the 3 days of takeover talks is #TMtakeover.
If you are attending, presenting or showing at FETC or ISTE in the US this year why not try something similar. Companies: hand over the controls – let go and learn! Teachers: takeover and share your great ideas for free!
Similar Ideas
What a concept!
Monday, January 11, 2010
5 K-12 Technology Trends for 2010 -- THE Journal
Report Shows Teachers Not Adequately Prepared for Education Reform -- THE Journal
A report released in December by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (CFTL) indicated that in California, where schools are pursuing ambitious education reform, while many teachers are well qualified to take on the demands of such an effort, many more simply are not up to the task.
"The Status of the Teaching Profession" offers current data on the supply, qualifications, and distribution of California's educators. The 2009 report includes the results of a survey of high school principals throughout the state regarding their views of their respective faculties' preparedness for the growing demands of 21st-century education.
The survey addressed such components of reform as increasing academic rigor, making instruction more relevant, and creating learning environments that are more personal and supportive. It showed, for example, that only about two-thirds of the state's high school principals believe the majority of their respective faculties have the skills necessary both to promote critical thinking and to engage and connect with students.
"The 3R's of reforming high schools--rigor, relevance and relationships--set a high bar for teachers and principals alike and have implications for teacher preparation, professional development, and the ways in which high schools are organized," said Margaret Gaston, Executive Director of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning. "But there is a mismatch between the needs of these high school teachers and the state's systems of teacher preparation and support."
The report also indicated a gap in principals' perceptions of teacher qualifications along economic lines. Principals in 78 percent of California's most affluent high schools reported that a majority of their teachers possess the skills necessary for effective 21st-century teaching, while only 48 percent of the state's least affluent schools had their principals offering similarly favorable reports.
The complete report, "The Status of the Teaching Profession 2009," along with summary materials and recommendations, can be found here.
About the Author
Scott Aronowitz is a freelance writer based in Las Vegas. He has covered the technology, advertising, and entertainment sectors for seven years. He can be reached here.
Posts
