Best Free iPod / iPad Apps (without ads) for Education I’m piloting the use of the iPod Touch for English Language Learners (ELLs), so most of the following apps apply to improving reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. There are lots of great apps that pertain to other subject areas, and there are a lot of great apps that are not free or contain ads (annoying). Each of the links will take you to the iTunes Preview page for that app. The Ingenious Business Model Behind Coursekit, A Tumblr For Higher Education At universities, educational software largely means enterprise-scale, expensive, feature-stuffed "learning management systems." Blackboard has the majority of the market, but professors and students are about as enthusiastic about its various updates, crashes, and bugs as people are with the latest version of Windows (Blackboard scores a whopping 93% "hated" rating on website Amplicate). Last week, a new alternative was launched--built by students--that looks and works a lot more like the social platforms people actually choose to use in their spare time. The core of the site is a constantly updated social Stream where instructors and students can conduct discussions or easily post rich media. Picture a cleaner-looking Facebook news feed, centered on a single academic theme, or a group Tumblr blog where each picture, question, or video can accumulate its own discussion in the attached comment thread. The second ingenious part of their pitch may also turn out to be a pitfall.
If You Like Socrative, You’ll LOVE Kahoot With summer vacation just a few weeks away it can be easy for students to become distracted, but teachers are still focused on preparing students for final exams. Many teachers look for ways to make review sessions fun and engaging and use tools such as Socrative. As an alternative, teachers can try the free, web-based, device agnostic classroom response system Kahoot. Kahoot allows teachers to create quizzes, discussion questions and surveys. From a student point of view, I’d much rather play a game of Kahoot against my classmates versus complete a review worksheet. And if asked to compare the two, I think Kahoot blows Socrative out of the water.
Creating Books on the iPad Book Creator for iPad: $7.49The simple way to create your own beautiful iBooks, right on the iPad. Read them in iBooks, send them to your friends, or submit them to the iBookstore. Ideal for children’s picture books, photo books, art books, cook books, manuals, textbooks, and the list goes on. eBook Creator: $4.49 ‘eBook Creator’ is a simple and easy ebook creation application. 350 Free Online Courses from Top Universities Advertisment Take online courses from the world’s top universities for free. Below, you will find 1,700 free online courses from universities like Yale, MIT, Harvard, Oxford and more. Our site also features collections of Online Certificate Programs and Online Degree & Mini-Degree Programs.
The 10 Best iPhone and iPad Apps for Art Teachers 2010 Since publishing our 30 Best iPhone Apps for Art Teachers last year (August 2009), we have discovered many new apps that are worthy of being added to our best list. Covering a wide range of interests and uses, below are the Teaching Palette’s 10 Best iPhone, iPad and iPod Apps for Art Teachers 2010 – the latest and greatest apps for art teachers and their students. Consider this an amendment to last year’s list. Apps for Student and Teacher Use
Reed Hastings And John Doerr Put $11M In Adaptive Online Math Learning Platform DreamBox DreamBox Learning, an adaptive e-learning platform for students, has raised $11 million in new funding led by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings (who is investing through the Charter School Growth Fund), and Kleiner Perkins partner John Doerr (this is a personal investment for Doerr). GSV Capital Corp. and Deborah Quazzo also participated round. This brings DreamBox’s total funding to $18 million. 100 Tools For Teachers Here are 100 tools to make teachers lives easier, most are free and all are allowed to be used in the classroom Organization & Collaboration Save your bookmarks, collaborate with colleagues, and stay in touch with parents using these web tools. Search Engines & Directories Make use of these search engines and directories that offer the best of the web. Google
Planbook Touch: iPad Lesson Plan Book App For Teachers Planbook Touch has dozens of features to help you get more organized, save time, and share your lesson plans Choose Your Schedule Planbook can accommodate schedules where you teach the same thing each day, your classes change each day but repeat weekly and rotating schedules (up to a 14 day rotation). Write your Lesson Plans About Us If you want to change your career or advance your current one, online college may be the best, most convenient option for you. Read through our site to learn all you need to know about online college admissions, accreditation, student loans and aid, and more. We've selected the top online colleges so you can be sure you're getting a high-quality education for your tuition dollar. 10 vital questions to ask before investing in classroom technology There are so many new technologies and devices appearing on the education market every day now that it can become very difficult to determine where to spend your money, if indeed you should spend it at all. Before you make your next investment, ask yourself the following questions: Would more students get involved in the learning? Too many students spend most lessons sat there listening, watching, or reading – i.e. being passive.