Tech Tips
March 2016: Volume 3- Number 23
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
You'll find a wide variety of apps, articles, and websites in this issue.
My Fitness Pal
"MyFitnessPal is one of the best health-oriented applications available on the market. It covers a wide range of healthy lifestyle needs including a calorie counting database with over 5,000,000 foods, exercise regimes, integration with fitness hardware, and personalized recommendations based on your diet or needs; most of its features are free."
"The next time you find an article, video or link you want to read or watch later, just save it to Pocket. It’ll sync across your phone, tablet, and computer so you can come back to it whenever and wherever you’d like, even when you’re offline.
You can save to Pocket from pretty much anywhere, including your computer, Safari, email, and your favorite apps like Facebook, Twitter, Flipboard, and Feedly."
SwiftKey
Upgrade your phone’s keyboard to SwiftKey Keyboard for free - and get more done without fussing over typos. Join over 250 million people worldwide who use SwiftKey Keyboard for hassle-free typing.
SwiftKey Keyboard uses Artificial Intelligence to automatically learn your writing style, including the emoji you love to use (if you use emoji), the words that matter to you and how you like to type. That means autocorrect and predictive text that actually works because it adapts to you."
How Long Will We Wait to Give Students Choices?
Excerpt:
Mohini was a regal white tiger who lived for many years at the Washington DC National Zoo. For most of those years her home was in the old lion house—a typical twelve-by-twelve-foot cage with iron bars and a cement floor. Mohini spent her days pacing restlessly back and forth in her cramped quarters. Eventually, biologists and staff worked together to create a natural habitat for her. Covering several acres, it had hills, trees, a pond and a variety of vegetation. With excitement and anticipation they released Mohini into her new and expansive environment.
But it was too late. The tiger immediately sought refuge in a corner of the compound, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Mohini paced and paced in that corner until an area twelve-by-twelve feet was worn bare of grass. –Tara Brach on the Tim Ferris podcast
When I first heard the above story on a podcast, I immediately stopped and listened to it again. The analogy hit home.
We spend so much time preparing our students and slowly giving them choice and voice in their learning. We build up to the idea that when they finally leave our K-12 institutions they will be free and well prepared to take on the world and find their way in a new environment."
STUDENT CORNER!
One of own middle school students explains Google Maps!
6 Apps That Target Higher-Order Thinking Skills
Excerpt:
"A higher-order thinker is a critical thinker. What are the attributes of a critical thinker? In The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools, Richard Paul and Linda Elder describe a well-cultivated critical thinker as someone who:
- raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
- gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively;
- comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
- thinks open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing their assumptions, implications and practical consequences as need be; and
- communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.
How can the use of apps on an iOS or Android tablet help teachers develop these critical thinking skills in students? Concentrating on apps that can target the cognitive thinking skills at the high end of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy (2000) is one way to work on this process.
Since many schools now have BYOD programs, finding apps that are available for both the iOS and Android operating systems makes it easier for teachers to develop formative and summative assessments that all students can complete. If educators are familiar with what the creative tool is capable of, they are more likely to develop engaging and meaningful assessments as well as provide technical support for their students. Educators should first re-familiarize themselves with the concepts inherent in the higher-order thinking skills of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy."
How to Schedule a Time to Meet with Other Classes
Learners love to meet learners in other classrooms, but how can you make it simple? Here’s a trick I’ve learned from experience. I’ve found that two types of calendars– the project calendar and the classtimes calendar — are essential for managing global projects. Now, if you just want to meet with other classes and aren’t doing a project, just use the classtimes calendar. In this demonstration, I’m using Google Calendar. I’m also using the MAD about Mattering project as part of our goal is to create a fantastic library of tutorials for you to use in your projects and work. (These are OER and ready for you to use.)
SCS Instructional Technology Information
Contact me if you have any questions or would like help using these tools.
Email: vturner@scsmustangs.org
Website: http://www.strongnet.org/InstructionalTechnology
Phone: 440-572-7067
Twitter: @vturner8