 |
| Thanks to Lillie Marshall for this great Picture! |
About Edcamps:
This is my second time organizing edcamp Boston, but over the last few years I have organized 5 other unconferences. What strikes me the most about organizing these events is how easy it is to do. The sponsorship and food parts take work, but other than that, you build a schedule and the participants do the work. Really! I know many of us say this, but it really is true. Once the conference gets going, there isn't much that we have to do.
 |
| Glenn and Matt teach us about Edmodo |
I also discovered a new way to learn at an unconference. Rather than posting a session about something I know about and want to share, I posted sessions about something I want to learn about and discuss. I turned edcampBoston into edcampLiz. Fortunately for me, there were lots of smart folks there who could teach me what I wanted to learn.
Which right now is about iPads. If you have been reading my blog, you know that I am pretty obsessed with iPads right now. I want to thank everyone at the conference who helped push my learning and thinking on this topic. Here is what I came away with.
About iPads and...
Professional Development:
Apps:
I got some great App suggestions yesterday. By far my favorite is Reflection, a Mac App which acts like an Apple TV, allowing you to mirror your iPad on your laptop. You can try it for free for 20 minutes, or pay 14.00 to use it. I followed up about a site license and they offered me 60 licenses at $8 each. That is a lot cheaper than an Apple TV and it works (We have been having difficulty getting the Apple TV to work at my school.)!
Another great suggestion is the website, iPad as... put together by Tom Daccord and his edtechteacher team. They have compiled a list of Apps based on learning goals. Each App has a nice description. A wonderful resource for tools.
Other Apps I walked away with include Zite, a tool for aggregating all of your news feeds into categories, Pocket, a tool for saving websites to read later, and Logmein, a free tool to use your iPad as a wireless remote for your laptop.
Finally, and thanks if you are still reading this far into my post, I created an iPad Google Group to continue the conversation. If you are interested in discussing iPads, please join and share your thoughts and questions.
And of course I welcome your comments here. If you have rolled out iPads to your faculty and students, I would love to hear your suggestions on what are some good approaches for doing this.
Thanks in adavance!
6 comments:
Hey! Sounds like Edcamp was a great success for you! Before you begin with Edmodo take a look at My Big Campus. More educators prefer My Big Campus over other educational social media platforms. It's safer and has a much larger pre-embedded resource library (along with many other great features). www.mybigcampus.com Ok, commercial over! :)
Also, great to see another discussion regarding iPads in the classroom. They can be very powerful!
I really like the idea of having iPads for staff and students to use. I read your previous blog about having 1 to 1 iPads also and like your take on using it as a replacement for textbooks. The Internet is such a valuable resource and I am constantly telling my students to take advantage of it because it is the greatest resource we have. I know you plan to help bring your staff up to speed with the iPad by having them play games, but what is your plan for getting your staff ready to use them as an educational tool? Their is so much the iPad is capable of, so how do you plan to simplify it for those members of your staff that are not so technological savvy? I raise these questions because they are the problems that I would foresee if my school were to receive iPads.
I like the idea of implement iPads at your school and have read your previous blog about getting 1 to 1 iPads. I think iPads are a great replacement for textbook because they allow access to the Internet which is the greatest resource we have. I like the idea of having staff play games at first in order to help them acclimate to the iPad, but what is your plan to help them learn how to use it as an educational tool? There is so much that the iPad is capable of, which could be very intimidating to a person who is not so technologically savvy. I know learning how to use the iPad is going to be a process, but how do you plan to simplify it? I only ask these questions, because I know this would be my major concern for staff members in my building if we were to all receive iPads.
Using technology to educate is empowerment. It also puts all those fancy gadgets to good use other than updating facebook statuses and playing online games.
if you have te opportunity of implementing ipads in your classes, then I strongly recommend you to use Nearpod app. It's free and with it you can launch presentations, ask questions and have immediate answers, check who's out of the presentation and more. It has worked very well at many schools so you should consider it. look at this: https://vimeo.com/36142977
Thanx for sharing....
Post a Comment