Show 37: Technology Literacy & Hardware Choices- Part II

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Guiding Question: Which hardware tools for the task? Which hardware tools work best for particular kinds of learning activities?

Guest: Abrianna Nelson  The EdTech Report  ||  Journalism on the Ridge

Tips of the Week:

Abri- Notability as a multi-faceted tool for taking notes and handling documents.

The EdTech Report  ||  Journalism on the Ridge

David- A thoughtful and well-explained comparison of matching technology to the learning needs of the class can be found in the Giving Up My iPads for Chromebooks blog post from the “ Alice in WonderTech” blog. Alan November wrote an article for eSchool News entitled “Don’t Plan for Technology; Plan for Learning”. The article hits on the guiding mantra of our podcast that it isn’t about the technology but about the learning. Alan gets into how we title our tech integrators and directors of technology as he writes about advising an international school in SE Asia. I have to smile wondering if the school is HKIS where all the instructional technologists and the director of technology have moved on over the years. I would tell Alan that back in the day that we contemplated changing our titles back then to “learning specialists”.

Mark - The Innovative Teaching and Learning Program (http://itlresearch.com/) sponsored by the Microsoft Partners in Learning program is a wonderful resource for engaging your students 21st century skills. What's different about the ITL approach is that they have done a great job defining clearly what 21st century skills are and how they can be quantified and assessed. The Web site offers clear definitions, rubrics, and research from classrooms around the world. 

Show 36: Technology Literacy & Hardware Choices- Part 1

Guiding Question: Which hardware tools for the task?

Tips of the Week:

Mark- I like to take handwritten notes, but I also like things in a digital format. I was so excited when Evernote bought Penultimate, because suddently, you can have the best of both worlds. Penultimate is a great app for IOS that feels almost like writing on paper with a stylus on the iPad. When you link your Evernote account to Penultimate, each notebook you create in Penultimate is automatically uploaded and saved in your Evernote account. Beware, though, if you delete a notebook in Penultimate, it also is deleted in Evernote.

David- Racing the iPad in K12 Education comparing hardware choices for schools going 1:1. The article compares the iPad to several laptop choices including the Chromebook. It also looks at the $300 CDI Android UnoBook. Cost is a big factor for school systems as well as note taking especially for classes that rely on teacher delivered instruction. One telling point is that the hardware choice to some extent can tell one how shifted a school is. At my son’s high school they note that most of the students have laptops as they are better for taking notes for paper and pencil assessments which is the nature of most of their classes. The MS students at ACDS have iPads to connect to a curriculum that is moving towards individualized product creation assessments. Definitely a difference between a HS and MS but this example does offer some insights. A follow up tip of the week originates from USA Today that was published after we recorded the podcast. It reinforces our point from the podcast that the iPad with all of its creative tools really supports the constructivist, student-centered classroom. Chromebooks and other style laptops often adopted for MS and HS often tell the story of more teacher centered and direct instruction classrooms where students need a tool to take notes.

Examples of student projects from Alexandria Country Day School where David works. They are mostly generative projects using various hardware devices but some involve skill/drill work. Technology literacy to some degree of fluency really come into play.



Shifted Practice: Here is the link to Sara Stein’s presentation page.