PDA's have been used in K-12 classrooms for several years, and as a result, resources for teachers such as hi-Ce (Center for Highly Interactive Classrooms, Curricula & Computing in Education), Palm for Education, and K12 Handhelds have become more available.
Some educators are thinking ahead of the crowd and brainstorming ways that Apple's iPhone could be used in educational settings, as it supports Web 2.0 applications. It it has an easy-to use multi-touch interface, and can access the Internet through a WiFi connection.
For more information, take some time to read the following articles:
"Educators assess iPhones for instruction" (Meris Stansbury, eSchool News)
"iPhone - 3 Features That Will Impact Education" (Jeff VanDrimmelen, EduTechie)
Now that the price has come down, iPhones, or the latest iPod "Touch" might be worth considering!
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Revisiting hand-held devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, and Education?
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Browse The World Is My Interface Blog
"The World Is My Interface is about the development of newer technologies that support human-world interaction. This concept incorporates the best of of HCI, CSCW, universal usability, interaction design, game design, educational technology, and Ubicomp/ Pervasive Computing. The definition of "World", can include virtual worlds, simulations, VR, or augmented reality - just about anything humans interact with in their daily lives."
Friday, August 10, 2007
About Assisted Technology and ACC: Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs blog
The blog has numerous useful links, nicely organized in the side-bar. You'll find pictures and videoclips that illustrate many of the blog's topics.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
About Wireless Handheld Devices in Education: Create-a-Scape and mscape
As I've mentioned before, the UK is often on the cutting edge of educational technology. Futurelab's "Create-A-Scape", an educational modification of Hewlett-Packard's mediascape software, gives students and teachers plenty of opportunities to explore the environment and be creative.
By the way, Create-A-Scape won the 2007 New Statesman New Media Award for Education.
If you haven't yet heard of this innovation, now is the time to learn, especially if you would like to create engaging educational experiences for your students. Integrating new technologies and applications takes time and thought, and the researchers, educational technologists, and educators at Futurelab have taken care of most of the groundwork.
What is a mediascape or mscape?
According to Futurelab's Create-a-Scape website, "A mediascape is composed of sounds, images and video placed outside in your local area. To see the images and video, and hear the sounds you need a handheld computer (PDA) and a pair of headphones. An optional GPS unit can automatically trigger the images, video and sounds in the right places."
"To create a mediascape, you start with a digital map of your local area. Using special, free software, you can attach digital sounds, pictures and video to places that you choose on the map (see below)."
"By going outside into the area the map covers, you can experience the mediascape. Using the handheld computer and headphones, you can hear the sounds and see the pictures and video in the places the author of the mediascape has put them. All sorts of exciting things can happen as you explore the mediascape."
Here is HP's promotional definition of a mediascape, a context-based application:
"Mediascapes are mobile, location-based experiences that incorporate digital media with the sights, sounds, and textures of the world around you. A mediascape blends digital images, video, audio and interactions with the physical landscape. Games, guided walks, tours, and destinations are among the mediascapes created to date. Download a mediascape onto a portable device, and see how your landscape comes alive as you move through the environment."The mscapers website, a place where "mscapers" create and share mediascapes, offers free software. The wesbsite offers tutorials and demos. You'll need a Windows Mobile device with GPS to get started.
Here is a video clip from HP that shows people out and about engaged in mscaping:
If you are an educator who has used "Create-A-Scape", or if you are an mscaper, feel free to post your comments about your experiences.
On-line switch accessible games for children on the BBC website!
If you are a parent or teacher of a disabled child, here is some good news. The BBC reconfigured many on-line educational games for use with switches, which can be found on the CBeebies website.
The games can be easily adjusted to meet the needs of the user.
Here is a list I copied from the website that has links to all of the accessible games on the BBC's website:
"These games have not been as heavily modified, but they work with the keyboard as well as the mouse, which means they will also work with switches:"
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Ball State Research: Wireless Handheld Devices (WHD) May Help Reluctant Readers
It is often difficult for parents and teachers to engage reluctant readers in reading. Hand-held devices, such as PDA's and eBooks may have the potential for interesting these students. According to an article by Laura Devaney, the associate editor of eSchool News, a Ball State study found that wireless handheld devices were motivating for reluctant readers, used at home and at school.
Link from the eSchool News article:
Bellaver's blog
Related links:
The Paperless Classroom
"101 great educational uses for your handheld computer" from K12handhelds.
THE Journal article: Assessment Testing>>In Their Hands
Wireless Generation website: "Formative assessment, reporting, and intervention solutions for a data-driven school system"
If you are using eBooks or PDA's in your school or classroom, or if you use hand-held technology to support reading interventions and/or assessments, please let me know.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
TechPsych ResourceLinks: World Almanac of Educational Technology Wiki
The World Almanac of Educational Technologies is a new wiki where people interested and involved in educational and instructional technologies around the world can share information and resources.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
e-School News Online: Current site of the week features the Microscope Imaging Station from the Exploratorium
One of my favorite sites is eSchool News Online. The Site of the Week is the Microscope Imaging Station, from the Exploratorium science museum's website. This is a site that I'd recommend viewing on a large-screen display or interactive whiteboard.
According to the Exploratorium website, the "Microcope Imaging Station produces high-resolution images and movies using research-grade microscopes. This gallery contains a range of images and movies that illustrate the diversity of what can be seen with light microscopes"
The link to eSchool News has links to past sites of the week.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Blog post about visual learning technology
Take a look at my Interactive Multimedia Technology blog post about the University of Nottingham's Visual Learning Lab and information about a debate hosted by UK's FutureLab about the merits of the use of interactive whiteboards in primary and secondary classrooms.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Interactive whiteboards increase student attention, engagement, participation, and test scores!
More about interactive displays....
According to a press release from Smart Technologies, a study conducted in the UK and Europe during the years 2002-2006 found positive results regarding the use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom:
"The following outcomes were among its key findings: interactive whiteboard use results in improved student performance in national tests in English, math and science, compared to student performance without interactive whiteboards; digital content on interactive whiteboards is engaging, motivating, and students pay more attention during lessons; and interactive whiteboard use encourages greater student participation in the classroom."
There are several types of interactive large-screen displays available for use in educational settings, and there are several companies working on large touch-screen displays that could be adapted for use in schools, media centers, and public libraries.
(I prefer large-screen displays/interactive boards that do not rely on an external projector)
Resources:
Link to PDF of full report: "The ICT Impact Report: A Review of Studies of ICT Impact on Schools in Europe" (Anja Balanskat, Roger Blamire, Stella Kefala, European Schoolnet.)
Resource and Research List, "Interactive Whiteboards", from the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF)
Education World article "Speaking of Electronic Whiteboards?"
Large Display Research Overview from Microsoft Research (PDF)
The following is a partial list of companies that make or sell interactive displays and/or whiteboards:
SmartTechnologies
NextWindow
Promethean
Mimeo
Accenture
NEC
Interwrite
For Teachers:
Lessons and Links for Interactive Whiteboard Classroom Activities
Online interactive whiteboard activities for primary classrooms (from Topmarks Education, UK)
SmartTechnologies lesson activities for the SmartBoard
National Gallery of Art Kids
PBS Kids
National Geographic Kids
NASA Kids
Discovery Kids
Music Tech Teacher (Includes online games and music learning activities)
Flash Music Games
(some games cam be downloaded)
I'll be posting more links on the Interactive Multimedia Technology website soon.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Take a look at HP's TouchSmart PC
Photo from HP TouchSmart Website
Saturday, July 21, 2007
ExploreLearning Gizmos, Interactive Displays, Revisited
ExploreLearning recently earned a 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers for Best Science Instruction Website. ExploreLearning offers interactive math and science activities, known as "Gizmos", for students in grades 6-12.
I used some of the sample activities with a few struggling high school students two years ago, using an interactive whiteboard. The students were engaged and seemed to grasp concepts quickly.
Take the time to look at the information on ExploreLearning's blog, including the testimonial section. You can subscribe for a free 30-day trial for use in the classroom or at home. The teacher support materials, in my opinion, are excellent. Each math and science activity aligns with state curriculum guidelines, available on the site.
With new interactive touch-screen technologies, such as the iPhone, the NextWindow Human Touch interactive large-screen display, newer-edition interactive SmartBoards, and Microsoft's Surface, imagine the possibilities for students- once the price of interactive devices and hardware comes down to an affordable level.
I bet most students would not object to playing with science and math Gizmos via a web-browser on their iPhones!
RELATED RESOURCES/LINKS:
ExploreLearning's award press release.
Why Gizmos Work
The home page of theSmartBoard 2007 Blog, hosted by M.Gavel, a 6th grade teacher, has a list of links to on-line interactive learning websites that work well on the SmartBoard(and other interactive large-screen displays), such as StarFall, an engaging early literacy site.
Note:
Please leave me a comment if you know if there is any research about the effectiveness of ExploreLearning. Judging from the testimonials, this would be a great research topic for psychology, education, or educational technology graduate students!
Photo courtesy of ExploreLearning.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Virtual reality field trips created by psychologists
(businessweek photo)
Over the years, school districts have cut back on field trips, limiting exposure to learning environments outside of the school door. To counter this trend, Psychologist Alicia Sanchez and Janis Cannon-Bowers were members of team at the University of Central Florida that developed virtual reality field trips to provide students with opportunities to explore environments, with the goal of supporting reading and vocabulary development.
According to an article that appeared in Science Daily, the researchers planned to make the field trips available on the web in the future. The article was written in 2005. If you know about this, please leave a comment.
Resources:
If you are looking for interesting video clips about psychology and related topics, take a look at Science Daily's "Mind and Brain" web page.
The BusinessWeek website has a slide-show with related articles about innovative classroom technologies, included the Virtual Field Trip.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Bill MacKenty's Words of Wisdom: Getting Started with Games and Learning
School will be starting in a few weeks, and many educators have been hearing more about the use of interactive video games for learning. As I've mentioned on previous posts, Bill MacKenty is a pioneer in this area. He's an instructional designer at the Hunter College Campus school and is an advocate of the effective use of technology in learning settings. He's been blogging since 2004, if not before.
It is well worth the time to visit Bill's blog on a regular basis or sign up for his blog feed. Here are some quotes from Bill's Games in Education page:
"Technology strengthens, deepens, and broadens our learning...
Are you a classroom teacher? So am I. I'm using games to teach, it works!
YES. Computer games are an incredible learning tool
YES. We can prove kids are learning
YES. We can see kids become excited and engaged about learning
YES. You can do it! "
Bill has some good information on how NOT to go about integrating video games in the classroom in his recent blog post, "10 easy ways to miss the boat".
With the push towards measuring student responsiveness to intervention and utilizing data for educational decision-making, those of use who work with K-12 learners might consider exploring this avenue. Computer/video games are excellent masters of keeping track of all sorts of data. This power can be harnessed to support education in a variety of engaging ways.
If you are new to my blog, take the time to do a search about games, education, and interactive multimedia applications. My Interactive Multimedia Technology blog also has a few treasures that you might find useful.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Women in Technology: My editorial on the NCWIT blog
The above link is to my editorial, "Gender Beneath the Surface", posted on the NCWIT blog.
Although women make up half the population, they are under-represented in computer science and related technological fields. If your are interested in issues related to women and technology, the National Center for Women in Information Technology -NCWIT- is a great place to start.
I wrote the post on the day I learned that all of the members of the executive team for Microsoft Surface (Madrid) were male.
(dually posted - techpsych and interactive multimedia technology blogs)
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Link to Interactive Multimedia Technology post about JOVE in Wired: "YouTube does Science"
Take a look at my post on Interactive Multimedia Technology about an article in Wired about JOVE: Journal of Visualized Experiments.
This is an example of how video/media can support engaged learning in science. This would appeal to visual learners.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Teaching in the Digital Age: Project-based learning and assessment
Edutopia is offering a video that profiles exemplary project-based learning programs in a mini-documentary format.
Project-based learning requires a broader means of assessing student progress, through portfolios, multimedia reports, and more. In the era of RTI(Response to Intervention), project-based learning and assessment practices appear to have promise.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Link to Bill MacKenty's Conference Notes
Bill MacKenty is an instructional designer at Hunter College Campus School. He is known for his innovative technology integration strategies, including the use of video games in education.
It is worth taking the time to visit his website/blog. Bill has a wealth of information about educational technology, games and learning. If you are new to technology integration, his HOWTO section is great place to start.
