There are really huge achievements in wearable technology! How else is it going to impact our daily lives and, eventually, education? Get your crystal ball out! And start with this article to get some insights. Want to know more about wearable technology in life, sciences, and education? Please proceed to my diigo collection.
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Smart phones in education
Apparently, one-seventh of the world’s population got a smart phone last year (see this publication). I am not sure about the numbers in Kazakhstan, but it seems all our students have phones. It might be a good idea for us to start exploring how this technology can be used for learning and teaching. Let’s start with diigo collection on this topic.
Down For Everyone Or Just Me?
Well, we did have some interruption of services recently… Some sites would load, some would never do. Now you can know if it’s you just you or everybody else. Go to Down For Everyone Or Just Me? enter the URL into the search textbox, and get your confirmation. Hope the sites you need are always up!
Multi-Person Video Chat Clients
We all use do videoconferencing to communicate with friends, relatives, colleagues, and students. Some programs are free, and some are for a fee. The post from The Chronicle’s Prof Hacker, lists at least a dozen! And please revisit my previous post about instructional usage of videoconferencing.
Have you ever made a quilt?
Well, I have not… Till today. And it is an image quilt. It’s a pretty cool tool: you download the Crome app, search for image (I searched for Nazarbayev University), and with one click of a button it is there: Nazarbayev University image quilt. Want to read more about it? Please start here. I can see it used for some projects, digital storytelling, and simply for fun!
Are you clicking?
NU received Promethean ActiveExpression clickers (they are also called audience or student response systems). As soon as the devices are inventoried and released, they will be distributed to each school as previously requested. In a mean time, you can start exploring and learning why the devices might be used in education, what are the best pedagogical approaches, and what instructional activities they can support and enhance. Please start with this diigo collection list.
5 Products Microsoft Promises to Deliver in 2014
Ok, everyone, get your crystal ball out…. Here is what MS promises to deliver in 2014:
- “Surface Mini” tablet
- Wearable devices
- Office with touch
- iPad and Android Office
- Speech recognition
More about these devices and their application (and probably some ideas for using them in teaching and learning, please visit this site.
8 Strategies for Teaching Academic Language
I communicated with many students the last couple of days. It was a great fun! I also heard some faculty mentioned that one of the challenges was not English mode of communication and instruction per se, but academic English. So, this article from Edutopia is very timely! Please access it here.
Strategies offered:
- Encourage students to read diverse texts
- Introduce summary frames
- Help students translate from academic to social language (and back)
- Have students complete scripts of academic routines
- Dynamically introduce academic vocabulary
- Help students diagram similarities and differences
- Have students write with a transition handout
- Teach key words for understanding standardized test prompts
Digital storytelling
Since our childhood, we all love stories. Technology allows digital storytelling: using images, text, recorded audio,, video clips, and music. Ever thought about encouraging students to present their projects as digital stories? Social science, history, geography, and similar areas might be the most appropriate. But who knows, there might be a digital story of a life of the D7S820 DNA marker… Want to learn more about application of digital storytelling and available tools? Please start here.
Here are 8. What are yours?
K. Walsh last week posted 8 exciting technology-enhanced teaching and learning approaches for 2014. They are:
1. Student created content
2. Collaborative learning
3. Active learning
4. Personal learning networks
5. Mobile learning
6. Competency based learning
7. Social learning
8. Flipped teaching and learning
What are yours?