Tuesday’s Tech Tips: 1/22/13
Happy Tuesday. I hope everyone who had the day off enjoyed the 3 day weekend.
Generation Gap?
There have been a lot of articles written about how different generations use technology. I disagree with many writers who value one generation’s use of technology over another’s. Boomers, Gen X’ers, and Millennials tend to use technology in unique ways. My 86 year old grandmother uses email daily to keep up with family and friends. My mother in-law uses email and Facebook. (So I had better not post anything rude or I’ll get into trouble!) My little brother thinks that Apple is most amazing company ever. I suspect if they asked him to put on a toga and sell flowers at the airport, he would happily comply. I discovered my daughter’s reliance on technology when her phone broke for an hour last fall. It wasn’t pretty. I still have nightmares.
The one thing that is constant is that each generation uses these tools to connect with others. This is where we as educators can leverage technology to help our students. Some of us (over 40) have to focus a little more on the buttons and clicks. Others of us have never known a time when there was not an Internet. Rather than characterize these differences as a Generation Gap, perhaps we should focus on how we can use these tools to help our kids do what they do naturally… make new connections. Connections with new ideas. Connections with new, authentic resources. Connections with one another.
I’ll wrap up with a video, shared by Jackie McBroom, that pokes fun at this issue. The video is in German, but you’ll get the gist.
SISD iOS Academy
We still have space in the iPad trainings. This is a wonderful way to get a $10 app for free just by learning how to use it. These classes are open to any SISD employee who has an iPad and wants to attend. Space is limited to 10 per session. The classes cover Pages (like MS Word), Keynote (like PowerPoint), and Numbers (like Excel) for the iPad. RSVP by emailing me.
Learning From My Students
This short article from Jennie Magiera’s EdTech Blog shares some great insights about teaching with technology.
“Teachers often feel like they have to follow the age-old “I do, We do, You do” for every lesson. This just isn’t so. As with teaching math and science, I love to pose a problem and let the students loose on it. I’m consistently amazed by the solutions with which they return. Even when they make mistakes – or go down the completely wrong path, we have learned as a classroom to discuss those mistakes and learn from each other.”
Kathy Schrock’s Guide to using the iPad in the Classroom
There are a ton of resources here many of which are extremely useful.
Edudemic has a great collection of Infographics. We live in a world of quick consumption, bite-size morsels of information, and visualizations of just about everything. If you use Anchor Charts from your CSCOPE curriculum, infographics are simply a way to do this digitally. This collection has some really great examples.
Learn How to Use Green Screen Effects in iMovie with this quick tutorial
Quick Article on How Technology is Changing Education for Students with Disabilities
