EETT To Be Eliminated

by venhi on February 21, 2010

The Obama Administration’s budget proposal for 2011 eliminates the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) provision in the No Child Left Behind Act.  2010 funding of $100M will be slashed to $0.  This will push educators and parents to become more resourceful in creating learning environments centered around technology.

The good news is that access to cutting edge teaching tools are becoming more ubiquitous than ever due to free edublogs, education social network sharing sites, and ever-decreasing prices of mobile devices and applications.

Teachers are some of the most intelligent and creative members of our society.  It will be interesting to see how they will continue to pioneer cost-effective ways to innovate their classrooms in the coming decade.

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Mobile Trends For The Next Ten Years

by venhi on February 10, 2010

mHealth tracking, VoIP on cell phones, 90% reduction in smartphone costs and a 50% global population mobile device ownership are just a few of the predictions cited by moblearn.blogspot.com .  The slide show was obtained from m-trends.org , a killer site for mob-heads and delivers a detailed account of what to expect until 2020.

There is no mention of potential impacts on education technology and m-learning.

How accurate is their foresight? Only time will tell.

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iKids Develop Killer MathMaster App

by venhi on January 10, 2010

The competitive business of iPhone app development isn’t just for adult entrepreneurs.  13 year olds Sam Kaplan and Louie Harboe created an app to help other iKids with their math skills.  The app is called MathMaster, and just getting their app accepted into the App Store is a feat in and of itself.  Apple receives about a thousand new app submissions per day.  There are currently about 100,000 apps for sale at the App Store, and so far 3 billion have been downloaded.

MathMaster is compatible with both the iPhone and iPod Touch.  It’s easy to use and gives a statistical analysis of math weaknesses and strengths at the end of each use.

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Algebra Anytime: 8 Math Vodcasts

January 3, 2010

Surprisingly there are few video podcasts (vodcasts) teaching 7-12 math.  At videomathtutor.com you can find 8 free lessons in basic math and algebra.  Any iKid can take it on the go after a quick iTunes download to brush up on some skills.
iTunes U contains mainly college material podcasts.  Although there are many teachers putting valuable [...]

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Math And Special Ed: Devices Impact Midwest Classrooms

January 1, 2010

Edtech is warming up iKids to such subjects as geometry and vocabulary as the iPod Touch makes its way through school districts in cold Minnesota. According to twincities.com, such apps as TanZen and Word Salad are engaging fourth graders to the point were little discipline needs to be imposed.  Teacher Jean Stai states:
“Suddenly, it’s not [...]

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iPhone App Downloads: 2 Billion and Counting

December 27, 2009

The UK Observer reported today that the 2 billionth iPhone app has been downloaded.  Many see the m-learning potential as one continues to hear the phrase-”there’s an app for that.”
Consumers have become more savvy with the ability to corral reviews from users all over the world with a click of the mouse.  A major complaint [...]

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Educational iPhone Apps For The 15% Of US Teens That Own One

December 23, 2009

According to a recent study, 15% of US teens own an iPhone.  It’s no wonder Accredited Online Colleges published a list of the 100 Most Educational iPhone Apps.  For those iKids up for the challenge, perhaps we can fill their devices with some college level material.
Excluding my biased opinion of The Chemical Touch, more than [...]

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Math In Mumbai: 400 iPods

December 18, 2009

Shockproof iPod Touch handsets are being custom made for kindergarten classes in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai.  3,000 students are using the 400 devices as learning tools for math and the alphabet.  Pediatrician Samir Dalwai states that more scientific studies need to be conducted of the impact of technology in the classroom to see if [...]

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From The Lab To The Lesson: Digital VARK

December 16, 2009

Neil D. Fleming is legendary in his approach to our understanding of learning styles.  There are four categories of VARK, an acronym for Visual, Auditory, Reading, and Kinesthetic.  In terms of a learning style, an individual can be considered one type or a combination of all four.
My teaching experience has encountered all kinds of learners with varying degrees [...]

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100 Ways To Use Your iPod To Learn And Study Better

December 13, 2009

iPods are being used as m-learning devices all over the world.  From SAT vocab builders to YouTube vid-converters there is a barrage of edtech apps  listed at Online Educational Database.  M-Learning is fast turning our .mp3 players into multi-purpose on the go tools for anytime, anywhere education.

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