EIGHT GADGETS AND APPS FOR TECH-SAVVY TEACHERS

Classrooms today consist of much more than a chalkboard and textbooks. In fact, many present-day classrooms have done away with both.

Today’s students are digital natives, so their well-prepared teachers should come armed with the tools necessary to feed their appetite for instant knowledge.

Tech gadgets for the modern-day classroom are aplenty. Check out these sizzling gadgets and apps that have the potential to help sculpt a proper classroom for the modern day:

1. Wireless Presenter with Laser Pointer

Current technology allows teachers to roam the classroom while properly executing a presentation. A wireless presenter with a laser pointer is an essential addition to a classroom, because it allows the teacher full mobility during a lesson. This helps keep students engaged. A popular choice areKensington wireless laser pointers.

2. Digital Pens

Old-school note taking is becoming archaic as digital pens take over technology-infused modern classrooms. These cool tools allow notes to be saved, shared and edited in real time. Consider IRISNotes by Cannon.

3. Portable Projectors

Students at every age and grade level appreciate a virtual fieldtrip. Classrooms come alive with portable projectors that allow the presentation of websites, charts, videos and lectures. The AAXA P2 Jr comes in a tiny package but brings with it massive possibilities.

4. A Charging Hub

Tech-savvy teachers understand the plight caused by dead batteries and tangled power and charging cords. A simple fix is a charging hub that alleviates clutter and easily keeps batteries charged. Belkin, Anker and Macallay are among the most popular brands.

5. Portable Speakers

Great audio should accompany any classroom’s modern education-enhancing gadgets. Portable speakers continue to evolve, and they just keep getting better. A few favorite brands for the classroom are G-Boom, Bose and JAM.

6. The Latest Software

While some districts may provide helpful curriculum tracking and organizing software, teachers can always use a little something extra. No matter what the subject area, there are a plethora of options available when it comes to software and apps.

Consider the following useful classroom apps:

• Adobe Voice – This helpful tool allows users to record themselves narrating a story to a series of digital images, providing endless possibilities in the classroom.

• Inspiration Apps – These brainstorming tools will help students scaffold and organize their ideas in a meaningful context. It’s packed with templates and plenty of options for sharing.

• ExplainEverything – This excellent tool for creating tutorials is perfect for giving directions.Teachers say it supports the learning process and is helpful for video, presentations, annotating and more.

• Class Dojo – This classroom management app promotes positive behavior and saves precious time in the classroom by providing teachers with an easy way to record merits and demerits. Furthermore, Class Dojo provides administrators and parents with instant information about students’ progress and behavior in the classroom.

• VideoScribe – This app allows students to create animated videos, replicating the popular whiteboard-style tutorial. It has been praised for its ease-of-use and innovation.

7. A Fitness Tracker

A career in teaching is demanding, to say the least. Teachers often struggle with life balance, so afitness tracker is a helpful tool that allows teachers to very easily trace their daily steps, total calories burned and diet.

8. Digital Microscopes

These impressive tools have come a long way since their invention in 1590. Equipped with illumination and optics, they now include cameras that can digitally display and record specimens. 4D scans promote a meaningful and multifaceted learning experience.

Teachers today survive in an atmosphere that’s constantly evolving. It only makes sense that the technology of their modern day classrooms should evolve as well.

What gadgets would you add to this list?

Image by webvilla

TAGS: gadgets, gadgets for teachers, teachers

Reference: http://www.technologytell.com/gadgets/153403/8-gadgets-apps-tech-savvy-teachers/

Classroom Gadgets – Using Technology to Enhance Learning

CALGARYHERALD
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Published on: September 3, 2013 | Last Updated: September 3, 2013 11:58 AM MDT

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“It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” so the Staples commercial goes.

It’s back-to-school time, as students change gears from the lazy days of summer and shift back to hitting the books. Today’s classrooms are equipped with the latest technology to enhance instruction. Here are some favourite student and teacher gadgets for use in day-to-day learning:

1)      Smartphones – Smartphone use in the classroom is still somewhat controversial, but the Calgary Board of Education actually encourages it as a learning tool. In an interview with CTV, Queen’s University National Scholar and Associate Professor Sidneyeve Matrix compared the situation to when calculators were first used by students in the classroom. “We had a whole new level of computational skill, and now we’re going to have a whole new level of mobile digital skills when we turn to mobile learning on the handhelds.”

2)      Laptops and tablets – Technology users are moving towards being more mobile, and teachers and students are a significant part of that trend. Last month, Lenovo, the world’s top PC vendor reported that they sold more smartphones and tablets than PCs for the first time ever.

3)      Interactive whiteboards – Calgary-based SMART Technologies’ SMART Boards are popular with both teachers and students. Teachers can project presentations onto the SMART Boards and they can write, touch and interact with their content.

4)      Document cameras – Document cameras are a fun way for teachers to show students new and interesting ways of looking at objects. Whether they are zooming in on the smaller details of a 3D object, or observing science experiments, students can share an equal view of the lesson – without crowding the teacher’s desk.

5)      mp3 players – Whether a student is listening to his own music while studying, or a teacher is playing an audio book to her students, mp3 players are an increasingly common sight in schools.Both teachers and students can make full use of mp3 players in their school activities.

While the best learning models still involve personal communication, technology can be introduced in any number of ways to enhance student learning and make lectures more interactive. What are some of your favourite educational tech gadgets?

Photo credit: www.edudemic.com

Reference: http://calgaryherald.com/technology/classroom-gadgets-using-technology-to-enhance-learning

Philippine education spending still below UN standard

MANILA, Philippines—Despite the nominal increase in the education budget over recent years, state spending on education has actually declined when compared to the Gross Domestic Product, representing just a third of the United Nation’s recommended national investment on education.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro himself noted this trend in a recent presentation on the state of the country’s education system before Philippine Business for Education, an organization of businesses supporting education reforms.

According to Luistro, state spending in 1997 and 1998 hit a high of 3.2 percent of the country’s GDP, higher than the current level of 2.1 percent.

The current education budget is P238.8 billion, higher than last year’s P207 billion but lower if taken as a ratio of GDP.  Last year’s budget was 2.3 percent of GDP, a benchmark used globally to gauge how much governments spend on education.

The UN recommends that governments spend at least six percent of their GDP on education.

“If we work hard for a bigger share in the budget, if we were back to 3.2 percent rather than 2.1 percent, we’d have a budget of at least P327 billion,” Luistro said in his presentation before business leaders in Makati City.

Luistro also noted that per capita spending for each of the more than 20 million public school students every school year has increased to P10,700, from P9,400 in 2011 and P8,000 in 2010.  But despite the nominal increases, the amount is actually “going down compared to inflation.”

Asked later if DepEd has asked the President to raise education spending levels, Luistro said the department was aware of competing state needs and was pursuing alternative sources of funding to address critical shortages in education resources.

“We talk about that in Cabinet meetings and we talk about competing needs. For example, we have to invest in energy.  So we talk about that and we’re balancing it,” said Luistro.

He also noted that DepEd, the country’s largest bureaucracy, continues to receive the largest allocation in the annual state budget and has seen the largest increase in spending among government departments in the last two years.

“What’s important is that we are looking at other sources of funding.  Example, there is the SEF (Special Education Fund) of local government units,” said Luistro.

DepEd is also pursuing partnerships with the private sector to address unresolved shortages in classrooms, textbooks, teachers, school desks and sanitation facilities.   The current classroom shortage is at 50,921 while DepEd lacks around 74,000 teachers

Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/31229/philippine-education-spending-still-below-un-standard#ixzz3kdmPezYX
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