100+ iPad Apps Perfect For High School

If you’re a student, teacher, or administrator at a high school looking into adopting iPads for educational purposes, it’s important to know that the iPad is more than just an easy way to browse the web or visit the app store.
There are actually thousands of educational apps hiding in the bowels of the app store.But how do you find them? Unless you know exactly what you’re looking for, it is usually pretty tough to find the best apps. Heck, once you may come across an app it may prove to not be worth the time it took to download!
The Palm Beach School System has an incredible wiki where members of the community share their favorite apps for specific disciplines. Below I’ve embedded their list for the top high school apps but they also have a curated list of apps for middle school and elementary school.
I wanted to give a mention to the people behind the project. Be sure to reach out to them if you have any questions or just want to let them know that you are benefiting from their hard work:

• John Shoemaker (John.Shoemaker@palmbeachschools.org)
• Melissa Lander (Melissa.Lander@palmbeachschools.org)
• John Long (John.Long.1@palmbeachschools.org)

(H/T to @rmbyrne for introducing me to this wiki! Be sure to follow him at the always wonderful Free Tech 4 Teachers site.) Most of the links below are to the iTunes store. It may open up iTunes on your computer.

Language Arts/Reading:

1. iBooks – a ereader book store.
2. Book Creator – Create your own iBooks right on the iPad. (Allows everything except video)
3. Reading Trainer – This app teaches you how to train your eyes and brain to read and comprehend text faster. Think of it as exercise for your reading skills.
4. Free Books – 23,469 Classics to Go
5. Dictionary.com – Dictionary & Thesaurus – A dictionary and a Thesaurus.
6. Literary Analysis Guide – Elements of literature are arranged graphically around three wheels (poetry, prose, and rhetoric).
7. Kindle – Kindle is an eReader from Amazon.com
8. Shakespeare Pro – Complete works of Shakespeare. 41 plays, 154 sonnets, and 6 poems. All works can be cross searched for anything.
9. Jules Verne Collection – Sixteen of Jules Verne’s books
10. MaxJournal – A simple and elegant journal.
11. meStudying: Reading For College Success – A practice reading placement test from the Florida Virtual School.
12. LitCharts – Link to LitCharts website. Each of the LitCharts are available on the iPad

Math:

1. Math Formulas – Reference Guide – This app contains over 100 math forumlas at a high school level. Most formulas have examples for ease of understanding. A great app for higher level math.
2. The Ruler – measure things in inches or centimeters
3. Math Quizzer – Math Quizzer is an interactive and fun way to, not only learn, but also to boost your skills in; Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division. It offers an easy to understand chalkboard visual, which keeps track of your “score” as you progress.
4. Bloomberg – Bring the power of the most trusted source for financial information to your iPad, along with tools to help you analyze the world’s markets.
5. Fractals – Move and pinch fractals in real time.
6. Geometry Stash – Access the most commonly used theorems, postulates, and corollaries.

Calculators

1. SpaceTime – Powerful graphing calculator. 2D and 3D graphing
2. PocketCAS pro – Advanced Graphic and Symbolic Scientific Calculator. Handles every mathematical problem you might encounter in school or university.
3. PocketCAS lite – Free Graphic calculator. Not as many features as the pro version above.
4. Quick Graph – 2D and 3D graphing calculator.

Social Studies:

1. U.S. Geography by Discovery Education – Become an expert in U.S. Geography with this app. Dozens of videos and interactive gameplay.
2. Civil War America’s Epic Struggle-Civil War: America’s Epic Struggle Features over 1,000 high-res photos, more than an hour of multimedia presentations, in excess of 100 authentic maps, dozens of first hand accounts, and numerous text articles and biographies, it provides instantaneous access to information on every aspect of the war.
3. Beautiful Planet HD – Beautiful Planet is a groundbreaking app that captures the breathtaking beauty of our world and its cultures. Featuring a collection of galleries three decades in the making by travel photographer, author and explorer, Peter Guttman, Beautiful Planet spans seven continents and 160 countries.
4. World Atlas HD – The best maps available from National Geographic
5. History:Maps of World – Collection of High-Resolution historical Maps.
6. USA Thematic Atlas & Facts – High quality maps filled with facts and information.
7. USA Puzzle – A USA puzzle that needs to be put together. Double tap on the state for information about that state.
8. Motionx GPS HD – Maps and navigation instruments. Maps from all over the world. Can include waypoints. Can be good for Geocaching.
9. The History Clock – An app that converts the current time to a year and gives a fast fact about that year.
10. The World Factbook for iPad – Extensive information of over 250 countries around the world.
11. WORLD BOOK – This Day in History – Interactive multimedia calendar that features historical events for the day.
12. The Presidency – Historical information on every President of the United States.
13. Presidents HD- Historical information on every President of the United States.
14. Declaration for iPad – A copy of the Declaration of Independence.
15. Constitution for iPad – A copy of the Constitution of the United States.
16. MyCongress – A portal to detailed information about elected congress officials. Please note: This is not an official government resource
17. GeogXPert – A reference app – containing maps which allow you to look up countries and find country information – as well as a quiz app.

Science:

1. 3D Cell Simulation and Stain Tool – Learn about the cell and its structures in a 3D tool.
   
2. EMD PTE – A highly interactive periodic table of elements.
3. AP Biology Vocabulary Review – All of the vocabulary included in the College Board AP Biology Course.
4. VideoScience – Science experiments with video.
5. Chem 11 Prep – Grade 11 Chemistry exam prep.
6. The Elements: A Visual Exploration – If you think you’ve seen the periodic table, think again. The Elements: A Visual Exploration lets you experience the beauty and fascination of the building blocks of our universe in a way you’ve never seen before. And as the first really new ebook developed from the ground up for iPad, The Elements beautifully shows off the capabilities of this lovely device.
7. A Life Among Whales – Video documentary featuring the exploration into the life and work of whale biologist Roger Payne
8. Newtons Laws – Explains Newton’s first two laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation.
9. Periodic Table of the Elements – Standard periodic table of elements. Free as of May 16, 2010
10. Molecules – View and manipulate 3D renderings of molecules.
11. 3D Brain – Rotate and zoom around 29 interactive structures in the brain.
12. Science Glossary – an extensive glossary of scientific terms and biographies.
13. PhysicsXL: Mechanics – An app that contains a series of exercises based on physics.
14. HD Birds Encyclopedia – Highly graphic encyclopedia that has detailed and comprehensive information about a variety of birds.
15. myArm Muscles – Visually rich and stimulating way to learn about our complex arm muscles.
16. PLoS Reader – Read the most recent articles from the seven journals published by the Public Library of Science.
17. HD Marine Life – An encyclopedia of marine life.
18. Frog Dissection – A virtual frog dissection app.

Astronomy

1. HD Solar System – Highly graphic encyclopedia that has detailed and comprehensive information about the solar system.
2. GoSkyWatch Planetarium – Easily and quickly identify and locate stars, planets, constellations and more with a touch or by simply pointing to the sky. Have fun with family and friends discovering the images in the night sky. Go outside and explore the night sky.
3. Star Walk – An interactive astronomy guide.
4. Solar Walk – A 3D Solar System Model.
5. Distant Suns – A database of over 130,000 stars, nebula, and galaxies.
6. DrakeEQ HD – 3D simulation of the Milky Way Galaxy
7. GoSkyWatch Planetarium – Locate stars, planets, and constellations.

Electives/Other:

1. Magic Piano – Play timeless pieces on spiral and circular keyboards, or follow beams of light – mastery requires only imagination. Play alone, or travel through a warp hole and play Piano Roulette with other performers across the world.
2. Fashion Sketchbook: The Stylish Dress Up Game – A fashion design application that allows the users to design outfits.

Art

1. Adobe Ideas – a digital sketchbook
2. SketchBook Pro – A professional-grade paint and drawing application.
3. Brushes – Brushes is a painting application designed from scratch for the iPad. Featuring an advanced color picker, several realistic brushes, multiple layers, extreme zooming, and a simple yet deep interface, it is a powerful tool for creating original artwork on your mobile device. The June 1, 2009 cover of The New Yorker was created in Brushes.
4. Picasso HD – A virtual gallery of Pablo Picasso’s work featuring hundreds of high definition paintings of his greatest works.
5. Van Gogh HD – A virtual gallery of Vincent Van Gogh’s work featuring hundreds of high definition paintings of his greatest works.
6. Klimt HD – A virtual gallery of Austrian Painter Gustav Klimt work featuring hundreds of high definition paintings of his greatest works.
7. Smudge – Finger painting app
8. Skrambler X – Assemble famous masterpieces like a jigsaw puzzle. Learn interesting facts about the artists and their artwork while putting each piece in place.
9. Gravilux – an app that lets you draw with stars
10. The Hot Rod Art Book: Masters of Chicken Scratch – Over 100 pages of hot rod artwork. Over one and a half hours of instructional videos that show the complete process from sketch to rendering.

Foreign Language

1. TAO – TranslateIt! Online – one click translation of text into numerous languages using Google translate.
2. AIUEO-HIRAGANA – Touch, Listen, and Learn Japanese.
3. Japanese Phrases & Lessons – 2,700 Japanese phrases with sound
4. French English Dictionary & Translator – French – English Dictionary
5. TouchLanguage French – Learn over 2,000 French words and phrases
6. BidBox Vocabulary Trainer: English – Spanish – Learn Spanish vocabulary
7. 简明英汉词典 – English – Chinese Dictionary
8. German English Dictionary & Translator – German – English Dictionary
9. Italian English Dictionary & Translator – Italian – English Dictionary

Music

1. Key Wiz – Learn how to play the piano.
2. Virtuoso Piano Free 2 HD – Learn the basics of music and how to play the piano.
3. Magic Piano – Play the piano freestyle or on a spiral keyboard.
4. Air Harp – Strum and pluck the strings for a harp sound.

ESE Modifications/Accomodations

1. Proloquo2Go – full featured alternative communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking
2. Speak it! Text to Speech – A high quality text to speech app.
3. Pocket Picture Planner HD – Use pictures or graphics to create a visual calendar.

All Subjects/General/Productivity:

1. Keynote – A slideshow presentation program
2. Pages- A word processing program
3. Numbers – A spreadsheet application
4. iBooks – a ereader book store.
5. BrainPOP Featured Movie – Tim and Mobi on the iPad! All access to BrainPOP’s 750+ Movie library and Quizzes if your district subscribes.
6. Notability – text to speech or just a note taking app
7. Puppet Pals – Create your own unique shows with animation and audio in real time!
8. Bento – Manage things with 25 ready to use databases.
9. GoodReader – Within moments of downloading GoodReader, you’ll be transferring files from the computer to the iPad. Supports a wide range of files.
10. Note Taker HD – An app for writing handwritten notes, diagrams, etc.
11. Sundry Notes Pro – Sundry Notes is the first social note taking application. Write, draw, record and research right within the app – and then share your notes with others.Take notes right within your application, including: Write text (and change font color, size, etc.), draw anywhere in your notes, search Wikipedia, Google, and Google Books – and grab images from them for your notes using two fingers, Import PDFs from the internet, Import images from your photo library, record sound/voice, Change page background to graph paper, lined paper, legal paper, etc.
12. MindNode – Mind mapping, brainstorming, organization.
13. iThoughtsHD – A mind map tool for the iPad
14. Evernote – Evernote turns the iPad into an extension of your brain, helping you remember anything and everything that happens in your life.
15. Stick It – Sticky Notes with Bump™ – Sticky notes you can share with other iPad Users
16. Educate – The ultimate teacher’s companion providing mobile access to your student’s data, teaching strategies, eLearning tools, and timetable.
17. Cramberry – Create flash cards to study from.
18. Professor Garfield Cyberbullying – Garfield and Friends share information about Cyberbullying
19. Professor Garfield Online Safety – Garfield and Friends share information about Online Safety
20. eClicker and eClicker Host- A personal response system that allows teachers to poll their classes in real time.
21. PDF Reader Pro Edition – PDF reader.
22. Discovery Education – Educational videos (Subscription Required)

This article was originally posted at http://edudemic.com/2011/11/ipad-high-school/

Are We Wired For Mobile Learning?

Because of the proliferation of new technologies, the younger generation today is outgrowing traditional forms of education – remember pencils, chalkboards, textbooks and graphing calculators? Whether we are in the car, on the train, at work, or in a classroom, mobile technology in particular is giving us the ability to learn on-the-go. See the infographic below to learn why we are wired for mobile learning, and how we can use mobile technologies to educate ourselves.


Via: Voxy Blog

Use This Infographic In Your Class

We think that infographics are an awesome learning and teaching tool, so our creations will always be available for you to print out, use with your students and embed on your blog!

Warm-Up Activity

Before handing out the infographic, discuss the following questions with your students.

1. What is “mobile learning”?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using mobile technologies such as cell phones and iPads in education?

Speaking & Critical Thinking Practice

Questions to ask your students after presenting the infographic:

1. What is the most surprising fact that you discovered from this infographic?
2. Do you agree with the statement that today’s students “are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach”? Why or why not?
3. Would you consider yourself to be a “digital native”? How do you compare to other digital natives with respect to the way(s) you use mobile devices?
4. Classroom technologies have come a long way since the end of the 19th century. In your opinion, what is the most important educational technology ever invented? Why?
5. Many students and teachers around the world have found mobile learning to be very successful. How has mobile learning impacted your own education? Give examples.

Writing Challenge

After reviewing this infographic with your students, have them write a persuasive essay or blog post on the topic below. In addition to using the information from the infographic, students can do some independent research using the sources provided at the bottom of the graphic.

Should more teachers integrate mobile technologies into their classrooms? Why or why not?

Moving to Mobile

Given the tremendous adoption of mobile devices and applications in the business and consumer markets, the rising interest in and support for mobile apps on the part of colleges and universities should come as no surprise. And while mobile technology adoption is in its infancy in higher education, we've already seen a substantial move toward the deployment of mobile applications on campus in the past two years.

According to the fall 2010 Campus Computing Survey, more than 70 percent of the surveyed CIOs and senior IT leaders "agree or strongly agree" that "mobile [LMS] apps are an important part of our campus plan to enhance instructional resources and campus services." (Currently, the majority of mobile apps in higher ed are tied to learning management systems, although their features often extend beyond the LMS.)

Source: Green, Kenneth C., Campus Computing 2010: The National Survey of Computing and Information Technology in American Higher Education, campuscomputing.net

Still, the move to mobile apps on campus remains in the early stages: Just 13 percent of the more than 525 campuses that participated in the Campus Computing Survey reported that they had activated mobile LMS apps as of fall 2010. However, another 10 percent say they will go live with mobile LMS apps this academic year, while nearly a quarter have a mobile app strategy under review. From these data we can see both great interest in mobile applications, and a strong indication of a growing movement in the activation of mobile apps.

What enables this quickening pace toward mobile applications in higher education? The answer may lie, in part, in a change underway in the education marketplace. "The first mobile apps for higher ed were launched just two years ago," says Kenneth C. Green, founding director of The Campus Computing Project. "The first wave of apps came from the LMS providers. However, as of winter 2011, both administrative system/ERP and LMS providers now offer colleges and universities a wider range of applications, resources, price points, and strategies to assist campus efforts to 'go mobile.'"

Source: Green, Kenneth C., Campus Computing 2010: The National Survey of Computing and Information Technology in American Higher Education, campuscomputing.net

Green sees a promising future for mobile apps in higher education. "Students of all ages increasingly expect their colleges and universities to provide the kinds of app-based resources and services they utilize and enjoy as consumers," he says. "Mobile apps provide easy, anytime access to instructional resources and campus services. Indeed, mobile apps are the new campus portal, as buttons on a smartphone screen replace the bookmarks on an internet browser or the hot links on a campus portal."

This article was originally posted at  http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2011/04/01/Moving-to-Mobile.aspx?admgarea=topic.mobilecomputing&Page=2 

Ipad for e-learning

The Dynabook represented the earliest idea of mobile learning. The geneses of a personal computing device began with an educational vision. Today, with the Apple iPad, that vision is edging towards reality. Across the U.S., the iPad is highly regarded as the device that will truly elevate classroom education into a new era, and particularly, the digital era.

“The iPad appears to be the perfect device for information at your fingertips, which places it in the role to ignite change.” – Greg Smith, CIO at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon

iPad champions is inspired to initiate the change that will soon displace one-to-many teaching pedagogies in favor of one-to-one, always-on learning that will encourage more participative learning among students. In addition, educators feel that tablets will revolutionize education because they dovetail with the purposes and goals of education in the digital age.

Lets check out some interesting features of the iPad that makes it a great learning device

#1 – Its Touch Screen!!

The touch screen feature of the iPad has extended Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in a manner that imitates human gestures. It enables intuitive touch to interact with computers, sidestepping mouse-click and PC learning requirements, and getting straight into the action.

Children who haven’t learned to read or operate a remote are picking up the iPad’s interface with remarkable speed. According to the June 2010 Ad Age article, “How the iPad Became Child’s Play – and Learning Tool,” after using the device, toddlers as young as 18 months attempt to interface with TVs and monitors as though they were touch screens too, indicating how intuitive this technology may be to the this new iPad generation.

#2 – It’s a better E-Reader than the Kindle!

The iPad’s Book Reader is one of its most popular features and is already outpacing its predecessor – the Amazon’s Kindle. According to a survey ressult released by Student Monitor, a firm that researches consumption trends among college student,1,200 students at 100 colleges indicates that of students who reported interest in buying an eReader, 46% said they favored the iPad, versus 38% for Kindle. Given that the iPad provides better screen resolution, and more importantly a colored interface, it makes reading more conducive and appealing as compared to the Kindle

#3 – Convergence and Productivity

The iPad provides every kind of elearning essentials and requirement without any sort of external devices like a mouse or keyboard. Educators today are voicing the need for more contextual and engaging learning. Mobile phones and digital whiteboards does indeed improve interactivity, but falls short in computing power, and a laptop is relatively bulky and inconvenient at times.The iPad fills this void by enabling a host of activities such as referencing, collaborating, and creating content. In addition, the iPad provides personalized choice of content, which is a huge plus for student users.

This article was originally posted at http://adrianseetho300.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/ipad-for-e-learning/

Administering a Gross Anatomy Exam Using Mobile Technology

By Alireza Jalali, Daniel Trottier, Mariane Tremblay, and Maxwell Hincke


Mobile technology has infiltrated medical school education. Students now bring tablet PCs, rather than notebooks, into the classroom. They can access Web-based curriculum during lectures and add notes directly to their files. At the Faculty of Medicine University of Ottawa the curriculum for the first two years is online, and PDAs have largely replaced reference books for students in clerkship programs. And more telling, employees at Ottawa Hospital Medical have been encouraged to replace pen and paper notes with iPads. Thus, transitioning from written to digital examinations seemed to be a reasonable next step. To assess the benefits and drawbacks of this approach, we developed a mock anatomy examination using the Questionmark software and compared its administration and evaluation on two electronic devices.

At the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ottawa, gross anatomy is taught during the first two years of medical school. The course is divided into four units: musculoskeletal anatomy; the thorax, head and neck; the abdominal and pelvic cavity; and neuroanatomy. Students attend anatomy lectures and laboratories almost every week. After each unit students take a final laboratory examination, they also take a timed midterm examination. During each examination, students rotate through 20 (midterm exam) or 40 (final exam) stations in the laboratory covering anatomy, pathology, radiology, and a few other disciplines. Students spend two minutes at each station and answer two to four multiple-choice questions (MCQs). MCQs are frequently used in medical schools because they are reliable and allow for rapid marking and prompt feedback to learners (Fowell and Bligh, 1998); also MCQs can be used to examine higher levels of learning (Collins, 2006).

Our goal was to eliminate these paper examinations and move to an online version. As instructors we use guidelines from the National Board of Medical Examiners and the Medical Council of Canada to aid us in constructing our examination questions (Case and Swanson, 2002; Touchie, 2005). Since the students are taught using cadaveric specimens, their examination should also include such specimens. However there are disadvantages: Voluminous amounts of paperwork need to be organized. In proctoring seven examinations a year to 150 students, we use approximately 35,000 pieces of paper. It takes time to prepare the printed examinations, organize the examination stations, and then to carry all of the papers to the laboratory before the examination. It is also time consuming to correct the examinations and communicate results. Besides the issue of sustainability, online evaluation would save administrative time and money in addition to helping us to provide faster feedback to students.

Experimental Procedures


To move from a paper-based examination to an online version, we researched available hardware and software. We decided to use a portable device, which would allow us to continue to use the timed examination, the students would also be able to move easily from one station to another. After a discussion with our medical technology team, we chose two tablets for this study that were light weight and had fast screen reaction time and long battery life: the Lenovo S10-3t running Windows 7 Enterprise and the Apple iPad Wi-Fi 64GB running the iPhone 3.2 OS.

With all the available options, we tested numerous learning applications. Students were already comfortable Questionmark Perception and it was compatible with existing technologies being used at the school. The tool allows the creation of a question bank in different languages, which is very useful for our bilingual university. Also the ability to create 12 types of reports was useful, specifically the coaching report. The student can see detailed information, including the answers and scores for each question, which is used to help coach individuals through their learning curves. Furthermore, Questionmark Perception makes it possible to return to and continue a previously started examination via an auto-save feature. This feature is not Wi-Fi dependent and, therefore, lends itself well to a potentially unstable Internet connection environment and provides confidence for use during a live examination. For all of these reasons, our university purchased a license for Questionmark; eventually all of our written examinations at Faculty of Medicine will be created using the software.

Our data collection method was straight forward; we set up a mock anatomy examination using four stations, each having two MCQs. A student, an IT staff member, and a faculty member, who were all familiar with the paper-based examination, completed the examination first using the iPad, and then using the Lenovo tablet. The volunteers had two minutes at each station. Afterward they were individually questioned about their general impressions of the online examination and their preferences regarding the devices used.

Results

We identified numerous benefits and challenges related to the method. All of the participants liked the idea of an online anatomy examination to replace the paper version. Ease of use and immediate feedback were among the advantages they identified. The two main disadvantages identified were the stress related to not having an examination paper in hand and dependence on a potentially unreliable Internet connection. The participants found that an online examination added to the stress of taking the examination. The participants worried that their responses would not be recorded by the machines and that their answers might not be submitted.

Conclusion


Although the online examinations may help faculty administratively, it will present challenges. Students may be stressed by undergoing a new method of examination and will require suitable orientation. The choice of hardware and software also needs to be considered carefully, as the examination might render differently depending on the selected technology. During our study we discovered depending on the selected online examination tool, an online exam will render differently on the iPad compared with conventional laptops and tablet PCs. This is mostly do to the fact that iPad uses Safari as browser instead of the more widely used Internet Explorer. Consequently achieving the desired look and user experience required modifications to digital files; even our method for organizing the examination was affected. However our preliminary trials established that an iPad and the Questionmark software was a suitable combination to use for a timed, online anatomy examination. This recommendation is in line with the Ottawa Teaching Hospital's decision to use the iPad at the patient bedside for clinical purposes. Our hope is the transition from paper examinations to an online version will save faculty members time, but also improve the evaluation process for students. An electronic exam will also translate into cost savings for the university. Moreover the final licensing examination administered by the Medical Council of Canada is taken on a computer, adopting an online anatomy examination will offer students much needed practice and, it is hoped, better preparation for such professional examinations.

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the continued and enthusiastic support from the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine and Bureau des Affaires Francophones (BAF) with this project.

About the Authors


Alireza Jalali, M.D., is a Francophone professor of anatomy at the Division of Clinical and Functional Anatomy, at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. His research explores the use of technology and more particularly the Web 2.0 tools in medical education.

Daniel Trottier is the manager of the Web, multimedia, learning technologies and IT Systems at the Medical Technology Office at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. His research interest includes the use of new technological tools in medicine.

Mariane Tremblay is a multimedia and learning technologies designer at the Medical Technology Office at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. She is fascinated with the use of new technology in medical education.

Maxwell Hincke, Ph.D., is the Head of the Division of Clinical and Functional Anatomy at Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. He is very interested in the use of novel technology for teaching anatomy in the medical curriculum.


References

Case, S.M. and Swanson, D.B. (2002). Constructing Written Test Questions for the Basic and Clinical Sciences. Third Ed. Philadelphia, PA. National Board of Medical Examiners, http://www.nbme.org/PDF/ItemWriting_2003/2003IWGwhole.pdf

Collins, J. (2006). Education techniques for lifelong learning: Writing multiple-choice questions for continuing medical education activities and self-assessment modules. Radiographics 26 (2): 543-551.

Fowell, S.L and Bligh, J.G. (1998). Recent developments in assessing medical students. Postgrad Medical Journal 74 (867):18-24.

Touchie, C. (2005). Guidelines for the Development of Multiple-Choice Questions. First Ed. The Medical Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON, http://www.mcc.ca/pdf/MCQ_Guidelines_e.pdf.pdf

This article was originally posted at http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=152-1

Learning where you are

I shared this concept video a few months ago to illustrate just one broad aspect of mobile learning. But it has been misinterpreted by at least one administrator that I know.




The point of the video is not about knowing where you are. The point is is learning where you are and using what you (and your students) already have.

This article was originally posted at http://ashleytan.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/learning-where-you-are/

Online learning in 2011

As the new year takes off with a flying start, this is a great time to look forward to what's in store for online learning and learners in 2011.

2010 saw the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) become the second largest in the country, second only to Florida's Virtual Public School program. Many North Carolina school districts are finding it more economical and efficient to pay the NCVPS rate of $600/per student per class rather than hiring teachers for courses that fall outside the standard curriculum but remain crucial to providing NC students with a quality, well-rounded education.

NCVPS will continue to grow in 2011 as NC school districts deal with a new round of budget cuts, and a increasingly diverse and demanding student population that expects all schools to offer high quality courses in a variety of subjects.

Educational applications for smartphones like the BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone (and associated products) will continue to grow in number and variety. Look for more foreign language apps, more apps aimed at all ages (especially younger users), and more apps aimed at learning specific skills "in time". Learning available when you need it.

Beware though of "in app purchases" which can cost substantial amounts of real world money. See: Smurf app fees leave parents steaming. While children become more and more tech savvy, parents still need to be aware of exactly what their children are doing online. A lapse in a attention can cost parents a lot of money.

Free or low cost online learning options will continue to increase. In October iTunes U started offering e-books to support lectures  and other resources from Oxford, Rice and the Open University. The Khan Academy continues to bring subjects as diverse as molecular biology and high finance to online learners for free. Khan Academy tutorials run the gamut from elementary school math topics to graduate level economics. Making it a great resource for parents and students.

Perhaps, most important for online learners and online learning providers, consumers will continue to become more knowledgable about accreditation and diploma mills . Information is power and in this case it will empower learners to make informed educational choices, which will improve consumer satisfaction with online education and the quality of online higher education offerings.

The future of online learning is bright and 2011 is sure to bring the changes listed here and many more. Find an online learning option that intrigues you and meets your needs and give it a try.

This article was originally posted at  http://www.examiner.com/online-learning-in-raleigh/online-learning-2011

THE TOP 3 EDUCATION TRENDS OF 2010

This a guest post By TeachStreet. Teachstreet is a website that provides online and local classes, including SAT Prep Classes.
2010 was a year of experimentation, change and flux, as educators scrambled to lay a foundation for a 21st century style of learning. Among the top trends in education were:

1. Mobile Devices in the Classroom

This year, Notre Dame set up an experimental classroom where every student was given an iPad. While some critics said that introducing mobile devices would be a distraction to students (as they can play games on the devices), others pointed out that iPads in the classroom may help the teacher make the classroom experience more interactive and engaging. The verdict is still out on whether or not mobile devices are a help or a hindrance, but this trend shows no sign of slowing down.



2. Emphasis on Teacher Evaluation

The “Race to the Top” program announced by the Obama administration last year had a big effect on how teachers were evaluated. Each state that competed for the $4.35 billion in funding had to make serious reforms in order to qualify for the program. A big part of meeting those qualifications were to create more merit based incentives for teachers who did well. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation jumped on the teacher evaluation bandwagon and provided over $335 million dollars in funding to place webcams in classrooms to better understand just what “star teachers” did in order to create a great learning experience.

3. Remote Learning

Although remote learning has been around for a while, many more universities are offering remote learning courses, including prestigious Universities like Stanford and Columbia. As webinars and other streaming video technologies become more reliable and ubiquitous, it only seems natural for this trend to continue. This is going to be especially handy for working students who will be able to fit their coursework around and between shifts.

As usual, technology was a big driver for changes in education in 2010. It’s still unclear where these changes will lead us, but that many will point to 2010 as a key year of change.

This article was originally posted at http://www.eduinreview.com/blog/2010/12/the-top-3-education-trends-of-2010/

Mobile will become our gateway to the world

2010 marked the year in which infrastructure, technology and design finally intersected in the mobile space. For the first time, sales of smartphones outpaced sales of desktops and laptops, iPhone and iPad applications were downloaded more than 7 billion times and research shows e-mail access is now on the rise on the iPhone while declining on the computer.

With the foundation in place, in the coming year we will witness the scales tip: Mobile device users will interact with content, companies and the Web more on their phones and iPads than on their computers, and IT and service providers will create solutions that are defined by our mobile consumption and use behaviors. "The highway has been there but until now we needed a special car to get us to our destination, so the average pedestrian was not going to get there. Now that technology barriers have been lowered, mobile will become an extension of who we are," said Philippe Suchet, CEO of MyShopanion, and the recipient of the Web2.0' Summit 2010 award for most innovative startup in the mobile shopping category.

From social shopping on the go, to easy paperless transactions and check-ins, to watching (and creating) videos with friends abroad, to in-class learning and collaboration, to managing our health real-time - prepare for an explosion of connected experiences across all points of interactions between people and people, people and companies, and people and information in the cloud.

Source: edustange.posterous.com

After one semester, students and staff love iPads at St. Cat's

Students in a sixth grade science class in the middle school program at St. Catherine's High School use their iPad tablets rather than pens, pencils, and notebooks, Thursday December 9, 2010. / Mark Hertzberg mhertzberg@journaltimes.com Buy this photo at jtreprints.com

RACINE - Seated at his school desk Thursday, sixth-grader Nicholas Rodriguez placed his fingers on an Apple iPad touch-screen and began typing the findings of a group science experiment onto a slide for a class presentation.

At a desk across from Nicholas, fellow sixth-grader Sam Letsch used another iPad to search the Internet for photos to be included in the presentation. Upon finding them, he quickly e-mailed them to Nicholas who placed them in the presentation file.

Around Nicholas and Sam, 25 other sixth-graders in the Middle School Program at St. Catherine's High School did similar work on iPads, which are very thin, light and portable single-panel touch-screen computers.

Students in St. Catherine's Middle School Program, which started this fall with 54 sixth- and seventh-graders, have been using iPads all school year in place of textbooks, spirals and standard computers. Students and staff said after some adjustment at the start of school the iPads are now working well and they'd never go back to classes that use regular textbooks, paper and pencils.

"All our books are on (the iPads). We don't have to carry around our big books anymore. Instead of writing everything down you can type in notes, e-mail them to our teacher and they can grade it right at their computer," said Nicholas, 11, adding that means assignments are returned quicker so students know sooner if answers are right or wrong and if they need help. "The old way is slower."

The old way is also less engaging, said Diane Putra, middle school science and math teacher at St. Catherine's, 1200 Park Ave. Petra said the iPads keep her class lessons moving faster and keep students attentive because they allow for so many interactive activities that can involve each and every student.

"I couldn't go back to the other method," Petra said of teaching with regular books, paper and pencils. "This has so much to offer."

Using the iPads, students can access electronic versions of their textbooks that include online activities and video tutorials. The iPads also have a word-processor program, an electronic dictionary, a drawing program, school-appropriate Internet access, interactive learning games and a calendar for recording homework assignments, explained Sam, 11, clicking through the programs on the iPad Thursday.

St. Catherine's is the only school in Racine County and in much of the country to provide iPads for individual students, a decision made to expose students to the latest technology - for a per student technology fee of $400, which replaces a textbook fee.

St. Catherine's plans to increase iPad use among students to include eighth-graders next school year and high schoolers the following year.

So far no iPads have been stolen, damaged or lost and the new machines have caused only a few problems, including occasional screen glares and students sometimes getting distracted during lessons by all the iPad features. Petra said those problems have been largely fixed by closing blinds in classrooms, the wearing off of the iPads' novelty and rearranging student desks so teachers can see their screens.

Petra also said her students picked up the new technology fast. Watching them in class Thursday the students typed with ease on the iPads and quickly switched from program to program with no difficulty or confusion.

"It was hard at first," Sam said. But the iPads include a typing program that taught students to use the iPad keyboard and frequent iPad use has accustomed students to the machines. "It really does get a lot easier as the year goes."

Source: journaltimes.com

Mobile devices and mlearning in 2011

In case you had any doubts about where mobile technology stands, this video points to the tremendous increase in mobile device and app sales and forecasts what 2011 will look like.

• In January to March of 2010 alone, 314.7 million phones were sold and 54.3 million of these were smart phones.
• A somewhat depressing statistic is also noted: while 85% of children own a mobile phone, only 75% are likely to own a book.
• The most common data sharing “app” reported is SMS (perhaps not surprising, since people who don’t own smartphones remain the majority of mobile device users).
• The video predicts that the Android OS (with a growth rate of 886% year on year) will be the leading smart phone OS in 2011.

The rapid growth of mobile devices means that a majority of learners will be accessing the internet via their mobile phones. This also means there’s a tremendous opportunity to connect people to resources and capabilities at time of need via their mobile devices.

As noted by Pachler, Bachmair & Cook (2010), mlearning “is about understanding and knowing how to utilize our everyday life-worlds as learning spaces.” This doesn’t mean that mlearning is always the best way of providing instruction and/or performance support, but mobile devices certainly extend the reach of teaching and learning.

Mobile device affordances include:

• on demand learning
• opportunistic, context-dependent learning
• one-on-one, personalized learning (pull-based)
• location-based learning
• decision-making, performance support
• authoring
• communication (and connectedness to personal learning networks)
• collaboration

The “range” of these affordances will very much depend on the type of mlearning device used (e.g., mobile phone, smartphone, or tablet). Thus, the range of learning is also very much subject to a digital divide between those who can afford devices with enhanced capabilities and those who cannot, and between those who are more confident about the use of technology and those who are not. While exploiting the promise of mlearning, we shouldn’t leave behind those who have less access to mobile devices for whatever reason.

Source: digitalbuzzblog.com

The next level for creating training courses

The smart phone devices have outclassed its prime adversary landline phones. Today the peripheries of smart phones have moved beyond corporate houses to universities.

Content development in mobile devices is a new concept that had been thought of for quite some time now and that makes a lot of sense — the adoption of these devices around the world is just tremendous. Mobile Learning is growing at an expeditious pace. Business professionals and universities are embracing mobile learning on all sorts of devices.

As advancement of mobile applications continues to expand its global reach with corporations and universities in particular are actively investigating how to deploy learning to mobile professionals.  With careful planning a course developers in particular should be able to craft and deploy a wide variety of content to help those learners who are on the go.

Duke University, Abilene Christian University, Hamilton County Virtual School, University of Adelaide’s Faculty of Science , Hastings College, Leeds College, St Helens College, Walsall College are some of the well known institutes who have opted to replace textbooks and use iPhone and iPad instead. iPad and similar smart phones utility as a mobile learning device has been successfully experimented in many sectors and is recently being introduced to the healthcare sectors.

The term authoring tool can be somewhat misleading. People can easily be deceptive when they hear the term for the first time, the reason behind its close resemblance with word-processing software for professional writers. But the fact is the authoring tools go far beyond writing and word processing.

E-learning authoring tools provide trainers the opportunity and liberty to integrate an array of media to create professional, engaging, interactive, creative and innovative training content.

Today there are numerous types of authoring technologies to choose from, the task may seem somewhat daunting, but if planned in a proper and systematic way it doesn't have to be. One of the secret to pick the correct authoring tool is having a clear understanding about your own technology restrictions, instructional needs and business requirements.

empower, one of the leading provider of comprehensive Healthcare Compliance Solutions through Learning management system (LMS) has developed an iLearn Application compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This application is very useful for course developers to promote their courses using the ilearn application to users with basic stuff to advanced topics, Healthcare to IT, in an interactive and engaging method.

The iLearn application by empower contains tools to create your own course in your field of expertise. Content developer can create categories and courses in such manner that it can be managed easily by end users who can download the iLearn App from iTunes which comes with a few preloaded courses. End users can view these preloaded courses or can go to store front and can download free courses or demo courses or pay and purchase paid courses. Once the courses are downloaded are visible in his App on his iPhone/iPad. The tool/GUI will automatically create a course in an attractive graphical format as an output. Various others functionality can be easily deployed using the iLearn application.

empower iLearn application is simple and effective it provides tools so effortlessly that you can create your training module within minutes. Put videos, images, audio, text and make the learning the way you want it to be and then since it‘s your amalgamation of hard work and smart work – you give a price tag to it and share it with the world.

About emPower

emPower is a leading provider of comprehensive Healthcare Compliance Solutions through Learning Management System (LMS). Our mission is to provide innovative security solutions to enable compliance with applicable laws and regulations and maximize business performance. We provide range of courses to manage compliance required by regulatory bodies such as OSHA, HIPAA, Joint commission and Red Flag Rule etc. Apart from this emPower also offers custom demos and tutorials for your website, business process management and software implementation.

Our Learning Management system (LMS) allows students to retrieve all the courses 24/7/365 by accessing our portal. emPower e-learning training program is an interactive mode of learning that guides students to progress at their own pace.

For additional information, please visit http://www.empowerbpo.com