Blended learning as future of education

Much like everything else that worries the enhancement of world and development of lifestyle and understanding, the area of education has certainly seen several advancements and improvements with regards to how to better train a student, make better the deliverance of the correct knowledge, and assist in better conception and understanding of knowledge application. There have been many attempts into new methods like the digital learning and online learning and incorporation of these new techniques with the traditional techniques in order to come up with a better way to enlighten the education of the students. Various research and tests have been done in different educational institutes around the world on these new techniques, which is now known among all the people as "blended learning".

Blended learning is a combination of classroom training along with online learning. Training that takes place in the classroom is done with the help of a teacher. In this type of learning the student –teacher interaction is direct and face to face and the teacher handles the content and the speed of the class going on. In spite of many misunderstandings, online learning can also be directed by the teacher.  Through the online learning or digital learning the teacher can instruct her students through the webcast where they can see and interact with their teacher through the projector screen or the computer screen. Teachers can also post classes and make projects that learners complete on their own. The trainer still handles the content of the lessons and sets up the final time limit, but in online learning students are independent to choose how, when and where they want to learn.

Through blended learning, students get the opportunity to benefit from the type of learning i.e. classroom learning and as well as online learning. In classroom learning student gets direct training, he/she participates in various activities and learns to socialize with other peers in the class.  At the same time in online learning, students have the opportunity to work in relaxed surroundings of their choice, they can learn at their own speed, and they even learn the importance of managing their own time. Thus Blended learning allows students to get personal attention through eLearning or digital learning and learns the importance of discipline in classroom training along with this they become independent through online learning.

The most reported benefit of online learning is that it allows learners to learn place. It has helped many universities rise who are offering online learning solely.  There are many more traditional universities that are offering their health science classes and management training through the online learning strategy. As a result, online learning or digital learning courses help save money   by avoiding travelling for the classes unnecessarily. The best part of online learning is that students have the freedom to study the material provided as per their convenience. The students can schedule his class as per his personal, academic or professional planning for the day, week or month.

Thus Blended learning gives students the exposure to work online and allowing them to enhance their computer skills. With the help of the syllabus, students are able to use the computer on regular basis to be a active part of the class, quiz, exams and be able to communicate with their teacher and other students of the online learning class. With the help of such tools students learn the course book but also the computer skills that is very important part in building their future.

About emPower 


emPower  is a leading provider of comprehensive Healthcare Compliance Solutions through Learning Management System (LMS). Its mission is to provide innovative security solutions to enable compliance with applicable laws and regulations and maximize business performance. empower provides 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.

Its Learning Management system (LMS) allows students to retrieve all the courses 24/7/365 by accessing the 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.

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emPower
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Give Students Mobile Devices to Maximize Their Learning Time

The Education Department’s 2010 National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) presents a transformational vision for 21st century education, depicting how new technologies can help people learn lifelong and “life-wide” - in libraries and museums and their homes, and through interactions with people in their neighborhood and community.

In particular, mobile devices enable elearning anywhere and anytime, moving education beyond the industrial era model, where classrooms are the primary place of learning, the school day is the primary educational time, and the teacher is the primary source of information.

We know that students’ lives outside school are filled with technology, giving them 24/7 mobile access to information and allowing them to participate in online social networks and communities where people worldwide share ideas, collaborate, and learn new things. Our education system should leverage students’ interest in technology and the time they spend learning informally outside the regular school hours to extend learning time in a way that motivates them even more.

Mobile broadband devices now have six senses:

1. Knowing where you are

2. Interacting with networks

3. Sensing local content and services

4. Discovering relevant things

5. Enhancing your surroundings with information and simulation

6. Learning your interests, as well as how and with whom you like to learn

This new capacity for learning, which is infused with global information, is a powerful way of complementing the traditional model of learning, which is isolated from the world in classroom settings.

Cellphones, tablets and other mobile devices now provide access to a much broader and more flexible set of learning resources than is available in classrooms. They also create connections to a wider and more flexible set of “educators,” including parents, informal educators, and community-based coaches, tutors, and mentors. And, learning experiences can be customized for individual learners with content and instructional styles designed to fit the interests and experience of each person.

For example, when students are learning online, there are multiple opportunities to use technology for assessment. As students work, the system can capture information about their problem-solving sequences, knowledge, and strategies, as reflected by the information they select or input, the number of attempts they make, the number of hints and feedback given, and the time it takes them to solve a problem.

But there are some limitations. Four key areas must be resolved to realize the power of mobile broadband for ubiquitous learning:

Devices and infrastructure: How can we best balance educational investments between wired computers and the emerging infrastructure of wireless mobile devices?

Safety and privacy: How can we use internet access and digital student data to enhance education, while preventing various forms of abuse?

Digital assets and assessments: How can we drive innovation in digital learning materials and services when the education market is notoriously fragmented and slow to adapt, and when the strengths and limits of mobile devices for learning are not well understood?

Human capital: How can we empower educators and other stakeholders to realize the potential of anytime, anyplace mobile learning through evolutionary, revolutionary, and disruptive transformations that move beyond the model of industrial era schooling?

And, barriers in each of these areas create difficulties for progress in the others.

A ubiquitous technology infrastructure that supports anytime, anyplace learning is the hallmark of a 21st century educational system. I believe that every student and educator should have a mobile broadband device, with training and support for its optimal usage to empower learning. As discussed in the NETP, policy makers should systematically explore mechanisms to fund such an infrastructure for every district, school, and student, regardless of economic status.

Chris Dede is the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Each fall, he co-hosts a major conference for Qualcomm on mobile learning.

Smartphones, E-Readers Replacing Textbooks

What's the Latest Development?

Portable digital technology is forever changing the face of eduction. Smartphones and e-readers enable learning anyplace, anytime so teachers can better immerse their students in the day's lesson. And compared to a textbook, a tablet computer seems like magic, summoning up unfathomable amounts of information while displaying colorful and easy-to-read graphics. The interactive and entertaining qualities of new smart devices are inspiring students to take more control over their education.

What's the Big Idea?

Never before have schools faced the question of whether or not to buy textbooks. When electronic information is so readily available, so up-to-date, so much cheaper than buying hard-bound copies, textbooks become difficult to justify. The trend in education is reflected in society at large. The number of e-books sold online has seen a six-fold increase in the last year; Amazon now sells 2.5 e-books for every hard copy. The loss of textbooks will forever change the feel of education but it opens up many new opportunities.

Making Education Fun Through Game-Based Learning

Proponents say the nascent technology already is transforming the educational experience. Here’s how.

Like a lot of teachers, Lucas Gillispie had no problem with the textbook material he taught to his high school students. His biggest challenge during his seven years in the classroom was connecting with the teenagers in his classes.

His solution, it turned out, was right in front of him. Or, rather, on his own computer. “Video games were always a point of connection between me and my students,” Gillispie explains. “It was an easy topic of conversation — the spark that got things started for me at school.”

So when the game-loving teacher became the instructional technology coordinator for Pender County (N.C.) Schools three years ago, linking his two worlds in the curriculum seemed like a no-brainer. “I started looking at game-based learning [GBL] research,” he says, “and for ways to leverage video games in the classroom.” The district had already integrated technology, including interactive whiteboards, in its 16 schools, so energizing the elearning process via gaming wasn’t that radical an idea.

By May 2009, Gillispie was seeking buy-in from his district’s manage­ment team to give 15 Cape Fear Middle School ­students a chance to get ­together after school and play World of Warcraft (WOW), a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) with more than 10 million ­subscribers. The idea was to link the game to things the ­students already were learning in their language arts classes. For example, one teacher related one of the students’ “quests” to The Hobbit, which they were reading and writing about in class. The team “understood the goal to reach disaffected kids,” he recalls. “They said, ‘We don’t ­understand the gaming jargon, but the focus is good for kids. Go for it.’ ”

Together with teachers and the school’s principal at the time, Edith Skipper, Gillispie identified students to invite and launched the program in fall 2009. Participants linked in to the game using school computers and quickly strengthened their language and problem-solving skills.

“We saw amazing things,” Gillispie says. “We had kids who increased their attendance and ­actually wanted to go to school so they wouldn’t miss the club [meeting]. We had kids with social communication issues improve through the program. The kids owned this project, and we encouraged them to set the direction.”

The program was so successful that at the end of the school year, the principal suggested expanding its reach. “She would come observe the students playing WOW and was amazed” by their enthusiasm, he says. “These were students who used to ‘check out’ in the classroom. She asked what we needed to do to take this to the next level and make it a part of the regular school day for more students.”

That summer, Gillispie and teacher Craig Lawson developed a curriculum to incorporate the game into eighth-grade language arts, reading and writing lessons at Cape Fear. Today, students play WOW every day.

Gillispie says the results have been just as remarkable, with ­students showing demonstrable ­improvement in these subject areas and in their leadership, teamwork, communications and citizenship skills. “I call it ninja teaching,” he explains. “Kids are learning, but they don’t realize they’re learning.”

97% Percentage of American children ages 12 to 17 who play video games SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project

Embracing Gaming

Schools around the world are introducing computer-based GBL in the classroom, and for good reason: It’s a great way to engage students with something they participate in by choice during their downtime. “It’s a growing trend all across education,” says Larry Johnson, Ph.D., CEO of the New Media Consortium, which spearheads the annual Horizon Report: K–12 Edition. (In both 2010 and 2011, the report identified GBL as an emerging technology that will impact teaching and learning in the next two to three years.)

“Games are really ­effective for ­increasing the engagement level of lots of people,” Johnson explains. “We’re no longer ­thinking of games as something only kids do — we’re in our third generation of people who have grown up with these games.”

Quest to Learn, a New York City public school that’s based on the principles of game ­design and integration in the classroom, is one such example. “Each trimester, in each class, students are given a mission — a complex problem they can’t solve at that time,” Co-Director Arana Shapiro says of the 3-year-old school’s ­unconventional learning model, in which students play games to introduce and reinforce skills.

The designed quests that students embark upon are very sequenced, Shapiro continues, with each one giving them “a piece of information they need to solve the complex ­problem. Students ‘level up’ only ­after they complete each quest.”

The approach mirrors how many video games work, and is a natural way for educators to think, set and achieve goals for students who have grown up playing on their computers.

“The idea of play in learning has been around for a long time,” Shapiro says. “For some reason, it ends after early elementary school. What we’ve seen is that [GBL keeps] kids much more engaged than traditional ­learning. The ­content is the same; it’s a different vehicle to get them to the same place, and they get there with a deeper understanding.”

It’s not always easy, though. “We get push-back from people who think game play is too challenging or see it as entertainment, not education,” says Atsusi “2c” Hirumi, Ph.D., co-chair of the Instructional Design and Technology program at the University of Central Florida. “They worry that students may focus too much time on figuring out how to play and beat the game, rather than the educational content.”

But play is an ­important method for learning, Hirumi adds. “We play with objects and ­concepts to see how they work. If we mess up, it typically doesn’t hold serious ­consequences. Making failure fun is an ­important part of games and should also play a role in learning.”

There are other obstacles, though. One is cost: Game subscriptions are expensive. Teachers who don’t under­stand the technology’s learning benefits also can hinder its expansion.

Game On

Yet, GBL proponents remain hopeful about its future. Gillispie hopes to extend the curriculum he developed for Pender County middle schoolers to Heide Trask Senior High School, one of the district’s four high schools, this semester.

To maximize the benefits, gaming “needs to be embedded in everything we do,” he says. In Pender County, for example, students finish their quests and then journal about them during the school day. The teachers then grade or edit the journals and incorporate their comments into grammar and writing lessons.

“It’s fascinating to hear the kids excited about this,” Gillispie continues. “We have kids asking teachers if they’re going to take time over the weekend to put the next level up for them. We have kids logging in on Friday nights to finish their quests.”

Every once in a while, Gillispie is floored by the impact his efforts have had on students. “Our assistant superintendent recently got a phone call from one of our parents,” he says. “I thought the jig was up, ­because he said she had some ­concerns. But the concern was that her child is moving up to the high school next year and won’t have this program. She wanted to know what was going to keep him anchored and passionate about school. It broke my heart.”



Defining “Good” in Gaming

Acccording to research summarized by the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College, the best educational games share these five qualities:

1. Continuous challenge: The game must present ­challenges that lead to other challenges to keep ­students hooked and moving forward.
2. Interesting story line: This livens up the competition and makes players more motivated to succeed.
3. Flexibility: Offering multiple ways to achieve each goal lets students work out their own strategies.
4. Immediate, useful rewards: At the end of each ­challenge, successful players should be rewarded with new capabilities, a new area to explore or a new task. Such benefits are “surprisingly motivating,” experts say.
5. Combining fun and realism: Good games incorporate fantasy with realistic qualities to keep kids engaged and thinking.

This article was originally posted at http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2011/12/making-education-fun-through-game-based-learning

6 Apps for Creating Outlines on the iPad:

Capturing information quickly and efficiently in a classroom is an important skill. So much of what we do in the classroom needs to be documented either by you, the teacher or by the students. Apps that make this process quick and easy are therefore vital. Here are a quick list that might work in your classroom - some are quite expensive but they do offer a vastly different product depending on who will be the primary user.

Notability: $0.99

Notability 4.0 is the first truly integrated note-taking app for iPad. Standing on a framework that automatically links notes with audio recordings, Notability supports all of your note-taking needs -- handwriting, PDF annotation, word processing, and more work together seamlessly allowing you to create comprehensive, beautiful notes, quickly and simply. Auto Sync ensures your notes are backed up safely.



http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/notability-handwriting-note/id360593530?mt=8

OminOutliner for iPad: $20.99 AU

OmniOutliner starts as a blank page. But as you collect, compose, and rearrange text, its powerful outlining features emerge to organize your ideas. Hierarchy, columns, styling, notes — use them all in concert or keep things simple, depending on the project at hand. From basic lists and tables to serious writing and data wrangling, OmniOutliner understands how to keep your work structured and tidy.



http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/omnioutliner/id430118869?mt=8

iOutline for iPad: $0.99 AU

An outline editor is an essential tool. Point lists and numbered lists, which predate computers, are themselves essential tools. Being able to keep these lists on an iPad makes them cleaner, more useful, and easier to modify. iOutline is an outline editor for the iPad, in which you can build lists of single-line items. You can add sub-items and items at the same level of indentation.



http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/id401884533

Outliner for iPad: $5.49 AU

CarbonFin Outliner for iPad allows you to organize your thoughts, tasks, and projects. Easily create a todo list for today, or track an entire project anywhere you are. Share your outlines, edit them online, and collaborate with other Outliner users. Create outlines for structured notes, lists, tasks, tasks with subtasks, projects or search through all your outlines, or find text in the current outline.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/outliner-for-ipad/id360659928?mt=8

Simple Outliner: FREE

Simple Outliner is an outline processor which can be operated easily. To pop up the menu, tap the bottom of the main screen. Edit an item by double tapping it. To show a note wipe the item left or delete or copy an item by wiping it right. To change an item into folder, double tap the dot at the left of it. To change the outline level of an item, shift it horizontally.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/simple-outliner-free/id357042200?mt=8

Circus Ponies Notebook: $31.99 AU

Ever wonder why note taking apps don't let you bold, underline, color text, or use multiple fonts? The answer is because it's HARD. Problem is, bold and other text styling are super important when taking notes. Sometimes you need to scribble, sometimes you want to add a diagram. It's a rare app that allows all three. Add to this the ability to sync your notes between your iPad and Mac via Dropbox.


http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/circus-ponies-notebook/id405636065?mt=8

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/

iPads Used for Special Needs Students in California [California County Uses iPads to Help Teach Special Students]

Apple has always campaigned for the iPad to be and education device as much as it is a media device. Since its inception, schools and other education institutions have purchased the tablet for its students and educators alike. And more and more educations apps have come out as time went by. Now, a county in California revealed that it’s been using the iPad to help special needs students learn better.

Some special needs students have difficulties talking, for example, and the iPad is used so they can communication. The schools are able to afford the slates thanks to grants from the Dedication to Special Education organization. But even if the iPads are quite pricey, the special needs educators are actually saving by opting to use it — Dynavox, a technology used for special students, cost $8,000, whereas the iPad is around $500 only.

The organization will purchase and distribute as much as 80 iPads to special schools this year, in hopes of helping more students who need it.

This article was originally posted at  http://nexus404.com