Wired Educator | Helping Educators Integrate Technology & Impact Lives

‘iPods in the Classroom’ Go Green with Solio Chargers: A Video Review

kcroy — February 23, 2011 — Leave a comment

We really hope every Wired Educator out there has a least one iPod Touch in the classroom by now. We’ve been singing the usefulness of the device for years. We hope you are podcasting and doing amazing things with those iOS devices, and now we want to help you ‘Go Green’ by utilizing an awesome device that Wired Educator just received called the Solio Mono-A solar charger. (Currently doesn’t work on the iPad.)
Click Here to watch video: Wired Educator Video Review of Solio Charger

Even though Apple has done an amazing job increasing the battery life Continue Reading…

In Hardware, Podcasting Apple, charger, Classroom, distinguished, education, educator, elementary, environment, green, handheld, impressive, interactive, iPhone, ipod, iPod Touch, iTunes, kelly croy, Mac, mono, recycle, renew, reuse, school, solar, solio, solio charger, Standards, teacher, Teachers, teaching, Technology, Touch, University, video, Wired, Wired Educator, YouTube

Why I Want My Students to Read Books on an iPad.

kcroy — February 22, 2011 — 2 Comments

I’m as close to a bibliophile as you can get. I love books. I love the new, the old, and all in between. I have a nice collection of some rare older books, and I would actually consider a few hours perusing around Barnes and Nobles as a vacation. I love ‘em! Knowing all of this, please understand that my next statement is not easy for me to make and has been formed with much consideration; I want my students to read books on the iPad.

As I outline my reasons for wanting my students to read on the iPad please keep in mind that I am a seventh grade English teacher.

Portability: Students can carry thousands of books with them everywhere they travel. Books to read, books to listen to, PDFs, and books created by their teachers in Pages and exported to iBooks. iPads hold an incredible amount of content. The battery life is an easy ten hours. The device is incredibly thin, light, and durable. If you don’t think portability is important to students you better take another gander at all of the books and supplies they haul around to each class! The Library holds a lot of books and they can be found easily. A great looking, easy to use interface.

In Electronic Texts, Hardware, Software app, Apple, blog, books, Classroom, Computer, download, education, educator, elementary, free, handheld, ibooks, ibookstore, interactive, iPad, iPhone, ipod, iPod Touch, iTunes, Mac, Podcasting, read, read books, school, schools, Standards, teacher, Technology, text books, Touch, University, update, Wired Educator, YouTube

Every Creative Classroom Needs iStopMotion

kcroy — February 21, 2011 — 1 Comment

I recently tried out Boinx Studios iStopMotion software for my MacBook. It is quite simply the must-have software for any creative classroom, and every wired educator. This is an incredibly powerful educational tool that you nor your students will outgrow, and is only contained by the limits of your combined imagination. It is the single best piece of software for helping students becoming content creators and publishers we have ever reviewed. Period.

You don’t need an expensive camera or computer. I used my MacBook with built-in iSight camera. You don’t need to know much about software or computer use either; it’s that simple to use. It would fit well in a kindergarten classroom as easily as it would in a university setting and every level in between.
Continue Reading…

Rumor: What the Second Generation iPad Means for Education

kcroy — February 20, 2011 — Leave a comment

Without a doubt the iPad has proven itself to be a great educational tool for teacher and student alike. I use the iPad as a teacher and I want my students using it as well. If the rumors are true the second generation iPad could make it an even greater educational player.

What do teachers and students need out of the second generation iPad? What do the rumors spell for classroom use? Wired Educator makes a few speculations:
Continue Reading…

Travis Allen and His iSchool Initiative

kcroy — February 20, 2011 — 1 Comment

Travis Allen is the Founder of The iSchool Initiative, a student-led organization that focuses on energizing and assisting mobile learning use in classrooms at all levels. Travis began this project as a high school student. He is now a student at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

Travis began with an iPhone and the following video as a seventeen year old high school student:

watch?v=68KgAcx_9jU&feature=player_embedded#at=20]

The iSchool Initiative Website offers:

Continue Reading…

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Story Patch, A Storytelling iPad App for Children: A Review and Giveaway!

kcroy — February 17, 2011 — 2 Comments

Story Patch, by Haywoodsoft LLC, is a fun storytelling iPad app for children that puts both a child’s creativity and the awesomeness of a touchscreen to great use.

Using Story Patch is fun and easy. My kindergartener, Jaclyn, and I created several stories together on our first attempt with the program. We helped each other learn to navigate our way through creating a story. An online tutorial is available, but we found it unnecessary. Story Patch is easy to use. There are story themes to help you build your story or you can create one from scratch on your own. I appreciated how the navigation of the app was arranged in a story method with pictures, paths, and words.

Story Patch makes it fun telling a story with pictures and words. You begin by selecting the Tools button and choosing from a vast collection of each of the following categories: story characters, animals and objects, and scenery & your own photos. For example, when you select ‘story and characters‘ your choices include thirteen different sub categories ranging from aliens to girl, and my favorite, build a character. Using build a character you literally create a character selecting the face, body, eyes, skin color, facial expression, hair, dress, and clothing. The build a character feature reminded me somewhat of creating a Mii on the Wii. The images can be resized and rotated with your expanding and pinching gestures on the iPad, once they are placed on one the landscape backgrounds or blank pages.
Continue Reading…

In Uncategorized ade, app, Apple, education, educator, free, Giveaway, interactive, iPad, iPhone, kelly croy, Podcasting, school, storytelling, teacher, Teachers, teaching, University, website, Wired, Wired Educator, wirededucator

State of Georgia to Replace Textbooks with iPads?

kcroy — February 6, 2011 — Leave a comment

Georgia’s legislators and educators are considering an offer from Apple to implement iPads in classrooms as a substitute for text books in their middle schools.

Senator Tommie Williams told reporters that Apple’s plan is to equip each student with a wi-fi iPad and provide all of the necessary books, texts, upgrades, and most importantly the teacher training, all for $500. He further commented that Georgia is currently spending $40 million books per year, with a life cycle of seven years. He added that many of the issued texts become outdated, and that Apple’s plan would move them in a direction that favored both the funding and the children’s learning.
Continue Reading…

An iPad for Every Student: Connecticut School Makes Plans

kcroy — February 5, 2011 — Leave a comment

Wired Educator was recently contacted by Gonzalo Garcia, the Dean of Students and Director of Technology and Advanced Media at South Kent School in Connecticut. Mr. Garcia wanted Wired Educator to know how helpful Wired Educator has been in the deployment of their impressive implementation of Wired Educator’s An iPad in Every Classroom Initiative. He is a Big Wired Educator fan1 We are proud to share their correspondence, photos, and press release of their wonderful use of technology.

SCHOOL EMBRACES APPLE’S iPAD, PLANS FOR EVERY STUDENT TO RECEIVE ONE THIS FALL

The School is pleased to announce its commitment to embracing Apple’s iPad as a learning tool. Like the School’s move to increase the number of SmartBoards in classrooms, this is just another example of the school’s willingness to adopt cutting edge technology to enhance its rapidly evolving new curriculum.

Mr. Garcia recalled the school’s first exposure to the iPad. “Mr. Vadnais and I were invited by Apple’s Business Team to try the iPad out on launch day. I don’t know what we expected, but we were both bowled over by the potential of the thing. We bought two immediately,” he said.

During the Fall Term each faculty member was given an iPad, iWork suite, and an iTunes credit to use in their classes. South Kent is working closely with Apple which offers support and training for the faculty. Campus workshops have already taken place in preparation for a full-scale application in campus that seeks to find digital substitutes for written materials of all kinds.
Continue Reading…

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Google Art Project: A HD Street View Experience for Art Museums

kcroy — February 3, 2011 — Leave a comment

Google’s 360-degree Street View cameras haven’t just been circumnavigating the globe to make incredible maps; they have now entered seventeen of the world’s greatest art museums.

The Google Art Project is an incredible discovery tool that allows users to not only view great art with incredible clarity, it actually allows them to ‘walk’ through the museums and interact with the artwork on their own terms. The Google Art Project uses Google’s Street View technology. The user can choose where they want to go in the museum from a patron’s perspective and choose their own path or two. Arriving at a work of art, the user can select the piece and view it in a High Definition zoom allowing the user to see actual brushstrokes. Whatever you are imagining the resolution of these art pieces look like, increase it ten fold. The artwork’s detail and imagery is absolutely breathtaking.

Google Art Project is just taking off. More and more art galleries will be added. There is doubt and concern that The Google Art Project will not ever have all of the works. Please don’t get your hopes up. Galleries will not give up their copyright ownership of the art imagery to Google Street View, and the museums want visitors. The museums were able to pick the galleries and art they allowed Google to capture. There is a of great art with currently 17,000 images available.

Click here to begin your experience and learn more about The Google Art Project.

In Software ade, Apple, art, art museum, educator, galleries, gallery, Google, google art project, iPad, kelly croy, teacher, virtual field trip, Wired, Wired Educator, wirededucator

An Open Letter to Suzanne Collins, Author of The Hunger Games:updated

kcroy — January 30, 2011 — 8 Comments

Dear Suzanne Collins,

I am an English Teacher at Oak Harbor Middle School in Oak Harbor, Ohio. Your novel The Hunger Games is the vehicle currently driving our Project Based Learning classroom. My students are using your novel to guide them in their quest to answer three essential questions for a very special project that will serve others in need. The questions are:

What is my responsibility to society?
When do I stand up for others?
How can I take action?

The purpose of this letter is to invite you to Continue Reading…

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