ProProfs is an excellent resource for teachers to create online tests and quizzes for their students.  I reviewed ProProfs in an earlier post and I still enjoy using it in the classroom. With regular updates and enhanced features, ProProfs works hard to maintain its excellence.  I like ProProfs for a variety of reasons, but the fact that it is easy to use, incredibly inexpensive, and allows for a variety of randomizations are at the forefront of my list.

Our history, science, and English teachers have been making quizzes for over a year with ProProfs. All love it.

Now Math teachers can Continue Reading…

I really enjoy my iPad and people are always asking for my opinion on which one to buy.

I have made recommendations at conferences, at presentations, over the phone, via email, an emergency call from the Apple Store from a friend, and even in the middle of a sporting event.  I thought it prudent to finally put my recommendation down in a blog and explain it to those that are interested and value my opinion.

First, when should I buy an iPad?  If I am concerned that an Apple product is about to be updated, I always follow MacRumors Buyer’s Guide.  I keep a very close eye on Apple Blogs and feel I have a fairly good grasp of what and when new products may be coming out, but I have found MacRumor’s site to be a fantastic resource for myself and to recommend to others.

Here is Wired Educator’s official and very specific iPad purchasing recommendation: Continue Reading…

Question:

Can I view Flash sites on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch?

Answer:

Yes!

How to View Flash on the iPad (…and other iOS Devices)

How can I view Flash sites on an iPad? I have been asked this question often enough. I have recommended iPads to many individuals and schools and occasionally someone asks this very question. Competitors pointed out the inability of the iPad to view Flash at its release, and have tried to make its inability to view Flash as a weakness or fault. Most educators familiar with the iPad realize the new standard for video is and will continue to be HTML5 which nearly everyone is adopting. Flash has been viewed by Apple as old, outdated code that hasn’t even tried to keep up. Flash just isn’t good for tablet devices, some say, citing battery consumption and other problems. Still there are those that would like to view Flash on an iOS device like the iPad and it can be done.

For those seeking possible solutions for viewing Flash on the iPad we have a variety of solutions for you Continue Reading…

Continue Reading…

Providing a video lesson is of growing importance for educators and students. It allows remedial education and learning outside the regular classroom time and space, while enhancing learning opportunities during the typical school day, as well as promoting student  independence. It is also a great way to archive your best work to better manage time to allow more one-on-one instruction with students.ScreenFlow is the perfect solution for educators that would like to make screencast video tutorials, training videos, how-to lessons, explanations, and more for their students and colleagues. It is easy to use and has a lot of great features. I have tried other screen capture tools and they simply do not compare to the ease-of-use and the feature-rich options of ScreenFlow.

ScreenFlow gives you a lot of options and power, but doesn’t overwhelm you with buttons and such.  Recording and editing are straightforward.  The user interface is simple and looks good.  Your finished product looks professional and takes little time.  You can capture what’s on your monitor, from a camera or iSight, record external mics, or just your computer’s audio. What’s not to like?

Your finished product is

Continue Reading…

This is my tribute to Steve Jobs. Enjoy.

CONTEST: Wired Educator has teamed up with iOS developer Chris Kieffer to give away two copies of his iPad App, iBuild ABCs. Simply leave a comment on our blog about the craziest thing you or your child has ever built and we will send you the code.  Good luck.

Chris Kieffer has created a beautifully designed iPad app that helps children learn the alphabet an have fun. iBuild ABCs is a great combination of puzzle building and letter recognition.

I am very impressed with how this app looks and sounds and it is by far the most creative and original approaches I have come across to alphabet recognition.  Well done!  I think Chris is brilliant, and through our correspondence I learned he built this app for his three-year old son who loves the alphabet and building things. (My daughter, also three, enjoyed the app as well.)  Chris is a self-taught programmer that hope to build more apps for education.

iBuild ABCs offers the user a blueprint diagram of the letter they chose to build and the construction pieces necessary for assembly. The user assembles the pieces on top of the blueprint in a logical order. The pieces turn when they are dragged to the blueprint so the user can find proper placement. Some critical thinking is needed to finish each job; a wonderful but rare element in children’s apps.

This app has

Continue Reading…

Teachers are incredibly busy.  I know of no other profession where so much work is taken home. It all needs to be graded in-between dishes and bedtime stories and then handed back the next day. Preparing a week of classes with tests, standards, and other areas of integration can make tax forms look like coloring pages. More often than not, the time allotted for such planning during the actual school day is spent tutoring, contacting parents, or various other meetings. And then of course there is the teacher’s family life. Dare I even mention dreams? I’m not complaining, because I love teaching and understand these are some of the challenges I face for pursuing such an honorable profession. Still, there are ways to better organize and prioritize our lives to do more. For those who wish to better manage their day-to-day duties and responsibilities, and wish to have the energy and drive to chase and catch life’s BIG dreams! I highly recommend Matthew Kelly’s new book Off Balance. Off Balance will provide you with the tools to accomplish more in life and experience greater personal and professional satisfaction.  I highly recommend this book for educators.

Work-Life Balance has been a popular theme in contemporary writings, but Matthew Kelly contends it is not only unachievable, but  undesirable as well.  In this book Kelly lays out the very system he uses with his clients and himself to achieve personal and professional success, how to create an energy-rich life, and he provides us with a clear strategy to prioritize and accomplish our dreams.

Matthew Kelly challenges the very idea of seeking balance in our lives and he asserts that what we actually want is for personal and professional satisfaction, not balance. Balancing, he contends, prevents us from these satisfactions and he illustrates that we, like all who have achieved greatness before us, must make sacrifices in some areas to obtain this satisfaction.  Matthew conducted a survey that found people overwhelming prefer satisfaction to balance in both the workplace and home. “Over the past three years I have asked more than ten thousand respondents, ‘If you had to choose between balance and satisfaction, which would you choose?’ Not a single respondent chose balance over satisfaction.”

This is a great book for corporations to give to Continue Reading…

Thank you Steve Jobs!

Steve Jobs was committed to improving education. He inspired me to be a better educator. He taught me much. His products continue to offer my students and I the opportunity to explore and learn, and with them we produce creations that never existed before! His innovations allow us to share what we make with the world in new and meaningful ways.  I admire much about Steve Jobs, and I will miss him.

I will honor him by truly thinking different and committing to continually making a difference in lives of those I come in contact.

I will hold myself and those I work with to a higher standard.

I will care less of what the critics say, but focus on the outcome I am committed to achieving.

The world is a better place for having Steve Jobs in it for 56 years.

I cannot imagine it without his influence.

Thank you, Steve.

~Kelly Croy

  “I want to make a dent in the universe.” ~Steve Jobs

And you did.

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

~ Steve Jobs

2005 Stanford University commencement

•INNOVATION•

•EXCELLENCE•COMMITMENT•LEADERSHIP•

•QUALITY•DEDICATION•BEAUTY•FUNCTION•FORM•EDUCATION•

•PASSION•VISION•COMMUNICATION•AUTHENTIC•TENACITY•WISDOM•

•ATTITUDE•

Looking for a case for your iPhone or iPhone 4s?

More and more students, educators, and administrators are using iPhones and that means more iPhone cases. The market for the iPhone case is vast and difficult to navigate without some direction.

The BookBook for the iPhone is not only a beautiful and durable case for your phone, it also serves as your wallet, dramatically reducing what you carry and what you need to remember. I like to minimize what I take with me and the BookBook has helped simplify my life.  With the BookBook for iPhone, I have combined my wallet and phone into one beautiful and extremely organized package.  It is trim, beautiful, and well… Continue Reading…