CTRL-ALT-DELiver 17 looks at a new polling system for your blog or website, Colby Sharp: children’s reading advocate, and a book review of The Giant Slayer
Wired’s Christina Bonnington reports that several studies have shown that iPad usage in education has been shown to have an impact on student learning. A study in Riverside, CA found in an Algebra 1 course that 20 % more students using the iPad scored in the Proficient or Advanced ranges than students that used traditional textbooks. Another study from Motion Math found similar increases in Fifth Graders that spent 20 minutes a day for 5 days using their Math App. While I certainly like the sounds of this, as with any technology, it is not going to be the magic pill for education. The value of iPads, etextbooks, and SmartBoards is that it addresses the kinesethetic learner in a way that hasn’t been available before. Engaging any child in the learning modality that best suits them will lead to better learning. The wonderful thing about the tablet is that it allows students to explore, on their own, in their learning style to discover new things about the content. Although both of these studies show promise, I’m not ready yet to spend all of my budget on tablets for my students. But I do see that day coming in the not-so-far future. What do YOU think?
And now…on to the Tech!
This week’s website is Nik Peachey’s QuickShout. Nik is a freelance learning technology consultant, writer and teacher trainer.
Having followed Nik on Twitter @NikPeachey for a while now, I have always found his tips to be useful. This week, even more so. I am starting an afterschool club this week for third through fifth grade students on Podcasting. As anyone does that has great resources on their website, Nik will periodically repost some of his earlier offerings on Twitter to redirect people back to his site for a second look. And boy is it worth looking at again. It just so happened that Nik had a great post on his site about Podcasting from the Classroom. He gives a look at both AudioBoo and Posterous, which I will look at with my students as way for them to practice. (We will be recording our Podcasts using Audacity, although I will show them several others.)
The Sisters Grimm is a series that consists of eight books, with the ninth coming out in May. Michael Buckley has written a very witty take on classic fairytales blended with modern times.It is not surprising that his other series, NERDS, is also popuar with my students.
Follow him at @michaelwbuckley on Twitter.
There is a link in the shownotes for a trailer for the Sisters Grimm stories that you should check out.
Check out the Sisters Grimm book trailer here.
Each week I will be featuring a different website or book to spotlight. This week I want to reintroduce you to Katie Davis. Katie Davis is not only a great Children’s Author, but a podcaster as well with Brain Burps About Books. One of the great things about Katie is that her Podcast and her blog are not all about her self-promotion. She has great interviews with other authors, not only about their books, but their marketing ideas and tips, as well. Early on in my Podcasts, I had the great fortune to do a double ender podcast with Katie. She graciously took questions from my students by email, recorded her answers, and then sent me her sound files to blend with my students’ sound files.
Here I talk with Katie about her podcasting.
Here she is responding to some of my students’ questions.
She is gracious, funny, and amazingly talented.
You can follow her on Twitter at @KatieDavisBurps and check out her website at KatieDavis.com
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