Learning is Change

Some really interesting ideas on how design thinking can influence schools.

Can students be agents of change in the way they describe?

“The capacity for students to recognize and appreciate the design dimensions of objects, ideas and systems.

The capacity for students to be agents of change with regard to design in the world.

The capacity for students to think and learn through tinkering.”

Jeremy Inscho Christina Jean Mia Peterson Jacob Benezra John Protsman

A new whiteboard/screencasting iPad app came out last month that I hadn’t heard of, but that I am intrigued by.

The difference between this one and the others I have seen (explain everything), is that you can record from the camera while you are recording the screen as well. This would allow you to put more of “yourself” as the teacher into the videos you create, or more of the “students as teachers” into their own creations. 

Also, the app is free, which is nice for trying it out.

Christina Jean Have you seen this one yet?

So, the online version of iWork is now available. This gives the ability to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations from the web with a really high fidelity for formatting and syncing with devices like the iPad.

I encourage you to check it out, especially if you have iPads in your classroom.

https://www.icloud.com///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

I am looking to try out No Red Ink, a tool for creating grammar geeks and writing nerds (or just good student writers and thinkers). Anyone have experience with the tool and using it for authentic writing tasks?

This is possibly the most engaging and interesting iPad app for music creation and/or science and math integration. I could see lessons on the physics of the objects interacting with one another or the algebra/geometry/trigonometry/calculus of the different sequences of events that create the music. If you have an iOS device, please check it out.

http://goo.gl/1pvNBo//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

I suppose I should also share the community of practice I will be using this year as a part of my Action Plan too. Lots of good stuff coming in here, and I would be honored to have any and all of you join if you like.

So, the first prototype of my action plan (which I still have to actually write up) is ready for testing. 

This form creates a Google Document “PD Plan” based upon your experience with Google Apps and how you fill out this form. This means that based upon your answers, you will get different tasks/resources in the Google Doc. Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas on making the concept better.

(Also, if anyone can figure out how to delay an “on form submit” trigger for a few seconds until the links are calculated, that would be great. Otherwise, the last person doesn’t receive their Google Doc because it doesn’t trigger correctly. )