Educating through apps

Recently after a long inner dilemma,to choose between apple and android, I finally bought myself a Samsung Galaxy Note. Every moment it seems to delight me with all that it can do. Right now blogging from it but without typing. I am simply writing with my s-pen on the screen.
It is so much fun. My entry into the world of smartphones and the App market has just started. Every now and then I am experimenting all the things that I can do with this small magic tool.
As of now writing questions in your own handwriting and mailing it to students just happens in a few seconds. Options available are s-memo, Skitch and even drawing using Polaris office word doc.
The few apps with which I started off immediately are...

1. Annotating student's work happens in no time with iannotate Lite. You can check and annotate any pdf as you would do normally, a hard copy,  with the S-pen and mail it immediately.
2. Another interesting app that I used to teach and clear doubts to my IBDP student was "whatsapp". Though this app is for free Sms to people all over the woold, the way me and my student used it was amazing.

My student had a doubt in one of the questions of a past paper. He took a screenshot and sent me at whatsapp. I solved the question on S-Memo, attached a 30 sec video explanation and sent it. Then he attached an audio file asking his douibt. The ONLINE free chat session with all these facilities really made it so very, easy.
Wait for the posts about other apps that I am going to use from my Samsung Galaxy Note.

Teachers Get Tech Tips from Students

Digital Generation Parents Share Their Wisdom

What is 21st century education?

Global Collaboration with Twitter

What does it take for a person in USA to know about my intentions?....well just my tweets.........

My tweets got published in the story by Vicki Davis
"Conversations about Global Collaboration"
Are you ready to be a part of a story or build one of your own?

Singapore's 21st Century Teaching Strategies

When will India be ready to accept this?

Today Edutopia in partnership with Pearson released the Education Everywhere video series focusing Singapore, this time. These details were stated:

Singapore Fast Facts

• When Singapore gained its independence in 1965, most of its population of two million people were unskilled and illiterate.
• The government invested in education, and by the early 1970s, all children had access to lower secondary education.
• In 2009, the first year Singapore participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, they placed near the top for all tested subjects: fifth for reading, second for mathematics, and fourth for science. See all 2009 PISA scores.
• Teaching is a highly-respected and well-compensated profession in Singapore. All teachers are trained at the country's National Institute of Education (NIE).
• All new teachers are paired with experienced teachers for mentoring, and peer feedback is built into the schedule.
• Teachers are entitled to 100 low or no-cost hours of professional development each year.
• There are approximately 522,000 students attending about 350 schools in Singapore's education system.
• Class sizes are large, especially at the secondary level, averaging 36 students per class.

 It also had the following video showing how tools such as twitter and facebook are  used on a regular basis in the classrooms of Ngee Ann Secondary School, one of the country's seven 'Future Schools'.

The video shows how 40 students in a class can ask different questions using twitter , all at the same time to the teacher. They can even vote for the right answer using a mobile phone.

Do such statistics not affect any educator who sees this video? Will India be ever a part of this series?

Flat Classroom Conference , Mumbai 2012

An amazing experience...........


Day 1 at Flat Classroom Conference ....


The day started with 400 people from all over the world in one auditorium at ASB Mumbai.....I felt like sitting with the whole world. So many people from different parts, irrespective of cultural differences, where all under one roof with a common purpose...."To be the best 21st Century educators,leaders and of course students....". Students and teachers united on a common platform to LEARN.

Next ....at Trident Hotel .....a member of team 9...meeting people from all parts of world for the first time and working together on an Action Project, just wonderful. Seeing students work in groups was even more amazing where they proved that there exists an "Educational Culture" which probably unites them. The strive to understand each other and support the theme "Opening up Education" to the fullest.

Working for 4 hours on a collaborative project we come out with our oral pitch and WOW we then present it to 10 teams of educators from all parts of the world. 2 minutes for each presentation......it was just fire...have a look at the video here....