I hope you find some useful information on these wiki pages as you explore the use of “gadgets” for your classroom. I have them organized under the various gadgets for your convenience. This wiki is a work in progress, so check back from time to time for updates!
And yet, this is what they too often see when they walk into our schools! (Photo from Twitpic.com Click on photo for original post by Tim Stahmer.)
Clearly, our schools still haven't heard....Gadgets can be very academic!
Recent brain studies show us that today's kids' brains work differently than ours. As a result of this new info, the implications for how far behind we are in teaching and learning is incredible. Kids are part of the digital world, using a variety of digital tools every day, but unfortunately, not in most of our classrooms. We hear all the time that our students are bored...do you suppose there is a relationship between boredom in school and the limited use of digital tools (both handheld and web-based) because most of us in education don’t know really know how to use them in a way that challenges students’ mode of learning?
How well are we preparing our kids for the demanding careers of the 21st century when they often learn more outside of school than inside and we deny them access to the tools they use day in and day out (and the tools that are essential to successful business?)
Watch this video created by students at Stillwater High School in Minnesota: (used with permission)
Until technology is IN STUDENTS' HANDS it cannot have a real impact on teaching and learning. Technology tools need to be as ubiquitous as the pens and pencils that we “digital immigrants” had access to as we learned.
Here's another great video, which was created by students at Stillwater HS in Minnesota that demonstrates how teaching and learning has changed: