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Emma! – iPad vs. Paper

March 13, 2013 by 1 Comment

I love this commercial. It’s in French and I can’t understand a word of it except for “Emma”, I still thought it was funny enough to share, especially for a die-hard iPad guy like me. Thanks to my wonderful wife for giving me a hard time with it on Facebook.

Enjoy! – Rusty

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Filed Under: Faith, Featured, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,

Can the iPad Rescue a Struggling Education System?

March 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Matthew Stoltzfus could never get his students to see chemistry like he sees chemistry until he added a digital component to his lesson plan.

Stoltzfus, a chemistry lecturer at Ohio State University, struggled for years to bring complex chemical equations to life on the blackboard, but always saw students’ eyes glaze over. Then he added animations and interactive media to his general chemistry curriculum. Suddenly, he saw students’ faces light up in understanding.

Image via Wired

Image via Wired

“When I see a chemical reaction on a piece of paper, I don’t see coefficients and symbols, I see a bucket of molecules reacting,” Stoltzfus said. “But I don’t think our students see that big bucket of molecules. We can give students a better idea of what’s happening at a molecular level with animations and interactive elements.”

And many such students are getting this multi-faceted education on tablets. Tablets are reinventing how students access and interact with educational material, and how teachers assess and monitor students’ performance at a time when many schools are understaffed and many classrooms overcrowded. Millions of grade school and university students worldwide are using iPads to visualize difficult concepts, revisit lectures on their own time and augment lessons with videos, interactive widgets and animations.

“In the shift to digital, it’s not just about replacing textbooks but inventing new ways of learning,” Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said. “Some of the education apps being developed for iPad are approaching learning in an entirely new way, and that’s exciting.”

Sallie Severns, founder and CEO of iOS app Answer Underground, told Wired that tablets’ simplicity, ease of use and the massive range of academically minded applications available are drawing teachers and educational technologists to the platform in droves.

Tablet-based learning is no longer the niche it was a year or two ago when we saw a handful of early adopters jump on board with iPad pilot studies in selected grades and classrooms. Schools and teachers are embracing the technology in a big way. A Pew study of 2,462 Advanced Placement and National Writing Project teachers nationwide found that 43 percent have students complete assignments using tablets in the classroom. A PBS LearningMedia study found 35 percent of K-12 teachers surveyed nationwide have a tablet or e-reader in their classroom, up from 20 percent a year ago.

See Full Article (Wired): Here

Filed Under: Education, Featured, Technology Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tablet ownership skyrockets among college students

March 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The number of college students who say they own tablets has more than tripled since a survey taken last year, according to new poll results released today. The Pearson Foundation sponsored the second-annual survey, which asked 1,206 college students and 204 college-bound high-school seniors about their tablet ownership. The results suggest students increasingly prefer to use the devices for reading.

One-fourth of the college students surveyed said they owned a tablet, compared with just 7 percent last year. Sixty-three percent of college students believe tablets will replace textbooks in the next five years—a 15 percent increase over last year’s survey. More than a third said they intended to buy a tablet sometime in the next six months.

This year’s poll also found that the respondents preferred digital books over printed ones. It’s a reversal of last year’s results and goes against findings of other recent studies, which concluded that students tend to choose printed textbooks. The new survey found that nearly six in 10 students preferred digital books when reading for class, compared with one-third who said they preferred printed textbooks.

The new survey results arrive as several new tools have emerged this year to simplify digital publishing, including Apple’s self-publishing software and Inkling’s enterpriseplatform for large companies.

Harris Interactive, the same firm that conducted last year’s survey on behalf of the Pearson Foundation, conducted the poll in January. Figures for age, sex, household income and other factors were weighted to be representative of the U.S. population of college students.

See full Article (Chronicle of Higher Education): Here

Filed Under: Education, Technology Tagged With: , , , , ,

iPads used to bolster physician training, speed up patient care

March 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Providing personal mobile computers to medical residents reduces delays in patient care, enhances their access to electronic records and helps them to train, according to research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine .

When researchers surveyed the residents in 2011, three out of four said that the iPads allowed them to finish tasks faster, gave them more time for direct patient care, and helped them participate in educational activities. The hospital spent about $650 on each iPad, including insurance, protective covers, straps, and software. The tablets had access to the hospital’s wireless network but were not allowed to store records. They were also password-protected.

Before getting the iPads, the residents reported that increased workloads and limited work hours created work compression and competition between work and their education goals. In particular, they reported spending most of their time updating medical charts, documentation, and ordering tests—at the expense of direct patient care or education.


Medical residents at the University of Chicago using iPads

The research also showed that the implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) actually increased time away from a patient. Interns spent more time searching for a computer or working on the computer at the expense of time at the bedside.

“Residents face a vast and increasing workload packed into tightly regulated hours,” said the study’s first author, Dr. Bhakti Patel, a pulmonary critical care fellow at the University of Chicago School of Medicine. “They spend much of their time completing documentation and updating patient charts. This study indicates that personal mobile computers can streamline that process.”

When residents were asked how their work was affected by having an iPad, nearly 90 percent said they routinely used it for clinical duties; 78 percent said it made them more efficient; and 68 percent reported that it averted patient care delays.

Researchers also collected data from the hospital’s EHR system, comparing intern order placement for a three-month period prior to issuing the iPads and after. The iPads helped residents submit 5 percent more orders before 7 AM rounds, when they update senior physicians about overnight admissions. And they placed 8 percent more orders before handing off their responsibilities and leaving the hospital by 1 PM, as required by duty-hour rules.

See Full Article (MacWorld): Here

Filed Under: Education, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Microsoft Office for iPad gets pictured, launch expected in coming weeks [updated]

February 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Microsoft is confirmed to be working on a version of its wildly popular Office productivity suite for Apple’s iPad, and The Daily managed to get some hands on time with the highly anticipated software ahead of its release. Microsoft Office for iPad will bring Word, Excel and PowerPoint functionality to Apple’s tablet — presuming the app is approved by Apple — and it is unclear if Microsoft has plans to add additional Office applications in the future. The app has a similar look to Microsoft’s OneNote app for iOS, which borrows largely from the Metro-themed Office software on the Windows Phone platform. The Daily’s report states that Microsoft plans to submit Office for iPad to Apple for approval in the coming weeks, though a firm time frame was not provided.

UPDATE Microsoft told ZDNet that the image above is a fake. The company did not comment on whether or not it has a version of Office for the iPad in development.

 See Full Article (Boy Genius): Here
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Report: iPad in the classroom raising kindergartners’ literacy scores

February 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Apple began its full assault on education when it launched the iPad a few years ago. The iPad offers students apps and books that are used in the classroom to help students raise their test scores. While it is still on the way to seeing a larger adoption, Apple also introduced iBooks in January to help more in education, but how effective is the iPad in student learning?

To put some numbers behind the education work Apple is doing, The Loop profiled a report based off a study done throughout a Maine school district that indicated the iPad is improving kindergartner’s literacy scores.

The school district in Auburn, Maine assigned 16 iPads to a classroom of 16 kindergartens over a 9-week period. A total of 236 students were given literacy test before the 9-week testing period for the iPad began. Over the 9 week period, 129 students were taught using an iPad, while 137 students were taught the old fashion way. The school district found that students using an iPad out-performed students not using an iPad in every literacy test by a significant margin.

Principal Sue Dorris told how the iPad benefited the kindergartners in her school, “We are seeing high levels of student motivation, engagement and learning in the iPad classrooms.” Ms. Dorris also told of how they use apps to specifically target a child’s needs, “The apps, which teach and reinforce fundamental literacy concepts and skills, are engaging, interactive and provide children with immediate feedback. What’s more, teachers can customize apps to match the instructional needs of each child, so students are able to learn successfully at their own level and pace.”

Like Ms. Dorris said: It is about the apps and books that are given to children that make a real difference. The iPad is just the tool, apps are the content that are going to give the real benefit. Apps let children interact and learn in a better way. When it comes to the apps chosen, Mike Muir from a local Auburn school said, “We are paying attention to app selection and focused on continuous improvement — we aren’t just handing equipment to teachers.”

During their education announcement in January, Apple played a heart wrenching video showing how they can benefit education. Along with many others who already adopted the iPad in their schools, people can expect much more to come. Check out Apple’s video below.

See Full Article (9 to 5 Mac): Here

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How the Digital Learning Environment is changing education

February 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

See Full Article (onlineuniversity): Here

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Study Claims iPad App Boosts Student Math Skills

December 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This has been a banner year for the iPad in U.S. education – with tots to teens and university students using Apple’s magical device to learn.

How effective iPads are as a teaching tool is open to debate.

A small study, carried out by Michelle Riconscente, an assistant professor of education at the University of Southern California, offers some promising results, even with the necessary caveat that it was funded by theMotion Math app with a grant from the Noyce Foundation.Study Claims iPad App Boosts Student Math Skills

Riconscente studied 122 fifth graders in two Southern California schools to see whether their skills improved using the app. She was specifically looking at skills with fractions, described as “essential for future success in mathematics.”

Their skills were measured on a paper test vs. playing the game with similar questions on the iPad app. Interestingly, there were 34 items on the paper test; the iPad version of the test had 26 of the items,  due to the “inability of the computerized interface to render certain question types.”

Her findings?

Kids who used the app for 20 minutes for five days improved on a fractions test by an average of 15 percent compared to the control group. Using Motion Math also improved the kids attitudes about fractions by 10 percent – no small improvement if you remember how tedious they can be. The kids who used the app said they would gladly play it again or recommend it to their friends.

You can download the full report of the study in PDF here, or the summary published on GameDesk.

See Full Article (Cult of Mac): Here

 

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Anatomy of An Apple Rumor [Infographic]

September 30, 2011 by 1 Comment

Apple rumors are an interesting breed. No other company garners the same level of speculation and anticipation that Apple receives.

The rumor mill is always churning, especially leading up to a major Apple announcement, and sometimes rumors fly so fast that it can be hard to make sense of it all. In case you were wondering, this clever infographic shows how the typical Apple rumor forms over time.

See Full Article (Cult of Mac): Here

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Higher-Ed Gadget-Watchers React to Amazon’s New ‘Kindle Fire’ Tablet

September 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Yesterday Amazon unveiled a new tablet computer, the company’s long-awaited competitor to Apple’s iPad. Though it won’t go on sale until November, some gadget-happy college professors and administrators are already speculating about the impact it will have on campuses.

Image via Wired Campus

The big surprise in today’s announcement was the tablet’s price: $199. That’s far less than the lowest-cost iPad, which sells for $499. Amazon named its new gadget the Kindle Fire, and it is smaller than the iPad, measuring about 7 inches (compared with the iPad’s 10-inch screen), so it more easily fits in one hand. It is powered by a processor on par with the chip in Apple’s iPad 2, and it runs a modified version of Google’s Android-tablet operating system. Amazon’s offering is missing some features of the iPad, though. For instance, it has no camera (there are two on the iPad 2) and no 3G antenna (which is an option on the iPad).

Previous iPad competitors have failed to win substantial fan bases, but the Kindle Fire has one key advantage over previous entrants. The new tablet seamlessly links to Amazon’s extensive marketplace of books, software apps, movies, and television shows, letting users access content (and spend money) with a simple tap of the finger.

Many education-technology officials have been enthusiastic about tablet computers, hoping the lightweight devices might work better in classroom settings than do laptops. Textbook publishers have also cheered tablet computers, hoping they will lift e-textbook sales.

Here are some reactions by education-technology leaders posted today on Twitter and on blogs:

  • “Finally, college students have a cheaper iPad alternative. Finally, at long last, something to appease the student market.” —Zack Whittaker, ZD Net (reposted by Ray Schroeder, director of the University of Illinois at Springfield’s Center for Online Learning, Research, and Service, on his Online Learning Update blog).
  • “Great price and form factor. Will it support PDF’s and annotations is the question.” —Jeremy D. Franklin, a graduate student at the University of Utah studying the sociology of higher education, on Twitter.
  • “Use of Fire for e-textbooks is an obvious plus. Seems a little limited beyond that—a lot depends on what their browser will do.” —Robert Talbert, a mathematician and educator affiliated with the mathematics department at Grand Valley State University, and aChronicle Network blogger, on Twitter.
  • “Kindles are going to be more common on campuses than cheap beer… I really think it has the potential to make tablet computing a mainstream activity on college campuses.” —Shep McAllister, on the blog Hack College.

See Full Article (Wired Campus): Here

 

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