Friday 24 January 2014

Enhancing

Yesterday was a bit frustrating, when I got home I thought about the whole tech world and teaching... I reflected about the conversations I had this week where tech had enhanced student learning.

Attribution Some rights reserved by kev_hickey_uk
One of my biggest finds this week was using OCR-image to text. Some of my students have reading struggles and this app has helped them have access to any book.  Often teachers are constrained to digital books, or audio books, but students can use this to capture the text, and then using the accessibility features of the iPad have it read to them.   Is it perfect, nope, is it pretty amazing, yeah for sure.  It has put huge smiles on the faces of these students.

Nature and exploring the outdoors is a passion of mine, and earlier this week I found this site on twitter.  14 Apps That Will Revolutionize Your Walk in the Woods. Again, I felt that at times our tech could enhance, not just what we do at school, but what we do everyday.

These apps can help us develop our passions.

This week has been three way conferences, and traditionally the parents have not often talked to the tech teachers.  This year has been different, and the conversations I've had with parents about apps, programs, and hardware that enhance learning has just been incredible.
Wondering at
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2 comments:

  1. Unknown30 January 2014 at 10:06

    Wow, the OCR-image to text sounds amazing! Makes me want to get an iPad.
    Thanks for the apps for the walk in the woods. May just download a couple for my walk through the jungle in Sumatra next week.

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    Replies
    1. Unknown30 January 2014 at 12:07

      I use leaf snap with the kids studying plants, just to be able to talk about leaves, bark, fruit in the classroom. Unfortunately it is just for North American trees I think, but the app created lively discussions in class.

      Sumatra! Hooray...enjoy week without walls, sounds amazing.

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