Mr. Losik's 2013 Holiday Tablet Buying Guide Part 1: Sorting Through the Options

Never before have families had so many options available when it comes to holiday tablet buying. All kinds of Android based devices are trying to give Apple and its new line of iPads a run for their money.  This holiday gift guide is aimed not at naming a best tablet but highlighting what makes each unique and sharing some recommendations for kids.

This is Part 1, a kind of a "getting acquainted" post. Check out Part 2 to find the bargains. For each grouping, I have listed some places for you to start scouting where potential deals may lie. My biggest piece of advice is shop early. Last year my wife and I found out just  how scarce some of these devices can be once Christmas starts getting nearer.

Apple has been the king of the tablet market ever since the first iPad was introduced by Steve Jobs in 2010. The iPad has become so ubiquitous it’s hard to believe it has only been part of our lives for three years. Aside from now coming in three sizes, the device really hasn’t changed a lot except the front and back facing cameras that were added to the 2nd generation model.  This feature took away a lot of the criticism that the iPad was only a device for consuming content and not making and sharing content.

The iPad 2 is really on its 4th makeover but remains Apple’s model closest to the original introduced in 2010. Apple offers it only now in a 16 GB model that retails for $399. iPad 2 is the largest of the iPads at a pound and a third, measuring 9 ½ by 7 ⅓ inches.

The iPad Air is new this year and is slightly smaller than iPad 2. It is the same height but roughly ¾ of an inch skinnier. There is a noticeable weight difference as the Air comes in a ⅓ of a pound lighter. The Air comes with Apple’s stunning Retina Display which packs in double the resolution that the 2 does. The device also features a faster processing chip and has upgraded to a 1.2 MP camera and shoots 720p high definition video. With the upgrades iPad Air also comes with a $100 higher price tag at $499 for a 16 GB model.

The iPad Mini was introduced last Fall and was virtually impossible to find in stock last Christmas season. Weighing in at just under 11 ounces, measuring 7.8 x 5.3 inches, and being only slightly over ¼ inch thick the Mini really is a marvel to hold. My fifth grade daughter has had hers for almost a year and loves the size. It seems to be the perfect bridge between the iPod Touch and the full iPad 2. She watches Netflix, produces slideshows in Keynote, and plays with a number of apps so the screen size doesn’t hinder use at all. The Mini has the same resolution as the iPad 2, comes in one 16 GB model and is Apple’s least expensive iPad on the market at $299.

Joining the iPad Air as one of Apple’s newest products comes the iPad Mini with Retina Display. Almost, identical to the iPad Mini, this one doubles the screen resolution and has the same processor and camera upgrades that the iPad Air has. The iPad Mini with Retina Display starts at $399 for the 16 GB  model.

 

What these do best: Since 2011, the iPad and its brothers and sisters below have set the bar for tablet-based creativity. Bolstering their lead in the creativity race, Apple announced in October that until further notice, all new iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPads) would come with iMovie, Garage Band, iPhoto, Pages, Numbers,  and Keynote free. These are  powerful apps that used to run $5 each. iMovie is great for assembling short clips or for going cinematic with its easy to use trailer-making feature. Garage Band is a fabulous music creation app. Pages will not only allow students to word process, but produce electronic books as well. Keynote is great for slide show presentations, but its image editing and layout design make it what I call the Swiss Army knife of iOS creativity.

Mr. Losik’s recommendation for kids: As a dad, I have been thrilled with the amount of use and durability my daughter’s iPad Mini has delivered over the course of the last year. It has been great in the car, used to help her learn new concepts, and provided endless creative expression. At $299 the non-retina display Mini  is a tremendous value. I really don’t think that on a device this size that the resolution is going to make that big of an impact...at least not a $100 difference.

Where to get them: Apple.com, Apple Store in Woodland Mall, Walmart, Walmart.com, Best Buy (Check BestBuy.com for store availabilty.)

Android Tablets

The remaining tablets all run on Google’s Android operating system. I had been a dyed in the wool Apple iOS user until last year when I tried my first Android device and was pleasantly surprised. Probably the coolest thing I found is that since the operating system is built by Google then lots of applications I use daily like Google Drive work seamlessly with the Android mobile devices. Connecting to external storage like usb drives is also an option Apple products don’t offer. I was always skeptical of the Android side of things because of the idea that there was a significant shortage of apps compared to what is available on the iOS side. Yes, there are fewer but there are still plenty of great Android apps, especially for learning. Google recently launched an initiative in education and that is driving more and more developers to create educational titles for Android and there are plenty available.

Samsung is definitely one of the top forces in the Android-based tablet market and offers several models to consider. Unlike Apple that essentially offers the same product just in varying sizes or with a few upgrades , Samsung’s tablets differ in size and a number of features.

The Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 is Samsung’s mid-size option that like the iPad Mini bridges the gap between smartphone and full-size tablet. It comes in as the buying guide's least expensive option at $159. This tablet measures 7.4 inches tall and is 4.37 inches wide. It weighs about 10 ¾ ounces and is about ⅜ inch thick. The Tab 3 7.0 only comes with 8 GB of internal storage but like many Android tablets, it has an SD card slot which lets you easily and quite cheaply expand your memory. To bring the device up to the “standard” 16 GB only costs about $10 for an 8 GB card. The Tab 3 7.0 has cameras comparable to the iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina Display. What is interesting is that Apple actually uses chips built by Samsung in their iPads. The one in the Tab 3 7.0 is just a little zippier and comparable to the upgraded chip in the Retina Mini and Air.

Also available is a version for young kids called the Tab 3 7.0 Kids, Yellow with Blue Carrying Case. For $50 more than original 7.0 ($209), the kids version uses a simplified interface, offers more parental controls, and comes equipped in a hard-sided case with handle.

The Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 is available for $249. As the name implies, it has an 8” screen. This model comes with 16 GB of internal memory and a little bit faster processor than the 7.0.

The Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 bumps the Tab line out to full size with  16 GB of space and a price tag of $299. Its processor bumps up to almost 1 ½ times faster than the iPad 2. Its screen resolution though is still a little less than the Apple offerings. Like the other Tab 3’s, the inclusion of an SD slot is nice for expanding memory but also for transferring files between the device and a computer or an additional camera.

Samsung spent a lot of money on last year’s Super Bowl ad proclaiming “The Next Big Thing is Here.” when it launched its “Note” line of tablets. The company offers an 8 inch 16 GB model called the Galaxy Note 8.0 for $349. The “Big Thing” about the Note series is that it comes with the “integrated S pen” and “Office Suite”. The pen combines with handwriting detection software so you can just write in cursive and the device will digitize it to text. The Office Suite aids in getting documents and spreadsheets done on a tablet. The rear facing camera goes to 5 MP on the Note and it has twice the working memory or RAM of the Tab series allowing for more multitasking.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 is the full size version of the Note and packs a $599 price tag. It has all of the features of the 8.0 but with the 10 inch screen. The 10.1 also lets you have multiple windows open side-by-side, something few tablets offer. This model also delivers more creativity software like Adobe Photoshop Touch and takes advantage of the S-Pen’s pressure sensitvity. Painting and drawing on this tablet resembles painting and drawing with real brushes and pencils because of that feature. Its 16 GB internal memory can also be expanded to 64 through the SD slot. This tablet provides the highest definition and best sound quality and actually comes with $50 free dollars worth of Movies and TV shows. Buyers also get a $25 credit at the Google Play Store for buying additional apps.

What these do best: Samsung makes solid products that can handle the Android platform very well. There are plenty of games and apps available for learning and all of these will handle games and entertainment options like Netflix well. The prices for the Tab series are pretty hard to beat, especially if you are considering buying your child their first tablet. The S-Pen with the Note took some criticism as being too much like the circa 2004 Palm handhelds, but it really provides a unique tool for creating visual art and annotating photos or drawings. The iPad will still handle video production better, but there is plenty of creativity to be expressed with either the 8 or 10 inch Note.

Mr. Losik’s recommendation for kids: As I just mentioned, the price on the Tab 3 7.0 can’t be beaten, especially if this is a first tablet. Personally I would shy away from the Kid version of the Tab 3 7.0. It can be really limiting. I would buy the original version and then just take a little time to help your really young ones navigate. They can handle it. An additional feature to mention of the Note 10.1 is that it has Android 4.3 as its operating system. This version allows for multiple sign-ins so each member of the family can have his or her own account and everything is walled-off from all of the other users. There are many pluses to this feature.

Where to get them: Samsung.com, Walmart.com is currently offering refurbished units for $159., Best Buy, RadioShack.com

[caption id="attachment_330" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Google Nexus 10[/caption]

According to Google its Nexus 7 “features the world’s sharpest 7" tablet screen”. Starting at $229 for 16GB, the tablet is actually made by Asus and features some pretty impressive specs. Its processor is going to run faster than the iPad options and right in the middle of the pack with the Samsung models. Being from Google, the Nexus doesn’t build in lots of extra features like the Note. Instead, the devices lead the Android pack with the latest updates and really let the operating system speak for itself. The cameras are fairly stout with a 5 megapixel one built into the back and a decent one in the front for selfies and Skype.

The Nexus 10 follows the same streamlined approach and comes with a similar stunning display that the 7 does. Actually manufactured by Samsung, 16 GB models are $399. Most of the user experience is quite similar to 7, but this device has one of the most powerful processors available in any tablet. Its front facing camera is almost at 2 megapixels, so those 400 selfies your kid is sure to take with this will look extra special.

What these do best: All Android devices will play nicely with other services Google offers but the Nexus line really seems to do them a little better. Plus, the Nexus will always get the updates from Google fastest. The way system updates on the Android side work is that Google creates the new version and then ships it out to other manufacturers like Samsung or Sony. Those companies then adapt the system by placing their own “wrap” or tailored user interface on it. Updates can take up to six months for some tablets and many times companies will decide not to make the updates available on certain models. With a Nexus, there is no interfering wrap and users can utilize the system as it was designed. Multiple sign-ins are now part of any device that is running version 4.2.2 or higher.

Mr. Losik’s recommendation for kids: The following commercial about says it all for the Nexus.



I am also a big fan of the one where the little girl is dreaming of being an astronaut with Curious George. In my classes I teach the kids that technology is really “learning superpowers” and if the real-life user experience is anything like the ads then this can be a great device for learning. I have always been a big fan of Google’s less-is-more approach and the Nexus tablets just kind of get out of your way. The Nexus won’t be able to do as much on the creativity side as the Note or the iPad Mini, but at $70 cheaper than the Mini it is a trade-off to definitely consider.

Where to get them: Google Play Store, Walmart, Gamestop, and lots of other online spots.

[caption id="attachment_331" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Xperia Tablet Z from Sony[/caption]

The Sony Xperia Tablet Z is the Android tablet I use the most. The third generation tablet from the legendary Japanese electronics maker starts at $499 for the 16 GB model. The Z is a full-size 10 inch tablet that boasts being the thinnest full-size tablet, even beating the iPad Air. Several ounces lighter than some of the other comparables, the Z is also a little more rectangular, lending an ultralight widescreen television feel to it. Being from Sony, the screen resolution and sound are spectacular and it has a processor strong enough at 1.5 GHz to push all of it. Supporting multiple users is a helpful perk for families, but the fact that the Z is water resistant to 1 meter might be the most practical. The 8 megapixel camera is another one of those high quality components that comes from it being a Sony. Sony doesn’t put a lot into its wrap so the experience is fairly close to the Nexus.

What it does best: This is an absolutely gorgeous piece of hardware and the fact that you could conceivably watch Netflix while washing your car can’t be overlooked either, but what I love about this device is the resources available from Sony’s commitment to improving life in classrooms.

Jamie Marsh was working on the tablet team at the company’s American headquarters in San Diego when he got to thinking that it would be great if kids could use the devices to help them in school. That initial thought led to the development of the Sony Education Ambassador program which is a small group of educators from around the country who work with Sony on finding real, working solutions for getting these tablets into more students’ hands. I was lucky enough to be invited as an inaugural ambassador. Besides sharing strategies and insight with the company, we blog and contribute resources at EducationAmbassador.com, a free site where any educator or parent can go to find apps and techniques for utilizing the Z or any other Android device in education.

Mr. Losik’s recommendation for kids: The Xperia Tablet Z can be a great all-around family tablet. It even has a universal remote built-in so you can check your fantasy football scores and flip between the games on the TV all with the same device. Initially designed with entertainment in mind by Sony, the tablet works great for watching movies, playing games, oh and also practicing math. You can even take a few pictures in the pool with it. At $499, the tablet isn’t cheap so if you are buying for individual kids, the price tag might get in the way. If it is being shared by the whole family, it is worth considering and offers a little something for everyone.

Where to get it: Sony Store (currently on sale for $449, free shipping, $170 worth of music, movies, and games free), BestBuy.com (also on sale for $449, check for store pick-up), BuyDig.com (offering $449 price plus a 16 GB memory card, neoprene sleeve, ear buds, and stylus bundle)
A few final thoughts: There are many, many options available and I didn't even tackle the Microsoft Surface 2 that runs the latest version of Windows that is another option. Be a careful shopper as you wade through all of these devices and beware of going too far "off-brand". I guarantee on Thanksgiving morning the paper will advertise an ultra-cheap Android tablet "doorbuster". Just because it runs Android doesn't mean it will run it well or for very long. The adage of "you get what you pay for" is often true on the "too good to be true" deals. I have a lot of confidence in the products I described above and would have few worries about their performance or durability. To wrap things up I will list all of the tablets one more time in order of price.

Samsung Tab 3 7.0 $159
Samsung Tab 3 7.0 Kids edition with carrying case $209
Nexus 7 $229
Samsung Tab 3 8.0 $249
iPad Mini $299
Samsung Tab 3 10.1 $299
Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 $349
iPad Mini with Retina Display $399
iPad 2 $399
Sony Xperia Tablet Z $449
iPad Air $499
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 $599

Look for Part 2 early next week. Happy shopping!

Google launches Connected Classrooms Virtual Field Trips

[caption id="attachment_324" align="alignleft" width="300"] Take your kids around the world on Google+.[/caption]

Virtual field trips have been around for a long time, but the ease of conferencing via Google Hangouts has finally made them accessible to just about any classroom with a decent Internet connection.

Google kicked off its "Connected Classrooms" in August. Today's schedule offered virtual field trips from the Seattle Aquarium, the Minnesota Zoo, and an airplane hangar in Switzerland that is home to the Solar Impulse experimental airplane.

The search giant has partnered with over twenty labs, museums, Nasa, and historical societies to create a varied set of experiences. A handy calendar lets educators search for upcoming events but also easily go back and watch previously recorded events. All events are free.

 

My Superintendent's TED Talk

Dave Tebo is my superintendent in Hamilton. Like the old Apple "Think Different" ad goes he's kind of a crazy one. You can quote him, disagree with him, glorify him or vilify him...about the only thing you can't do is ignore him. He is one passionate guy. Here are his thoughts on the changing face of education.

iMovie McGyver Green Screen Special Effects Collection

Mr. Losik's iMovie McGyver Green Screen Special Effects from Andy Losik on Vimeo.

 

Action Movie FX and Extreme FX are tremendously fun apps....especially if you are forced to kill time in a Children's Place while your wife and daughter shop.

Don't limit the destruction to just what you can capture on your phone. Filming nothing but a green background allows these clips to be downloaded and dropped into any footage on iMovie using the green screen effect.

Check out the initial post I wrote after discovering this was possible this summer. That should give you a little bit of how-to.

Have fun and see what magic you can create.

Download the collection clips directly from Vimeo.

 Google Drive Folder with individual clips

Six Pins for fostering creativity

[caption id="attachment_312" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Six pins of projects I have used to foster creativity[/caption]

Adobe launched its Creativity in Education sweepstakes today. To enter all you have to do is follow Adobe's Education account and then pin six or fewer examples on your own "Creativity in Education" board of how you are fostering creativity in your classroom or school.

Check out the six  pins I just entered.

Why school sports matter

On Friday night my family and I headed out to watch my dad coach high school football in what is one of our area's biggest rivalry games. The first person I saw when I entered the stadium was a former student of mine who had recently moved and was starting sixth grade at the middle school where the game was being held.

"Hi Mr. Losik, " he waved wearing a messy shirt that had kind of become a trademark of his over years he was in my classes. This boy had struggled socially and academically throughout as his mom struggled around the poverty line supporting him and his two siblings. "I am doing cross-country. We are running at halftime," he said with a huge grin. I gave him a high five and told him I would be watching.

Well, it wasn't much of a game with my dad's team out in front by a lot most of the way. As I wandered back from the concession stand at halftime, there was my former student lining up with the rest of the middle school cross-country team to run their half mile under the lights in front of the big home crowd.

As the kids took off, the boy so excited to be on the team immediately fell  behind the others. As I watched I realized I was standing next to his mother. I told her I missed her other children but was happy they were at a great new school where my daughter attends and wife teaches. I noticed tears starting to well up in her eyes as her son fell even further behind.

"He must be in so much pain," she said. "He has no fluid in his hips," reminding me of the degenerative disease he has and how when he was in kindergarten we would make accommodations  for him sitting for stories.

As the middle schoolers began to finish, the crowd cheered until almost all had completed. The boy we were watching was still almost 300 m from finishing. That was when something really special happened. The other runners gathered at the finish line  turned and ran back to meet the boy who carried his obvious pain on his face. With only the homestretch left, the entire team surrounded him. There was new life in his step and together they all sprinted the remaining distance in front of a great ovation.

Two neighboring towns had turned out to watch a football game, but it was the little kid in the dirty shirt and the elation he showed as crossed the finish line that gave me my biggest thrill.

School sports do matter and I am sure the kids on the varsity team that secured a playoff spot and gained another year of bragging rights over their neighbors got a lot out of it but I highly doubt Friday Night under the lights impacted their lives like it did the young man's who greeted me at the gate.

 

Just one note from famous

[caption id="attachment_298" align="alignleft" width="300"] "I'll make you famous." - Wm. H. Bonney[/caption]

We educators are just one note away from being famous...or more like infamous. I am not talking about winning The Voice or American Idol either.

This week a nearby school district made national news when a couple of kindergarten teachers got fed up with recess problems related to the age-old game of tag. A note was sent home to kindergarten parents that tag and chasing was being banned until further notice with severe penalties handed down to violators.

We can agree or disagree with the decision to outlaw tag and I reacted to it in a number of ways. I got a chuckle as it seems that I recently wrote about a certain teacher disgusted with tag. I shook my head at the proliferation of more "It is easier to ban something than teach it the right way" mentality and I yucked it up on Facebook, calling it the "Wussification of America" and warning that the recent domination that school district was seeing on the football field was 8 years away from drying up when these kids hit high school. Then I thought deeper.

Why do any of us know about a single behavior management decision made by a couple of teachers at one suburban elementary school? How did this become national news and why was it lighting up Twitter? One  tweet from a  parent. That is all it took.

Here is how it happened. A parent received the letter about a "No Tag, No Chasing" policy and was concerned about a threat the teachers made that children violating the policy would have it recorded in their "permanent record". Dealing with the granddaddy of all awful...This could keep them out of Harvard after all...the dad tweeted to the local NBC affiliate with a copy of the note but requested his identity be concealed. The station did a story and within a day, the story had gone viral.

That is the reality of the world in which we live and the reality of teaching today. This should have started and stopped within the school community. Instead of tweeting a news station, the parent should have followed a common sense protocol of respectful courtesy. Go see the teacher. If that doesn't work, go see the principal. Get other concerned parents to join you if it is that big of a deal. Try a little diplomacy. Running to the press is the nuclear option. Back in the day only the President...or Matthew Broderick had nuclear capabilities. Now every mom and dad can launch thermonuclear war on you and your school in 140 characters or less.

Oh...one more thing. Remember all of the concern over the potential demerits in the permanent record? Well there is a far more serious permanent record at stake in this case, the digital footprint. There is no more permanent record than what is online about you. Although I completely disagree with the approach the teachers took, I am glad they weren't identified by name. They don't need to be forever known  and consequently digitally stoned by the masses as the people who outlawed tagged. Let's hope this undisclosed dad has as much concern teaching his child to protect his or her online lifetime permanent record as he does with the one at school hardly anybody ever opens.

Four things I learned from a week with crummy Internet

The new week is off to a great start primarily because we have had great Internet service at school...last week, not so much. According to our tech consortium, the problem was in some faulty hardware.

Having no Internet may have wreaked havoc on my lesson plans but I did learn a few things.

1. We really have outsourced many parts of our brains as I have heard Kevin Honeycutt mention several times at conference keynotes. Little things like how to correctly spell "discrepancy" were a lot harder to find without the luxury of a few quick key strokes on the web. 


2. Cloud storage is miraculous...when it works. Without access to Google Drive last week at times we were trapped in time. Kids wanted to work on projects but without access to their original documents they had nothing upon which to build. When it was up and running today students seamlessly accessed Google Drive to retrieve, update, and save work.


3. The Internet is an invaluable step forward in human history. Our third graders were researching games children played outdoors and were completely dead in the water without the Web. We were surrounded by books but none had anything to do with pioneer games. Our last resort was the encyclopedia and it offered nothing in the "games" entry or the "pioneer" entry. Had we been writing a report about 2002 Chile, we might have been in business.


4. Children really lack perspective on how it wasn't very long ago that our world did not have instant access to immediate knowledge. As a plan B in a 5th grade class, I did my best to trace the evolution of personal computing, especially in education since Jobs and Woz built the first Apple in the garage. One girl seemed completely befuddled that there was any reason to own a computer prior to the Internet.
   
   "What did you do with it if you couldn't look stuff up? Just play games?"
   
   "Pretty much, " I replied as I looked back at the start of my career where Number Munchers, Oregon Trail, and Carmen San Diego were the pinnacle of integration with a little Bank Street Writer thrown in as differentiation.

The bottom line is that we live in an amazing time and right or wrong we have become dependent on being connected. It was actually good for the kids to experience the outage and maybe not take the connectivity completely for granted. Internet access really has become something we expect as common place as electricity. I am very lucky to teach in a district that has made long term investments in insuring we have great connections and access. I know a lot of teachers and kids aren't so lucky. Hopefully they will be soon.

EducationAmbassador.com: An easy tablet management trick

Here is my latest post at Sony's EducationAmbassador.com



I first met the amazing Jenny Magiera in 2011 at a summer tech camp in Arizona. The connection has produced a wealth of learning, but one of the most practical pieces of information I have learned from her surrounds using a device's background as a management tool.

All of the laptops and Sony Xperia tablets I use in my Infotech program have been customized with unique backgrounds. We would love to be 1:1 with the 600 students I see weekly but sharing works because only a handful of students use each machine each week. Most remember their numbers pretty well but problems arise when the devices aren't easiy identifiable, hence the need for the background trick.

Read the rest.

Five great Pinterest boards from five Hamilton educators

Since its inception, Fridays on Twitter have been full of tweets encouraging the following of others. Today, we'll take #FollowFriday over to Pinterest as I share five great pinners who I get to work with each week here in Hamilton, Michigan.

Jill Sloothaak, Kindergarten - Literature Extensions

On this board Jill is collecting all kinds of activities to use with the books she and her kids are reading in her class. Some of my favorites are for the books featuring Pete the Cat.

Brooke Vruggink, First Grade - Math

Brooke has close to 100 great ideas for making math come alive for her first graders. I love spending time in her and teaching partner Megan Reilly's classrooms. The creativity they bring to teaching and the accountable talk they teach their students to use really build dynamic environments.

Kristi Zoerhof, First Grade - School Treasures

This board really lives up to its name as it pushes nearer and nearer to 2100 pins. Kristi is a pretty amazing educator and was my partner on the Sony Xperia Case study I featured last Spring. Her stuff on Pinterest is great and so are the resources she shares via @KristiZoerhof. She also tweets with her kids at @MrsZFabFirsties.

Teisha Struik-Kothe, K-5 Principal - School Ideas

Here is one for the administrators, especially the elementary ones. Teisha brings a special flair to Blue Star and always has resources at her fingertips to share with the staff. If you are interested in developing academic vocabulary Teisha has lots of knowledge and her board features great activities.

Jodi Hansen, Fourth Grade - School

If you are an upper elementary teacher and need new ideas for language arts, this board has you covered with all kinds great techniques. Some of the neatest things I have found  that Jodi has pinned involves communicating with parents. She does a great job building that school-to-home connection.

I am a pretty lucky educator to work with these five people 2 1/2 days a week at two different schools. There are a lot of other great educators in Hamilton. These are just a handful.

disclaimer:

Spend a little time on design...and gain a lot

[caption id="attachment_273" align="alignleft" width="300"] logos designed by 4th and 5th graders[/caption]

For too long we have pushed creativity and artistic design in school off to the Friday afternoon back burner or for when the important "core" work was complete. There is a lot though in fostering creative projects that feeds directly into enhancing mathematical and literary pursuits.

This year our fourth and fifth graders are working in groups of four or five on a very lofty goal. Each team will cover a number of different school events from classroom activities to field trips to the Fun Night carnival. The groups will produce multimedia news segments that ultimately will be compiled into one long video yearbook.

In order to insure that we meet our "Real artists ship" mantra the students and I have flipped our mindset from treating our time together like school and instead treating it as if we are all working at video production companies. The first task was to form a production company name, complete with a logo.

The students' learning target was "I can create a company name and logo that convey intended feelings." We began by looking at a number of existing artistic companies' names and logos like those from Pixar, Dreamworks, Orion, Warner Brothers, and Bad Robot. Next as a class we discussed what feelings these names and trademarks elicit. The outcomes of inference as well as an understanding of "visual grammar" were immediate. As teams got to brainstorming, these concepts were front and center as each group paid close attention to what type of feelings would be associated with their potential names and designs.

From a teaching standpoint, I made several rounds to check on each group's progress and constantly challenged each team with questions like "If I had $3,000,000 to invest in a serious film about slavery ending in the 1860's would I choose a company called the 'Flaming Fireballs'?" There were some groups that started waaaaaay out past the left field bleachers but I eventually reeled them into at least short left field. As more and more teams honed in on a name we switched gears to designing logos. Each team had to create an old-fashion crayon and pencil concept that was our digital starting point as I conferenced intensely with each group.  I consistently helped teams simplify and asked, "What if?" seemingly over and over again. This was my chance to teach in small groups advanced Keynote techniques. I didn't want to override their creativity with my own but offered a suggestion here and there that most students really didn't know was possible. On many occasions I would add something as a demo and then delete it after showing it. Next,  I would leave the group to check on others. This allowed the group I had just left time to decide whether that was something to recreate themselves or stick with an original idea. The completion of each design was an electric moment for the kids and me.

In purely random order, here are some of the concepts and skills students developed and benefits experienced during this process.

• Collaboration


• Accountable Talk


• Showing rather than telling


• The way different fonts and colors affect a message


• Math concepts like proportions and scale


• An appreciation for the work


• An escape from the way school is always "done"


• Creative expression


• Compromise


• Motivation to tackle a big task


• Fun

The concepts of design and creativity may not show up explicitly written in any curriculum manual but spending a little bit of time on it will prepare students to tackle any part of the Common Core with the mindset of someone working on projects at Apple, Google, or Herman Miller. They will bring a keen eye and will expect to create with excellence.

A Crash Course in Keynote for Elementary Kids

I am super excited that our school district has replaced Microsoft Office with iWork '09 on our student laptops. As a teacher, the more simplified interface in Pages and Keynote makes teaching so much easier compared to trying to navigate the many toolbars in Office.

Here are some of my favorite techniques that make Keynote such a valuable tool. It is fabulous as a presentation maker, but the true magic comes out when we explore the layout and design capabilities as well as Keynote's potential as a video editing application.

Here are 21 minutes of how-to instructions. Have fun with Keynote. Your only limitation is your own creativity.

 

Being a Connected Educator is my teaching life support system

I can hardly remember what teaching was like before social media. Twitter runs on my laptop all day long through Tweetdeck. My contacts are organized by education, local, friends, news, and sports. It is a constant stream of ideas, reflections, and life experiences.

Every day I get a list of links and new apps to try. I have instant answers to teaching's seemingly un-answerable questions. All I have to do is ask. I try to give back as much as possible by sharing techniques and resources I find helpful and offering up the occasional "don't bother" on websites that seemd promising but bombed with the kids. Bob Sprankle was one of the first educator I followed as I got connected. He talked way back in the day about "Professional Learning Network currency", essentially the idea that the more you contribute the more you will benefit.

Take a look at this video featuring many edtech all-stars as they better explain how impactful being connected can be. Get connected this month at connectededucators.org.

Kid President: A Pep Talk for Teachers and Students

"It's like Walt Witman said, 'Yolo.'"

How I spent my summer vacation, 1 Second Everyday

Without a doubt, the single greatest tool I took away from Steve Dembo's 2013 MACUL Conference closing keynote was the 1 Second Everyday app for both iOS and Android devices. The app basically provides you a calendar where you select one second snippets of video shot on specific days. The interface lets you then compile all of the snippets into one video.

Here is my modern answer to the "What I did on my Summer Vacation" writing prompt. The 1 Second Everyday app allowed me to capture  and create a fabulous compilation of memories. It is amazing how just one second can allow you to relive so many other associated memories.

Dean Shareski challenged us at the Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute to "be mindful" and this app really allowed me to focus on making each day special and to record and share the most special moments.

So...here is my summer. Thanks to all who shared a little of their summers with us.


 

15 Second Bud Nippin'

One of the really cool tools that Teisha Kothe has brought to Blue Star Elementary as our principal is the "15 Second Intervention".

It is the original work of Dr. Marcia McEvoy and gives both adults and kids ways to channel their inner Barney Fife and nip small behavioral problems in the bud. You are direct, respectful, and allow no arguing. If a student wants to argue, tell them we can discuss it after school Here is how it goes:

"I saw you __________. (Say exactly what you saw or heard.)
That was (mean/hurtful/disrespectful/dangerous/whatever is appropriate).
I would never let someone do that to you. It's not okay that you did that to  (other student).
We don't do that here.
It needs to stop."

We practice this as a staff and practice it with our kids. It gives the whole building a common approach. Deputy Fife would approve.

 

Take 30 seconds and let in the light

[caption id="attachment_255" align="alignleft" width="300"] Twilight shot with a 30 second exposure.[/caption]

This morning I rolled out of bed at 4:45 and grabbed my Nikon D40 dslr camera. Armed with a tripod and a lawn chair I headed out to get a glimpse of the Perseid Meteor shower. With any luck I might get a picture of one of the shooting stars. I didn't end up with any meteors but returned home with some other cool shots.

The key to shooting in the dark is patience and stability. The results can be very rewarding. The formula is quite simple. Put your camera on a tripod to prevent any blurring and allow the shutter to stay open as long as possible. I was switching between 15 and 30 second exposures. This is a lot different from how we normally take pictures. Usually we want bright light that allows us to snap off as many as possible in a second. Great things can happen when we slow the pace. Thirty seconds can seem painfully long to wait but it lets in all of the ambient light to create an image when we seem to be in almost complete darkness. What often happens is that when you look at your pictures you see things you never saw with your eyes while shooting. Don't expect the pictures all to be perfect. This morning I took sixty-six pictures and had seven worthy of sharing with my Facebook friends. Even to a handful of those pictures I did a little post-production editing. There was originally a power pole right in the middle of where the light shines through the trees in this picture.

Since turning the calendar to August it is hard not to think about school. I got to thinking this morning that the way shooting in the dark works is a great metaphor for things we can discover in our kids, our teaching,  and in ourselves.

1. Be stable and have good support.
2. Open your mind (shutter) and just wait, allowing ideas to enter.
3. Reflect, critique, and sort.
4. Tweak your results a bit.
5. Share.

Take your teaching to the DVR World

Don't leave your learners sitting like the mailbox by the side of the road. Find ways to record teaching and learning so you and your students can pause, rewind, fast-forward, and share content.

When I was a kid if I wasn't in front of the TV at 8:00 PM on Friday Night, I missed "Dukes of Hazard". Today's kids have no concept of "It's not on." They have Tivo, Netflix, or an app for almost any network where they can access their favorite shows on demand.

Here is some insight on ways to record your teaching, check for understanding, and let them teach.

My presentation from the Zeeland Educational Technology Academy on August 13, 2013.

Take your teaching to the DVR World from mrlosik

Mobile Reach #55: Summer Acronym Summary ~ ADE, DEN, GCT, and More

Last week I had the chance to join the hosts of the Mobile Reach Show and talk about the various professional learning organization that fuel our teaching.

Hosting the show are Jennie Magiera, Sue Gorman, and Dave Freeburg who I first met face-to-face in 2011 at the Apple Distinguished Educator institute. We were joined by Josh Mika and Scott Meech who both became ADE's with us that summer.  Scott and I first met in 2008 as we became Google Certified Teachers together at the Google Teacher Academy in Chicago.

Prior to the show I had just returned from my week at the Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute and shared how that experience compared to the acronym opportunities other teachers are attending this summer.

Head on over to the Mobile Reach homepage to either listen or watch this episode. 

Lead, follow, AND, get out of the way.

I just spent two days of the last month of summer fully immersed in school stuff. Am I nuts?

No!

Having been lucky enough to have been invited to my school district's first ever Admin/Staff Leadership retreat, I had the unique opportunity to see my Hamilton Community Schools admin team in a bit more human light. I had the unique opportunity to help create the professional development schedule and offerings for the coming year. I discovered the amazing talent we have teaching down the hall from me and in the other Hamilton buildings. I had my voice valued by colleagues and supervisors.

This was no sacrifice, this was a gift.

Not only did I leave the retreat feeling energized and excited that as a leadership team we had drawn great relevance around our staff meetings, grade level time, and PD days...all focused on school improvement and putting individual needs of kids first, I gained some insight on being a leader

My biggest take away was what I learned about leadership. We have heard many times that so-and-so needs to either lead, follow, or get out of the way. For me though, I want to do all three.

Lead: Set the example. Share your vision. Contribute insight. Be a helpful guy.
Follow: Understand that you don't know everything and that a lot can be learned from those who have more experience, or are better at something than you are.
Get out of the way: Don't let your ego get in the way of progress because you insist on putting your stamp on it or "showing them who's in charge". Know when to keep your mouth shut and when to support something great.

I hope the Hamilton retreat becomes a yearly event and I hope to see more colleagues invited to future gatherings...and accept the opportunity to learn and build together.

Let's all lead, follow, and get out of the way during this upcoming school year.

Sharing insight on how technology can truly impact learning

This Spring I had the opportunity to work with the amazing Kristi Zoerhof and her first graders at Bentheim Elementary School. Through Sony's Education Ambassador program, I was afforded the chance to develop a case study where we would see how big of an impact we could make on teaching and learning with the company's Xperia tablet over the course of three weeks.

It was a whirlwind of an experience, but a great one. I recently completed a blog post at Sony's EducationAmbassador.com detailing the case study, how we followed the SAMR progression, and  complete with a video that offers not only the kids' reflections but Kristi's as well.

A Case Study: Great Teaching And The Sony Xperia Tablet Impact First Grade Learning

Stop training. Start Learning.

As we approach August, a lot of professional development initiatives are ramping-up. A word that drives me nuts is "training".

It is a pretty bland word and it has gotten to be so prevalent we don't think much about it, Here is what bugs me though. The results of training are mindless. We train monkeys to ride bikes. We train bears to ride bikes and we know from YouTube that letting them race is a really bad idea. Football coaches train linemen to take the proper footwork so the player can put all energy into exerting physically without having to think. Choreographers do the same with dancers.

Teaching is a creative, artful process that takes constant decision making and reflection. When you "train" a teacher to use a piece of technology you are essentially just programming them to use it in one way without thinking about the device or app's full capabilities or new ways learning can be impacted. When we are in the "training" mindset we get future questions like "Who said it was okay to use Google Chrome? They showed us Firefox."

That type of thinking is inherently a death nail to innovation and problem solving. All we create when we train is very expensive robots that are easily distracted by "The Bachelor", Kardashian's, and fantasy football.

This might be semantic hair-splitting, but consider the alternatives available. When I lead professional development sessions I really try to adopt the "lead learner" approach. I state right away that by no means do I know everything about what I am sharing and that my presentation should simply be a launching point for conversation and many questions that begin with "What if...'. I want my co-learners to share their ideas. This creates an atmosphere of collaboration and an expectation that the conversations and exploration will be ongoing and not just a one-shot lesson in button pushing. That type, the training type of PD doesn't stick. Learning sticks!

Teach the Path to Innovation

We want  our kids to be creative and innovative. What do we do beyond hope and roll the dice that activities we give them generate creativity and innovation?

In a true serendipitous moment I discovered  this great Edheads.org activity: Design a Cellphone. I was at Edheads looking for an activity that a substitute teacher could lead to keep students engaged. I thought that a cellphone link would be a good place to start. What I learned is that the activity has a much big picture it helps teach.

Students learn that in order to be a successful designer, engineer, or a challenge-based learning problem solver  they need to

1)Research
2)Design
3)Test
4)Evaluate their results

The effects of the lesson really translate to future teaching and learning as it provides a great reference point to different stages of projects and challenges.

 

The Road to Redefinition: Teaching with iPads and Android mobile devices

The Road to Redefinition: Overcoming the impossible by teaching with iPads and Android mobile devices

The SAMR model describes the progression educators make with technology from simply "substituting" analog tasks with digital tasks to "redefinition" which entails changing teaching and learning to the degree results were inconceivable before the invention of the technology. Investigate the progression and explore practical examples of how real teachers are accomplishing this with iPads and other Android devices.

Below are my presentation slides. I will be presenting this on Wednesday July 24 at Learning in Disguise in East Grand Rapids, MI and then again on August 22 at the St. Clair RESA 21st Century Symposium in Marysville, MI.

The Road to Redefinition: Overcoming the Impossible by Teaching with iPads from mrlosik

Sony Education: First Grade Xperia Tablet Case Study: Lite version - Extended version

 

Action Movie FX plus green construction paper equals iMovie McGyver gold

While finishing an unconference session with Dennis Grice at the Discovery Education Summer Institute on ways to create cool effects and titles for iMovie by using Keynote slides with the funky asparagus color, I had an "oh wow" moment.

"What if?" I excitedly asked myself, "I pulled out the silly JJ Abrams created Action Movie FX app and instead of filming an object to flood or explode I just filmed green?"

[caption id="attachment_212" align="aligncenter" width="248"] free app available for the iPhone.[/caption]

Would it work in iMovie (iLife '11 not iOS version) as a green screen layer?

I frantically raced around looking for green construction paper and to my assistance came Kyle Schutt and Chad Lehman. They pulled a piece out of a supply case and I was off to try it.

I recorded the effect and saved to camera roll.

[caption id="attachment_213" align="aligncenter" width="283"] Record a few seconds of green.[/caption]

Next I imported the effect clip over green I had saved to iMovie and created a new project. I dragged a clip up onto the project timeline of Dean Shareski who was one of the lead facilitators of the institute. Another group of guys and I had been working on a silly mashup video and we had a fun clip of Dean acting surprised.

The next step was to drag the effect clip of the flood directly on top of the Dean clip until an options menu appeared. You have to be using iLife 11 and you need advanced tools selected in your iMovie preferences.

Next I selected "Green Screen".

After getting the effect clip in the right place, I tested it and the water was coming in too high. I simply used the crop option and tweaked the effect oh so slightly. This tweaking was a Dennis Grice idea and really speaks to the increased flexibility that creating the effects on green provides over trying to do everything with the iPhone.

Below is the final product.

Sure...this is silly. Just think though of the creativity that students can generate. Think of the fun. Think of all of the language arts that can be fostered by creating "What if..." video writing prompts like "What if dinosaurs invaded the Obama inauguration?" or "What if Justin Bieber was trapped under a rock?" and kids had to write about how the problem was solved. Seems like pretty good pedagogy starting out with an anticipatory set like that.

What I plan to do for my students is record all of the different effects on green paper and then place them on Google Drive in a folder students can access. For appropriate use, students can then download effect clips and import them into iMovie projects. There is then no need for them to all have devices with the app on it. Since the app is free I also feel good that we aren't skirting any process that would be outside the ethical bounds of sharing. We can apply to an endless amount of footage which expands the app's capability exponentially.

See what other cool ideas you can think of. I would love to hear them in the comments.

Grow professionally with Apple and iPad Academy's tutorials

Apple has many tutorials on its website to help you learn more about the operating system and specific apps like iMovie and iPhoto. Often I have kids watch these after I give a brief introduction. I figure the folks in Cupertino, California who built the thing can probably explain it a little better than I can. For iPad help I direct you to the huge set of resources at iPadacademy.com.

Find out how - Great tips for PC users migrating to a MAC. (Welcome to the good side of life.)

Mac 101
Switch 101: The PC user's guide for learning about your Mac
Mac Higher Learning: The Next Steps

iTunes tutorials

iLife tutorials (including GarageBand, iDVD, iMovie HD, iPhoto, iTunes, iWeb)
iWork tutorials (including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote)

More on iMovie

All things iPad from iPadAcademy.com (not Apple associated but full of great stuff).

Bringing Teaching and Learning into the DVR World

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="290"] Camtasia 2 from Techsmith is an easy to use tool for creating screencasts.[/caption]

One of the things I have come to understand this year is that our kids live in a DVR/Netflix kind of a world. What I mean by that is that the concept of "It's not on right now" is not a part of their mindset. One of my educational technology gurus Steve Dembo from Discovery Education shared this once during a talk and it got me thinking. If I wasn't in front of a TV at 8:00 PM on Friday night, I missed the Dukes of Hazzard. This was even before the days of watching my dad fight with the VCR to set the timer. If I didn't see something when it aired, it was gone. This isn't true for us now or our kids. There are a number of ways to see programs they didn't see originally air or just want to see again.

I have begun to try and find ways I can turn my teaching more into this reality. On MrLosik.blogspot.com you will find an increasing number of screencasts I have made and will continue to make for our different lessons. We know that a child's attention span in minutes is their age plus 2. In other words a Kindergartener has an attention span of seven minutes (5+2) and a fifth grader has an attention span of roughly thirteen minutes (11+2). By recording a screencast, students can replay, rewind, and fast forward through the lesson to review parts where they may have lost concentration or just need to see it again. I have had a number of students tell me they have used the screencasts at home and that it is helping. I also have been studying the traffic on the blog. We are at nearly 190,000 page views and the vast majority are coming not only away from school but away from Hamilton. It is great to know other kids and teachers across the country and globe are finding this a useful resource.

(I have found Camtasia 2 for the MAC to be an easy to use tool for my screencasting needs.)

Getting Started with InQwizIt

The OAISD has set up a very useful site full of instructional tutorials and printable help guides. There are screencasts that outline everything from student orientation to resetting a readiness screener. PDF manuals are also available for download.

2013 Migration to InQwizIt Help Site

 

 

Virtual MACUL: Lightning Talks

This year MACUL and especially board member Ron Houtman came up with a whole new type of presentation format...the lightning talk. Each speaker submits 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds whether the presenter is ready or not.

Here is this year's set of talks featuring a handful of really great teachers from around Michigan. I say that very humbly because after Gary Abud's delivery from the leadoff spot, you will see the bar had been set quite high for me to follow next.

 



riding the lightning at MACUL

The thing I think I liked most about this format is that the audience gets to hear a wide variety of presentators that are forced to stay on point. There is also a very intriguing human, live drama, potential-train-wreck-coming feel to it that makes the adrenaline flow...both while on stage and off.

This year's lineup:

Gary Abud - @mr_abud
Andy Losik (me) - @mrlosik
Steve Kelly - @BigKXcountry
Brad Wilson - @dreambition
Andrew Van Heuvel -@avheuv
Ben Rimes - @techsavvyed
David Theune - @DavidTheune

How Can You Enable Whatsapp Web On Your iPhone?

Whatsapp accompanies a great deal of components and around one year back whatsapp has propelled its whatsapp web.Because it is the new element propelled by whatsapp so a portion of the general population are not utilizing it now and some don't know how to utilize it.So here we are today i might reveal to you how might you empower whatsapp web and the methodology to utilize it so you can appreciate this element of the application.

What Is The Purpose Of Whatsapp Web?

Oh my goodness that whatsapp web was propelled on year back which grants you to make your discussion on the desktop,notebook,tablets etc.Android cell phones and windows telephones clients are appreciate this new element of whatsapp.But because of some stage constraints forced by the apple iphone clients are abhorring the component completely.

So that is not our worry, our worry is that how might we direct you that you can appreciate the component on you apple telephone. How To Enable WhatsApp Web

How Might You Enable Whatsapp Web On Your iPhone?

Getting to the heart of the matter about whatsapp web i am here disclosing to you the entire strategy well ordered.

STEP#1

Above all else you need to escape you gadget to continue further.

What Is Jailbreak?

Jailbreaking is the way toward evacuating equipment confinements on iOS, all the working frameworks of the Apple.Devices that are under equipment limitations are, for example, iPhone, iPod, iPad, second era Mac TV.

STEP#2

When you have escape your gadget. The subsequent stage is to open the cydia and scan for whatsapp web empowering influence.

STEP#3

When you have discovered whatsapp web empowering influence introduce it.It will be free of cost.

STEP#4

In the wake of introducing the whatsapp web empowering influence do following thing.

Open Settings application > look down and find whatsapp web empowering influence inclinations > and empower the change.

STEP#5

In the wake of empowering the whatsapp web enabler.Force close the whatsapp and revive it.

STEP#6

When you have revived it open setting at that point open whatsapp web empowering influence and tap on OK.

STEP#7

Presently open a web program on your gadget and open the given connection in the program.

Have an imperative thing in your mind utilize program like Firefox,Opera,Chrome. (Safari Browser is not upheld for the individual method so don't make utilization of safari while doing the methodology)

https://web.whatsapp.com/

STEP#8

Presently a page like this will show up on the web program.

STEP#9

Output for the QR code that shows up on the website utilizing you iphone apple.After few moments you would be naturally marked in and would have the capacity to utilize whatsapp web on your iphone simply as you do on android telephones and windows telephones. After you are marked in picture fairly like this would appear.Have a look on this one to make yourself all the more clear.

Virtual MACUL: Steve Dembo - Closing Keynote

Steve Dembo closed out MACUL 2013 in Detroit with a trademark high-energy, rousing address.

Enjoy it here through the courtesy of REMC's MI Streamnet.

[caption id="attachment_189" align="alignleft" width="428"] Steve Dembo delivers his keynote "Building Bolder Schools: It doesn't hurt to be first.".[/caption]

 

Virtual MACUL: Kevin Honeycutt's Opening Keynote

If you couldn't make it to Michigan's MACUL conference in Detroit, REMC MI Streamnet can serve as your conference DVR.

Here is the amazing Kevin Honeycutt's opening keynote "Launch Me".

[caption id="attachment_184" align="alignleft" width="416"] Kevin Honeycutt kicks off MACUL 2013 in Detroit[/caption]

Xiaomi Mi6, The Best Xiaomi, Price, Release date, Specifications

Xiaomi Mi6, the commendable successor of Xiaomi Mi5 coming soon to satisfy you. As indicated by report, The Next era, Xiaomi Mi6 with Snapdragon 835 and 6GB RAM coming in April 2017 because of the late dispatch of Snapdragon 835. It anticipated that would be valued approx. Rs. 24,999(4GB RAM+32GB ROM), approx. Rs 27,999 (6GB RAM+64GB ROM), Approx. Rs 29,999(6GB RAM+128GB ROM). Mi6 will cost Approx. CNY 2499 FOR 4GB RAM+32GB ROM, Approx. CNY 2799 for 6GB RAM+64GB ROM, Approx. CNY 2999 for 6GB RAM+128GB ROM in China. It will go up against up and coming OnePlus 4, Samsung Galaxy S8, iPhone 8.

Xiaomi as of late propelled Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 and Redmi 4 and Redmi 4 Prime and Redmi 4A in China soon going to dispatch in India. xiaomi mi 6 release date in india Xiaomi Mi5C, Redmi Pro 2 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 additionally released web based coming in Q1 2017 in China.

As per most recent breaks and bits of gossip, Xiaomi Mi6 will keep running on Google's most recent Android N. It will likewise offer you a greater 5.5"- inch QHD(1440 x 2560) Super AMOLED show with Gorilla Glass 5. It will be pressed with an effective 4000mAh battery with Quick charge highlights.

It will bolster Dual-SIM(LTE+LTE), Micro SIM with 4GLTE, Wi-fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Finger print scanner and USB Type C. It will be controlled by the quickest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with 4GB/6GB RAM, 32GB/64GB/128GB ROM + 2TB Micro SD card opening. It will likewise join double effective camera, a 20-MegaPixel OIS raise camera and 8-MegaPixel front camera. No official affirmation from Xiaomi up until this point.

Xiaomi Mi6 FEATURES:-

• Double SIM with 4G LTE, NFC


• 5.5 - inch qHD Display


• Android N


• 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM


• Speedier 64-Bit Octa-center processor


• Camera 20-MP+8-MP


• Effective 4000mAh battery

AppMadness13 Round 2 Roundup

With over 6800 votes cast in Round 2, AppMadness13 has gotten a little crazy.

Here is our roundup show.



Voting for the Regional Finals will open up on April 4. Check 21Innovate.com for the ballot as April gets closer.

[caption id="attachment_181" align="alignleft" width="647"] These apps move on to the Elite 8.[/caption]

The Fans Vote! #AppMadness13

Time to use your outside voice and lend your support to your favorite apps. Voting is now open until Thursday March 21 at noon EDT to move the best of the best on to Round 2. Start busting those brackets.

Also.....just added Tournament Central Facebook Page

 

Enjoy the #AppMadness13 !

A couple of weeks ago one of my edtech buddies Brad Wilson came up with a great idea and invited me to help make it a reality. For the next three weeks we will be counting down our own version of March Madness, except this one has a nerdy twist to it. This is App Madness where we pit 32 free educational iPad apps against each other to see which is the champ.

On March 14th we kicked off with a live selection show.



We unveiled our bracket with the help of Jennifer Bond and Autumn Laidler.

Click and print your bracket here.

You can participate by using the #AppsMadness13 hashtag on Twitter to give your picks but also be sure to visit Brad's Blog to keep up to date with the latest developments.

Come Meet 6 MACUL featured speakers at Coral Gables

Instead of a March lunch and learn, I am hosting (from 3:30 to 5:00 on Tuesday March 19) this special opportunity to hang out with six feature speakers from the upcoming MACUL conference in Detroit.

Jon Corippo, Will Kimbley, David Malone, Dave Childers, Sean Williams, and Chris Scott are West Coast educators from CUE, MACUL's sister organization in California, who are road tripping across country to present at the conference.

You don't have to be heading across the state to catch some of the magic. The group will be making a stop at the Annex coffee shop in Saugatuck that is part of the Coral Gables entertainment complex.

Come grab some coffee or a soft drink and hang out with this dynamic band of guys. Talk tech or just enjoy a little after school respite with colleagues from around the area.

 


RSVP at TinyURL.com/CoffeCUEMACUL. Email me with any questions.

A great salute to teamwork

Thanks Brent Ashcroft, Dan Harland, Lauren Stanton, Derek Francis and WZZM for being part of our big Blue Star lip dub project. Thanks also for filing this great piece on all of the teamwork it took to put this together.

 

Here's to the Crazy Ones: A handful of great minds to follow on Twitter

This video is almost two years old but I thought I would share it again in this forum.

EdCamp OAISD: Video production with the junk in your pocket and teacher bag

Here are some places to get ideas and information on making the most of getting video together with your class.

Ken Robinson and Uncle Buck beg you to save creativity.

About.me/MrLosik
@mrlosik

My vimeo channel



Popcorn Maker

Shooting Gallery Shot Guide

Handheld Creativity Resources

Sony's Education Ambassador site: Video Production across platforms (Android Users click here.)

Amazing info-graphics from Canal+

Royalty Free Music from Incompetech

Still don't see the educational benefits of Twitter? Try Flipboard

I recently blogged over at the new Sony Education site about how the app Flipboard can "unpack the power of social media." If you are still in the camp that sees little benefit in Twitter or other social media, you are guaranteed to be impressed if you give Flipboard on the iPad, your iPhone, or any Android device a spin. Yes, I said, "Guarantee". If you are not fully impressed, I will buy you lunch in the Bentheim Elem. cafeteria on hotdog day.

Here is my post. "Flipboard unpacks the power of Social Media in the Classroom" Tell me what you think.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="590"]See social media in a whole new light. [/caption]