Pre-Conference Work
One of the overall goals of this collaborative experience is to expand your vision for education and to develop strategies for positively impacting the learning community in not only your classroom but your school as well. In preparation for this journey, please explore the resources in this section of the site on the iPad, Interactive Whiteboards, and TED Talks: Ideas Worth Spreading.
As a first step, please watch this amazing TED presentation about Dr. Sugata Mitra's experiments around teaching and learning (approximately 18 minutes in length). Dr. Mitra, an education researcher and professor at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, is well known for his Hole in the Wall Project. In 1999 Dr. Mitra, along with his research colleagues, embedded a computer equipped with Internet access in a wall in an urban slum in India and left it accessible to the greater community. What the research team discovered was amazing -- kids were experimenting with the computer, learning how to use the tool, and sharing this knowledge with their peers. According to TED, the "Hole in the Wall project demonstrates that, even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher, an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge" (2012).
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A Practical Guide for Teachers who Just Got iPads
Cheryl Kosmo, an IT Specialist in Newton Public Schools who also collaborates with the Summer Tech Academy as a presenter, shared this amazing resource from Edudemic. It is practical guide to getting started with iPads -- in an easy to digest infographic format! Read through recommendations below or on the original Edudemic post.