The fast pace of technology has given a momentum to growth in each and every field of work and education. Today, technology is not only useful for various business organizations, but it also has proven to be incredibly powerful for use in educational facilities. This ever-growing advancement has converted information storage and manipulation into compressed, small packages that you can have in your hands. Yes, it’s the smart phones that you carry all day. It is not just a tool to communicate with your family, friends and colleagues; it’s a lot more than that. Thanks to the excessive technological explosion of mobile video conferencing, today, you can learn and teach others through mobile video conferences. Video conferencing has provided numerous benefits and advantages to both businesses in all fields as well as in educational situations. Furthermore, it has also been noted that students have become so addicted to the technological marvel of smart phones that by the addition of video conferencing capabilities, it has given them a competitive edge over their other fellows in education. This way, blue jeans mobile video conferencing creates a bigger impact in the education industry. There are numerous advantages to using mobile video conferencing as a student as stated by the University of Wisconsin. Remote Control This technology is remotely controlled as it is in your hands so you can access it whenever you want. There is no need to be present at a particular place to get specific information. This is one of the reasons why it has become much easier for students to gain access to learning resources whenever they want. Document Sharing This ability gives students the opportunity to share significant information regarding specific class syllabi and documents. You can easily send your friends and fellows the document that you think is important for your coming exams within a few seconds. Likewise, a document can even be sent to the course instructor to get approval for classroom tasks, assignments, and overall performance. Text Chat  This is another very salient advantage of mobile video conferencing. Whenever you need to convey a very urgent message to your friends, you can immediately use the service of a text message. This not only reduces your time in terms of physically going to someone and asking about something important regarding course material, it also saves the overall commuting cost. Recording This capability can be a great benefit for you when you need to pay attention in class and at the same time retain each and every point of the lecture. In such a situation, your mobile video conference will serve as the best educational tool, as it can easily record the lecture your teacher is providing and will save you effort in taking notes while helping you concentrate better on the lecture. You can easily refer back to the recording at home to create notes and study for your exams. Whiteboard With the advancement of technology, you can now have a whiteboard on your cell phone on which you can conduct your own brainstorming. According to Online Learning Insights, the generation of today has been seen as more creative and challenging when compared to previous generations of students. So, to let your creative juices flow smoothly, all you should do is a little bit of brainstorming. For this reason, mobile video conferencing extended the usage of conventional whiteboards. You can scribble and come up with a creative idea anytime anywhere in the world. Desktop Sharing This is a lot similar to the desktop sharing that is done through video conferencing on a computer, as stated by Tech Target. Today, you can do the same thing through your cell phone with additional convenience. You can take a snap shot of your work or any information you have in your smart phone in just a blink and then share it with anyone you wish. This not only benefits you in exams but will also be a source of help whenever it is time to work as a team. Usage of Mobile Video Conferencing for Education Apart from the benefits above, you can record the virtual presentation of the lecturer through it. Likewise, you can have online meetings with your friends for any project discussion and information sharing. For professional help and guidance, it is also useful as a very effective tool in terms of conducting meetings between faculty members. The Bottom Line It is clear that mobile video conferencing has a great many advantages that are taking each and every student’s attention in a grip. For those who are still thinking of using this technology, you should begin to adapt to it as soon as possible. Eventually, you will notice how convenient it has become to acquire even the advanced levels of education with ease. In this rapidly changing and highly challenging educational environment, choosing mobile video conferencing as an educational tool is worth it. The post Mobile Video Conferencing as an Educational Tool appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

Teachers Do Heavy Lifting: Being a teacher can be back-breaking work. Picture yourself carrying three canvas totes full of student journals, a briefcase containing ungraded essays and quizzes, your lesson plan book, and the countless other stuff you carry along each day in and out of your classroom. By the time you reach your car, if you haven’t already scattered half of the contents your carrying on the asphalt between the school exit and your car door, you’ve probably dumped it onto your car seat, sighing with both relief and anxiety, knowing well that any semblance of weekend enjoyment will be cut short by the thought of the pile of grading that awaits you.   Working Smarter, Not Harder: The above scenario is one many teachers are used to. However, 21st century teachers can make a change. Cut to near future: the bell rings, and you amble gayly towards your car with nothing more than your personal effects, skipping slightly at the lightened load you bear. But how can this be? How were you able to shed the weight of all that paper? The answer is simple. You smartened up and started working smarter by using Google’s free Add-On tools, Doctopus and Goobric.   Pumping Digital Iron: Flex those brain muscles by allowing Google Add-Ons to easily organize and grade student work in Google Drive. All you need to gather in advance is a roster complete with students’ first and last names and email addresses, and you can begin pumping out one assignment after another with Doctopus. This amazing Add-On allows teachers to push folders of varying sharing permissions to students for easy organization, while also enabling nifty features such as sending out group assignments, differentiated tasks, and modifiable editing capabilities. Doctopus allows teachers to go paperless, AND helps maintain organization so that both student and teacher workflow is seamless. Then, when assignments have been completed, teachers can easily attach a rubric and grade using the Goobric extension, built directly into the Doctopus system. Goobric allows teachers to grade assessments without ever leaving the student project, while grades are immediately attached. Meanwhile, the spreadsheet you created to send out the assignment stores handy data, such as last student edit timestamp, rubric overall and individual criteria scores, and number of times scored. With Doctopus and Goobric, you let the Cloud do the work!   The post Learn how to use Doctopus and Goobric to speed up your Google Classrooms by @TeachNV appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

On Thursday October 16, Apple held it’s second keynote of the school season.  I totally understand that they weren’t holding a special "for educators" keynote, and to their credit, Apple CEO Tim Cook did actually use the word Education once during the presentation, but in many ways, I believe that there are several great things that came from the presentation that has the potential to be a huge impact in the way your students use and interact with their iDevices. Lets take a look at what was updated: iBooks Author The premier ebook creation application from Apple has never really gotten it’s fare shake in the world.  It wasn’t even mentioned in the keynote. It was however updated (a bit) to provide some new attractive features. Lets hope that there is a mobile version of this application in Apples future. Personally, I love using iBooks Author to create learning materials for my classes and my students are able to collaborate to create living textbooks that you can’t get anywhere else. What’s New in Version 2.2 Import ePub files Import Adobe InDesign IDML files Create customized books with new Blank templates New hyperlink options: link to a location in another book, link from an image, and more Improved transition support in Keynote widget Enable auto-play for media widget, Keynote widget, and HTML widget Readers can now interact with the HTML widget right on a book page Pages - Keynote - Numbers Apples iWork Suite also received a minor upgrade this week incorporating several key features that were stripped last year when both the desktop and mobile applications were rebuilt.  One of the key additions that teachers and students will love is the ability to take photos with your iPad or iPhone camera while you are working in the applications.  No more will you need to tab out of the application, open your camera and then past it back in.  With just two clicks, you can add amazing photos to your documents. Another great feature with these apps is support for iCloud Drive and the ability for third party apps to support document storage.  I was pleased to see Dropbox and Box appear on my iPad as alternatives to store all of my heavy presentation files. Apple Keynote, it’s premier presentation application has reintroduced a gorgeous custom presenter menu.  Additionally, through the iPhone and iPad app, users can now completely customize the presenter experience to include slide numbers, presentation guides, speaking notes and much more. What’s New in Pages Version 5.5 All-new design inspired by OS X Yosemite Instantly switch between iPad, Mac, and iPhone with Handoff Support for iCloud Drive• Updated file format makes it easier to send documents via services like Gmail and Dropbox New sidebar for comments and tracked changes Filter comments and tracked changes by author AppleScript support for Mail Merge Insert inline images in tables, headers, and footers• Move tables easily with improved table selection Inter-table alignment guides Improved cell border styling Usability improvements for resizing and positioning charts Improved bi-directional language support What’s New in Keynote Version 6.5 All-new design inspired by OS X Yosemite Instantly switch between iPad, Mac, and iPhone with Handoff• Support for iCloud Drive Updated file format makes it easier to send presentations via services like Gmail and Dropbox Move and resize items to fully customize your presenter display New Trace animation Pair Keynote with nearby iOS devices using Multipeer Connectivity Move tables easily with improved table selection Improved cell border styling Inter-table alignment guides Print floating comments Usability improvements for resizing and positioning charts Improved bi-directional language support What’s New in Numbers Version 3.5 All-new design inspired by OS X Yosemite Instantly switch between iPad, Mac and iPhone with Handoff Support for iCloud Drive Updated file format makes it easier to send spreadsheets via services like Gmail and Dropbox Instantly rearrange data in tables with new transpose feature Inter-table alignment guides• Improved cell border styling Print floating comments Usability improvements for resizing and positioning charts Improved bi-directional language support   iMovie One of the new features that Apple is touting about Yosemite is an email featured called Mail Drop.  This feature takes advantage of iClouds robust file sharing system and allows users to now email attachments up to 5gigs!  Apple has done a great service to the educational community by adding this feature to it’s iMovie applications.  Now with iMovie version 10.0.6, video editors can create stunning projects in iMovie and email these large files to friends and relatives seamlessly.  All of this is happens in it’s native high definition format. At the release of iMovie and Yosemite, there appears to be some bugs and glitches in the way they communicate.  Pro users are even seeing their Final Cut Pro X applications "bricked" due to the OSX upgrade.  Be careful when updating these apps, at least for the next few days until an update comes to the rescue. What’s New in iMovie Version 10.0.6 Updated look for OS X Yosemite New file export options including Custom H.264, ProRes, and Audio Only Share any video frame as an image Email HD video with Mail Drop when signed in to iCloud Select a portion of a clip in the timeline by dragging across the bottom of the clip Adjustments Bar is always open for easy access to audio and video tools Improves performance on older Mac computers Addresses reliability issues with copying and pasting certain adjustments Garageband One of the apps my students enjoy creating music on is GarageBand.  They like to use it to record their instrumental lessons and I use it to record our rehearsals and concerts.  Although not a major release, GarageBand has added these great new features. What’s New in GarageBand Version 10.0.3 Adds support for OS X Yosemite Access audio effect plug-ins for more detailed control over the sound of your tracks Build your own bass rig with Bass Amp Designer using vintage and modern amps, cabinets, and mics New Voice Template for fast and easy vocal recordings Share GarageBand projects with Mail Drop Vertical zoom automatically adjusts the height of your tracks Contains multiple enhancements to Accessibility Are you an educator who is using Apple devices and applications in your classroom? Leave us a message below to let us know how you will be using your iProducts with your students! The post Check out these Great New Features of the Apple iWork Suite that will blow your classroom out of the water! appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

Creative ways of using Google Presentations (2014 Edition) from Jeffrey Bradbury Presentation Description We have all sat through BORING PowerPoint presentations… right?  In this session, we are going to learn how to use Google Presentations in a more creative and collaborative format than you have ever imagined! Learn how you can use Google Presentations in ways OTHER than the traditional slide show and reimagine the power of student projects. ISTE Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIZO1JEmhqs Slideshare Presentation http://www.slideshare.net/teachercast/creative-ways-of-using-google-presentations Suggested Google Presentation Activities Thank You Card: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PmJM-3ZARDkWkMapye4yj_MkdoaRmjGI8NyuXWeEDr4/edit#slide=id.p Comic Book: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15ly-rM6zqSC_vh5Vw7oQmZibWvrwH6dN7skHWchn-VE/edit?usp=sharing Jeopardy https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FQwPEc4MzqKkUPTyMQyEeh4G06o3uEEWSmDWQdhvcyk/edit?usp=sharing Digital Scrapbooking https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1q4ZvQmpPT-ax8TXqnvkTlCIfkpKRJadLB5Fl8S0LXX0/edit?usp=sharing Flash Cards https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jxEGIw6x-fQl064pRCifcIBXjAyP9v_YuL6Am8IKD3M/edit?usp=sharing Invitations and Posters https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_VPKG9Vbo0nQBOovgH1oG1vCHFuEtnF_YlwgJmzCPl4/edit?usp=sharing Childrens Books https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WNklM4lMstQ6yiQT4zFfDMeRHeYDfWVI42KUAp66C4w/edit?usp=sharing The post 10 Creative Ways of using Google Presentations with your students | A TeacherCast Workshop appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

About Josh Stumpenhorst Josh Stumpenhorst is a 6th grade Language Arts and Social Science teacher at Lincoln Junior High School in Naperville, IL. In addition to teaching, he is an athletic director, team leader, computer club advisor, track coach, basketball coach, and serves on numerous curriculum and technology committees at the school and district level. He holds a Master’s Degree in curriculum and instruction as well as a National Boards Certification in early adolescence social science. Beyond traditional professional development, Josh is an active member of the twitter and blogging community as well as a respected presenter. His area of expertise lies in innovative approaches to teaching and learning in addition to leveraging 21st Century Skills in today’s classrooms. His work has been recognized by the International Society of Technology Educators as they named Josh a member of their "Emerging Leaders Class of 2011." Josh has also been recognized as the Illinois Computer Educators, "Educator of the Year" for 2012, and he is the 2012 Illinois Teacher of the Year. In 2013 he was named by the NEA Foundation as a Global Learning Fellow as well as the Outstanding Alumni Recognition award winner at North Central College. He is an active blogger at Stump the Teacher and his work there has received recognition through numerous EduBlog Awards nominations. In addition, he contributes writing for Education Week, SmartBrief for Education and on the EdReach Network. About TeacherCast Broadcasting Opportunities for your conference TeacherCast.net is a growing dynamic Educational Media Network offering great opportunities for educators, app developers and businesses to work together to improve the quality of education for our students. TeacherCast offers educators several great avenues for professional development: The TeacherCast Podcasting Network The TeacherCast Educational Newspaper/Magazine The TeacherCast Professional App A Career Center to search and post jobs TeacherCast University TeacherCast TV and more….. TeacherCast also offers a fully customizable sponsorship program to fit your needs. Whether you are looking to have your app or web tool reviewed, or feature your business on our podcast, TeacherCast can help put you on the educational map. The TeacherCast Network features: Top Educational Professionals appearing regularly on our podcasts and educational newspaper/magazine. A combined twitter following of more than 300,000 followers. Four distinctly different audio podcasts syndicated and listened to on over 350 million mobile devices to advertise on A Learning Management System composed of Online Courses, Audio Podcasts, Educational Screencasts and much more. Please contact us today to find out how you can partner with TeacherCast to support your app or business. The post @Stumpteacher Keynote Address from #Edscape Conference with @E_Sheninger appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

This weekend, I had the privilege of attending and presenting at the Edscape Conference.  Edscape is one of New Jersey’s premier conferences organized by Eric Sheninger. This years conference was highlighted by an amazing keynote address from Josh Stumpenhorst. Over 300 educators from almost a dozen states attended this years Edscape Conference.  The days activities were amazing.  The conference kicked off at 7:30 with a live #Satchat hosted by Bill Krakower and Brad Currie.  The the #Edscape and #SatChat hashtags were burning up as they welcomed some amazing guests such as Josh Stumpenhorst, Elisa Malespina and Ross Cooper on to the program.  Eric Sheninger then opened the conference and handed the mic off to the 2012 Illinois Teacher of the year, Josh Stumpenhorst who motivated the crowd like non other.  His keynote was inspirational, funny, and was filled with lessons Josh learned while training to run several marathons. The presentations this year were outstanding.  I had the privilege of presenting to a room of almost 100 hungry educators on how they can incorporate Google Presentations into their classrooms.  Other great sessions included topics on iPads by EdTechTeacher’s Tom Daccord, EdPerspectives by Brad Currie and Starr Sackstein, and a great presentation on Twitter from Kyle Calderwood. I learned so much from this years conference.  Everyone in attendance was excited and eager to learn.  My Google session had a wonderful energy to it and I had a blast speaking with several teachers after the conference was over on ways they can incorporate Google into their classrooms. For the 4th year in a row, Edscape captain, Eric Sheninger did an amazing job as conference host.  I wish to say THANK YOU to Eric for taking care of my needs as a broadcaster and clinician.  It’s never easy walking into a new building and trying to set up a mobile TV studio that will be streaming live video to the world. Eric and his team made sure I had everything that I needed to make my job as easy as possible. If you are in the New Jersey area, there are several great conferences still ahead before the calendar turns over.  For those interested in additional professional development, check out Edcamp New Jersey: http://www.EdcampNJ.org The post Lets give a big THANK YOU to @E_Sheninger for an awesome #Edscape Conference appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

Jeff sits down with Peter Do and Andrew Rowland to discuss how Classkick is helping teachers share awesome lessons on the iPad and gain invaluable student feedback. About Classkick The Classkick Team seeks to understand the most fundamental needs of teachers, students and parents in education. In doing so we can build extremely focused and impactful technology that demonstrably increases student learning and development. Classkick is founded by teachers and engineers Links of Interest Website: http://www.getclassskick.com Blog: https://medium.com/@getClasskick Twitter: @getclasskick Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/classkick YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvSxM9KpTDE Mobile App: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/classkick/id909904332 About our Guests Andrew Rowland Andrew obsesses over finding ways to increase student achievement. After teaching high school math on Chicago’s West side, Andrew worked at Google and YouTube launching products on devices around the world.  He has a background in mathematics, economics, and computer science from UC Berkeley.  Now Andrew is excited to focus on his passion building products that make a lasting difference on student learning and development. Peter Do Peter studied mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley and most recently developed algorithms that find energy waste in buildings. He has been an elementary and middle school tutor and had the privilege of mentoring two amazing youth (hi Cesar and Devante!). He has founded an award winning chapter of Engineers Without Borders, built trucks at Toyota and rocket nozzles for the space shuttle. Peter is now honored to work with teachers and thrilled to help increase student learning. The post Learn how to use @GetClasskick in your iPad based classroom |TeacherCast App Spotlight appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

The Tech Educator Podcast is a weekly round table discussion about current topics in educational technology.  For more information, please visit www.techeducatorpodcast.com. Many great ways to participate in the TechEducator Podcast. TechEducatorPodcast.com Follow us Live on Video: http://www.TeacherCast.tv Leave a Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail Email: feedback@Teachercast.net Twitter: @TechEdShow (http://www.twitter.com/techedshow) Hashtag: #TechEducator Hosts: Jeff Bradbury - TeacherCast.net - @TeacherCast Jeff Herb - InstructionalTechTalk.com - @InstTechTalk Sam Patterson - MyPaperlessClassroom.com - @SamPatue Chris Nesi - Education the Nesi Way - @MrNesi David Saunders @DesignSaunders -designsaunders.com Josh Gauthier @mrgfactoftheday -Mr Gauthier’s Tech Chat Guests: Show Information Anne Jenks https://twitter.com/Ajay460 Wes Fryer https://twitter.com/wfryer Grechen from Kodable https://www.kodable.com/ Links Mentioned on the show KELP program: https://discover.cs.ucsb.edu/kelpcs/researchers.html Kodable: https://www.kodable.com/ Hour of Code: http://code.org/educate/hoc Cybraryman on Coding: http://cybraryman.com/programming.html K12 Online Conference: http://k12onlineconference.org Please join the TechEducator Podcast LIVE every Sunday night at 7:00 P.M. EST on http://www.TeacherCast.tv Please contact TeacherCast with any Questions or to become a guest on the show Host: Jeff Bradbury @TeacherCast Email: info@teachercast.net Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail YouTube: http://www.TeacherCast.net/YouTube iTunes: http://www.TeacherCast.net/iTunes Watch LIVE: http://www.TeacherCast.tv | Broadcasting Schedule (http://www.teachercast.net/showcal)TeacherCast Broadcasting Community: http://www.TeacherCast.net/broadcastingcommunity Interested in starting your own podcast? Check out our Educators Guide to Podcasting today! | Video | Slideshare Presentation Hire TeacherCast to Speak or Broadcast at your conference Jeff Bradbury (@TeacherCast) is available as a Keynote Speaker, Presenter, or to Broadcast your conference LIVE!  Contact Jeff Today! Check out more TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network Shows TeacherCast Podcast (http://www.teachercast.net/education/teachercast-broadcasting/) TeacherCast App Spotlight (http://www.teachercast.net/education/teachercast-broadcasting/the-teachercast-app-spotlight/) The TechEducator Podcast (http://www.techeducatorpodcast.com) The post Coding in the Classroom . . . Teach your students a new language Part 1 | #TechEducator 71 appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

Are you looking for a dynamic and simple way of creating mobile apps in your classroom?  Using AppShed and a little bit of imagination, you can learn how to create dynamic apps for and WITH your students. For more information about AppShed, please visit www.AppShed.com or follow them on Twitter @AppShed The post An Introduction to App Development with @AppShed appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

Learn how to integrate your Google account into your AppShed Project. Google Certified Teacher Chris Kauter walks us through the steps used to add a Google Calendar into your mobile project. For more information, please visit www.AppShed.com The post Learn how to create a mobile app that integrates #GoogleEdu functionality with @AppShed appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more