Education Technology

  

Learning Resources announces the sponsorship of a teacher grant hosted by WeAreTeachers. To apply, teachers must answer this question: “How would you use portable interactive technology to create collaborative lessons?” After the application process concludes, educators can invite colleagues to vote for their favorite lesson ideas. Each of the three top vote getters will win a set of three now!Boards and three GeoSafari Tuff Cams, a prize package valued at $2,000. Additionally, two merit-based winners selected by a panel of teachers will each win one now!Board and one GeoSafari Tuff Cam, a total value of $700. Teachers can apply for the grant online through May 22, 2012.

Why limit your classroom to one room and one teacher? Instead, with the advent of new portable interactive technology like the now!Board™, teachers can more easily see the world as their classroom. We want you to start imagining the educational possibilities that come with having access to a portable interactive device that enables you to turn any flat surface into an interactive whiteboard. Imagine how you could step outside traditional lesson boundaries to explore new methods to create a flexible, collaborative and creative learning environment for your students. 

What are your ideas for:

• Collaborating with other teachers — both inside and outside of your school — to teach interactive lessons?
• Moving your students and your technology outside the four walls of your classroom for new and innovative learning opportunities?
• Dreaming up new instructional methods that are only possible with the use of mobile interactive technology.

For more information and to apply for the grant, visit http://www.weareteachers.com/teaching-ideas/grant?grantId=102.We Are Teachers - great resource for educatorsnow!Board - portable interactive whiteboard technology

Worth Ave. Group is a company that provides affordable insurance to help individuals, students and schools protect their portable electronics.They hosted a contest for teachers to win money and prizes and the winners have been announced. Check below to see who won.
Technology in Education Grant Giveaway - win some great tech and money

Adobe is hosting an online scavenger hunt this coming Monday, April 23rd. Prizes include a lifetime Creative Cloud membership (new product coming - more information to follow).

They are hosting an in-person scavenger hunt in San Francisco: http://createnowquest.eventbrite.com/ It starts are noon Pacific and ends at 6pm Pacific Time.

The online scavenger hunt is from noon to 3pm Pacific Time on Monday (tomorrow). http://createnowquest.eventbrite.com/ Make sure you register first.  For more details read Adobe’s Creative Layer Blog Post.

This is a fun way to use your brain and possibly win some prizes.

Stay tuned for an announcement from Adobe on Monday on some new products too.



Related:

Adobe Digital School Collection - supporting creativity and digital literacy

The Adobe Digital School Collection (ADSC) is a bundle of software for K-12 students and educators and is available for Windows and Mac OS.

Included in the bundle is Adobe Photoshop Elements 10, Adobe Premiere Elements 10 and Adobe Acrobat X Pro. The “Elements” versions of the software are easier to use than the “Pro” versions. They have less features than the Pro versions but most of the missing features are very advanced and rarely used in the K-12 arena. The new version of Acrobat can include audio and video in a PDF file making PDF Porftolios easy to create. It can also be used to create web sites.

With this software, students can create projects and presentations that combine photos, movies with effects, and multi-media documents. They can also use the ADSC for media rich ePortfolios.

Adobe is also providing resources for educators to help them use the ADSC in their classrooms. The Adobe Education Exchange is a great resource for educators and has curriculum and lesson plans for using the ADSC in class along with teacher resources and a community of users. There are 23 lesson plans, tech guides, user guides, teacher guides, and completed examples to view. There are over 36,000 members in the community and that number continues to grow.

Now, you can enter to win a FREE copy of Adobe’s Digital School Collection in the @AdobeEdu, #ADSC Tweetaway!


Adobe’s Digital School Collection is a key mechanism for augmenting classroom instruction while helping students learn lifelong communication skills for the digital age. Be sure to pay attention to the @AdobeEdu twitter account for your chance to Retweet & win!

Just jump on your Twitter account between Tuesday, April 9th and Thursday, April 19th and tune in for a series of helpful tips & ADSC facts – all you have to do is Retweet posts with the #ADSC hashtag to enter! The winner will be randomly drawn and announced on April 20th.

Learn more about the latest new features such as new photo & video editing tools and easier ways to find objects & share content with others: http://adobe.ly/adSC3 

The contest opens 9 a.m. PT, Tuesday, April 10, 2012, and closes 2 p.m. PT, Thursday, April 19, 2012. The prize drawing will occur on or before 5 p.m., April 20, 2012, with the winner announcement occurring that day as well. The drawings are open to residents in North America only.

Glogster Edu and the Go Green Initiative are hosting an Earth Day Contest. The challenge is to investigate the water, energy and food systems in your community and come up with ideas to make those systems greener or more sustainable and create a Glog with text, images, audio and video.

The contest includes $2500 in cash prizes for students and $7000 in prizes for classrooms and schools. Prizes include a FlipCam, organic garden, full-service BBQ, stagecoach ride and more.

Entries must be submitted by Earth Day, April 22, 2012. Entry is free and open to all K-12 students.
Contest page: http://edu.glogster.com/contest/Go-Green-Initiative-Earth-Day-Contest/





Related:

Glogster - multimedia tool that's great for educators and students

Great Earth Day Resources for Educators

Edudemic, an online community with education and technology news, articles, resources and more, is having a contest to design their Facebook Timeline cover.

They are encouraging readers to be creative in their submissions. The winner will win a new Apple TV.

Entering is easy. Just email edudemic[at]gmail.com with a blurb about yourself and the JPG or PNG image attached. The deadline to submit your work is Saturday, March 31, 2012. The image must be 850px wide by 315px high. About the blurb: tell us who you are. Are you a teacher, student, fan, or my mother? You’ll be featured in a post so be sure to share a bit about yourself.

Wouldn't It Be Cool If... is a contest for kids, ages 10-15, sponsored by Time Warner Cable's Connect a Million Minds, and i.am FIRST. There are two age categories, 10-12 and 13-15. The challenge is to dream up the "coolest invention idea to make their lives, communities, and even the world more AWESOME."

Students can enter the contest now through March 28th as an individual or teams of 2 or 3 people. The submission is the invention idea and how math and science can make it real.

Winners will be selected by an expert panel of judges and then finalists in each age group will be invited to pitch their ideas, live, to will.i.am, Dean Kamen (master inventor) and other judges at the FIRST Robotics Championship in St. Louis, MO. One grand prize winner may even have their idea developed by innovation firm Fahrenheit 212.

This is a great way to have students apply math and science concepts, creativity, and innovation in a project.

Details on how to enter and official rules are available at the site: http://www.wouldntitbecoolif.com/



Related:

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Resources for Educators

Project Based Learning Resources for Educators

WPI Plan - a great educational model for all schools

10 Important Skills Students need for the Future

Earlier this month, I wrote "The 16 Best Science Visualizations of 2011 - Use to engage students in Science" which was about the top science visualizations from the Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge for 2011. It's a great collection of images that can be used in science education.

The 2012 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge has been announced. The contest is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the journal Science to showcase science and engineering images. The old phrase "a picture is worth a thousands words" is very relevant to science, where many concepts are extremely hard to understand without images.

Categories include: Photography, Illustrations, Informational Posters and Graphics, Interactive Games and Videos. Winners are showcased in the journal Science, Science Online, and on the NSF Website.

While most of the entries are from scientists, engineers, and colleges, students of any age could enter and compete. This is a great project for students that incorporates science, photography, and computers. Even if students don't enter this contest, this is a great project. Students could be assigned to take photos, or create informational posters or games on a science topic. I'm planning on using this with my classes as a project this Spring and I'm going to contact the photography and digital arts teachers for assistance and collaboration on the project.


The competitions opens May 31, 2012 and the deadline is September 28, 2012. Questions can be directed to  scivis@nsf.gov.



Related:

The 16 Best Science Visualizations of 2011 - Use to engage students in Science

STEM Resources for Educators 

Adobe Digital Schools Collection - digital creation, editing and publishing resources