Education in a Changing World Conference, by Gretchen Kessler

I attended the Education in a Changing World Conference in August in Watsonville, CA. Monte Vista Christian School, which hosted the conference, was the first school in the country to go to iPads for all students. As a faith-based school they have focused on keeping their charism at the center of what they do while adding a whole new level of technology to their identity. All textbooks are in e-format….some are teacher-created while others are from a variety of publishing companies. Many of the apps that seem to be of interest to us are exactly what they are using. When talking about flipping the classroom, one speaker said that if the teacher’s brain is the most active one in the classroom, then we're not doing our job.    If all we do is flip the lecture and worksheets, that isn't flipping the classroom at all.   It is a technique that can be used  to maximize the time we have in the classroom with them with applying the knowledge and guiding. They spoke very clearly that pedagogy must drive technology, not technology driving pedagogy.

From one speaker to the next, they referenced such apps as

·         Explain Everything

·         Knowmia

·         iMovie

·         Socrative

·         Thinglink

·         Doceri

·         Timetoast

Take a look at www.flippedday.org and www.flippedclass.com for some ideas on flipped classrooms.

AND if you’d like to follow one of my favorite blogs on iPad Apps for Schools, go to http://ipadapps4school.com/ and subscribe.   This guy is great!  I’ve been following him for a few years on his regular tech for teachers blog and now this one dedicated to iPad use.