KURZWEIL

Every learner deserves tools that help them unlock their potential

http://www.kurzweiledu.com/default.html

Their products offer learners new multisensory approaches to read, comprehend, synthesize, apply, and demonstrate their knowledge. With our support, they become independent, confident learners who can achieve rigorous academic goals.

When learners are able to understand text on demand, use organizational and content management tools to jumpstart their written work, and demonstrate their knowledge, they can meet rigorous standards. They can unlock their true potential.

Kurzweil Education offers proven, research-based, literacy solutions that enable learners to address their own unique learning challenges and build the skills and confidence to succeed in academically rigorous environments. 

The good: It helps people with dyslexia, Dysgraphia, SDED, and visually impaired learners.

The bad: It is not free, so you need to pay extra fees in order to use it.

Nearpod app.

https://itunes.apple.com/sa/app/id523540409?mt=8

Experience for yourself this magical educational app that has more than 5,000,000 engaged students around the world. 

1. Nearpod allows a teacher to deliver content to student devices in an engaging and interactive format. Students can receive informative Slides, Draw Its, Q & As, Quizzes, Videos, Slide Shows, Websites, etc. pushed out by the teacher. All data submitted to the teacher shows up on the teacher's device and is stored in the teachers account to be reviewed later or download a .pdf report.

   
   

   
   

   The good: live data can be shared with students in real-time. You will find sharing work samples and showing the pie graphs as they are generated is a great advantage.

   
   

   the bad: It needs an internet access to work on it.

   
   

   My rating would be 4 out of 5

   
   

   
   

Review - 5

Educational Technology Hardware

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech239.shtml#sthash.mCiq6qmL.dpuf

 

Hardware and Accessories for the classroom teacher
Apple laptop computer with built-in camera and wireless connectivity (portability); SuperDrive (CD/DVD playing and recording); digital camera (publishing); thumb drive (quick storage and information transfer); printer (hard copies); projector (presentation).

 

Hardware

 

Flat Screen monitor -- it doesn't have to be huge!

Good quality printer -- preferably a laser black and color photo. HP is my brand all the way. I don't like the combo printers.

CD/DVD RW drive(s)

Plenty of USB ports -- about 10!!

Scanner -- not essential, but I really really like having it to use for scanning all kinds of documents to operate in a paperless world in the classroom, and to scan in pics/slides in the personal world. I like Epson brand

Digital camera of good quality -- Canon is my favorite brand; I love the S3IS.

External storage -- an external hard drive to back up data (essential with all we are saving digitally these days). That has saved me several times from loosing valuable and irreplaceable stuff.

Portable storage -- USB flash drive, 2 GB minimum.

Palm or other handheld device to keep schedules, dates, reminders, and store pictures and music. I went the "low end" price route and use a Tungsten Palm from work. I would purchase my own if I didn't have that one.

Smart board or Smart Airliner, with projection unit for classroom use. In our school, we connect them to our TV system and a VCR and have everything through one computer.

CPS (classroom performance system) also for classroom use. If I were in the classroom full time I would use it daily to monitor understanding and progress on goals I was responsible for achieving that day/week. I would see it as essential!"

Break Down

The good: this technology is available to any body.

The bad: Not all of the devices easy to be  a portable.

The bottom line: technological hardware the education process easy. Almost all the students have access to computer hardware easily.

Rating : 4/5 ( v.Good)

Review - 4

 

Educational Technology Software

 

 

www.amazon.com/education-reference-software/b?ie=UTF8&

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech239.shtml#sthash.mCiq6qmL.dpuf.

 

Educational software is computer software, the primary purpose of which is teaching or self-learning. Learning something new is even easier when you have software to help you along the way. Our educational software reviews can be a learning aid for both children and adults.

Educational software brings a world of knowledge to your personal computer. You can study art, foreign language, science, and even philosophy at home as part of a structured course, or simply for your own enjoyment. Interactive educational software can bring these subjects and many more to life with brilliant multimedia demonstrations, automated lessons, and age-specific content.

You can find a wide range of educational software designed to encourage kids and adults alike to explore a world of ideas. As a supplement to school work, educational software can be a fun and effective way to learn even more about dozens of subjects. You can bring history to life with detailed, informative software that covers important events from the past with pictures, video, maps, and interactive quizzes and games. Science students can benefit from 3D visualizations and models of many different concepts in anatomy, physics, astronomy, and more. From elementary school through a professional level, we offer educational software that can help students of all ages better understand a wide variety of topics.

To find educational software that covers the topics you’re interested in, you can use our helpful product filters. Simply choose the subjects, developers, operating system, and price range you want, and we’ll create a list of products that meet your criteria. We feature top brands like Rosetta Stone, Topics Entertainment Software, Microsoft, and Encore, so you’ll be sure to choose a program that can help you learn more about your preferred subject.

We also offer educational software that’s focused on practical skills like typing, test prep, and vocabulary. If you’re looking to boost your average words per minute, or want to learn the perfect time to use “loquacious” in a sentence, you’ll find a variety of educational software programs to help.

You can broaden your horizons and have fun learning new information with educational software that makes a world of knowledge right on your computer

The most important software tool that teachers should have, and become expert in using," Bernie Poole told Education World, is Microsoft Office 2007. The reason I say that is because Microsoft Office, in general, incorporates essential tools for teaching and learning. Teaching can be a very isolating experience, but working with others to create lessons and share information professionally is greatly enhanced by face-to-face interaction/conversations. A webcam allows for access to professionals with similar interests. That interaction might not happen without face-to-face voice and image access. The interactive video software is getting better with faster Internet connections and thats a more reliable medium. -

The good: it brings a world of knowledge to your personal computer, focused on practical skills like typing, test prep, and vocabulary  .

The bad:  the Varity of educational software tools and we can’t select the best among them . 

The bottom line: they are webbed-based and non-webed  based tools which make learning and teaching  process easy.

Rating: 4/5 (very good)

Review - 3

      Educational Technology Mobile App

www.huffingtonpost.com/audrey-watters/mobile-phones

http://www.androidforacademics.com

 

The mobile revolution has already changed the way many of us work, play and communicate but smartphones, apps and mobile technology also have the ability to make a strong impact on all levels of education. We’re definitely just at the tip of the iceberg and there are real challenges but mobile tech can soon be a valuable tool for educators and students.

Mobile application, also known as mobile apps, are internet applications that run on smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Mobile apps were designed to help users connect to internet services that are more commonly accessed by desktops, laptops, or notebook computers. They make it easier to use the internet on a portable device. A mobile app can be a website booking utility, a mobile based instant messaging client, and many other applications.

But I can't help but wonder if, in the rush to build native apps -- apps designed specifically for iPhones, iPads, Androids, and/or Blackberries, we are neglecting the mobile Web -- applications and websites optimized to be accessed via any mobile browser, smart-phone or not. And as such, the great promise of greater access to more knowledge and technology is only coming to those who can afford smart-phones

When Scitable launched its mobile versions of its website last year, it opted not to create apps, but to design the site to be accessible via any mobile phone. As the site is built in HTML5, those students accessing the Scitable site on an iPhone or iPad can get a media-rich experience, and yet the site is still accessible by those with the simplest of cell phone browsers. Scitable's mission -- to "democratize science education" -- coincides with its mobile strategy, making the educational site accessible to those with feature phones and with limited or no access to broadband. Scitable's users, it's worth pointing out, aren't just in the U.S., but come from over 156 countries.

we are seeing a great deal of innovation as developers take advantage of smart-phones' features -- mobile Web, GPS, cameras, voice recording -- in the construction of educational apps. But building these mobile technologies for education doesn't have to mean building a native app. If we're to take full advantage of the connectivity and communication afforded by mobile technologies, we should turn to the mobile web to make educational content accessible to more than just the smart-phone owners.

As iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches become more integrated in classrooms, educators and students are looking for new ways to apply them to the learning process. Applications on all of these devices can help automate current classroom processes or present new ways to learn that previously had been unexplored.

Android for Academics has four apps on the market for teachers; Attendance, Grade Rubric, Grade Ticker, and Grade . 3 are free, and a free version of Grade  is due out this semester. 

 

The good: It makes educational content accessible with no limit which facilitate learning.

The bad: just the smart-phone owners who can access to the content and  not everyone can afford tablets or smartphones.

The bottom line:     Mobile apps were designed to help learners to access internet for easy learning via e-books …..etc

Rating : 2/5 (Poor)

Review - 2

Educational web portal 2.0

 

 go to the link

www.technewsworld.com/story/61820.html

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23973555

the term Web 2.0 refers to new ways of using the web to deliver a more personalized and collaborative online learning experience through information sharing and interoperability.

Examples of Web 2.0 are social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), video and photo sharing sites (YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, Vimeo, Vine), wikis, blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, and Delicious.

Web 2.0, is the facilitation of learning through collaboration and sharing ideas and content with other learners. Increasingly, people are using these technologies to share information, get help, find people with similar interests, and learn from one another. 

"Due to the growing complexity of the Web, portals have become essential to the Internet users in this new Web 2.0 world. By providing a pathway to other content, portals facilitate the access to information and make the users experience more enjoyable and rewarding. This is why portals are now experiencing serious growth and in my opinion will keep on growing in the future as their usage will become more and more indispensable."

As Web applications become more sophisticated, people can easily develop elaborate personal Web pages, create a blog, and upload their own opinions, audio and video. Users can augment the news by reporting hot stories, sometimes faster than and with details often overlooked or ignored by the professional news media.

"Education is the strongest among all. Teachers and students use Pageflakes - is an Ajax-based start page and social networking site similar to Netvibes, MyYahoo, iGoogle and Microsoft Live -to aggregate articles and news feeds, collect research materials on their portal pages. Social groups gather on Pageflakes and collaboratively work on their portals. Family pages show family members are bringing together family photos, calendars, to-do-lists and many interesting topics. RSS junkies use Pageflakes to aggregate hundreds of RSS feeds into organized tabs."

Break Down

The Good: the ability to “share” information with other users on the web, learners can connect them to access the knowledge they need, when they need it.

 

The bad: learners can waste their time by playing on line games …….etc

                  No force to make him/her study.

The bottom line: they are   social networking , video and photo sharing sites which facilitate learning through collaboration and sharing ideas and content with other learners.

Rating: 4/5 (v.Good)

TEACH AMAZING!

http://teachamazing.com/

Educational technology website dedicated to bringing you the best edtech, web 2.0, and tips to teach amazing!

It focuses on leveraging free web tools, social media and a pragmatic approach to their implementation in the curriculum. The software is committed to helping teachers create technology rich lessons that provide authentic learning experiences and enhance the education of 21st Century learners.

The founder "Mark Brumley" has received rave reviews for his technology workshops, not only for his engaging presentation style, but also for the usability of the content.

The Good

It has received rave reviews for his technology workshops, not only for his engaging presentation style, but also for the usability of the content.



The Bad

When you look at the business world, especially larger companies, almost all have a way of deploying e-learning content and tracking progress. There is no sponsor for this software .


           My rating would be 4 out of 5 because if the software has no sponsor which means eventually it will shut down if no one funds it.