Teaching Math with Technology

Taking math education into the 21st century, and bringing my students and visionary teachers along for the ride!

Posts Tagged ‘participation’

New “Insight” into Teaching with Technology!

April 9th 2012 Posted at CPS Clickers, education, Future Tech, Insight360, insight360 clickers, iPad, iPad applications, Mobi, Teaching, TechFriends(Geeks), Technology
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Introduction to the Insight 360 system by eInstruction

I have been using eInstruction’s Mobi, MobiView and CPS Pulse clickers, along with their Workspace software now for several years.   At times, having to open different programs to run the clickers with the Mobi was a bit challenging, and sometimes I found it difficult to set up questions ahead of time.   All that has changed with the Insight360 system.

As you can see in the photo, the hardware that has replaced the Mobi and Mobi View looks exactly like the Mobi View (still with the touch screen- yay!), but with new software and menus.   The new software also run the Insight360 clickers and makes it seemless to use them in your classroom!  HUGE improvement!

The old Mobi and Mobi View can still be used with the system as student Mobis, which is great.   The new Insight 360 system makes it very simple to split the screen and allow students with a Mobi (or Mobi View) to write on the virtual whiteboard from their seat, so you don’t have to worry about not being able to use the old hardware!   You can even update your old CPS pulse clickers to the new system easily, rather than having to purchase new clickers!   *I prefer these clickers over other systems I have seen because they work extremely well WITH the Mobi (they are not just stand alone clickers).   From anywhere in the room, I can access live data coming from the clickers (my students) to make immediate decisions about how to change the course of my classroom instruction, and the system works with any software on your computer – like Powerpoint, anything on the internet, or even the Workspace software from the Mobi generation.  So teaching with this system does NOT tie you down to only one application to teach from on your classroom computer.

The best feature (OK, one of the best) is that now you can run the Insight 360 application from an iPad 2!   This frees up all existing Mobis or Mobi Views in your classroom to become student Mobis!   As you can see in the image below, they even went as far as to make a case to house the iPad to give it the look and feel of a Mobi!

 

I just started this week to use my new Insight360 system, so more information and photos to follow, along with opinions from my students on how they like learning from this new system.

The new  Insight360 is a finalist in the 2012 EdTech Digest Awards Program for the Cool Tool Ward!   EdTech Digest Awards 2012

To learn more about the new Insight360 system from eInstruction, you can visit their website.

 

My Student Hyperstudio Projects

December 18th 2011 Posted at education, HyperStudio, Interactive Projects, Math Projects, Mathcast, Software, Teaching, Teaching Online, TechFriends(Geeks)
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Student Hyperstudio5 Projects

The final project I had my Math For Elementary Teachers do for the course was to create an interactive Hyperstudio Project.


The projects are too large to be viewed well inside my blog, so I have created a website to house them. The website is best viewed using Safari if possible, if not, just ignore the browser warning, as I have used a beta version of Hyperstudio to export them into HTML5 .

I have many of my student’s projects posted on a THIS WEBSITE.    Enjoy!

 

Students Learning -AND having fun!

February 7th 2011 Posted at Algebra, education, eInstruction Interwrite Workspace, Group Work, Mobi, Student participation, Teaching, Technology
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Today in class I passed out the Mobis!

I have had my students sitting in groups since the first day of class, but today I thought I would add more interaction and have them contribute to the board notes.   There were 8 groups, and I have 4 Mobis.    After putting a problem on the board (computer screen, writing with the Mobi and using software called Interwrite Workspace), I would give 4 groups each a Mobi and have someone from the group post their group’s solution.  At first no one wanted to try it, but after a short time, they were all wanting to have a chance to write with the Mobi!

Some of the students had more fun than others – drawing pictures and fooling around on the screen, but it was OK because they were ENGAGED!

The first four groups would hand off their Mobi to the other four groups and we would work another problem.


I have to admit, some students were able to write using the Mobi better than I can, and I have practiced longer!  You have to look at the screen while writing on the Mobi  - a little challenging at first.   For their first day, they did a great job!

They have really embraced the technology I use in class, starting with having 2 students take notes with Livescribe pens to share with the class on the website.

In a week or two I will introduce the clickers!

 

First Day of (real) Student Participation!

April 1st 2010 Posted at Mobi, Student participation, Technology
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Today I brought a couple of Mobis with me to class!

I always give the students problems to do throughout the class, but instead of me writing out the solutions,  I had students volunteer to write them on the Mobis!
(yes, I got their written permission to post their photos)

It was such a fun experience for them, and for me!   They really got a good laugh trying to learn to write on the Mobi, while looking at the board, but you can see they did really well!

I am hoping to get at least one more Mobi so I can do some group work, having each group post their solutions.

They wrote on the board better than I did! :)

I recently got a set of CPS Clickers and have been learning how to use them on my own (while I wait until I have formal training next week).   My students know I have the clickers and ask me every day if they get to use them!  Hopefully soon!   They have been very easy to set up and play with!    I might just take a stab at using them in my classes before the training!