Showbie

This is a super easy app to view and quickly grade student work. I am using it in class and am really enjoying it. It has replaced uploading files on myMitty. 

Go paperless in your classroom! With Showbie, you can quickly and easily assign, collect and review student work on your iPad, then provide rich feedback to your students by adding annotations, text notes and voice notes directly onto their documents. Students can show their learning creatively by submitting to Showbie from thousands of compatible iPad apps, or by completing assignments with Showbie’s built in tools. Showbie keeps everyone organized with individual student assignment folders, email and push notifications.

Lots more how to videos @ https://www.youtube.com/user/showbieapp

The White House Student Film Festival

Last year the White House challenged students across the country to tell a story about how they are using technology in their classrooms. They were specifically asked to use film to articulate "why technology is important, and how it will change the educational experience for kids in the future." 

There were over 2,500 entries. Although he didn't make the final cut, my son Jeremy's film about student interns at the Buck Institute was among the finalists. It was incredibly exciting for my family to imagine that our son's dedication to film making could earn a guest appearance at the White House.

In the end only 16 films were officially selected to be viewed at private White House screening. Below are my favorites for each of the four major categories. I wonder what Mitty students will produce for this year's competition? 

Young Visionaries

Future Innovators

World of Tomorrow

Building Bridges

Thoughts from India

My recent trip to India with the ECJ class provoked some soul searching about technology.
For example-why do most slum homes have TV's but no running water? Cell phones but not toilets?
Far more people in India have access to a cell phone than to a toilet and improved sanitation, according to UN experts who published today a 9-point prescription for achieving the world’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for sanitation by 2015. 
Read on....

Getting up-to-Speed with myMitty 2

We have some new help docs on myMitty 2, but together by Rose. You can access them on the AMHS Knowledgebase.

Here are the direct links:

• 1.1 Setting up your myMitty 2 course
• 1.2 Adding resources to your myMitty 2 course: Your course calendar
• 1.3 Uploading Course Information
• 1.4 Uploading Course Information cont'd

AMHS faculty also have access to a complete Moodle course on Lynda.com. To sign-up for Lynda.com:

To sign up for Lynda.com, enter your Mitty email address on: https://www.lynda.com/email-signup

Once you submit your email address, you will receive an email from lynda.com with instructions to create your profile. This message will arrive within 5 minutes.

If you perviously had an account on the lynda.com and remember your username and password, go ahead and click on the I've had an account button to transfer your lynda.com history to your new profile. Otherwise, select the No, I’ve never had an account button. Most people at Mitty will select the No option.

Also remember at the bottom of every myMitty page is a link to the Moodle documentation on that feature.

If you get stuck, you can always ask a Spectrum member or contact the Help Desk.