VARtek Blog

  I received an email from an administrator in one of our districts a few weeks ago.  The email signature read "Rigor, Relevance, Relationships".  For some reason the words stuck in my head.  I started to realize that these three words captured the qualities that allow a project to be successful just like they allow learning to be successful in the classroom. Rigor - You typically hear of a leader being rigorous, but what about the team members or students?  It is very easy to observe the rigor of someone in charge, but I think the rigor of team members or students makes the most impact.  Students, like project team members, are the people that perform the most amount of work on a project or assignment.  It is teacher's or project manager's job to develop the critical thinking and problem solving skills in their team members.  The solution to an assignment or project is not always a clear choice.  They need to be able to take in information they find on their own and decipher what is helpful and what is misleading. Only then, they can organize the helpful information into a plan to help them get where they need to...

By now you have probably heard of Evernote but are not certain if you need another application in your life.  The introduction of the "To Do" check box in Evernote has changed the way I manage all of the tasks I need to complete.  I have also implemented some of the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology created by David Allen to help me prioritize my tasks which allows for better time management. While I have created an overall task list to house any tasks that come about via day to day activities, I use the "To Do" check boxes to identify action items while I am in meetings.  As I am typing the meeting notes, I place a check box in front of any action items.  You do this by selecting the "To Do" box located in the toolbar at the top of the screen.  This places an un-checked box in front of the item indicating to me that it needs to be completed.  If appropriate, I will transfer the item to my project plan and assign it to the person responsible for completing it.  Once the item is completed, I simply click on the box to place a check mark in...

While I spend more time online researching various topics and compiling my own lists of resources than I believe the average person does, I love to find lists of resources that others have already vetted through. Now that mobile devices are gaining traction in the classroom, teachers are on the hunt to find the best education apps for iOS and Android devices.  Appolicious has many lists and reviews from educators from all across the K-12 landscape. One such list is the Top 20 Must-Have Educational iPhone & iPad Apps Used By Real Teachers in the Classroom.  Go ahead check out the list and browse around the site. If you find the site beneficial, which I think you will, go ahead and follow them on Twitter or join them on Facebook.  You can even invite friends from Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and Gmail. Enjoy!  ...

The Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire are poised to take on iPads in the education market.  Will these lower cost tablets prove to be “good enough” to gain traction like netbooks have? The apps available on each will surely play some role.  It appears the Kindle Fire will have many more applications available at launch.  What about the company’s view of certain applications.  I had a less than pleasant experience with trying to get OverDrive working on Nooks this past summer in a public High School.  I cannot wait to try OverDrive on a Kindle Fire. Let me know your thoughts!  ...

A colleague, Patrick Geiger,  sent me the below blog to share.  Thanks Patrick! Looking for a variety of good educational apps for an iPad or Droid platform device for all age groups? APPitic is a directory of apps for education by Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs) to help you transform teaching and learning.  These apps have been tested in a variety of different grade levels, instructional strategies and classroom settings. eduTecher’s mission is to help educators and schools around the world effectively integrate technology and web tools into the classroom.  eduTecher currently provides links to thousands of web tools and provides concise information on how these tools may be useful in the classroom setting.  They don’’t charge any subscription fees, nor do they litter their pages with annoying ads.  You can find apps for apple and droid devices here.  ...

Piper Jaffray conducted a survey of US K-12 Technology Directors and found that 100% are at least testing iPads in their environment.  What is even more interesting is that no respondents reported to be testing Android tablets. Is your district testing tablets?  Do you have a dense wireless infrastructure in place to handle the increased demand?  Does your core switch have the bandwidth to handle the increased throughput?  What is your connection to the internet?  Is it already slow to access the internet during peak times? You can access the full article I reference above here.  ...