Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Vernier app offers hands-on learning about thermal energy

Accompanying physics, chemistry and biology investigations have students analyze images and videos captured with the FLIR ONE Thermal Camera

Vernier Software & Technology developed a new free app to allow students to study thermal energy concepts by analyzing images and video captured with the FLIR ONE Thermal Camera for iOS.

Using the Thermal Analysis for FLIR ONE app, which is available for download in the App Store, as well as new investigations created by Vernier, students can measure temperature changes on the skin, illustrate convection, track heating due to friction, compare heat conduction in different materials, analyze the transparency of materials in infrared versus visible light, and more.

“The new app provides students with an engaging way to study and to visualize thermal energy,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “Ideal for BYOD and mobile learning environments, the app matched with our innovative investigations lets students easily collect and analyze thermal data, make scientific connections, and participate in hands-on learning.”…Read More

The complete guide to picking the right device for every grade level

Ed-tech expert Kathy Schrock weighs in on mixed platform solutions for all grade levels

mixed-devicesA few years ago, many school districts jumped on the iPad bandwagon, when they were still brand new. The fact is they were easy to justify for a purchase of a shared cart since the Apple app store had so many wonderful applications for remediation, practice, and extension. These districts purchased the first iPad, which did not mirror and, believe it or not, had no built-in camera. Other districts waited for the second version to be released, which did have a camera and could be mirrored via Apple TV or the Reflector app, but only purchased the model with 16GB of RAM.

After a while, it became evident that maintaining a shared cart of iPads was no small feat. Taking care of the installation of apps and maintenance of the devices, as well as providing a positive experience for each shared user, was not easy. The 16GB of RAM was quickly eaten up by graphic-intensive apps, i-books, and PDF files, and the use of the camera for taking photos and videos. Schools began to think twice.

Enter the Chromebook, a device which was much cheaper and required little maintenance. However, even here there were difficulties at first as students needed to be attached to the internet to use the online Google tools and many of popular Flash-based sites were simply incompatible.…Read More

Putting the APP in Apple: Does Apple own ‘app store’?

Apple (AAPL) iPhone may “own” the smartphone market by virtue of being the market leader in sales. And it may “own” the app market because hundreds of thousands of apps are available for the iPhone. But does Apple own the words “app store”? asks appolicious. Apple thinks so. But long-time rival Microsoft (MSFT) doesn’t. Todd Bishop at Seattle blog TechFlash said his homeboys are “fighting for the right to use those words for its own mobile application store.”

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Apple offers app store discounts to schools

Apple has introduced a volume purchase program for schools looking to buy applications for students’ iPhones, iPod Touches, or iPads, InformationWeek reports. The App Store Volume Purchase Program was introduced Aug. 9 on the site for iOS developers. iOS is the operating system that ships with the iPad and the latest iPhone and iPod Touch. The new program lets U.S. educational institutions buy apps in volume for distribution to students and faculty. In addition, developers can elect to offer special education pricing for their apps, when purchased in volume. Schools are a major customer base for Apple, which has offered discounts on Mac computers to students and faculty for years. While the small screen of the iPhone and iPod Touch limits their use in the educational market, the iPad’s nearly 10-inch diagonal display makes it a potential alternative to hardcover textbooks and documents handed out by professors. Indeed, Apple reportedly has pitched the iPad to the education market, believing the device can be used to easily share information with others…

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