Today, I attended the webinar “20 Free iPad Apps” from SimpleK12. Kimberly Warner, the presenter, covered a lot of content in a very short span of time. I really liked that they had a sidebar on the side so that the educators who were attending could ask each other questions and help each other out in finding the apps throughout the presentation. Some people also offered comments about similar websites or apps that they used, so I got a few “bonus” apps. I am definitely going to try out a few of the apps, I appreciated that they covered multiple grades and contents. If I decided I want to get a job as a technology coordinator or work with teachers on professional development, I now have some tools to help all of them.

For this particular webinar the downside was definitely the pace. If I was at an in-person professional development, I would like to have a chance to download each app and play with them. Downloading them and figuring out how to use them isn’t hard for someone who is tech-savvy, but if the teacher isn’t tech-savvy, they just got 20 free iPad apps that can be used in K-12 education and they don’t know how to make them work. (I’ll be doing my own reviews of all of these apps, and I’ll be creating tutorials on how to use the ones that I like!)

Webinars are definitely a creative way to vary instruction. It’s a different way of modeling content for lessons, and depending on how it is structured it can be very hands-on for students, so they can be active not just passive in the process of watching the video. I can see this really helping students who have a hard time “catching” how to do something the first time. Creating a short video means that they can access it whenever and wherever. I can see short tutorials being really helpful to a school that would incorporate 1:1 technology. Look for some sample tutorial ideas in the upcoming weeks.

I definitely would attend a free webinar again. Instead of having to search for the content (like iPad apps) on my own, a reputable source in the world of education gave me a headstart. I feel like it saved time for me…instead of downloading apps that are rated well in the app store like I did a few weeks ago, I get to download and test out apps I know work and that I know have real educational value. Now, I just have to build in a few hours to test out the applications I just downloaded. A bonus to this webinar was that I also learned some valuable information about conferences in the educational tech. world. In passing, the moderator mentioned she would be in San Antonio for the ISTE conference this summer. I haven’t had a chance to keep up with conferences and such, but now that I know that one is coming to me, I’ll have to see if I can afford to go!

Beware, though…while SimpleK12 webinars are great, they are selling a product, and they will spend at least ten minutes at the end of a free webinar trying to get you to purchase their products. If you have to do professional development for your district or school, though, it may be a worthy investment. You get access to all of the webinars, and it tracks your professional development time for you.思いっきりハイキック! DVD-BOX III チョン・イル 新品
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