There are countless ways that educators can turn to in order to learn something new. Twitter is my favorite but recently, my focus has been pulled elsewhere. iTunes U is a portal that takes you to a separate section of the app store. Here courses and offered, providing you the opportunity to take professional development into your own hands. This power is completely free just as many of the courses are. This post will highlight some of my most recent favorites.
For Educators - This section was created about 6 months ago and is constantly being updated. This is the central station for all resources relating to educators. When you first go to iTunes U, you will see a button that takes you here titled "For Educators"
Get Started Teaching with iPad - This section is also relatively new. It is found under the For Educators tab. This section offers 18 different courses from Elementary to post secondary. There are amazing app recommendations, great lesson ideas, and inspirational best practices.
One Best Thing - This section is one of my favorites. The authors of all of these books are ADE's (apple distinguished educators) which makes the materials that much more credible. Topics in here vary from App Smashing, to Video Chatting. The books are very engaging and bring you lots of power and confidence when thinking about implementation.
Free Books by Educators - This section is somewhat limited, but it can be extremely powerful. In here, there are teacher created textbooks that you can download and use today. There is even student created content! Think if you district took in on their shoulders to change this section in iTunes U for the better, how much power that would bring to you and your students!
Show What You Know - This section played a large part in how I app smash, and what my schools app lists look like. There are far too many best practices and 21st century learning essentials packed into these books to begin to summarize them. Even if you do not have, or can get the apps listed, going through these books can provide you lesson ideas of which you can cator your tasks to fit your own apps!
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