Chris Pirillo » teacher

Why the iPad is Perfect for Schools

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:21:17 +0000

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During live phone calls recently, Craighton gave me a buzz. @Craighton is a great kid, who happens to live fairly close to my house. In fact… he’s BEEN to my house. He was at Gnomedex last year with us, and attended the Hejira concert at my house back in February when Kat was here. Why didn’t he just come on over here to ask his question?

In any case, Craighton called to ask me how I could see the iPad used as an educational tool in schools. An example would be all students being issued an iPad with all of their books loaded right on the device, assignments done and turned in this way and so forth.

I don’t think that iPads (or similar devices) are a great idea for schools. I KNOW they are. I know that several schools already use technology of this sort, and I fully believe that more and more will begin adopting this type of teaching methodology in the near future.

When the iPad was first released, we all thought Apple was smoking something funny when we realized there was no camera. However, think of all the places that would not want a camera… schools, gyms, and even businesses. I believe that the omission of a camera was done specifically with schools in mind.

The iPad is touted as a “media consumption device”. I think Apple is positioning it as THE platform for textbooks and education. As more textbooks step forward to develop things for the iPad, we’ll see more and more of these in the classrooms.

Craighton’s lucky, because his school is already working on getting notebooks for all students. Mark my words, though… nearly all schools will switch to this format at some point in the near future.

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Why the iPad is Perfect for Schools

TeachStreet

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:03:00 +0000

TeachStreet

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I recently attended the WTIA Fast Pitch Forum & Technology Showcase. The conference featured two dozen of the hottest technology companies in Washington presenting their business in a competition for “Best In Show”. TeachStreet is an online community for people who love to learn, and was one of the three “Top Presenters”.

TeachStreet is an online community that brings learners and teachers together. It’s a place where people who love to learn can find classes that are right for them. They also offer a public forum that helps teachers, coaches and other experts share what they know. In the process, TeachStreet helps them grow their businesses with online tools used to promote classes, workshops and events. This allows the experts to focus on what they do best – teach!

The TeachStreet team is a bunch of dreamers and tech Geeks who want to encourage you to get out from behind your computer, head into the world, and learn something new! They support that goal by helping people find experts in your neighborhood who can teach you anything you might be interested in learning.

TeachStreet has extensive class coverage in several cities across the US, and they’re growing every day. Whether you want to learn to sew in Seattle, or how to dance in Denver – TeachStreet has you covered.

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TeachStreet

How Would You Rate Your Teachers in College?

Chris Pirillo — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:38:16 +0000

How Would You Rate Your Teachers in College?

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As I’ve mentioned before, I graduated with a degree in English Education. I’m happy to have received the degree. It was a challenge to find the right professors, that’s for sure. Back then, the Internet was on campus, but no one really used it. Students would communicate with each other, finding out who the best teachers were for each particular subject. We would then try to get into classes with only those instructors. That’s the way we did things back then. However, now there’s a website that can really help you if you’re a student now (or will be soon). Rate my Professors allows you to rate each of your instructors, and lets them leave feedback, as well.

RateMyProfessors.com is the Internet’s largest listing of collegiate professor ratings, with more than 6.8 million student-generated ratings of over 1 million professors. Each year, millions of college students use the site to help plan their class schedules and rate current and past professors on attributes such as helpfulness and clarity. Online since 1999, RateMyProfessors.com currently offers ratings on college and university professors from over 6,000 schools across the United States, Canada, England, Scotland and Wales with thousands of new ratings added each day.

I needed one class in order to graduate with a minor in Creative Writing. I had heard the professor for it was so bad, that I decided I didn’t want to take the class and get the degree. A good instructor can make you or break you… and can mean the difference in how much you actually learn.

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How Would You Rate Your Teachers in College?