Computer Support Blog

The Exit Ticket is a well-known tool to many teachers, allowing them to discover what students have learned at the end of a lesson.  A teacher can use them not just at the end of the day but at any point before students leave such as at recess, lunch, their next class, or a transition to another subject area.  The concept is simple; students hand their teacher a “ticket” filled out with an answer to a question, a solution to a problem, or a response to what they have learned in order to make it possible to assess if students have understood subject matter and plan for the next lesson or unit of instruction.  ExitTicket from EdStart, a company dedicated to making apps for educators, brings this process to the digital realm while improving it.  It allows you to ask more questions more quickly and make quicker decisions with the feedback you receive. Read more »

There has always been a push to apply the latest technology to education because it is one of the most important thing in anyone’s life, and while policies, textbooks, and technology may change, teachers are the one constant in learning. Plickers works to empower teachers everywhere with the tools and data they need to teach better and smarter.  The app’s developers created it based on a belief that teachers should not have to teach blind, data should not be overwhelming, and students should not be afraid of being wrong.  Learning can be more effective when educators can measure their progress and use data as a starting point, not just an ending metric.  It is different from other education apps in several regards, but mainly in that it lets teachers collect real-time assessment data without the need for student devices. Read more »

In so many aspects of life, persistence leads to mastery. Agnitus is an app with a curriculum that utilizes this principle, providing proven techniques to help build basic skills that eventually prepare your child to learn reading, writing and arithmetic.  Agnitus encourages learning and development in children in a fun way using three main elements: skills, curriculum, and reports.  Children not only get interactive games and books that they enjoy, parents can know just how much their child has improved, in what specific areas, and what remains to continue improving.  Unlike others like it, this app will send you progress and performance reports so that you know what areas to work on with your child.  Another difference is that it not only teaches mathematics and other school subjects, but it also works to teach children important life skills such as persistence.   An age-specific learning program that grows with your child however old he or she is, it offers continued benefits for many years. Read more »

Given the importance of education in human development and how much time and effort we dedicate to it throughout our lives, it is no surprise that there a large number of companies focused on learning and plenty of technological advancements geared toward it.  It is also no surprise that there are numerous apps focused on education.  One of these is instaGrok, an app that essentially combines the elements of research, organization, interaction and learning engagement between students, their peers and their teachers in various learning exercises and projects.  In its creators’ words, instaGrok is an innovative educational search engine that combines sophisticated linguistics and language technology with an interactive user interface to make learning more engaging, personalized and fun for everyone. Read more »

Education is one of the most important aspects of who we are, but being able to get students truly engaged in reading is often difficult. Because there are different learning style and levels of comprehension, many students tend to fall behind. The purpose of Actively Learn it to create a more interactive method for students to learn that incorporates their individual pace while allowing for those who would not typically comprehend a text as quickly as others to keep up. Actively Learn is an online learning program that enables instructors to tailor reading and writing so students are able to build knowledge, recall what they have learned, and develop long-term skills. Read more »

Reinforcing good behavior in the classroom is one of the most effective ways to get students to perform well in school.  However, creating a workable system to promote and reward positive behavior can be difficult for many teachers.  Finding a way to keep track of students’ actions over time so they can earn positive reinforcement requires a significant amount of work when teachers already have a significant amount of responsibilities.  In addition, students may get confused difficulties if every teacher in the school uses a different system, decreasing the likelihood that students will keep any sort of rewards system in mind when thinking about their actions.  Cool person in technology Matthew Rubinstein wants to fix these problems with his app LiveSchool.  LiveSchool presents teachers with a unified system for rewarding their students with the help of mobile technology.  Using a mobile device such as an iPad, teachers can easily mark when their students do something positive to earn “points”.  Rubinstein’s app keeps long-term track of every student’s points.  Kids can then use these points to cash in for rewards and incentives customized by the teachers themselves.  Any teacher who has issues while trying to use the LiveSchool app may have a broken device needing tablet computer repair. Read more »

Teachers want to give their students every tool necessary to make their education worthwhile and help them succeed.  Cool person in technology John Runkles created Bulb in order to help teachers make assignments and lessons more engaging for their students.  Bulb is an online publishing platform designed specifically for use by both teachers and students.  With Bulb, users can create elaborate reports and posts using text, images and video and post them online in a convenient easy-to-read fashion.  Using Runkles’ product, teachers can create supplemental lesson plans for online consumption using mixed media and post them online for students to see.  In response, students can create their own posts on Bulb, easily publishing assignments online as response posts with the ability to use mixed media just as their teachers do.  With Runkles’ product, students and teachers have access to one simple platform that gives them a multitude of ways to create lessons and respond to them accordingly. Students or teachers who have problems setting up free accounts with Bulb should find a computer tech support provider for help. Read more »

According to the Learnerator website, when cool person in technology Luke Liu was in high school, he took 11 AP courses and exams, experiencing much difficulty and stress when trying to study for them with only textbooks and notes.  This past experience gave him the necessary motivation to found a technology company designed to help students with their AP exams.  Liu’s company, Learnerator, provides students with an interactive studying and practice resource online to help them with their AP examinations.  Learnerator provides students with practice tests for nineteen different AP exams including Calculus, Biology and Computer Science.  Students can take the tests as often as they like and find explanations for all the answers they got incorrect on previous attempts.  Liu believes that an interactive experience such as the one he provides with Learnerator can be more effective for many students than simply reading and re-reading static study material for hours.  Any students who have trouble using the Learnerator site should seek online tech support for help with the product. Read more »

Many high school and college students have experienced that moment of panic where they sit down to write their final paper and draw a sudden blank on how to approach it.  Many times primary sources and notes don’t seem to help and the student just can’t figure out how to structure their argument or tackle the necessary issues.  Cool product WriteWork wants to help students overcome this moment of panic by offering them the chance to see how others before them have attacked similar topics.  WriteWork is an online resource that offers students a database of over 120,000 sample essays covering a range of topics for students to use as resources and inspiration in their own essays.  Read more »

Taking detailed notes in class during college is essential in attaining a good GPA.  However, truly excellent and well-written class notes have value that some students may not realize—monetary value.  Students miss classes due to personal problems or sickness very often and they need help to get the information they miss out on when they aren’t in class.  A student who takes excellent notes can be of great value to those students who miss classes for any reason.  Now, a cool product in technology called NoteWagon wants to help students cash in on the value of their hard work in class while also helping students who would benefit from access to good notes.  NoteWagon lets students upload their class notes and post them online.  Other students can then log on and purchase the right to download the notes for the classes that they have missed.  If NoteWagon users lose any notes that they have downloaded from other users, they should get help from a data recovery service. Read more »