U Tech Tips » Jonathan Chambers

Opinion: iPad – you either get it… or you will

Jonathan Chambers — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:15:43 +0000

There’s been so much speculation about Apple’s new iPad – both before it was launched, and now
it’s finally been unveiled in public as an upcoming product. The arguments are various, but they seem to mostly center upon whether this ’souped up iPod Touch’ is actually ‘all that’. In my opinion it is ‘all that’, and [...]

by Jonathan Chambers Leave A Comment

Digital Word Walls

Jonathan Chambers — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:31:15 +0000

Still creating ‘word walls’ around your classroom? Good for you – that’s exactly what needs to be done to create constant and progressive exposure to vocabulary. Here are some examples of our evolving digital forms of word walls and vocabulary building tools. Firstly, here’s an animated/spoken word wall that was built on visuals that ESL [...]

by Jonathan Chambers Leave A Comment

Web App creation for everyone

Jonathan Chambers — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:56:27 +0000

It’s about time for us to democratize the creation of ‘web apps’ for everyone – including students and teachers. Runtime Revolution have just such an offering for teachers and students in their latest release of ‘RevMedia‘, which provides a web application development program for FREE on all major platforms – Mac, Windows, & Linux. Whether [...]

by Jonathan Chambers Leave A Comment

Simply Fontastic!

Jonathan Chambers — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:26:26 +0000

I’ve been in love with handwritten fonts since I was a kid, and I love the ‘personal touch’ of sketching on a page. Aside from using graphics tablets, I’ve been looking for more ways to bring tactile experiences to digital expression. Some of my colleagues introduced me to fontcapture, and all of my warm, [...]

by Jonathan Chambers Leave A Comment

Softer ‘Software’ & Furniture for 1:1 Adoption

Jonathan Chambers — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:16:15 +0000

So everybody’s looking for the latest “software” tool to implement 1:1 laptops in their school environment, but are you thinking about the “softer” ware that students sit on or use around their classrooms or hallways so that they get a great, flexible experience while they’re using their laptops? At SAS, we’re falling deeply in love [...]

by Jonathan Chambers Leave A Comment

Take advantage of the meme theme!

Jonathan Chambers — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:15:06 +0000

After my initial infuriation with the preponderance of “memes” on Facebook lately, such as the wildly popular “25 Things You Didn’t Know About Me“, I’ve decided to take an “If you can’t beat ‘em – join ‘em” approach. Specifically, I may not be particularly interested in sharing 25 random facts about myself with the world, [...]

by Jonathan Chambers Leave A Comment

Visualizing Vocabulary

Jonathan Chambers — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:36:54 +0000

I thought I had a fairly good grip on encouraging students to create higher-order connections to vocabulary through both vocab visualisations that we create in class, and through creating hyperlinked connections to definitions of vocab on my teacher blog. However, this week my Principal, Dr. Ron Roukema, informed me of some great work that’s being [...]

by Jonathan Chambers Leave A Comment

2009 – Year of Science!

Jonathan Chambers — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:25:04 +0000

If you haven’t yet caught onto the momentum that’s building for education in 2009, then the time is now. This year has not only been designated a “Year of Science“, but it’s also been earmarked as The International Year of Astronomy and The International Year of Planet Earth.
Each of these causes and sites provide structure [...]

by Jonathan Chambers Leave A Comment

Using Diigo Annotation Tools for Intensive Language Feedback

Jonathan Chambers — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:09:13 +0000

I love the fact that more and more Core teachers are encouraging online student writing. As an ESL teacher it allows me to ‘catch’ a lot more of my students’ academic writing, especially when I employ tools such as RSS aggregators and Netvibes. However, the ability to comment below what students have written doesn’t really [...]

by Jonathan Chambers Leave A Comment

Get off the email! Local conversations in global hallways.

Jonathan Chambers — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:46:08 +0000

As an ESL teacher I find myself constantly attempting to convince people that English Language Learners need the rich input of their peers so that they have a good model of ‘how English works’. If we just segregate a group of beginners in a room together then the available models are not going to help [...]

by Jonathan Chambers Leave A Comment