Why You Should Unplug

By Katie Lepi

We are connected most of the time these days. I consider myself extremely connected, and even I find myself at times overwhelmed by how connected people are. We’ve often gone out to dinner with friends to find at least one of them totally ignoring the conversation because they are completely engrossed in checking the news/Facebook/Instagram/the weather on their phone. They look up, startled, when you call their name several times in a row. We’ve been out to dinner and seen couples sitting across the table from one another not even talking, but looking down at their phones. While having the internet at your fingertips at all times can be super useful, maybe sometimes it can be useful to unplug. 

The handy infographic below takes a look at why being constantly plugged in isn’t entirely a good thing, along with a few painless, easy ways to help us all unplug – even if just for a bit. Keep reading to learn more.

Unplugging is Good For You!

• 3 out of 5 people spend more time with their technology than they do with their spouse
• 81% of people are willing to interrupt a conversation or a meal to check their device
• The 25% of people who scored best on a multitasking test were those who actually focused on one task at a time
• Unplugging allows you to de-stress
• 86% of men and 67% of women work more than 40 hours per week
• A Harvard study reports that between 12 and 20 million people in the US have ‘at least a mild internet addiction’
• Those who are dependent lose interest in other activities, experience withdrawal symptoms, and need more and more time to get their ‘high’
• This often disrupts real life relationships, and forces the individual to use the internet to improve their mood
• 46% of Britons say they spend more time using their device in bed, while 15% say it affects the amount of sex they have
• Some ailments from overuse of the internet include eyestrain, back pain, headaches, and itchy, watery eyes

Ways to Unplug

• Set aside a special time for social media
• Avoid checking your phone within an hour of waking and an hour of going to bed
• Move apps away from your home screen
• Disable notifications
• Find alternative activities to take up a few minutes, like stretching, prioritizing your to-do list, brushing and flossing your teeth, doing some pushups, or taking a walk

Post Source : http://www.edudemic.com/why-you-should-unplug/

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Visual Design Trends Teachers (And Everyone) Should Know About

By Colin Hussey

The web, and technology devices in general, are constantly changing, and it’s hard (even if you’re a seasoned “Googler” like me) to keep up with all the latest developments.

It is wearable devices like Google Glass and Pebble which are set to be all the rage this year, and who’d have thought just a few years ago, that we’d now be considering walking around with a computer on our head. However, a recent white paper from Merge, a Digital Strategy Agency (Merge White Paper: Web Design Trends for 2014 and Beyond) came up with two interesting observations for web design trends in 2014. Keep these trends in mind as you use technology in your classrooms: Simple is good. Interactive is good.

Simple, Simple, Simple

The first is simplified design. The white paper mentions that “we will see design continue to be simplified with single page websites, flat design, fixed headers and minimalism overall, powered partly by the necessity of mobile requirements and partly by what the consumers want (as evidenced by the simple elegance of the iPhone and Windows 8 UI design)”.

In a world where new technology is forever pushing the boundaries of design, it seems that actually, what we’re now doing is stripping back the complicated elements, and following the golden rule of simplicity.

Some of the advantages of simple web design, both in terms of aesthetics and functionality, include: the website is easier to navigate; important content can take centre stage (and isn’t lost in the background); simple code is easier to debug; and the website will load faster.

So what does this mean for students, and how we teach web design in the classroom? It means that students should consider less complex web designs and instead of asking themselves what’s missing in a design, they should perhaps ask themselves what could in fact be taken away.

They can play around with the concept of a single page website, where all the content lives on a single web page. An example of an accomplished single page website is Milk and Pixels, a designer of web applications: http://milkandpixels.com.

They can have a go at flat design, where there are no shadows, reflections or beveled edges. They could consider why some pages have fixed headers, where the user can scroll through a page and its content, yet still see the header even if they are at the bottom of the page.

In this way, post web design project, students can consider whether each and every element on their own web pages are really needed. A simple design can (arguably) leave more time for creative thinking in regards to each and every one of the elements on each page.

Interactive Graphics

The second interesting observation for web design trends in 2014 according to Merge’s white paper was “Interactive Infographics”. Infographics have taken the digital world by storm and have become a popular way to take data and present it in a visual, colorful and clear way.

There are a number of tools out there that allow you to make your graphics interactive. You can use them to create scrolling effects, mouseover effects, or allow users to enter some of their own information to make the data more personalized and useful to them! These types of features do take a little more time and effort than static images, but the end result can be much more exciting and motivating for the student! 

Post Source : http://www.edudemic.com/visual-design-trends/

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Questions To Ask Yourself Before Trying New Technology

By Katie Lepi

Yesterday, we looked at an infographic that looked at the implementation of a blended learningprogram. It talked about how to set yourself up for success when implementing blended learning, what some attributes of a great blended learning program are, and drivers of blended learning.

The drivers of blended learning was sort of buried towards the bottom of the infographic, and we thought it could use a little spotlight of its own, so we’ve taken that part of the original infographicand are showcasing it on its own below.

Why? Because there are really good reasons to give it a shot. If you look at the ten reasons listed below, we’re pretty sure you’ll find at least a couple that you’ll benefit from, or are already trying to do in another way. If you read each item as a sort of question to yourself, they can also serve as a handy little go-to list that you should be asking when you’re implementing anything new in your classroom.

10 Drivers of Blended Learning

• Teachers need and want to:
• Personalize learning
• Improve the progress potential for each individual student
• Improve student engagement and motivation
• Shift to online state testing as of 2015
• Extend time and stretch resources effectively
• Extend the reach of effective teachers
• Improve teacher’s working conditions
• Decrease device costs
• Have students and parents adopt learning apps
• Narrow the digital divide

10 Questions To Ask Yourself When Implementing New Technology

• The answer doesn’t have to be yes for every question, but the more boxes you can tick, the better!
• Does it improve the teacher’s ability to personalize learning? (yes!)
• Does it offer potential for individual progress? (yes!)
• Does it improve student engagement and motivation? (yes!)
• Does it help teachers to to online testing methods? (yes!)
• Does it extend time and stretch resources effectively? (yes!)
• Does it extend the reach of effective teachers? (yes!)
• Does it improve teacher’s working conditions? (yes!)
• Does it decrease device costs? (yes!)
• Does it help students and parents adopt learning apps? (yes!)
• Does it help narrow the digital divide? (yes!)

Post Source: http://www.edudemic.com/new-technology-questions/

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