Top 5 Free Online University Courseware Sites for Tutors

With the growing availability of high-bandwidth connectivity, web-based educational content has expanded dramatically. In particular, more and more universities are offering free online content – everything from lectures to course notes to past exams. The purpose of these programs, in many cases, is to help make education free and available worldwide, without even the need to register or sign up.
This free content is a boon to tutors looking to advance their own educations, delve into subjects of interest, and provide learners with compelling and informative material. Here are five of the largest and most prestigious repositories:

Great Apps for Toddler Learning

People are always happy to talk to you about the apps that their kids love and come back to again and again. Over the weekend I was able to talk to a number of mums who gave me a series of apps that their littles one play. There are a number of really interesting apps here, some I would have thought were too complex for toddlers, but the mums say their little ones spend ages trying to get a handle on them. Have a look and see what you think.

Spelling Bus: FREE

Spelling Bus is for learning to spell and practice to spell. Kids see the pictures and listens to the word and then type the spelling. The simple to use user interface is designed to be child friendly, it allows kids to engage in learning with out parents help. See, Listen and Spell. 50 most common sight words kindergartner must know. Beautiful visuals and clear sounds to keep kids engaged. 6 Chapters full of words. Chapter size big enough to be completed without losing the concentration.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/spelling-bus/id404688479?mt=8

Lil Flippers: FREE

Race through sea and sky in the action-packed adventure, Lil Flippers! Dive, Jump, Surf, and Swim as you seek treasure, evade enemies, and build a school of friends to protect you. 6 beautifully themed worlds with randomized level generation means you never play the same game twice. Enjoy the Sargasso Sea, an old Ships Graveyard, weedy Kelp fields, the beautiful blue Pacific, and the lost world of Atlantis!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/lil-flippers/id474590715?mt=8

Small Street: FREE

The app allows kids to build your own town of shops, restaurants and apartments then grow the population of happy citizens to work and play. It’s up to you to decide the future of the Small Street citizens. Keep them happy by finding them a dream house and matching them to their perfect job.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/small-street/id469231744?mt=8

Toca Kitchen Monsters: FREE

Ever wanted to play with your food? Now you can! In this Monster edition of the super-hit Toca Kitchen you can cook and play with food for two hungry monsters. Pick any ingredient and prepare it in your own way! Slice, boil, fry, cook, microwave or mix? And wait for the response from the hungry monster...

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/toca-kitchen-monsters/id510301841?mt=8

Cake Pop Party: Be Creative!: FREE

Want a creative, kid-and-family-friendly app? Cake Pop Party lets your child’s imagination run wild. Getting started is a piece of cake; soon you’ll be combining shapes, coatings, candy and sprinkles to bring your favorite pet, character or tasty treat to life in Cake Pop form.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/cake-pop-party-be-creative!/id471358538?mt=8

Playtime: $0.99 AU

Playtime With Dora the Explorer is a chance for kids to play fun games while developing their memory and observation skills! Put together puzzles, test your memory matching up hidden pictures, and spot Dora and all her friends!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/thomas-game-pack/id352660283?mt=8

Dr Suess Band: $0.99 AU

Experience the excitement as Dr. Seuss Band transforms your device into a vibrant, energetic musical instrument that all ages will enjoy! Jam along with playful Seussian melodies or create your own whimsical masterpiece. As you play, you'll unlock new instruments, silly effects and catchy songs. Contains over 120 combinations of sounds, so you'll always have something new to discover!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/dr.-seuss-band/id474940131?mt=8

Whers’s My Water: $0.99 AU

Where’s My Water? is a challenging physics-based puzzler complete with vibrant graphics, intuitive controls, and a sensational soundtrack. To be successful, you need to be clever and keep an eye out foralgae, toxic ooze, triggers, and traps. Now with iCloud support to synchronize your hard earned progress across multiple iOS 5 devices. One game, multiple devices!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/wheres-my-water/id449735650?mt=8

Monkey Preschool Lunchbox: $0.99 AU

The #1 preschool game in the app store. Learn and have fun by helping monkeys pack lunch! Monkey Preschool Lunchbox is a collection of six exciting educational games for your preschooler (ages 2 to 5). 

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/monkey-preschool-lunchbox/id328205875?mt=8

Create a Car: $0.99 AU

This app is developed specifically for young children. The user interface is intuitive and simple enough for my 3 year old daughter. Create a Car is a click and drag activity for elementary age students. Choose from over 30 fun vehicle body styles and then select from over 70 different parts to place on the vehicle body. Once your vehicle has been designed you can save it to your profile and send it to friends.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/create-a-car/id388173036?mt=8

Bananas in Pyjamas: Bubble Time $0.99 AU

Especially designed for children 2-4 years old, Bananas in Pyjamas Bubble Time is a digital toy that allows your child to have fun blowing and popping bubbles. By blowing into the microphone or tapping on the bubble blower, bubbles will float across Cuddlestown and then pop, pop, pop! Your child can pop bubbles with their finger until they are all gone. Tap on the residents of Cuddles Town to say hello.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/bananas-in-pyjamas-bubble/id521928311?mt=8

Toca Train: $1.99 AU

All aboard? Time to get on Toca Train! Your kids are the train driver in this fun and friendly train simulator. The controls are intuitive and there are no written instructions. Just pull the levers, push the buttons and start exploring the island with your train!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/toca-train/id521640355?mt=8

Toca Houses: $1.99 AU

Welcome to Toca House! Help the five friends to do fun chores around a cosy house. Let your kids do the dishes, ironing, sweeping or planting flowers in the garden. Loads of fun with 19 different mini-games! And if your kids liked Toca Doctor, they are going to LOVE Toca House!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/toca-house/id495680460?mt=8

Toca Store: $1.99 AU

Toca Store is a Store Play Set that triggers your child´s imagination and inspires role-playing. We wanted to create a toy that can be included in children´s natural exploration of everyday life and help them to master social and mathematical skills. That´s Toca Store!

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/toca-store/id442705759?mt=8

Toca Hair Salon: $1.99 AU

Let your kids run their own Toca Hair Salon! Cut, color, comb and blow-dry lifelike hair on six different cute characters. Using your fingers you can make any hair style you want! And of course - take a snapshot and save your creations!  Cut and trim hair with the scissors and electric hair trimmer. Wash the characters hair with shampoo, shower, and towel. Use the hair dryer to get the right look.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/toca-hair-salon/id426382105?mt=8

Thomas and his friends: $2.99 AU

All aboard for the newest adventure on the Island of Sodor with 3 new games featuring Thomas and his friends. Start your little engineer on the right track with matching games, puzzles and mazes, guaranteed to entertain for hours. Find as many engine matches as possible and test your memory skills in “Matching Mission”. Help the engines collect cargo and find their way back to Tidmouth Sheds in “Cargo Mazes”. Drag and connect shapes to find out which engine is hidden behind the puzzle pieces in “Engine Puzzles”.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/thomas-game-pack/id352660283?mt=8

Source: http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/great-apps-for-toddler-learning.html

Apple's new vision of education

Apple made it clear that one of the next industries it hopes to disrupt and reinvent is education. It’s an arena the company has a long history of working with: schools have been one of Apple’s biggest market since the days of the Apple II.
While there have been pilot projects and full-scale deployments of the iPad as an educational tool, you can’t say yet that it has truly revolutionized learning. While it’s made researching information, viewing video, and working with interactive content more portable and more tactile, for mainstream education, many of those tasks have been available to desktops and laptops in the classroom for a generation.

E-Learning and Public Education

CLASSROOM 21 | by Greg Limperis

Let’s face it: great blended, online, virtual digital public schools and courses will always be few and far between. The problem with public education is that it is habitually underfunded. For years, I remember being in a classroom and struggling to get things such as paper to use in my class before going paperless. Today, we want schools to build great online virtual lessons and courses for our students. Before last year, my wife used to be one of the best classroom teachers out there. She has the skills to come up with great lessons, but lacks the technical prowess—and the time—to bring those lessons to fruition.

Resource: 7 Things You Should Know About Educational Design Research

Educational design research (EDR) addresses educational problems in real-world settings and has two primary goals: to develop knowledge, and to develop solutions. EDR tends to evolve through three main phases—analysis, design, and evaluation—each of which may be repeated multiple times.

 EDR is particularly powerful because it addresses real needs in the here-and-now through the development of a solution to a problem, while also generating knowledge that can be used in the future. It can offer researchers and practitioners the opportunity to produce interventions of real value—tools, approaches, theories, and products—tested in the field and shown to be effective.

What Will The Ed Tech Revolution Look Like?

Predictions for how the next 15 years are going to change how children learn, at school and at home.

  During the past 40 years, accounting for inflation, we have nearly tripled the amount of money we spend per student in public K-12 education. It was roughly $4,000 in 1971, and last year amounted to $11,000 per student. Over that same period time, our students’ math and verbal test scores have remained unchanged. I am no Warren Buffett, but I can comfortably say to you that that is a lousy return on investment.