Hasta La Gadget!

While there have certainly been attempts at easing the Arduino learning curve, many of these still demand a new board or simplify just one aspect of a much larger universe. Olympia Circuits’ new Arno Shield could help strike a better balance between starting fresh and diving into the deep end. It includes all the buttons, lights and sensors needed for 40-plus educational projects, but grafts on to existing boards such as the company’s LeOlympia or an Arduino Uno. Owners don’t have to add parts or wires; they just remove the shield once they’ve learned enough to create their own masterworks. The shield kit won’t be cheap when it arrives on May 2nd for $60, but it may prove the real bargain for tinkerers who want a full-fledged Arduino board as soon as the training wheels come off.

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Source: Olympia Circuits

Apple completely revamped its iTunes U app last year to include full course materials and it looks like that work is paying off, as the company just trumpeted its billionth content download. Over 250,000 students are enrolled in the service, which now boasts “thousands” of iTunes U learning materials, according to Cupertino. The company added that 60 percent of those downloads came from outside the US, with educators in 30 different countries — like recent additions Brazil and Turkey — able to create content. OHU prof “Dr. Fus” Stoltzfus said that students using his materials range from students around the world to retirees, so if you’ve been thinking of a knowledge upgrade, you’ve got no excuse. For more, check the PR after the break.

Filed under: Misc, Software, Apple

Comments

Inventor Falk Wolsky and his better half Mandy, a child care worker, were inspired to make the Lernstift (“Learning pen” in German) after seeing their son struggle with writing. They came up with a prototype that detects “writing movements” and alerts the user if he makes a mistake.

Currently, the prototype has two modes. Calligraphy Mode detects errors in form and legibility, while Orthography Mode checks the spelling and grammar. The Lernstift’s motion sensor also has one other advantage: the user can practice even without paper or any writing surface. It will supposedly be able to detect “words, gestures and symbols, even if you only draw them in the air.”

The Wolskys also hope to include a pressure sensor to teach kids not to grip the pen too tightly. The idea is that if the pen detects that the user is pressing too hard on it, it will vibrate in an intensity proportional to the user’s grip. They also want to equip the pen with a wireless module, so your teacher can send your embarrassing mistakes to your parents, other teachers and classmates in a snap. As if having your pen vibrate all the time wasn’t shameful enough.

The Wolskys – via their new company Lernstift UG – will seek crowdfunding for the Lernstift later this month, so keep your eyes out for that if you want to pre-order the pen. But if you’re willing to invest in the company, you can reach out to them right now via their website.

The pen sounds like a good idea, but I wonder how effective it will really be as a learning tool, especially in the use case that inspired it. I say that because the pen can only say when and where you are wrong, but not what you’re doing wrong and ultimately how to do it correctly. Should it also have a voice assistant, like an English teacher version of Siri? Or perhaps a small laser that traces out the correct answer? Or maybe it could provide advice by vibrating in Morse code?

[via Lernstift & Wired UK via Likecool]

McGraw-Hill is taking on the one-size-fits-all approach to textbooks with its freshly unveiled SmartBook: an e-book that is claimed to adapt to student’s learning patterns. Aimed at college students, the SmartBook service peppers users with questions as they read and determines what topics it should present to reinforce learning. Come sometime this spring, the SmartBook will be available for more than 90 course areas starting at $20. It’ll be joined by a handful of similar tools for driving home the curriculum, including something called LearnSmart Achieve, which is designed to serve up videos and other interactive embellishments in response to automatically detected areas of weakness. When you’re ready to hit the books, just be careful they don’t hit you back.

Continue reading McGraw-Hill reveals the SmartBook: an ‘adaptive’ e-book for students

Filed under: Software

Comments

VINCI Curriculum is the software exclusively running in the VINCI Tab II and the VINCI Tab II M (photo above) , two tablets specifically designed for kids. VINCI curriculum is tailored to help children build learning capabilities. It features 43 monthly themes and topics across 3 levels of learning: The Curious; The Confident; and The Capable.

We all know that toddler are in love with user friendly touch screens and tablets, although we did not try it we can imagine that the VINCI system is certainly a great product to infuse the love of learning in kids. And now it got an award to prove it.

VINCI Curriculum is designed for children aged 1.5 to 6 years old and it covers all 6 aspects of a kid’s developing mind: Thinking Skills; Emotional & Social Skills; Language & Literacy; Math & Logical Reasoning; General Knowledge; and Science.

The VINCI Tab II is a toddler friendly tablet that was designed with kid safety in mind, it features a 7-inch display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, a 3MP camera, 1.2GHz Cortex A8 processor, 8GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, it runs on Android.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Amazon allows Wattpad on the Kindle Fire, Splashtop Remote Desktop now available for Kindle Fire,