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"In classrooms all around the globe, educators are introducing new and exciting technological tools to engage their students in learning. Many educators are successful when integrating these technologies, but unfortunately many are not for a variety of reasons. In my opinion, and from my experience in classrooms around the world, these are the biggest mistakes that educators make when integrating technology into the classroom:"

"In classrooms all around the globe, educators are introducing new and exciting technological tools to engage their students in learning. Many educators are successful when integrating these technologies, but unfortunately many are not for a variety of reasons."

Even as we are seeing more schools and educators transform the way they teach and learn with technology, many more are not. Technology is often viewed either as a frill or a tool not worth its weight in gold. Opinions vary on the merits of educational technology, but common themes seem to have emerged. Some of the reasons for not embracing technology have to do with several misconceptions revolving around fear.

"By far the most prevalent issue I see in schools struggling with their technology integration and implementation is the lack of a collective vision for how digital learning tools will be used to enhance learning. Schools often purchase software, computer devices, and technology-based learning systems because they are effective marketing tools for recruitment, or because they want to keep pace with the digital investments of rival institutions, or simply because they fear appearing outdated. None of these have to do with learning, of course, and inevitably are insufficient to smooth over the challenges that arise as digital tools enter classroom spaces."

"I've been support educators to integrate technology since 2008. I've been fortunate to do this at school, region, state and online situations. In that time I have seen those I now consider friends go through a bit of a continuum in 'online content integration'. It believe it goes something like this."

"This Contemporary Literacy Practices of Preps e-book has been developed to showcase the range of learning opportunities possible when digital technologies become an integral part of children's' learning and development. The e-book is also a testament to the amazing capabilities of young learners to acquire the necessary digital literacy skills necessary for participation in life. The e-book highlights how technologies can help support sharing, collaboration and communication in and beyond the classroom."

"Actually teaching a class of students with iPads, is a very different scenario than any other tech integration. As comfortable as I am with technology, it is new territory teaching kids when they have the world at their fingertips and the majority of them are way more tech savvy than you or I will ever will be."

"I have an issue with the word "e-learning". I was wondering at what point we are going to ditch the "e" in front of "learning". I assume "e" stands for electronic. Did we have "p-learning" before that, when kids used pens for learning? It seems, to some, at least, the tool that is used to make the learning happen is considered more important than the learning itself. People (like myself) who are considered accomplished in "e-learning" should be considered first and foremost as great teachers who happen to use technology quite a bit to enable the learning. If you truly want to integrate technology into your teaching, your first step is to stop thinking of it as something separate, and start thinking of it as a way to achieve your educational goals."

"The online environment is an integral part of modern economic and social activities, and a vast resource of education, information, communication and entertainment. Further, the evolution of new technologies is diversifying the ways in which Australians connect with each other and the world. As part of the Government's comprehensive commitment to cyber-safety, the Australian Parliament established this Committee in March 2010. This report focuses on how young people can be empowered and connect to the Internet, and use new technologies with confidence, knowing that they can use them safely, ethically and with full awareness of risks and benefits. The facilitation of safer online environments requires government, industry and the broader community to work together to realise the benefits of the online environment while also protecting Australians from dangers and enabling them to use existing and emerging tools to mitigate risks.  

Interesting articles about the use of technology in the classroom!

"Web-based tools continue to proliferate, giving teachers more to add to their arsenal, but it can be hard to determine which resources are worth spending time exploring. At the International Society of  Technology in Education (ISTE) conference this year, Adam Bellow, founder of EduClipper, and Steve Dembo, Online Community Manager for Discovery Education offered a quick run through of some favorite apps. The two educators are early adopters of ed-tech classroom strategies and have a lot of experience with tech integration."

"Web-based tools continue to proliferate, giving teachers more to add to their arsenal, but it can be hard to determine which resources are worth spending time exploring. At the International Society of  Technology in Education (ISTE) conference this year, Adam Bellow, founder of EduClipper, and Steve Dembo, Online Community Manager for Discovery Education offered a quick run through of some favorite apps. The two educators are early adopters of ed-tech classroom strategies and have a lot of experience with tech integration."

"Audio editing software are usually expensive and hard to operate. As teachers and educators, we sometimes need to record audio clips, edit them and integrate them in our multimedia projects in class. There are a variety of free web tools that you can use with your students to do that. I am sharing with you a list of some of the top free audio editing tools to use with your students."

"Technology is increasingly pervasive in the classroom and in the lives of educators as a whole. There are myriad tools designed specifically for teachers, to help you reach students, monitor results and tailor lesson plans. But what about popular social networks like Twitter? As an educator, is it worth the time to integrate Twitter into your already packed schedule? We asked a few of our more active "twitterati" Milken Educators for their thoughts, then added a handy resource guide to get you on your way."

Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano has written this reflection on a recent presentation from Beth Holland focussing on the effective use of technology and iPads. She has embedded the slides Beth used, (which should be viewed),. She has also reflected on the message and explored the use of sketchnote to record the presentation

"Audio editing software are usually expensive and hard to operate. As teachers and educators, we sometimes need to record audio clips, edit them and integrate them in our multimedia projects in class. There are a variety of free web tools that you can use with your students to do that. I am sharing with you a list of some of the top free audio editing tools to use with your students."

"If for any reasons you do not want to upload your classroom videos to YouTube and are looking for another free hosting video that can allow you to upload and share your videos Google Drive is one of your best options. Only few Google Drive users know that there is a functionality in Google Drive that enables anyone with a Google Drive account to instantly upload their videos and after the upload you can get an embed code to integrate your video anywhere on the web. Here is how you can do it."

"Learning Suite by Microsoft is a set of innovative applications for education that create a robust, creative and collaborative learning environment for students and educators. It includes a new, integrated interface that lets you access all these applications in one place, where they are grouped around four categories aligned to how you work. It makes managing your tools simpler, and it is especially efficient when combined with Microsoft Windows® 7 and Office 2010."