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"Over the last few months, Facebook has launched several initiatives and features to help you keep your account and data secure. Back in May, the company revealed it was switching over to the secure HTTPS protocol and announced details of its login approvals feature. Facebook has also teamed up with Web of Trust to help protect you from scam websites and recently added its social reporting tool to its mobile website. In addition, the company has launched a bug bounty program that rewards security researchers for finding flaws in the social network's security systems. To help you understand the social network's security features and how to protect your account, a Guide To Facebook Security has been launched. The guide, which you can download from Facebook, is 14 pages long and offers all kinds of tips on how to protect your account, including how to spot and avoid scam apps and clickjacking."

Many is the blog post which highlights the ways in which Twitter is the best staffroom in the world but I've not seen too many that highlight the ways in which we can use Twitter in the classroom. Many teachers love to use Twitter as a resource to share, explore, discuss and 'magpie' ideas from other teachers and as a vehicle to help develop their own ideas and their own practice too. It's great for that… no, it's absolutely brilliant for that! So how can we capitalise on the 140 character legendary social media king to help learning in the classroom? Here are some do's and don'ts to help get you going.

"Oxford Owl is a FREE website built to support you with your child's learning. To help you along the way, you'll find age-specific reading and maths tips and activities, FREE eBooks, and lots of fun ideas to really bring your child's learning to life. You will also find support and advice on a range of questions you may have - including helping your child with their phonics, motivating boys to read and ensuring your child is doing their best in maths."

After Google+ entered the social networking scene not so long ago, the number of online distractions hasn't really decreased. At the same time, innovations and smarter solutions to handle your actions online have fortunately continued to thrive too. Instead of the usual to-do lists, news readers, or sharing tools, they tackle things in new and more helpful ways. What's most important for me, is that they slot right into my workflow, and allow me to become more efficient without changing my behavior. A few apps recently managed to do so brilliantly. Here are my favorite new tools to help you stay focused and use the Web more innovatively.

"We all love free apps, but it's hard to track when apps go on sale, and whether they're worth the trouble. Here's a trick for keeping track of on-sale apps, and making those sales last forever. We've shared a few tools that help you track app sales, but they can be a pain. A lot of the apps that go on sale aren't very good, and while you can make a wish list, this doesn't help you discover new apps at all. Of course, we occasionally share cool apps in our Dealhacker posts, but what if you could get automatic email notifications for cheap, good apps whenever they went on sale? Here's a method-inspired by this Reddit post-to make that a reality."

"I want the people who will help shape our society in the future to understand the technology that will help shape our society in the future. If this is going to happen, then we need to reverse the trend that is seeing digital illiteracy exponentially increase. We need to act together, as parents, as teachers, as policy makers. Let's build a generation of hackers. Who's with me?"

"If you're visiting this site, chances are you were a participant in one of my sessions at a Google Summit event. I've included a bunch of resources here for you to follow up or review. There are links, videos and other stuff to help refresh your memory or just to help you go exploring on your own.  Chris Betcher"

"Thought about setting up your own personal or professional blog but not sure where to start? #moedchat hosted a Twitter chat to help educators get started setting up their own blog. Here are resources to help get started blogging and information shared during the chat session."

""Curation" may be one of the big buzzwords of 2011. As the amount of information accumulates thanks to the Web, it becomes increasingly important that we use tools to help us find information that's relevant and useful. The role of the curator has always been to help pull together and oversee collections of materials. But just as Web 2.0 has expanded the traditional role of publisher to almost anyone, the role of curator now too is changing. Anyone can "curate" online material, pulling together their own collections."

"If you are looking at why you might consider class blogging you might find it helpful to see what others have said. Here are some links to helpful resources which provide guidance about the benefits of creating a class blog."

Have a look through this post related to class blogging for some great ideas and tips to setting up class based blogs.

"Twitter seems to be here to stay. As one of the most popular ways for teachers, students, and the general public to communicate, it's becoming a must-have tool in almost every teacher's toolbox. However, numerous recent studies have shown that education in general has been slow to adopt social media. In an effort to speed up this adoption process, below you'll find a boatload of resources on the past, present, and future of Twitter in education as well as some helpful guides to using the tool in the classroom. This guide is by no means exhaustive and is meant to be added to on a regular basis. To do that, Edudemic needs your help. Just share your favorite resource(s) on the Edudemic Facebook page and it'll get added to this Ultimate Guide."

"Gamification - the use of game play mechanics for non-game applications - promises much: an engaging, dynamic, memorable and rewarding learning experience. But it can be very difficult to know where to start. Most of us know and enjoy games, but how do those experiences relate to the elearning course that you're working on right now? I'm a developer at Saffron with a background in games and app design, and so to help, I've compiled a list of my top five gamified elements that can help to improve 'traditional' elearning."

"Helpouts isn't available yet, but we're currently inviting people with expertise across a number of topics to be able to offer Helpouts when we go live - and to make money sharing their skills and knowledge with the world. If you haven't received an invitation, but are interested in Helpouts, tell us. We'll let you know when we're live and accepting more applications to give help."

"Blogging is an excellent way of motivating students to develop a lifelong love of learning. Writing is a process, and when they learn this they will be able to apply the skills to other aspects of their schooling. It also teaches children critical thinking skills which will help them as they progress through school. Along with the development of critical thinking skills, students will learn how to conduct research. This is particularly important both in school and in the workplace they will one day take part in."

"The handy flowchart will help you decide whether or not you can use a particular image on your website. Assuming that you have identified the original source and that they have given you the necessary permission to use the picture, the poster also suggests ways on how you can properly credit the photographer."

"Discovering content is the easy part. Managing it all is the challenge. The gallery below by Shirley Williams is a strong collection of tools to better discover, manage, and share digital content. And with the imminent death of Google Reader, several of these apps could help fill that huge hole (though not the one in your heart). Have a browse and let us know if you find anything exceptional."

"Without a doubt the connections and learning that is possible within Twitter is simply second to none. However even with all of the amazing benefits many teachers new to Twitter sign up, tweet once or twice, miss the benefit and let their accounts fade to oblivion. So to assist with the goal of helping teachers unlock the potential, I have designed a 14 day twitter challenge. Follow it and reap the benefits of powerful connections."

"Google Docs is an online suite of digital tools that provides teachers with some powerful features to help students develop 21st century writing skills. Since Docs are collaborative and available 24/7, the tool is well-suited for facilitating digital writing workshops that combine peer editing with cooperative grouping and small group fine-tuned writing instruction."

"Recently, a high school teacher sent me the following question via Edmodo: Hey Miguel :) Can you tell me where to look to share a Youtube clip with my Lang &GovEco edmodo students? I found one I'd like to post for the first week. Thanks for all you are doing to help us utilize technology more effectively.  At first, I thought the response might be pretty easy but then realized there were several ways to get this done. This blog entry illustrates 4 of those approaches on how to add video to Edmodo."

"This leaves us with the question of how to inspire students to look through Internet search results with tenacity, to approach new technologies that may require more problem-solving skills, and to address tasks that are not as instantaneously gratifying as playing video games. It is our role as teachers to help students develop the skills to problem solve independently and collaboratively use 21st-century skills while not relying on technology to do all of the thinking for them."