Group items tagged

"I usually just do a year-end list on Web 2.0 Applications For Education and many other topics, but it gets a little crazy having to review all of my zillion posts at once. So, to make it easier for me - and perhaps, to make it a little more useful to readers - I'm going to start publishing mid-year lists, too. These won't be ranked, unlike my year-end "The Best…" lists, and just because a site appears on a mid-year list doesn't guarantee it will be included in an end-of-the-year one."

"Join Howard Rheingold and other noted educators in creating a world-class resource for teaching critical thinking and Internet literacies. We are building a framework in the pages linked in the menu to the left. Get started by adding to the list of tools and the list of important vocabulary. Check out the latest bookmarks on the Diigo Resources page. You can join the Diigo group and subscribe to the RSS feeds."

More recently I've discovered some great new tools to read and share my favorite content which I've included here in this list. Whether you are a person who just likes to stay on top of the latest news, a blogger like me who needs a way to organize the vast amount of information that comes my way or a person who just enjoys sharing what they find with others you'll love this list.

"If you have been using the sharing feature of Google Docs (now Google Drive) for some time, you may have quite a few files in the Drive that are accessible to other users. Would you like to review this list? Here's a simple Google script that will scan your Google Drive and prepare a list all files that have been shared from your Google Drive."

"Two quotes about schooling particularly resonate with me. The first is from John Dewey's Experience and Education (1938): "What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win the ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul?" (p. 49). If the experience of "doing school" destroys children's spirit to learn, their sense of wonder, their curiosity about the world, and their willingness to care for the human condition, have we succeeded as educators, no matter how well our students do on standardized tests? The second quote comes from John Goodlad's A Place Called School (1984). After finding an "extraordinary sameness" in our schools, Goodlad wrote, "Boredom is a disease of epidemic proportions. … Why are our schools not places of joy?" (p. 242). Now, a generation later, if you were to ask students for a list of adjectives that describe school, I doubt that joyful would make the list. The hearts and minds of children and young adults are wide open to the wonders of learning and the fascinating complexities of life. But school still manages to turn that into a joyless experience."

"In 2009, we shared our favorite tools for teachers on Twitter, with 100 resources for managing feeds, finding followers, and tackling classroom groups on the social media site. Since then, many tools have been revamped, replaced, or simply aren't available anymore. Clearly, an update is in order, so we're proud to present a new list for 2012, featuring the very best tools available to Twittering teachers today."

"Not even one decade ago, educators considered cell phones and laptops a most egregious classroom distraction. These days, though, many tech-savvy teachers actively try to incorporate them into engaging lessons rather than snatching them away. While tablets, smartphones, and other mobile computing devices have yet to enjoy universal implementation, many in the business adore exploring emerging technologies to unlock their full potential as learning tools. Such as these folks, listed in no particular order!"

"Sometimes my view on technology seems paradoxical and messy. Sometimes it feels like cognitive dissonance. I hang with Luddites and Technophiles. I join #chats and write blogs and yet I frequently criticize technology. So, this list might seem conflicting. Or nuanced. You can make up your mind. The following are ten myths I have found myself believing over the years:"

TeachMeet[Aus} is a not-for-profit web tool that will facilitate the growing demand for TeachMeets in Australia. This is the Australia wide listing of current TeachMeets

"Below I have outlined information about three popular platforms used by schools implementing blended learning - Edmodo, Schoology and Moodle. These are not the only players in this field, but seem to be the most widely used - I have listed some other options at the Classroom Collaboration page. Each of these platforms has pros and cons, depending on your intended purpose. Of course, the best way to decide the most suitable option for your school is to give each platform a try. All are free, or offer a free component for educational use."

YouTube can be a great place to find educational videos to use in your classroom. But YouTube isn't the only place where you can find good educational video content. These services will allow you to organize playlists from multiple video sharing services. Please note that if YouTube is blocked in your school, the only tool in this list that will provide a work around for you is Miro.

"Bringing multimedia into the classroom is a great way to engage students in learning. Supplementing lessons, opening up new interests, and offering inspiration, online videos make for an incredible teaching tool. In 2010, we covered our favorite 100 video sites for educators, and we've now updated our list for 2012 with more than 100 resources and more than 25 brand new entries. Read on, and you'll be able to check out the very best sources for educational videos on the web."

"Citelighter is a helpful tool for anyone trying to organize their online and or offline research findings. At its core Citelighter is a browser extension (available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) that enables you to select sections of webpages and save them along with the important information needed to create an APA, MLA, or Chicago style bibliography. If you have pieces of text from books and journals that you want to include in your list of citations, you can add those in Citelighter too."

"Do you act correctly when using social networks? Check out the video and get valuable safety tips . Get full list of do's and don'ts at http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/generic/toshiba-mcafee-news..."

Sue Waters list of educators based in Australia who are on Twitter

Google has developed an interactive curriculum on YouTube to support teachers in educating students on how to be safe, engaged and confident model netizens. The initiative is aimed at students aged 13 to 17 and will help them to develop digital literacy skills on YouTube that would be applicable across the web. A list of 10 lessons has been devised, in which students can learn about YouTube's policies, how to report content, how to protect their own privacy, and how to be responsible YouTube community members and, in the broader picture, digital citizens. Each lesson comes with guidelines for teachers and ready-made slides for presentation. There's also a YouTube Curriculum channel where videos related to the project will be posted.

"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."

"Create free timelines. Follow interesting stories, get updates and notifications with "Today in history". myHistro is an interactive diary and a story-flow generator for bloggers. Unlimited space, unlimited number of photos! Create as many stories as you want and export these into Google Earth (KML) or spreadsheet format (CSV)! See the story on map and timeline, read more by "manually" turning pages or see the story summary as a simple chronological list of events. Try them all! My Histro also has an app.

"As I lamented in my last post, many of the fabulous Web tools out there are restricted to users 13 and over. This limits what Elementary/Primary schools students can access online to create content to collaborate. To save others at school some time, then, I have compiled a list of popular/well known Web tools that can and can't be used by children under 13 - 1), so we are legally covered in what we are allowing our students to use and 2), so they know what is available. Please note that generally the sites that allow for under 13s still ask for parental permission ( even Edmodo if you haven't read the Terms of Use) so a solid school user agreement is needed to use these tools. Some of the sites are not US based so are not bound by COPPA and CIPA regulations. It still requires schools to carefully check out what can be viewed on these sites to ensure they are appropriate to access."

"If you are frequently sharing images online it's essential to have a virtual rolodex of go-to websites where you can quickly and effectively find free images. Not only that- but it's important that you have websites in which the legal restrictions are clear and concise. Below you will find my go-to list of the best sources for finding free photos for sharing online. I've also included some of my favorite paid resources as well just in case."