EST430

BYOD is the catch phrase in the 2012 educational technology spheres. This acronym stands for " Bring Your Own Device ", I am pretty sure you might have heard of this new trend because wherever you turn you hear people talking about embracing it. I actually have been reading a lot about it to the point that I deem it important that I share with you some of what I understood from BYOD .

"Here are 10 ideas I have gathered this summer to kick parent communication up to the next level so that never again will they have to ask, "What'd you do at school today?" and hear the annoying, "nothing." Instead, parents will have already experienced the wonderful things that have been happening in their child's world and dinner table discussions will turn into celebrations and extensions of the learning happening at school."

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.

A regular update of how Teachers are using edmodo to engage pupils in Carr Manor Community School

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

"Many great websites stream video and audio as an alternative to a traditional TV/Cable/SAT service. Some are subscription based, like Netflix and Hulu Plus. Others are pay per view, like Vudu. And some are free, such as Hulu, ABC, CBS, NBC, and the BBC. There's only one catch. They're generally only available in one country. National broadcasting websites are only available in their country of origin. While some services are expanding internationally, like the recent arrival of Netflix to Canada, the expansion is slow and it's difficult due to the content deals that are made for each country. Another burdensome restriction on freedom is the blocking of social media sites by some countries and by many businesses. Thankfully, there's now an immediate and easy answer. And you just discovered it!"

Do you know what technology you'll be using in the classroom 5 years from now? What about 10 years from now? A new visualization may be able to help.

You may well be aware of the hundreds, no, thousands of websites and tools that are available to use within the classroom. Many of these have popped up in the past few years and it can be hard to keep up with them all, particularly when many require logins or may need software to be installed too. So here are a few sites that are perfect for using with a range of children and all of them can be accessed from any web browser.

I took a look at some of the leading online file storage and sharing services. I didn't try to pick a winner, since they all worked fine for me. And I didn't do an in-depth review of them. Instead, my aim here is just to explain the category and highlight some of the key competitors. I compared their main features and costs. Overall, this type of service is useful for anyone with many computers and devices, either for personal or group use.

Apparently many kids are using this to get around school proxies - this knowledge has helped a few teachers connect today. Tweeted by @courosa

Instructions on how to setup an Unblock Us account on your computer

I have been trying to write this post for weeks now. I love edmodo. In fact I would have to say using edmodo is becoming an absolutely essential tool in our year 5 classrooms. I want to try and explain some of the ways we are using edmodo in year 5 and to try and explain why I am so excited about how our students are using it. I have to admit though that edmodo being a secure online forum means I feel I cannot show you any examples. Thus making my task a hard one and one I have kept procrastinating about finishing!

"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..."

"Last night we held two parent information evenings for parents whose students in years 6 and 7 for 2012 will be involved in our 1:1 iPad Trial. I have placed our 1:1 iPad Booklet for 2012 below, as a PDF version for download, as well as the Prezi presentation that parents were ran through."

"Teachers around the world are gearing up for the new school year -- but the experience is going to be vastly different for new teachers. Where an experienced teacher has the knowledge of what worked and what didn't, a new teacher is going to be bombarded with tons of new info and the need to process it! Not to mention, they will be preparing for the most important piece of all: their classroom instruction. In no way, do I want to add to the burden of the already-filled-to-the-brim, new teacher stress bucket. I do however, want to share just 20 tidbits which I hope will help ease new teachers into a fun, successful school year. Some of these will be in the form of social media tools, which I think are awesome, and wish I had had as a newbie. And each little tidbit is linked to a resource which I hope you will find supportive. "

Some tips for beginning teachers from Edutopia

"Last month, 16 teachers from across the country got together at Google's Seattle office for the YouTube Teachers Studio - a sort of bootcamp to learn how to best use YouTube in the classroom. Jon Corippo, a Google Certified Teacher and Apple Distinguished Educator, was among the group, and came back with ideas about what YouTube was great for."

Wes Fryer's great Scratch resource wiki has tutorials video and an assessment rubric.

"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."

The Exploratree web resource has been developed by Futurelab and emerged out of our work on the Enquiring Minds project. It provides a series of ready-made interactive 'thinking guides' or 'frameworks' which can support students' projects and research. Thinking guides support the thinking or working through of an issue, topic or question and help to shape, define and focus an idea and also support the planning required to investigate it further. Exploratree guides can be used as a basis for whole class discussion, or emailed to individuals or groups to complete. They can also be used as a presentation tool to share your findings and thinking with others. As well as providing a set of ready to use thinking guides, which are completely customisable and shareable, Exploratree also enables teachers and students to create their own simply and easily.

"The term "digital natives" when applied to young people's use of technology and the term 'digital immigrants' for older people has almost become a commonly held and popular notion in discussions about the use of digital technologies. And education is not immune to such populist although distorted ideas which have been driven by some education technology evangelists. In reality, what does research contribute to the view of this type of technological determinism?"