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"Our round-up list today features some interesting new educational web tools we have curated in the last couple of weeks. These tools have been emailed to us for separate reviews but we thought it would be best to feature them all in one list. As is the case with all of our Educational Web Tools series, we only include the ones that we think will be an added value to your EdTech toolkit. If you have other suggestions to add to the list, share them with us for review. Enjoy"

"This year's Computer Science Education Week is upon us and, as many teachers know, it brings the opportunity to show students that they, too, can code. Through fostering a global movement during this week, using the Hour of Code and an enormous social-media campaign, technology giants including Microsoft are offering educational tools, such as Minecraft: Education Edition, to develop student interest in coding. This year, Microsoft has updated its Minecraft: Education Edition tutorial, providing greater opportunities to students for learning to code and more educational tools to educators when introducing this subject."

" "Even young kids have gotten very adept at Minecraft, so it can be quite intimidating for teachers," said Jason Schmidt, an instructional technologist for Bennington Public Schools who will teach the four-week MinecraftEdu MOOC, in a prepared statement. "If I can help get teachers over that hump, imagine how delighted students will be to have a learning environment tailored to their interests for a change." The other, Minecraft for Educators, "is a course for teachers who are wishing to gamify their learning experiences and deliver a unique pedagogy that will engage, enthuse and keep learners coming back for more," according to information released by the company. Both MOOCs are available through the Canvas Network. Minecraft for Educators will start January 26, 2015 and run through March 9. The company has also released a Minecraft app to allow students to submit assignments to the Canvas learning management system from within the game. Using the app, students can tag what they've made in the game for their teachers to visit, upload books they've written in game directly to the speed grader or use the game's circuitry tool to complete assignments that will be automatically graded. A video demonstration of the app is available at YouTube. Other MOOCs for teachers in the suite include: Digital Literacies 1; Digital Literacies 2; Five Habits of Highly Effective Teachers; Teachers without Borders: Educating Girls; and Tinker, Make and Learn. Among the other MOOC offerings in the new suite is a course designed specifically for parents, Parenting in the Digital Age, which aims to help them address issues such as cyberbullying, digital citizenship, exposure to inappropriate content, media literacy and screentime. Taught by Andrew Swickheimer, director of technology at Noblesville Schools, the self-paced course opens September 22. "Parental involvement in K-12 education has one of the biggest impacts on a child's commitment to learning," said Jared Stein, vice pres

"Rather than the maker experiences being an after school program, an add on activity, or an activity that is implemented when students have done their regular lessons work, it should be part of the regular, day-to-day curriculum. As noted in USC Rossier Online, "In order for your school and students to be fully invested in maker education, it has to be integrated into your curriculum, not squeezed in" (https://rossieronline.usc.edu/maker-education/sync-with-curriculum/).  Ayah Bdeir, who invented and runs littleBits, had this to say about integrating maker education into the curriculum: It's time for maker ed to move into the mainstream. Making should not be relegated to the times spent outside of class, e.g. lunch or after school. Nor should it only flourish in private schools, which don't have to teach to standards. We need to work to show how making is a rigorous process that leads to valuable new technologies, products and experiences. Specifically, we need to tie maker projects to standards-based curriculum and show clearly the kinds of knowledge, skills and practices students learn as part of making (https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-09-24-building-connections-between-maker-ed-and-standards) Albemarle County Public School District is very intentional in their implementation of maker projects: Maker projects can be created to support just about any subject area, from science to history to language arts. Maker education can be a tool for teaching the curriculum that you already have, At a glance, maker projects may appear disconnected from the curriculum. What may look like an arts and crafts activity, or just a bunch of kids playing with Legos, is actually a way to teach about ancient Rome or how to write a persuasive essay. (https://www.edutopia.org/practice/maker-education-reaching-all-learners) "

"Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for decades; however, with the introduction of generative AI, such as ChatGPT, there has been a newfound focus on how technology tools can impact the educational landscape. The AI revolution in industry is upon us and is beginning to establish itself as a permanent part of educational practice as evidenced by Lucarillo, Nagel, Hardman, and others. Therefore, it is crucial to equip teachers with the skills to use AI in ways that ensure a high-quality education for the students in classrooms across the globe. The urgency to upskill teachers is highlighted by the gap in skills that already exists in classrooms today, underscoring the digital divide. Just as in any content area, students come to classrooms with varying readiness levels and educational needs; using AI is no different. For example, there are preschoolers who play games on an iPad with empowered intelligent tutors. My prereading granddaughter uses AI predictive text programs, dictation technology, and iconography to text me from her mother's phone and to locate videos and programs she wants to watch. Some children, like her, have access, while there are many others who have no exposure or use of AI. Educators are encountering students at different AI literacy levels, and this divide will continue to grow. Therefore, teachers need to build the skillsets to increase their AI literacy and integration to develop more digital equity, serving students who are at a low readiness level, as well as those who are using AI as a writing partner."

"Today, teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics mostly stick to the theoretical aspects. Students must know the number of degrees in a triangle, but rarely do they get to put that knowledge to use through structured lessons. STEM Education in the 21st Century Read More The tools listed here are transforming the way teachers approach STEM education. Integrating these new tools into their lessons can help teachers teachers reinforce theoretical concepts by demonstrating their real-world applications. By showing students that the knowledge is relevant and useful, teachers can help them unlock new realms of creativity in all scientific realms and possibly change their future career trajectories."

"Ohio educators are facing a barrage of new initiatives, such as the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System, Ohio's New Learning Standards and the next generation of assessments that require multiple changes in practice all at the same time. As educators begin wading into the waters, they increasingly are turning to social media for insight and support from their colleagues statewide. Even if you have little experience in social media, here are a few tools you can use that are quickly developing into invaluable education-reform communications tools."

"I love educational technology. When technologies were first available online, I was an early adopter, and often got brutally criticized by administrators and colleagues in my K-6 settings for having students use the internet for research, use web tools, create webpages in wikis, and work virtually with schools in other states and countries (for example, see their work from 2008 at http://weewebwonders.pbworks.com/). Now, similar work is often seen as innovative by colleagues. Boy, have times thankfully changed, but I have not. I still am an early adopter of technologies in that I believe many can benefit students in their learning. As many in education know, commentary about ChatGPT is appearing on the news, social media, and the internet. As I always do, I am exploring its use in my classes (elementary-level gifted education). This post describes its use in education from the perspectives of ChatGPT, itself, and from a handful of educators. Later, I describe and show the work of my students. I conclude with tools for detecting machine-generated text, and provide a parting shot."

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For the last 3 years I have invited learning professionals from around the world - both in education and workplace learning - to share their Top 10 Tools for Learning to help me build an annual Top 100 Tool for Learning list. (Note: The 2009 list will be finalised on 15 November, so if you haven't yet shared your Top 10 Tools there's still time) Once again this year, there are a number of tools appearing for the first time on the list, so in this article I am going to highlight briefly 10 of these new tools that I think are useful, innovative, cost effective and certainly worth considering for 2010.

"It is amazing how much technology can do for students to enhance their learning and personal development. I wish we had these tech affordances when we were students, things could have been much easier. Technology, however, is only effective when it is leveraged in the right way and to the right purposes. The first step in the effective use of technology is to have access to the educational tools available out there. This is usually a daunting task as the web is teeming with all kinds of tools and it could take you forever to find, assess and evaluate the tools you want to use. To this end, the folks in Open Colleges have compiled this excellent list featuring 20 educational apps and gadgets. Students can use these tools to perform a variety of learning tasks from writing and researching to managing their time efficiently.  Together with these apps there are also some handy study tips for students to boost to their creativity. I spent sometime going through these tips and found them really worth a share here."

"Over the past few months, I've had the opportunity to run a number of sessions for teachers, which started as sessions entitled, "Tools for Engagement." For the session, I'd model a handful of tools for efficiency, management, and engagement, and then give participants time to explore and then crowdsource their favorite digital tools as well. Upon leaving the collaborative session, all participants would leave with a copy of the creation we had developed together. This past week at FETC, I had the opportunity to do this session again, alongside about 100 educators from all over the country. Upon completion of the session, a participant asked, "Can we share this document with those we work with?" My response? "Better yet, share it with every educator that you know that can benefit." In an effort to try and practice what I preach, I want to share the crowdsourced resource with YOU ALL as well. So, here it is…"

"Maker education (often referred to as "Maker Ed") is a new school of educational thought that focuses on delivering constructivist, project-based learning curriculum and instructional units to students. Maker education spaces can be as large as full high school workshops with high-tech tools, or as small and low-tech as one corner of an elementary classroom. A makerspace isn't just about the tools and equipment, but the sort of learning experience the space provides to students who are making projects. Maker Ed places a premium on the balance between exploration and execution. Small projects lend themselves to indefinite tinkering and fiddling, while larger projects need complex, coordinated planning. Often, small projects can organically grow into larger and larger projects. This deliberate process strengthens and enriches a learner's executive functioning skills. Additionally, communication and collaboration are two of Maker Ed's fundamental values. Making allows learners to practice their social communication skills in a variety of groupings, whether affinity-based, role-specific or teacher-assigned. It's important for all different groups to be present in student learning spaces so that all students can practice their social skills in multiple settings. Lastly, Making presents unique opportunities to generate flow learning and allow the teacher to leverage high-interest projects and activities and turn them into learning objectives within a curriculum. Maker education provides space for real-life collaboration, integration across multiple disciplines, and iteration-the opportunity to fail, rework a project and find success. The benefits of a cooperative learning environment are well documented in a makerspace. If you are wondering how to connect these projects back to the Common Core Standards, check out PBL Through a Maker's Lens and Woodshop Cowboy."

"If you're looking for effective and popular school tools to test out this fall, look no further. Every week, EdSurge delivers its educator-specific INSTRUCT newsletter (sign-up here) with a section on "S'Cool Tools," calling attention to 3-5 edtech tools we've found, tested, and given our surging seal of approval. And out of 75+ S'Cool Tools showcased in INSTRUCT during Q3 (July, August, September), ten products have risen to the top based on the number of clicks they've received from our INSTRUCT readers. Check them out below!"

"Compared with how academic research was carried out in the pre-internet era, It seems like technology is really a godsend gift to researchers. From easy and unlimited access to journal articles to web tools that do the referencing and auto-syncing, everything has been digitized making it way easier for todays researchers to add to the body of the human knowledge than any time in history. As a web 2.0 researcher and a graduate student in the faculty of education in Mount Saint Vincent University, I have had the chance to experiment with a wide variety of web tools that can make your academic life much more easier. Below are some of the web tools I have been recommending to undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate and PHD students, and professors. Check them out below and make sure you share them with your colleagues, they could be in dire need for them. Enjoy"

"Whiteboard animation videos are videos that draw themselves. They involve an animated use of images, shapes, characters, sounds and voice-overs to create a clip. This form of video production has been very popular recently and is widely used by some leading educational YouTube channels such as TED Ed and RSA Animate. Creating a whiteboard animation video is no longer a graphic designer's job. There are actually several web tools that allow you to easily put together an animated video with as simple tools as drag and drop. As a teacher, you can  use these animations to create and share tutorials,  presentations, step by tsp guides, and many more. Below are three  of my favourite tools I would recommend for you:"

"Creating tutorials and explanatory guides is best done through the help of screenshots. These are pictures we take of our screens to share with others or include in a visual demonstration of how, for example, a process works. As teachers and educators we often find ourselves in need of such visual annotations and cues to enhance our students comprehensibility. There are several web tools that we can use to create screenshots and we have already reviewed some of them in past publications here. Today, we are introducing you to what we consider to be the best 4 web tools for creating screenshots. Besides being free, these tools are very simple to use and are also student friendly. They will allow you to  capture your screen, crop and annotate your pictures using  arrows, colours, shapes, text and many more. "

"In this initial weekly roundup of what's happening on Product Genius, I wanted to share some of the trending educational web tools we've been using. Since the site is so new, a lot of these tools are based on what I've been seeing and personally using. As time goes on, we'll get a more crowdsourced version of this list. For now, I wanted to share some of the tools I've been seeing and wanting others to know about."

"Free educational tools-what could be better? Anytime, anywhere, teachers like to have plenty of resources to pick from to help them create great classroom experiences to engage their students. We've got some wonderful content-packed free educational tools for teachers to explore. They're online and ready to be discovered! There are slideshows, printables, lesson plans, downloadable content and guides, videos, and much more. The sites listed below offer lots of stuff for all subjects and grades, so dive in and see what you can dig up."

"Which digital device is the better learning tool for students - a Chromebook or an iPad? If you're not aware of the hottest current digital device debate, you're probably not a parent or an educator. Once upon a time, that debate might have been about VHS vs. Beta, or Mac vs. PC. However, in prime time ed tech school district circles, folks are fiercely focused on Chromebooks vs. iPads (both now below $400). The big question? Which is the smarter purchase for their students? On the flip side of the classroom debate, Mom and Dad might not like the fact that portable digital tools are becoming more and more invasive. However, how's a parent to ignore these must-have lightweight mobile monsters, which are antiquating the family desktop and nurturing independence? Not to mention all your kids' friends seem to have one. So which digital device is best?" If you're not aware of the hottest current digital device debate, you're probably not a parent or an educator. Once upon a time, that debate might have been about VHS vs. Beta, or Mac vs. PC. However, in prime time ed tech school district circles, folks are fiercely focused on Chromebooks vs. iPads (both now below $400). The big question? Which is the smarter purchase for their students? On the flip side of the classroom debate, Mom and Dad might not like the fact that portable digital tools are becoming more and more invasive. However, how's a parent to ignore these must-have lightweight mobile monsters, which are antiquating the family desktop and nurturing independence? Not to mention all your kids' friends seem to have one. So which digital device is best?"

ÈAs educators and curators of educational technology we know that technology is a tool that complements instruction. As such, the strength of the tool is predicated on its use by a skillful educator. There are certainly some exciting and revolutionary innovations and technology as a tool can be quite powerful if it encourages creative discovery or reinforces foundational knowledge."