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"16Hertz, an educational electronics company based in New York City announces the release of their illustrated, graphic-novel style guide, "The Illustrated Arduino". The guide is over 75 pages long, and contains hundreds of hand-drawn illustrations that take the readers through getting up-and-running with electronics prototyping and Arduino programming.   Written by career educators and makers, Aditya Kumarakrishnan and Adiel Fernandez, "The Illustrated Arduino" is a comprehensive guide created to be easily accessible to readers of all experience levels looking for a way to jump into the world of microcontrollers. When the duo dove into the Arduino community, they had a difficult time finding a comprehensive, clear guidebook for beginners. Having taught programming, physical computing and design to students of all ages from middle schools to universities, they sought out to create a guide that is easy-to-follow, great to look at all while still being rigorous. "We set out to create the most beautiful, user-friendly, pedagogically sound and rigorous guide book for the Arduino in the world", says Aditya. They've released the guide under a Creative Commons license, encouraging the larger community to share and use its content freel"

"Guided Access, or what we to call "Kid Mode", is a fantastic addition to iOS that lets you lock an iPhone or iPad into a single app. Well, great when it works as it's intended, but it appears there's a pretty frustrating bug that makes the feature work a little too well once it's enabled in iOS 6 with some apps: triple-clicking the Home button doesn't summon anything and you're stuck in an app! This leaves you unable to leave Guided Access mode, but here's a workaround to get out of it until the bug is resolved:"

""Managing iPad YouTube in Schools" is a visual guide created by iPadWells from iPad4Schools. In this guide iPadWells walks teachers through the process they use in their school to create, share and teach using videos. YouTube is the principal video hosting used in this guide. That being said, it does not mean that the guide is not relevant for your teaching situation even if YuTube is banned in your school. You can still benefit from the tips and ideas provided by iPadWells on how to create enhanced videos using a wide variety of apps and share them with students who can access them at home."

"When thinking of ways to support those who are legally blind, two supports often come to mind. Guide dogs and Braille. It's no wonder. Guide dogs provide their owners with a sense of freedom, an increased level of confidence, and a feeling of safety. Blind people who know Braille and use it find success, independence, productivity, and are more likely to find employment. Surprisingly though, of the 1.3 million people in the United States who are legally blind, only about 2% have guide dogs according to Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Also surprising is that fewer than 10 percent are Braille readers according to a report from the National Federation of the Blind. Unfortunately, these supports are currently generally reserved for the elite in our society because of cost and access. These are unfortunate statistics. Fortunately, there are low-to-no-cost technologies that provide support to the visually impaired and blind population. Five technologies to support the visually impaired and legally blind. "

"Primary Possibilities designed this awesome visual guide that walks you through the process of locking your students into the app you are working with them on. This is a good way to keep your students focused and on task. I am sharing this guide with you below and I invite you to spend some time on it."

"I believe mobile devices transform learning when integrated effectively. Our students have powerful devices that they can carry in their pockets. With their devices students can capture images, make videos, record audio, access the Internet, and so much more! These tools will work without Internet access. When we download apps and have Internet access, our learners have endless opportunities to learn by creati"

"I gave the guide for Pages a bit of a spruce up and I have uploaded the latest version to this web site. It covers just about everything you may need to know. Pages is quite a good app and if Apple only allowed users to access DropBox for the sharing of files it would be even better.*"

"Many educators don't realize that Skype could be a valuable classroom asset that gives students lots of new opportunities to learn. When you hear about Skype, you most likely think of video calls that you might make in your spare time. However, there is an entire world of untapped resources available through Skype for your school. If you have been trying to incorporate new ideas into your classroom, signing up for a Microsoft Educator Community membership might be a smart move. You can give your students access to tons of resources and real-world experiences that will deepen their knowledge of the concepts you teach. Find out what sort of classroom activities you could plan in our essential guide to the use of Skype in your classroom."

"The Lock screen exists in between states, when your iPhone or iPad is no longer asleep, but is also not yet open and fully functional. It can protect your device from unauthorized access and actions by a simple slide-to-unlock gesture, by a 4 number pin-code, by a strong alpha-numeric password, or Apple's Touch ID fingerprint identity scanner. Yet the Lock screen can be functional as well. If you want to, you can access Notification Center and Control Center, the Camera, and Siri. On the iPhone, you can even make emergency calls. Yes, the Lock screen can be secure or it can be convenient, it's entirely up to you!"

"Yesterday when I posted "How to Control What Students Can Do on iPad Using Guided Access", somebody emailed me asking for an iPad basics guide to share with her students. I have had a look at my archive and found this wonderful presentation.The slideshow below features the essential and basic tips iPad beginners need to know about in order to tap into the full potential of this versatile device."

"In this guide we will describe all the features that are found in the Windows Features window. Read this guide to learn how to access it: How to Add or Remove (Un)Wanted Windows Features, Programs or Apps."

"Apple has introduced Guided Access in iOS 6. It keeps your device in a single app and allows you to control which features are available. "

"Parental Controls, also known as Restrictions, allow you to set what your children can and can't access on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. With Parental Controls, you can lock out Safari, Camera, FaceTime, Siri, AirDrop, CarPlay, the iTunes, iBooks, Podcasts, or App Stores (including in-app purchases), as well as content by age rating, and the ability to make changes to accounts and other app settings. In other words, they're a way to block your child's access to anything and everything you deem inappropriate for them based on their age and sensitivity, and your own best judgement. And they're part of what make Apple devices an ideal computing platform for kids!"

"The value of technology, as Apple Education states, is in its empowering character, when individuals use it to extend their physical and cognitive limitations and transform their learning. Technology opens a world of limitless learning possibilities for persons with learning difficulties and in today's post we are featuring some of the important features embedded in iPad that can help complement learners' vision, hearing, motor skills, and literacy. To access these assistive features head over to your iPad home screen and click on settings icon, next click on General and select Accessibility and then turn on the features you are interested in. Some of the assistive features as lied out in Apple's guide include:"

Google sends invitations to people who have been active on Google Maps for a while and have written many reviews. These people are called "Local Guides" (or LGs). If you're invited, you can apply by completing a few short surveys about yourself and what type of user experience you want from Google Maps. Then you will receive an email inviting you to join the program - and voila! You also became an LG! You get access to special features such as: Such as the ability to add photos of places or write reviews without having to know anything about those places beforehand (but that doesn't mean you can just write whatever comes to mind; there are rules).

"According to Wikipedia, a QR code is " a specific matrix bar code ( or two-dimensional code ), readable by dedicated QR bar code readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL, or other data." Teachers can use this technology for a wide variety of educational purposes. In this excellent video tutorial, Red Squirrel demonstrates 11 ways you can use QR codes in your class (e.g: create handouts with links to online content; enrich your content by adding links to online videos, documents and PDFs where students can access more information about topics taught; create QR codes that can show answers to a specific exercise or instructions on how to carry out a certain activity …etc, make books interactive and many more)."

"The [Home screen](/home screen) - known behind the scenes as SpringBoard - is the central hub of iPhone and iPad activity. It's not a destination. You're not meant to linger there and stare. It's a transport, a gateway. It's what gets you to your apps and your content. From the Home screen you can tap app and game icons, music and video players, web browsers and online stores. You can also access Spotlight to quickly search for apps, content, and more, and invoke Multitasking, Notification Center, Control Center, Siri, and more."