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"Technology is transforming several key educational concepts and least of which is the concept of professional development. Just a decade ago, teachers were limited as to the type and number of professional development webinars available to them and school districts were virtually the main source of such webinars. Now with a device connected to Internet, you have a whole bastions of PD sessions at your fingertips and right from the comfort of your couch. It is all thanks to the power of connectedness."

"Dig-It! Games, an independent developer of educational, interactive games founded by a former archaeologist and middle school teacher, has launched Can U Dig It!, its latest free game app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch that turns kids into archaeologists as they dig for ancient artifacts using logic and a little luck. The puzzle app virtually transports players 11 and older to excavation sites in Central America to carefully collect more than 40 historically accurate artifacts."

"Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services2 rocket_science Rocket Science 101 is a free iPad app offered by NASA. The app is designed to help students understand how rockets work and understand the differences between the four types of rockets most frequently used by NASA. In Rocket Science 101 students can build all four rockets in a jigsaw-like activity then virtually launch their rockets. When the rockets are launched students see the timing of each stage of the launch from surface to orbit."

"When we made the decision to equip our students with iPads, either for class use for our younger users or 1:1 for students in the senior school and sixth form, we knew we were unlocking a host of opportunities. Some were easily identified, others have gradually revealed themselves through an iterative process. An illustrative list in no order of priority includes the benefits of instant access to the Internet without the hassle of booking IT rooms; enriched digital communication; a range of handy apps; a virtual multimedia studio; and the creation of our own iBooks and iTunesU resources tailored to the learning needs of our students. What we did not perhaps appreciate was the impact digital devices could have on the physical learning environment. "

"If you are using or planning to use iPad in your instruction the apps below are definitely a must have. These are apps that will help you organize your class and enhance students learning. Some of the things you can do with these applications include: create virtual spaces for your classes, share materials with your students such as files and documents, get students to pass in their assignments, post reminders, share quizzes and homework assignments with students, send reports to parents and school administrators  and many more."

"Reading Teacher is a site that's been around for awhile. There used to be a cost involved, but just last week they made it free-of-charge. It has one or two hundred online books for very beginning readers - sort of an expanded version of Starfall. Many of the books have short quizzes after them. Though it's free to individual users, it does cost $20 if you want to create a virtual classroom of 29 students to track their progress. I am using it, and will in the future, as another option for Beginning ELLs, particularly ones who have been out of school for a long time."

"My objective with this wide-ranging set of skills, and involving the community so closely in their development, is to give kids the chance to practice whatever makes them passionate now and feel encouraged -- even if they're obsessed with making stuff exclusively with duct tape. It's crucial that kids learn how to be passionate for the rest of their lives. To start, they must first learn what it feels like to be simultaneously challenged and confident. It's my instinct that we should not try to introduce these experiences through skills we value as much as look for opportunities to develop them, as well as creativity and literacy, in the skills they already love. MAGICIANS CRAFT ILLUSIONS THAT BAFFLE THE SENSES AND CONFUSE OUR REASONING. THEY PLAN LIKE SCIENTISTS, BUT PERFORM AS ARTISTS. ONLY THROUGH LONG AND DISCIPLINED PREPARATION DO THEY SUCCEED. It's difficult to predict which skills will be valuable in the future, and even more challenging to see the connection between our children's interests and these skills. Nothing illustrates this better than Minecraft, a popular game that might be best described as virtual LEGOs. Calling it a game belies the transformation it has sparked: An entire generation is learning how to create 3D models using a computer. Now, I wonder, what sort of businesses, communication, entertainment or art will be possible? Cathy Davidson, a scholar of learning technology, concluded that 65% of children entering grade school this year will end up working in careers that haven't even been invented yet. I bet today's kids will eventually explore outcomes and create jobs only made possible by the influence of Minecraft in their lives. Why take any chances and build your dream house with blueprints alone? The Minecraft kid could easily make a realistic 3D model of one for you to walk through before you build. That's why DIY treats Minecraft as a tool, not a game, and encourages our members to use it to pursue art, architect

"Join young inventors and artists from around the world on Google+ to make awesome projects, go on epic virtual "field trips," and meet the world's coolest makers. Maker Camp inspires kids ages 13-18* to embrace their inner maker, get their hands dirty, fix some things, break some things, and have a lot of fun doing it. Week 1: Makers in Motion Week 2: Art and Design Week 3: Fun and Games Week 4: Science and Technology Week 5: DIY Music Week 6: Make: Believe"

The entire concept is really quite simple.  The Mobile MakerSpace carts that line the hallway leading into our Media Center are capable of transporting new opportunities and tools to virtually any space in our school.  Whether it's high-tech 3D printing and modular robotics or low-tech knitting and plastic construction blocks…the carts contain tools that elicit collaboration and unleash student creativity."

A no-cost, self-directed, virtual school built for the vocal health of U.S. teachers

"Recently the Center for Teaching Quality launched a #Teachingis campaign for teachers to tweet different visions and realities of teaching. The responses were varied and poignant. As we know, teaching is ever changing and virtually indescribable in its complexity. Reading the tweets of "what #Teachingis" helped me think more deeply about the multilayered identities that we have as teachers. These many roles and identities change from moment to moment, and shift throughout the course of a school year. "

"How many times have you heard that "practice makes perfect?" Well, a new meta-analysis of dozens of previous studies shows that it is not always true. In this post, Alfie Kohn explains and talks about the consequences of this when it comes to education. Kohn is the author of 13 books about education and human behavior, including "The Schools Our Children Deserve," "The Homework Myth," and "The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Children and Parenting." He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.org."

"Rugged Rovers is a free iPad app in which students can create simple designs for space rovers. Students draw a design for their rovers then add up eight wheels to it before taking it for a virtual test drive. Students test their rover designs by driving them across a Mars spacescape."

"GeoCraft enables schools and local businesses to work together to encourage learning about sustainability through Minecraft,  a hugely popular video game set in virtual 3D worlds made up of cubes of different materials. Using Ordnance Survey data, it would stimulate children to think about environmental challenges and ideas to solve these, and could be fed back to the local business to implement. Zoe tells us what's been happened since winning funding form GeoVation."

"Just poking around looking for resources, I fell into this really interesting project carrying the logo from Bourne Grammar School. It's a project constructed by Marc Scott that lets you use Scratch to create your own LOL Cat.  It's titled "A Virtual Pet in Scratch" and released under a Creative Commons license. This isn't a simple, straight-forward project as the menu driving the project will attest."

"ACCORDING TO AYAH Bdeir, technology is the language of our time. The 33-year-old founder and CEO of littleBits likes to compare the engineers of today to the clergy of the Middle Ages, who controlled access to knowledge and power via their monopoly over the use and understanding of the written word. Today's engineers have a special kind of social and technological influence, which derives from their understanding of the stuff that makes our everyday gadgets work. If our lives today depend on technology, then those who truly understand it have an outsized influence over the rest of us. In Bdeir's view, littleBits-a range of Lego-like electronic circuits that can be used by virtually anyone to innovate their own gadgets-isn't just a plaything, it's an aid to achieving widespread tech literacy. You might even think of littleBits as a democratizing project. "You see these kids growing up with laptops and smartphones, and by the time they're toddlers, they already seem so tech savvy," Bdeir notes. "But they don't actually understand how the technology works. They're great at navigating around a touchscreen, but if they only ever know that much, they'll wind up relying on other people-these specialists who studied engineering in school-to decide what kind of technology they have access to.""

"A new whitepaper from personalized learning nonprofit KnowledgeWorks explores how wearables, augmented reality and virtual reality could play out in education. Take one example shared in the report of a fourth-grader: She's wearing a Hello Kitty "smart sleeve" and toting her tablet in a matching knapsack as she heads into the homework center after school and begins to tackle a writing assignment. After 10 minutes of staring at a blank screen and experiencing a rising heart rate, her wearable triggers a "nudge" from an app that reminds her that it's OK to ask for help. She clicks on an icon and receives a holographic image of her coach in a corner of her device, calmly and clearly offering her immediate help."

"To help educators enhance their knowledge and "in-demand" skills so they can integrate their learning into classrooms, ICTC would like to introduce a new initiative called CyberEd, a National Cyber Security Awareness & Training Initiative. This initiative has been made possible in part by a grant from the Cisco Networking Academy, an advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. A part of this initiative, 130 educators in middle and secondary schools will have the opportunity to receive training in Cisco's Introduction to Cyber Security and/or Cyber Security Essentials courses at no cost, with resources included to help them integrate cyber security into student learning. Additionally, 8-10 educators will have the opportunity to receive training in CCNA 1 & 2 at no cost who are interested in deepening their studies. These professional development opportunities will take place virtually. The courses will be facilitated/led by an instructor, while some elements of the course material will also be self-directed. All courses will be delivered in English at this time."

"Last year I had the chance to try out a 3D printer for the first time. I chronicled my journey in a few posts including how easy it was to get started and how I was able to print a virtual reality headset. The team at MakerBot has just announced the brand new MakerBot Educators program. This program is designed to bring together teachers who are passionate about using 3D printing in their classrooms. The goal is to create a community of educators who share their experiences and best practices using innovative technology with students. MakerBot has already set up Thingiverse Education as a collection of 3D printing lesson plans for teachers. So it is no surprise that they've created a space for educators from lots of different backgrounds to share the way 3D printing has changed the way teaching and learning happens in their school. I love when companies create special spaces for educators to show off their accomplishments and share their expertise with other teachers."

"A year into the pandemic, the instructional sands keep shifting from in-person, to remote, to concurrent (or hybrid) and back again. And almost every conversation I have with educators regardless of whether they are classroom teachers, instructional specialists or administrators is around student engagement. Sometimes these conversations are with administrators concerned about the increasing numbers of students on the schools D-F list or with teachers disconsolate about students who won't turn on their cameras, turn in work or participate in discussions and whose attendance (virtual or in-person) is sporadic at best. All of them are asking, with some urgency, about how we can boost student engagement under these difficult and fluctuating circumstances. From my vantage point, the causes and symptoms are multi-faceted. We need to partner with students-individually and collectively-to discover the root causes and empower them to be their own antidotes."