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"Games are being used much more widely in schools than they were when I first started writing about them 2 or 3 years ago. As of fall 2013, 74% of K-8 teachers were using digital games. 55% of these teachers have students playing digital games at least weekly, 9% daily. The games they are using are mostly designed to be educational, with only 5% playing commercial games, and 8% playing hybrids (commercial games adapted for education like MincraftEDU or SimCityEdu). These insights come from Joan Ganz Cooney Center at the Sesame Workshop, who recently released a study surveying K-8 teachers in order to understand how they are implementing digital games in their classrooms."

"As teachers and educators, we are constantly required to review, evaluate and renew our teaching strategies to align them with  the cultural, technological and pedagogical ethos of the era we are living in. In today's era, the digital component is at the foreground which obviously calls for a new mindset, a novel conceptual framework that views technology not as an end itself but solely a mean to an educational end. It is a truism that digitally has opened a new horizon of unprecedented learning opportunities and experiences  but we can only tap into its full educational potential when we equip ourselves with the proper mindset: a growth and open mindset that as much as it adapts it also disrupts the century-old orthodoxies underlying teaching and learning practice. Teaching is a dynamic concept which is constantly evolving and expanding and that is why teachers and educators are forever learners. Engaging in such a life-long learning journey entails that teachers develop a set of robust thinking habits that allow them to fit in the rapidly evolving educational landscape.These habits are, according to Reid Wilson, what make the profile of a modern educator. Below is an awesome visual created by Wilson featuring some of the characteristics of a modern teacher which I want to bring to your attention. Have a look and share with us what you think of it. Enjoy"

"The humble question is an indispensable tool: the spade that helps us dig for truth, or the flashlight that illuminates surrounding darkness. Questioning helps us learn, explore the unknown, and adapt to change. That makes it a most precious "app" today, in a world where everything is changing and so much is unknown. And yet, we don't seem to value questioning as much as we should. For the most part, in our workplaces as well as our classrooms, it is the answers we reward -- while the questions are barely tolerated. To change that is easier said than done. Working within an answers-based education system, and in a culture where questioning may be seen as a sign of weakness, teachers must go out of their way to create conditions conducive to inquiry. Here are some suggestions (based on input from question-friendly teachers, schools, programs, and organizations) on how to encourage more questioning in the classroom and hopefully, beyond it."

"Last month I shared some of the great features from News-O-Matic's new update and there is one more you are sure to love.  Teachers using this app can choose between different reading levels for students.  Each article is adapted by News-O-Matic's editorial team to fit three reading levels (400L-600L, 600L-750L and 750-1050L).  These categories are connected to ranges of Lexile levels - a readability measure that helps measure text complexity. Teachers can assign different reading levels to each student in their class so they automatically receive news articles on their tablet that are the right level for them."

"Google has become one of the most popular tools in schools today. With its broad and flexible system of apps, there are many ways to adapt them into a classroom to help you explore new and dynamic ways of presenting materials or having students build projects! If you teach in the art department (with either Studio Art or Art History), here are three ways to use Google to facilitate your classroom workflow and to allow students to showcase their work."

"There is one education trend that is, well, trending. It's called project-based learning (some refer to it as PBL) and it's essentially a way to organize in-classroom learning around dedicated projects that the students oversee and are responsible for completing. There are keys to mastering PBL if you're a teacher and the always great Edutopia has assembled a quick video that explains exactly what the keys are. Below is a fun little graphic we adapted for this video if watching videos isn't your thing (or you don't have the time right now)."

"It's becoming difficult to read the news in Los Angeles these days without running across yet another article about the problems faced by the sputtering LAUSD iPad initiative. Finally, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy announced this week that they were suspending the contracts with Apple and Pearson amid increasing scrutiny and investigation of the bidding process. According to Deasy, "it will also give us time to take into account concerns raised surrounding the project". There were always valid questions surrounding a bidding process that granted enormous contracts for digital courses that had not yet been developed. It's unfortunate however that an investigation into the bidding process became the catalyst for the project's suspension when it was the planning and implementation that fell woefully short in so many areas. Hindsight may be 20-20 but many were already pointing out substantial flaws in the plan at its initial announcement. As educators we know that failure is the breeding ground for learning and adapting. With that in mind, here are 5 lessons that can be drawn from the LAUSD iPad experience."

"Creativity, according to Albert Einstein, is intelligence having fun and for most neuro-cognitive scientists creativity is something that is inherently born with us and the proof is kids. All kids draw on their sharp sense of creativity to discover and explore the world around them. They can easily adapt their behaviour to new situations, develop new thinking skills and are constantly engaged in trying out "new ways of doing stuff". Sir Ken Robinson made a strong argument in this regard in his popular TED talk "schools kill creativity". Ken argued that kids come to school bursting with  creativity and by the time they graduate they have lost most if not all of their creativity. Sounds like schools are "educating kids out of creativity"!"

"Educators literally have a "world of knowledge and resources" at their fingertips, as one director of curriculum and instructional technology declared in response to THE Journal's national survey. "What better way to learn about the situation in Syria than tweeting #Syria and receiving a tweet from someone there?" But guiding your students in learning new concepts, gaining insights and building their skills requires you to be comfortable with the technologies that can make all of that happen. Where do you start? We asked your colleagues that same question, and they responded in multitudes. Their recommendations covered the alphabetic gamut, from adaptivity and apps to wikis and a willingness to learn. We compiled and consolidated 121 different results to develop this year's list of five must-have multimedia skills for 2015."

"A student writes a program. What are you going to assess it on? There are at least 16 criteria you could take into account. Not all of these will be apposite - it depends on what you're teaching and who you're teaching. Also, I've framed the list below in teacher language; it's up to you to adapt it into language that is more appropriate for your students."

"What does 'the internet of things' mean, anyway? It is a term that I've heard periodically over the past few years but explored little and never wrote about here, as it doesn't specifically refer to education and there are so many other (specifically) relevant things to share and talk about. The short explanation is that the Internet of Things refers to the interconnectedness of devices of all types - especially 'smart' devices that can react, anticipate, and adapt as necessary. In short, this interconnectedness and advancing technology is expected to simplify automation in so many areas of our lives."

"Nobody likes hearing their own voice played back. Now there is a science to why this is, but it really is no excuse for avoiding the time saving, class improving and future embracing process that is screencasting. And with amazingly simple, adaptable and free tools such as Screencast-O-Matic the excuses are even more thin on the ground. Just a matter of clicking a link and hitting record, it's easy to see why Screencast-O-Matic is the number one pick for screencasting educators everywhere."

"Your wallet and your phone are probably the two items you carry around with you the most. What if you can combine the two together and carry just one item? Now you can with the new Q Card Case for the iPhone 5 by CM4. The Q Card Case is a 2-in-1 device that functions both as a protective casing for your iPhone5 as well as a wallet. It has space to comfortably fit 3 credit card sized cards plus cash. The case is made from a special patent pending soft-touch rubber and premium fabric. It also has a cut out slots for quick access to the cards as well for accessing all the buttons on your iPhone. It even has a big cut out at the bottom of the case to allow for in-case charging as well as fully compatible with Apple's Lightning port to 30-pin port adapter. The Q Card Case is available in 4 colors - Black Onyx, Mahogany Brown, Pacific Green and Red Rouge." By-The Xpert Crew @ http://techvedic.com https://www.facebook.com/techvedicinc https://twitter.com/techvedicinc http://pinterest.com/techvedic1 http://techvedicinc.tumblr.com/ https://plus.google.com/u/0/110467075169904075419/

"Skills like vocabulary and foreign language speaking are right in the sweet spot of what unattended and automated-often considered the very worst kind-can do. But it needn't be that way. Handing a student a tablet as they practice basic skills with an app-especially one with adaptive design-is a perfectly legitimate use of edtech as far as we're concerned, and language learning is very much a part of that. So with that in mind are ten of the best language learning apps for 2015, updated to include those with social dynamics, like HelloTalk, recent entries like Rosetta Stone, and stalwart Duolingo. We've also made an effort to include multiple languages, including Mandarin, French, Spanish, and English."

"A person's culture deeply impacts his or her way of thinking and learning; that presents a special challenge to educators because modern classrooms often have a beautiful mishmash of students from different backgrounds. How can you adapt and demonstrate cultural awareness in your teaching? The following resources may help."

"Presentation Title: Building Learning Keynote - Making the Case for Making in Schools Presentation Description: The Maker Movement is a revolutionary global collaboration of people learning to solve problems with modern tools and technology. Adults and children are combining new technologies and timeless craft traditions to create exciting projects and control their world. The implications are profound for schools and districts concerned with engaging students, maintaining relevance, and preparing children to solve problems unanticipated by the curriculum. The technological game-changers of 3D printing, physical computing and computer science require and fuel transformations in the learning environment. K-12 educators can adapt the powerful technology and "can do" maker ethos to revitalize learner-centered teaching and learning in all subject areas."

"For too many students, doing mathematics means just plugging numbers into a memorized formula to get an answer. And because they don't understand the formulas they're using, they often fail to use the right one. Take a look at Isaac's work below, for example. He is a fifth grade student who tried to find the surface area of a rectangular prism by incorrectly adapting a previously memorized formula for calculating perimeter. He calculated two times the length plus two times the width (2L + 2W) and tried to account for the height by multiplying it by 4, then adding it to the previous sum. Unfortunately, Isaac is not alone in this type of approach. Students who use formulas by rote may never come to see mathematics as sense-making and may never understand the formulas they use. And there are so many formulas to memorize! Teachers who prematurely introduce students to formulas risk denying them opportunities to develop the necessary conceptual foundations for mathematical understanding."

"The adoption of active learning techniques means discarding the traditional notion of what a "classroom" is and developing a new type of contemporary learning space: one that is more flexible, agile adaptive and equipped with technology to both personalize and expand conditions for learning. The comprehensive research, real-world examples, insights and exercises contained within the pages of Get Active: Reimagining Learning Spaces for Student Success provide that crucial first step for any educator or administrator looking to support today's learners with active learning concepts that will best prepare them for tomorrow's world."

"The iPad 2 is Apple's longest supported iDevice. Even though it was released in 2011, it still runs the latest - albeit stripped down - version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 9. A lot has changed since the iPad 2 was first released. Apple has developed faster processors, Retina screens, an entirely new cable, dedicated graphics chips, and a whole lot more. The iPad 2 uses an A5 chip while the latest iDevices use an A9. It doesn't have a retina screen and requires an old 30-pin iPod-era cable. The iPad 2 really can't handle the latest and greatest apps or games. In fact, it can struggle just running iOS  9. What was once a zippy tablet is now pretty slow to use. This isn't a problem if you stick to a single app, but jumping between them or launching new ones can take what feels like an age. This doesn't mean an iPad 2 is useless, it just means that how you use it has to adapt."

"At 3Doodler, we are committed to supporting educators with curricular materials that inspire and make it easy to create. The materials hosted on this page are designed to introduce the 3Doodler into classrooms, libraries, museums, and makerspaces. All materials are freely available and downloadable. Educators should feel free to adapt, hack or modify the suggested activities, lesson plans and units to meet their needs and those of their students. "