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"A few weeks back, I asked the Shake Up Learning Community to share their favorite collaborative tools and this post is a summarization are their top choices. (Click here to join the Shake Up Learning Community.) Collaboration is a critical twenty-first-century skill for our students. Finding ways to facilitate and support collaboration in the classroom is not always easy. Keep in mind that digital tools are not inherently collaborative, it is how you use them to facilitate collaboration in your classroom. All of the tools below have the capability but may support collaboration in different ways."

"So, you've got an iPad and it's starting to get a little slow on you. Stop me if this sound familiar- first, you do your best to free up as much storage space as you can muster by deleting old, unused apps. Next, you decide to offload your photo library and data to iCloud, or whatever other preferred cloud service you choose. Still not enough? While these are very intuitive, and useful steps, there are still a few additional methods available to you to bring your iPad back to life and make it feel like it's a newer device once again. In no particular order…"

"Kids across the nation are back in school, and moms and dads everywhere are rejoicing. If your kids still bring lunch to school, you can use some of that extra kidless time to download a few of these apps, which contain some great ideas for kid-friendly food. Peanut butter and jelly gets boring, so spice up those lunches with recipes from these apps."

"The summer break is winding up and many teachers are getting ready to head back to work for another school year (and many IT staffers in those schools are trying to make sure everything's ready when those teachers return)"

"Teachers need to reinvent themselves, like Miley Cyrus. We need to come in like a wrecking ball and smash our traditional approach. Like Miley did. Hannah Montana was great! But her audience changed. With time, her fans grew up and started to leave Hannah behind. So what did she do? Cut her hair, ramped up her wardrobe and engaged her audience again. Please understand, I do not align myself with any of the twerking or ridiculously bizarre on and off stage behaviour. But as one of my smarter senior students pointed out, she is the consummate marketer. Gimmicks aside, she did grab her audience back."

"Whether presenting to a class or audience, for most, interactivity is appreciated. One technique I enjoy is to ask participants to discuss an issue with colleagues. I generally leave the presentation platform to access the timer and countdown music, then come back to it.  But that can get annoying and sort of glitchy.  I thought there had to be a better way. There is. The trick is that you embed a timer that has been turned into a YouTube video. YouTube is used because it can be embedded into most presentation platforms. Then you use a picture in picture technique to indicate time is running out with game show music and follow that up with a  "time is up" sound effect."

"How can participant-led, one-day events open up new possibilities for professional learning? "I have heard more positive feedback on this day than any other professional development I have ever been a part of. I keep wondering why we didn't take our professional development in this direction a lot earlier. If we want classrooms where we are teaching students to be collaborative and more proactive in their learning, don't we have to set up a culture where we trust teachers to do the same?" -Patrick Larkin (2010), assistant superintendent Hundreds of quotes like this one have been circulating within the Twittersphere and Blogosphere since May 2010. What's all the buzz about? Edcamp."

"By definition, you are reading this on an electronic device. More than likely a tablet or a phone. And if that's the case, then it's more than likely that you're hunched over a little, head forward. Did you just sit up straighter? Thought so… The noises from medical researchers are increasingly shrill on the damage done to us by technology  and the back pain it causes - slumped postures, 'text neck' caused by leaning over our devices is causing wear and tear from the extra pressure the unnatural postures put on our spines. The warnings are, more and more, that this is reaching 'epidemic' proportions, with 'significant' numbers looking like they will need corrective surgery. So are you going to give up your mobile and tablet? No, of course not, that would just be silly, wouldn't it? So instead, try some corrective actions:"

"The rush to grit is pretty intense, but so is the push-back. I've been writing about grit in articles and a book (Fostering Grit) and giving lots of presentations on the subject. I've spoken to schools and parents; presented at conferences; and have been a guest on NPR. Universally, grit is embraced. Everyone sees the merit in teaching our kids to accept challenges, step out of their comfort zones, and know how to respond to failure. So far, so good. Grit is hanging in and never giving up, but it's more than that. Grit is being comfortable when you are outside of your comfort zone, and it's forging ahead when you hit the wall because you know that you'll get up and continue moving forward. Grit is a life skill! But sometimes teachers are uncomfortable with the notion of fostering or teaching for grit. They're uneasy with the role they must play and I get that. We went into education because we wanted to help students: we like it when they succeed and it gratifies us when our class is filled with smiles. When our kids do well, it tells us we've done a good job!"

"If you sync your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch on your Mac, you know that the first thing iTunes does is back it up (unless you've told it not to). Depending on the size of your device and how much data you have stored on it, this can gobble up dozens of gigabytes of space. Did you know you can move those backups to an external hard drive? You can, and we can walk you through how. "

""ICE CREAM!" A group of six year olds are grinning as a small girl holds a laminated picture in her hands. Calmly, she puts it down and picks up the robot bee sitting in front of her. It has five buttons on top: forwards, left, right, back and go. The girl prods a few of them in turn, puts the bee down and presses go. It trundles across a colourful mat, turns left and stops on a picture of an ice cream cone. Everyone cheers. This short exercise has just taught her basic vocabulary, logic, sequencing and navigation. The robotic bee is one of four high-tech toys being trialled with pre-school children across Singapore. It is part of a new scheme - called Playmaker - using technology to give the next generation skills the they require. GI caught up with with the educators, technologists and government officials behind the scheme to find out more."

"I was first inspired to explore stop-motion when I met influential art ed dude Mark Jones. He's the genius behind some of the best stop-motion animation videos designed, written, and created by kids. I was lucky enough to see him at my state art ed conference a few years back. If you haven't seen these videos - watch them before you go any further! The Robot and the Butterfly Stand Up Tall Stand Up Tall: Behind the Scenes (to help visualize the process) See more on Mr. Jones' YouTube channel. After seeing the potential, I asked myself: How do I do this with MY kids?"

"With all the hoopla in regards to maker education and makerspaces I wanted to take a minute to share that this is not a new concept. Has it evolved - definitely! The process of making has been in our DNA since the dawn of human civilization to create tools for hunting and survival.  For many of us who grew up before the Internet, we spent countless hours playing with popular toys such as LEGO's, Lincoln Logs, Construx, and Erector Sets.  It has also been the livelihood for many people and a focus on hobbies or passion projects.  Now we have 3D printers, Arduino's, Raspberry Pi's, Little Bits, Makey-Makey's and an array of other innovative technologies to unleash the maker in all kids.  Regardless of the tool, the process is rooted in constructionism, which can be traced back to constructivism. Jonan Donaldson sums it up nicely: Terms such as collaborative learning, project-based learning, metacognition, inquiry-based learning, and so on, might be new to some audiences, but they have a relatively long and well-documented history for many educators. The most widely-known and promising pedagogical approach is constructivism grounded on the work of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bruner. Constructionism brings creativity, tinkering, exploring, building, and presentation to the forefront of the learning process."

"As an elementary school science teacher, I find this not easy to admit, but some of my students' most rewarding and meaningful classes over the years have happened when I have taken a back seat and let my students "tinker." Whether they want to dam up a stream during a water study, build nests with mud and sticks while investigating local bird populations, or, after completing a set of Lego models, independently design and build spinning Lego tops from which energetic battles ensue, students love having time to explore and investigate independently. This fall, for example, I let a third-grade class have a "free choice period." I gave them a list of things that they could do, such as making crystals, handling pet rocks or having a dance party. Instead, they came up with their own idea: they wanted to make boats. So, I gathered materials and allowed them to use handsaws and hot glue guns (which they'd already been taught how to use safely). Of course, many teachers allow and encourage students to engage in creative play: we know that young children need the chance to explore, daydream, imagine, play and build without an outcome or even a product in mind-a place free from failure, because failure is not even part of the equation. But this often takes place outside the classroom."

"Book lovers all over the world are starting to wake up and smell the coffee: ebooks are way better than paper books. The benefits are many, like not having to lug around a 10-pound doorstop, being able to bring your whole library with you everywhere, and backing up your entire library to the cloud. But if you're a voracious reader, buying ebook after ebook can burn a huge hole in your wallet. One option is to subscribe to an ebook subscription service that grants access to an entire library of ebooks for a monthly membership of just a few dollars. The other option is to save your money and switch to freely available ebooks instead. You'd be surprised how many ebooks you can get without paying a cent, and that applies to both fiction and non-fiction. Where can you find these free ebooks? Well, we're glad you asked…"

"Please, No More Professional Development! By Peter DeWitt on April 17, 2015 8:10 AM Today's guest blog is written by Kristine Fox (Ed.D), Senior Field Specialist/Research Associate at Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations (QISA). She is a former teacher and administrator who has passion for teacher learning and student voice. Kris works directly with teachers and leaders across the country to help all learners reach their fullest potential. Peter DeWitt recently outlined why "faculty meetings are a waste of time." Furthering on his idea, most professional development opportunities don't offer optimal learning experiences and the rare teacher is sitting in her classroom thinking "I can't wait until my district's next PD day." When I inform a fellow educator that I am a PD provider, I can read her thoughts - boring, painful, waste of time, useless, irrelevant - one would think my job is equal to going to the dentist (sorry to my dentist friends). According to the Quaglia Institute and Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center's National Teacher Voice Report only 54% percent of teachers agree "Meaningful staff development exists in my school." I can't imagine any other profession being satisfied with that number when it comes to employee learning and growth. What sense does it make for the science teacher to spend a day learning about upcoming English assessments? Or, for the veteran teacher to learn for the hundredth time how to use conceptual conflict as a hook. Why does education insist everyone attend the same type of training regardless of specialization, experience, or need? As a nod to the upcoming political campaigns and the inevitable introduction of plans with lots of points, here is my 5 Point Plan for revamping professional development. 5 Point Plan Point I - Change the Term: Semantics Matter We cannot reclaim the term Professional Development for teachers. It has a long, baggage-laden history of conformity that does not

"As I wrap up my first month of consulting, I have one overarching takeaway: in every building, in every district, in every city, in every state, there are administrators, teachers, and students who are so passionate about learning that you can feel the positive energy in the room. It's humbling. It's heartwarming. It's inspiring. Yet, what I also see are lots of educators and students who frequently second guess themselves, continuously ask for permission to do anything, or who render themselves silent in large groups and appear to have "given up." However, behind closed doors, these are the same educators and students who are overflowing with enthusiasm and have a wealth of knowledge. Naturally, I have been doing a lot of thinking about the strikingly similar behaviors both adult educators and student learners demonstrate in our current educational system. What causes passionate learners to become apathetic toward their passion? Why do students and adults alike ask for permission to learn? And, I keep coming back to one simple conclusion. THE DEFICIT MODEL OF EDUCATION HAS WORN US ALL DOWN"

"Dear Parent: I know. You're worried. Every day, your child comes home with a story about THAT kid. The one who is always hitting shoving pinching scratching maybe even biting other children. The one who always has to hold my hand in the hallway. The one who has a special spot at the carpet, and sometimes sits on a chair rather than the floor. The one who had to leave the block centre because blocks are not for throwing. The one who climbed over the playground fence right exactly as I was telling her to stop. The one who poured his neighbour's milk onto the floor in a fit of anger. On purpose. While I was watching.  And then, when I asked him to clean it up, emptied the ENTIRE paper towel dispenser. On purpose. While I was watching. The one who dropped the REAL ACTUAL F-word in gym class. You're worried that THAT child is detracting from your child's learning experience. You're worried that he takes up too much of my time and energy, and that your child won't get his fair share. You're worried that she is really going to hurt someone some day. You're worried that "someone" might be your child. You're worried that your child is going to start using aggression to get what she wants. You're worried your child is going to fall behind academically because I might not notice that he is struggling to hold a pencil. I know. Your child, this year, in this classroom, at this age, is not THAT child. Your child is not perfect, but she generally follows rules. He is able to share toys peaceably. She does not throw furniture. He raises his hand to speak. She works when it is time to work, and  plays when it is time to play. He can be trusted to go straight to the bathroom and straight back again with no shenanigans. She thinks that the S-word is "stupid" and the C-word is "crap." I know."

"With so many Raspberry Pi projects to choose from, it can be tricky to find the one you really want to build. Our advice is to find a way to marry the Pi with something you really love. One great example is TV and movie robots - iconic characters from popular sci-fi that can be rebuild at home with a Raspberry Pi built in. Once constructed, your robot might be able to utter commands when a condition is met (perhaps a sensor detects motion). Or it might move around, learning about its surroundings, or reading information to you from Wikipedia. Whatever you have in mind, it should be relatively straightforward to plan and execute. It may take some time, however. Here are five example projects that show how you can combine a Raspberry Pi 2 or later with your favorite fictional robot. 5 Things Only a Raspberry Pi 2 Can Do 5 Things Only a Raspberry Pi 2 Can Do The latest edition of the pint-sized computer is awesome. So awesome, in fact, that there's 5 things you can only do on a Raspberry Pi 2. READ MORE 1. R2-D2 We've all wanted our very own astromech droid, haven't we? Sure, no one on earth is (currently) operating a light speed drive, but Star Wars droid R2-D2 has far greater abilities than onboard spacecraft maintenance. For instance, he can hold torches, carry a tray of drinks, and launch lightsabers across pits in the desert. Okay, it's unlikely you'll manage to get your own R2-D2 robot to do that… but don't let that put you off. Check out this little guy, controlled by a Raspberry Pi. While this project was based on an existing R2-D2 toy, that shouldn't limit your ambition. You'll find plenty of R2-D2 builds on YouTube. There's a massive R2-D2 building community online. Finding one that has a drive unit should be ideal for integrating a Raspberry Pi (and perhaps an Arduino, which you can use the two together) and developing a more realistic R2-D2 experience. Arduino vs Raspberry Pi: Which Is The Mini Computer For You? Arduino vs Rasp

"Gmail users who upgraded Google Talk to Hangouts back in May were up in arms after discovering that doing so removed the ability to make voice calls. Google addressed this issue on Tuesday after it finally introduced voice calls to Hangouts."