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"Most of the time I focus on integration tips and examples for teachers. Today, I decided to change the pace and share some management tips for the device at home. With a 1:1 iPad initiative in full swing, setting boundaries with the iPad at home can become an issue. To support our Eanes parents, we developed a Digital Learning Parent seminar series."

"With the increasing rate of new tech devices and web 2.0 tools being developed each day, it is very easy for both teachers and students to get excited by something flashy and lose sight of the purpose. We often have to remind ourselves to start with our learning objectives and THEN decide what technology can enhance the learning process."

"As blended learning content continues to grow it has become increasingly difficult for teachers and administrators to decide what content to use. We appreciate this infographic put together by EducationElements on the 4 steps schools can follow when making the decision on which digital content to implement"

"As first graders are learning about the butterfly life cycle, we wanted to stay away from usual activities such as coloring in a pre-printed coloring page. INSTEAD of such an activity (created by others) and a quiz about recalling the different stages of the life cycle as assessment, we decided to have students built on their knowledge and fluency of creating a collage and CREATING a visual of their learning. The digital visual was to become an artifact for their student portfolio."

"It can be fun when a teacher decides to shake things up in the classroom. Truth be told, some of my best classes were ones where the teachers' teaching methods were anything but traditional. In fact, I had numerous teachers and professors that completely relied upon creativity and inspiration as the guiding forces in their teachings."

"Google's policy of 20 percent time-giving employees plenty of free time work on whatever they want-is world famous for being the birthplace of innovative products- most famously, Gmail. But what would happen if schools gave students a similar amount of unstructured free time and allowed them to take control of their own learning? This spring Matthew Bebbington, a high school physical education teacher in the U.K., decided to find out. He organized a school-wide "Innovation Day" that let 80 students between the ages of 11-15 choose what and how to learn. B"

"The iPad is already an education phenomenon, and Apple will be pushing even more education features when iOS 7 launches later this year. Here at Education Dive, we see more case studies and reports every week about who is using or developing for the iPad, and schools have become battlegrounds where the device is winning some wars-as well as contracts. So what do you need to know before deciding if your university or school district should buy one (or 11,000)? Education Dive assembled all of our resources and recent news reports in one handy list to fill you in. Take a look at these features, and you'll be an iPad education expert in no tim"

"I love the idea of making, inventing and tinkering. Just watch kids who are immersed in the activities and you can see the engagement. But is the learning authentic and relevant? I presented three sessions at the Free Maker Movement event at One Work Place on Wednesday, September 30, 2015 with some amazing educators who presented hands-on activities. The event will took place at our Oakland Center for Active Learning . I decided I needed to spend some time researching where the Maker Movement was happening and find examples of authentic learning. This gave me the opportunity to talk to several of my friends and share how they have transformed learning spaces to Makerspaces. Everyone I talked to made a point that it is about creativity not consumption. Yet when I went to different Maker events, I saw activities that an adult set up, purchased a kit or provided directions for activities. They were all fun, but I was having trouble seeing the connections to real learning or any ownership from kids."

"n iOS 6, Apple decided it was time to remove the podcasts function of the Music app and replace it with a standalone app, available for free in the App Store. Properly titled Podcasts, this app released in June of this year, but has been under much criticism for its half-baked design, lag and lack of functionality. Since then, there have been three updates to the app, the last of which arriving the day of iOS 6's release. All the same, is this app even worth the trouble Apple has gone to thus far?"

"Until last week, if you'd googled the name "Klara Bowman," the search would have come back with a series of stories about a drunk teacher who was fired from her job in Tacoma, Washington. That was before a columnist with The News Tribune in Tacoma decided to uncover Klara Bowman's full story. A search of her name today will yield stories about a woman who took her own life, about her struggle with addiction, and about the need for frank talk about alcoholism. Columnist Matt Driscoll first raised concerns about the coverage and reaction to Bowman's story back in March. Bowman was fired from her job after being found intoxicated while in the classroom. It was the second time she had been caught drinking at work. "We lost the humanity of Klara Bowman in these "

"Our STEM Lab/Makerspace is a HUGE hit with our students. Since I oversee the lab and take the classes in I get bombarded by kids all day asking if it is their day to go to the STEM Lab. They are building, discovering, exploring, designing, problem solving, and having a blast doing it. However, as the kids continued to explore the STEM Lab we began to notice that they had moved past the exploration phase and wanted a bit more direction and challenge. We realized that we needed to up our game a bit to take our lab to the next level so we decided to gamify our STEM Lab with challenges and badges! It took some prep but once the challenge cards and badges were created we were ready to roll. We are happy to share our tips, tricks and resources so that you can gamify your STEM or STEAM Lab too."

"In a relatively short time, Minecraft succeeded in marking a strong presence within the education sector  and became one of the leading educational learning platforms for students. As a culmination of its sweeping popularity among the educational community, Minecraft recently released  Minecraft for Education which is a website geared primarily towards providing teachers with a forum where they can share their ideas about how they use Minecraft in their teaching. Given this growing potential of Minecraft in education, we decided to compile the list  below featuring some of the best reads on Minecraft. These books will help you learn more about how educators are using Minecraft as a powerful instructional tool to engage students and teach different subjects. "

"Before the advent of the uber-popular show Mythbusters or the push for more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in schools, parents and their kids were doing at-home science experiments. Now, the trend continues to blossom, although many of the experiments have remained somewhat the same…and always awesomely exciting! If you're a parent and you want to do something with your kid that isn't related to cleaning the toilets or forging through homework, check out these 20 great science projects that you can complete in the confines of your humble abode. Most of them use around-the-home items that you probably have on hand, although some will require a little bit of shopping ahead of time. To help you decide which are best for your children's needs, the 20 have been divided into projects for younger students and projects for older ones."

"Most people's journey toward learning to program starts with a single late-night Google search. Usually it's something like "Learn ______" But how do they decide which language to search for?"

"So, in order to model the importance of continually changing and adapting to our students' needs, we began with a dream of mine - building a Lego wall. Legos are a timeless classic for creativity, building, and fun. Kids of all ages enjoy this magnificent toy. For many, Legos come with a set of instructions and a product to build. Other times, kids have free reign on their creativity in order to build something new and different. In our school's Makerspace, Legos are a staple in our building station. Kids can create whatever they wish with Legos and even integrate those Legos with other materials for their project. With the inspiration of others online and on TV, we decided to put our Legos on the wall. Putting Legos on the wall not only is something new and different for our kids to experience, but it is also a space saver. Students can build on the wall, creating interesting artwork, simply creating anything new with Legos."

"The Copyright Decision Tool helps teachers decide whether they can use print materials, artistic works or audiovisual materials without getting copyright permission. Teachers! Thinking of using a copyright-protected work? Find out if you have permission."

"We're always creating something at our Makerspaces.com office and just recently we ran out of work space.  Instead of just going out and buying a workbench, we decided to build one and share the plans so you can build one too. Making your own workbench offers a few advantages over buying one from the store.  First, you will be able to customize the bench to your specific needs, requirements and space constraints.  You can make it as long, high, wide, flashy or simple as you want.  And the best part is you will save a ton of money, learn something new and have the gratification of doing it yourself. Ok, let's make a makerspace workbench !"

"Did you know it's possible for students to use social media as a classroom research tool? Over the years social media has evolved from being a mere communication platform where people can connect with their long-time friends. It has matured into a platform where people conduct real business in addition to just making connections. At the time of this writing (the fourth quarter of 2016) Facebook is the most popular social media platform with almost 2 billion followers. It started out as a channel where people could re-establish some of their lost connections. Today, in addition to this, major brands are using the platform to market their goods and services. That is how far our social media has evolved. With such changes, it's only fair that students should be able to take advantage of such opportunities. There are so many ways students can use social media for research. Why struggle with research papers when there is plenty of help out there? Instead of focusing on chatting up friends, they can use that time constructively and get something done. HomeworkDesk.com decided to make a list that will help you."

Earlier this year a group of teachers I work with explored the 'Eight Cultural Forces' identified by Ron Ritchhart of Harvard's Project Zero. In doing so we decided to focus on our use of the term learning instead of the word work. Our goal was to bring our language choices into the spotlight and explore how a more deliberate focus on learning might alter the culture of our classrooms. Two terms later this focus persists and it is worth reflecting on the effect that this has had.

"Creating great infographics need not be a chore, no matter if you're a teacher or a student. Taking information and presenting it in an artful and visually appealing way has never been easier, thanks to the infographic tools you can use today. Before you dive in, here are some quick tips: Collect your data. If you have been collecting data, compile it all in a spreadsheet. Decide the best way to present your data (flyer-style, bar charts, line charts, Venn diagrams, histogram, scatter plot charts, flow charts, timelines, etc.). Design a rough sketch so you don't end up flying blind. Pick your app and get to work! Now that you've got basic tips on how to get started, it's time to get creative. Here are 9 great infographic tools to help you get started creating great infographics."