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"Block Posters is a web-based tool to which you can upload a high quality graphic then divide it into letter-sized chunks for printing. Print out each section and put them together on a poster board to make your own poster. If you find a great infographic or poster that you want to display in your classroom, Block Posters is a good tool to use. Block Posters is also good for creating large jigsaw puzzles. In the video embedded below I demonstrate how to use Block Posters. "

"Over the last week Twitter has been rolling out a new polling feature to its users. The new polling option allows you to post a Tweet that contains a short poll question. Using a poll is different than just asking people to reply to a question that you Tweet. When you post a poll people don't have to reply to you with an "@" reply. Instead of sending a written reply people just choose from one of your response choices. In the video embedded below I demonstrate how the new polling feature works. "

" If student engagement equals deeper learning, then making school fun might just be the key to improved learning.  Imagine the looks on students' faces when you tell them that today, right there at school, their job is to become toymakers. Once they get over the shock, they'll be thrilled to create their own toys and channel their creative energy with an added bonus of fun. It may be the best head-fake technique ever for embedding the problem-solving and creative thinking skills that students will need for digital age jobs. Thanks to 3D printing and other maker tools, students can gain valuable STEM and technology skills while engaging their brains instantly and in new ways. And this will help them as they get older, according to Glen Bull, co-director of the Center for Technology & Teacher Education at the University of Virginia."

""The best camera, is the one you have with you." Chase Jarvis It's a classic photographic mantra, a call to action for image-makers everywhere. And these days, the camera you are most likely to have with you is the one embedded in your smart phone. But do you know how to use it? What about your students? There are many great features built into our mobile devices for photography, and a myriad of apps to produce exciting visual imagery. While some teachers and students are experienced users creating highly original work using complex workflows and inventive techniques, in my workshops I am constantly amazed that it's some of the most basic tips and tricks that get the most cheers, the practical solutions that are big wins for our classroom context. So, here are six foundational tools built into the iPhone and iPad camera that all teachers and students should know."

"Zing is a service offering thousands of free fiction and non-fiction ebooks to teachers and students. On Zing you can browse for books by topic, language, or reading level. You can read the books in your web browser on a laptop or tablet. Zing is more than just a repository of free ebooks. In the Zing reader students will find a built-in dictionary and tools for taking notes while they read. In the video embedded below I demonstrate some of the features of Zing."

"In last week's survey of Free Technology for Teachers readers Flickr The Commons, Photos for Class, and Pixabay were chosen as the best places to find public domain and Creative Commons images. All three can be used to find images that can be re-used in a variety of presentation formats. The videos embedded below provide an overview of how to use each image source."

"A few days ago we shared with you a new Google feature that allows you to easily fact check online content. Today, we are sharing with you 10 good tips that will enable you to critically assess the veracity and credibility of online content (e.g. news stories).  These are guidelines Facebook Help Centre provided for it users to help them spot fake news. However, these tips can also apply to any other type of content. Students can use them to evaluate digital content and enhance their critical reading comprehension.  We have embedded these tips into the visual below so you can print and share with your students in class. You can also download a PDF copy from this page. Enjoy."

"Foodskey is a site produced by The University of Nottingham who also produces the Periodic Table of Videos. Foodskey is a set of fourteen videos about the science of food. The videos cover topics like nutrition, food security, and crop technology. I've embedded the video about broccoli below."

"Just glance at your inbox and odds are you'll find at least one variety of phishing scam or email hack. Whether it's spear phishing, spoofing, account takeovers through embedded malware, or that time-honored plea from a Nigerian prince, there's no doubt that our schools' email systems are under near-constant attack. One careless click of a link can turn a teacher's account into a spam factory, landing your email system on a blacklist and cutting off communication with the rest of the world. Providing employee tax information to a phisher posing as your superintendent, for example, can result in the identity theft of hundreds of employees. The sad truth is that phishing and spamming scams are now part of life in this digital age. But through more engaging education, more authentic practice, and more creative protection practices, schools have a much better chance of mitigating the impact."

"Computing is fun! It is possible to teach pupils through play and the activities listed below aim to do just that. All the activities are available and used within the Digital Schoolhouse workshops and are embedded into a longer sequence of lessons. However, they also work as short standalone activities which can be dropped into any number of lessons; whether you are a computing teacher or not. "

"The mot recent Facebook hoax making its rounds has prompted me to remind everyone about the importance of using strong and varied passwords (don't use the same password for Facebook as you do for your bank account). Creating a strong password is a just the first step in protecting your email and social media accounts from hackers. To really protect your account there are some additional steps you should take like using two-factor authentication. In their most recent video Common Craft explains how to protect your online accounts. Click here to watch the video or you can view it as embedded below. "

"I am a big advocate for embedding a maker culture in my classroom to deepen students understanding of topics. With an interdisciplinary approach, making, tinkering, and STEAM activities enable our students to design and create a piece of work that is embodied by teamwork, problem solving, and critical thinking. "Maker centred learning helps students see themselves as people that can effectively take action in the world". (2017, Clapp, E. P., Ross, J., Ryan, J. O., & Tishman, S). Designing lessons around making principles empowers students to embrace a continuous learning cycle, where a growth mindset and accepting failure is part of the journey to achieve success. "The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge" (Seymour Papert)."

"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:"

"y TeachThought Staff What is Flipgrid? In short, Flipgrid is a free, education-focused platform to create and share short videos. Quick Overview: How Flipgrid Works The embedded guide further below provides a much more detailed overview of how Flipgrid works, but the short version is that users create videos around topics, then upload those videos to a 'Grid' for sharing, feedback, and topic-based 'response videos.' But what features make Flipgrid it unique? It's really about ease of use (through 'Topics') and privacy (through 'Grids')."

 Embedded in the very weave of the organisation, culture is the most difficult aspect of an organisation to change and the hardest form of change to sustain 'That's because transforming a culture requires influencing people's deepest beliefs and most habitual behaviours' (Rogers, Meehan & Tanne 2006 p5). Rogers et al indicate that as little as 10% of all organisations that set out to develop a high performing culture achieve their goal.

"Squishy circuits are a fun way to learn and explore the basics of electricity and electrical circuits. By using conductive and insulating dough, you can create sculptures with embedded lights, motors and buzzers.  This project is great for younger students because it utilizes a material they already know…PlayDoh."

"The Open University offers a free course on design and innovation. The course includes a set of six short videos that provide a broad overview of the history and development of modern design. That playlist, beginning with the video on the influence of arts and crafts on design, is embedded below. "

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