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"Creating and using mind maps is a great way to get students brainstorming ideas about a given topic, organize their thought processes and turn these ideas into a neatly written pieces. I have been using several web tools with my students over the past few years. From teaching vocabulary to getting students engaged in the prewriting process, I found the functionalities and ease of use of these web tools a great way to enhance students productivity."

"Schools across the country are increasingly starting to use mobile devices like tablets and smartphones as classroom tools. But some educators are still skeptical that devices will distract students as much or more than they enhance the learning environment. Because it's still fairly new, there have been few quantitative studies, but Project Tomorrow and Kajeet for Education recently completed a study of mobile learning among 136 fifth graders at Falconer Elementary School, a Chicago public school where 94 percent of students receive free and reduced lunch. The Making Learning Mobile Project study documents how four different fifth-grade teachers and their students used the tablets they were given both in class and at home once the school day was over."

"One of the tested ways to unleash kids creativity and enhance their power of imagination is through drawing. This has become even way easier and practical using the different web tools and mobile apps available out there for free. I have already featured several of these tools and apps in previous posts here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. Today, however, I want to share with you some new wonderful iPad apps for getting kids to draw. Check them out below:"

"Infographics are everywhere. Some love them. Some hate them. But however you feel, it's fun to learn a little bit in a short period of time. Most are made so you can quickly grasp the key concepts behind them. That's a key thing to keep in mind if you want to make your own infographics. Lucky for you, there are a pantload of free and freemium tools out there to help you out. Some are more robust than others but many are easy enough to try out. That's what Edudemic is all about after all - sharing useful resources that you try out and use to enhance your life."

"Today I am sharing with you a set of great apps to visually capture your ideas and share them with others. The apps below are designed to enable you to easily create mindmaps and concepts to illustrate abstract topics and enhance learning. The apps I am including below are selected based on their powerful performance and practical usablity. I know there are tons of other similar apps in the iTunes app store but the ones I handpicked for you below are ideal for educational settings and I would also recommend them for students."

"Science is one of the areas where the impact of technology has been markedly observed. It triggered an unprecedented revolution and reshaped people's knowledge about the world. It has also enhanced the way science is being instructed inside schools and colleges. Experimentations are being facilitated by the use of technology and students are able to learn and get engaged in simulated experiments that mimic the real life problems. This revolution is being carried on to the mobile platforms. There are now several science apps that students and teachers can use to perform a wide variety of science tasks. Below, for instance, is a set of apps that enable students to explore the human body in 3D. Check them out and share with us if you have any additions. Enjoy"

"Promoting the use of technology to enhance the teaching of French language and culture."

"If you are in an educational field as a student, teacher, or parent, you may have wondered about the benefits of social media-specifically Twitter. All that tweeting seems like it could give you a headache. What if Twitter was more than just a way to dish about the amazing Caprese salad you had at lunch and actually a way to help students learn better? Here are 5 ways that Twitter may enhance learning . . ."

"I have made no secret of my fondness for generic apps that enhance learning. Explain Everything, Google Drive and Evernote can aid the educator and student alike. However, there is a new contender on the block for the No.1 app in education. Socrative 1.0 was very good - Socrative 2.0 looks excellent. This brief introduction to Socrative 2.0 highlights its potential and possible use in the classroom. I look forward to hearing about the effect it has in schools."

"As of late it seems that I have been blogging a great deal about our makerspace here at New Milford High School and with good reason. Not only is the space being overrun with students during their lunch periods, but teachers here have begun to explore how the process of making can enhance the learning experience for the students in their classes. Just last week I shared on my blog how physics classes were exploring concepts related to circuitry in a more hands-on, authentic fashion in our constantly evolving space through a collaboration between Mr. Fowler and Mrs. Fleming. It seems that this might have been a catalyst for even more collaborations in order to fully take advantage of what a well-designed makerspace can provide."

"One thing young children are not lacking in is imagination. They have no trouble pretending, playing make believe and suspending reality. We've recently crossed over into the augmented reality arena. Augmented Reality (AR) allows for a digitally enhanced view of the real world. It allows the user to open or create layers of digital information on top of the physical world that can be viewed through a mobile device. I've talked about our first foray in AR with Aurasma app here. Aurasma is a great tool, and now my student's are using the Chromville app to create in their own Augmented Reality worlds."

"Looking for some good interactive eBooks for your kids to read this summer? The list below is a great place to start with. These are basically iPad storybook apps that are designed specifically to enhance kids early literacy skills most specifically reading. All of these  eBooks come with awesome graphics and animations and include a wide variety of interactive  activities to keep kids engaged in their reading."

"Thinglink was a big hit in the workshop that I facilitated yesterday in Bettendorf, Iowa. Thinglink can be used to turn any static image into an interactive, multimedia image. Yesterday, we used PicMonkey and PicCollage to create collages about what a good learning environment looks like to us. After creating those collages we saved them as PNG files and uploaded them to Thinglink where we added videos, audio files, and links to articles to enhance our collages and make them interactive."

"It's almost fall again, and so Apple has released the next generation of software that powers its mobile lineup: iOS 8. As always, this is a free update, and it packs new features and enhancements, both obvious and subtle. "