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"Patrick Larkin, Assistant Superintendent for Learning, Burlington Public School District, Burlington, Ma, recalls a question someone posed to him: "Is the tablet an education solution, or an education problem?" His answer, and common sense approach to changing the school and learning environment is a professional development lesson for all. Enjoy my interview with Patrick Larkin, and learn why he's become one of the most respected tablet education voices today-and for the future."

" Due in part to the fact that anyone who has a Google Acccount has a Google+ account, Google+ claims more users than Twitter. But based on the response when I speak at conferences about personal learning networks and social media in general, it appears that Google+ is one-tenth as popular as Twitter among educators. I hope this changes over the next year because I think that Google+ has some features that many educators will enjoy."

"Using tech tools that students are familiar with and already enjoy using is attractive to educators, but getting students focused on the project at hand might be more difficult because of it."

"Below is a list of apps I have curated for you. This selection is not exhaustive and no matter how many apps I include here there will always be some lacking. That being said, the list below contains some of the basic apps you as a teacher and educator need to be using . Check out the list below and let me know what you think of it. Enjoy"

"Words are the primary tools we use to convey meanings , of course there are non verbal tools as well but particularly in formal educational settings like schools and classrooms, words take the lion share of our language.  Can you imagine yourself delivering a lesson with no words in it ? will it work? Well Peterson has an answer." Peterson is a guy who used to have dyslexia when he was young and he did not learn how to read till he was in grade five. As an adult now, he designed some great applications to help teachers teach students without having to say a word. These are basically interactive learning games based on formative feedback. Watch the 8 minutes video to see the revolution Peterson triggered by the use of his free-language teaching approach. Enjoy

"I have been doing a lot of apps review here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning but I have never posted about the tools you as teachers and educators can use to create your own apps. Just lower your eyebrows down, you can do it without any coding knowledge. Of course Android and Apple do provide tech savyy guys with the tools necessary to create their own apps but for us who know nothing about SDK and app development skills, platforms like the ones below will serve the purpose. You can create your app in less than a minute and the process is completely free. Here are some of the apps I learned from Steven Anderson and which you can use to create your customizable apps. Enjoy"

"One of the challenging tasks facing teachers in today's learning environments is increasing students engagement. I said challenging because our students' attention span is very short and unless you make your learning tasks appealing to them you will never succeed in keeping them on task. Some attribute this to the heavy presence of digital media in teens life and also to the negative practices that came as a result of this over indulgence in the digital such as multitasking. Below is an interesting graphic created by Mia Mac Meekin in which she features 27 activities teachers can use to increase students engagement and participation. Enjoy"

"Digital storytelling is one of the potent educational activities to spark students creative writing and engage reluctant writers. It allows students to have their own voice, communicate their thoughts and experiment with a variety of semiotic modes including text, images, audio and video. In today's post we have handpicked for you five great iPad apps geared towards unleashing the writing gene within students. Students can use them to compose their stories and presentations and share them with others via email or social media. Check them out and share with us your feedback. Enjoy"

"Given the importance of confidence in building powerful personalities and successful learners, here is a wonderful video from TED Ed to share with your students in class. This is an animated lesson explaining what confidence is all about and suggesting 3 main tips to boost ones confidence. You can access the full lesson with comprehension and discussion questions from this page. Enjoy"

"Many of the people who shaped our digital world - like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates - started computer coding simply because they enjoyed it. They had no idea how far it would take them or that the companies they were to build would change the world. Coding doesn't have to become a career, but it's an amazing skill and can unlock exciting doors to the future. Today we know how essential coding skills are, and Scratch is a programming environment that can help you learn to code. On Global Scratch Day, the 14th of May, people around the world will be celebrating coding with their very own Scratch events - and you can take part!"

"Last week I wrote about utilizing Makey Makey to hack poetry month. I wanted to share a couple more examples of student work from our second day of the workshop. Enjoy!"

"Hello, photographers. For the last two months, I've been doing market research for my project Photolemur and looking for different tools in the area of photo enhancement and photo editing. I spent a lot of time searching, and came up with a large organized list of 104 photo editing tools and apps that you should know about. I believe all these services might be useful for some photographers, so I'll share them here with you. And just to make it easier to find something specific, the list is numbered. Enjoy!"

"Being able to create your own robot gives students and kids a great sense of achievement, with the added bonus of allowing children to develop patience, imagination and problems solving skills. There are a number of impressive kids robotics kits on the market that even parents will enjoy playing with. Plus, these types of projects provide valuable bonding time for kids and parents as it's a toy that both can really relish. In classrooms, robotics are perfect for teaching coding to kids, there are many programmable robot kits that use a simple drag and drop programing language based on Scratch. Making your own robot is also a creative a process, where kids and students utilize their design skills to come up with interesting robot designs. The 10 best make your own robot kits for kids on the market are listed below."

"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."

"Enjoy this useful digital citizenship infographic produced by Knowthenet called "Manners Matter." And they do, especially when it comes to teaching students proper digital citizenship skills. Resources such as this are a terrific way to share what's important about technology with today's digital learners!"

"Summer is upon us, and that calls for books to enjoy while lounging poolside. We asked MIND Research Institute staff to recommend their favorite mathematically themed reads, and their picks run the gamut of genres from sci-fi to psychology. Add a few of these to your summer reading list for completely guilt-free and possibly enlightening pleasure. "

"Summer is upon us, and that calls for books to enjoy while lounging poolside. We asked MIND Research Institute staff to recommend their favorite mathematically themed reads, and their picks run the gamut of genres from sci-fi to psychology. Add a few of these to your summer reading list for completely guilt-free and possibly enlightening pleasure. "

"This fall, my computer science class will follow the new AP Computer Science curriculum framework while also including culturally responsive instruction that makes use of students' interests, community settings, and cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Some of the students enjoy freestyle rap and dance, so they will learn how to simulate or enhance their performances using code. Other students study drawing and painting, so they will learn how to use code to create their artwork. This approach is a gateway to computer science, using coding to foster creative expression, and supporting cultural responsiveness that addresses underrepresented students' lack of exposure to computer science."

""How was skiing?" I asked my 14-year old daughter as she hauled her boot bag into the car. "Well, the ratio of snow to ground was definitely low," she replied, adding that she had tried to figure the ratio of snow-to-ground during practice but had received only mystified looks. "Stop the math!" demanded a coach. "You are confusing us!" Why do smart people enjoy saying that they are bad at math? Few people would consider proudly announcing that they are bad at writing or reading. Our country's communal math hatred may seem rather innocuous, but a more critical factor is at stake: we are passing on from generation to generation the phobia for mathematics and with that are priming our children for mathematical anxiety. As a result, too many of us have lost the ability to examine a real-world problem, translate it into numbers, solve the problem and interpret the solution."

"Each year many of us look forward to the annual reveal of the AASL Best Websites and Best Apps at ALA Annual Conference. In case you missed those big reveals a couple of week ago, no worries!  (Rather, worry. For you are in for a serious rabbit hole experience.) Summer is here and you will be able to squeeze in at least a few explorations of some new tools to bring back to school from among both of the committee's selections. There were so many goodies and you can enjoy them in a variety of publication platforms."