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"Formative assessment can be drudgery. When students are doing the same quizzes and the same practice questions all day long, it can be less than stimulating. Or formative assessment can be fantastic. Teachers use formative assessments to get the pulse of the class, to see how students are progressing. When used correctly, formative assessments let teachers make quick changes to their plans to meet students where they are. Plenty of digital tools exist to help teachers mix things up. Don't think of formative assessment as worksheets and quizzes. Students can draw, choose, write or say to show what they know."

"Fortunately for you, I'm here to help. We'll try and keep a mix of old classics and new favourites, read on and stock up on fantastic free iPad apps!"

"50+ Free Mac Apps for 2012 50 Fantastic Free Web Apps 50 Free iPhone Apps to Get You Started 50 Fantastic Free iPad Apps 50 Spectacular Free Apps for Windows"

Play the Fantastic Contraption game! Make a device to get the pink wheel right into the pink square. A fun online physics puzzle game!

"It's May, time for teachers to revisit their bookshelves and think about summer reading selections. This year, I'm considering a different kind of summer reading for my kids, books that will inspire them to head outside and make, do and create. My younger son, Finn, likes these sorts of projects, and while I can provide him with scrap lumber, nails, a drill and some screws, he and I wanted to find some additional inspiration. Judy Russell, our town librarian, enthusiastically joined in my research and helped me come up with some fantastic resources for inventing, constructing and making. "

"It's great that such infographics are created. Infographics are a fantastic way to draw attention of online users, and give facts not only in a more digestible, but also highly entertaining way. Recommended: 20 wonderful home library ideas 20 vintage posters about books and libraries Many people still perceive libraries as awesome-looking magical places, full of a scent of old paper. We associate libraries with the past and with the analog world - the world that doesn't fit into the broadband internet connection. It's not true (and I think it never was). More and more libraries lend electronic books, become information hubs, but most importantly, media creation centers. These infographics change the perspective. They show the beautiful book temples are filled not only with the past, but also with the future."

"I was thrilled when Little Pickle Press gave me the opportunity to review an educational iPad App that follows one of my new favorite children's books, Your Fantastic Elastic Brain. In short, as a parent, educator and avid user of iPad educational apps, I was blown away."

101 Fantastic Freebies sorted by category

"Thanks to Amy Mayer of FriEdTechnology for this fantastic comparison describing the key differences between "doing projects" and project-based learning! This, my friends, is exactly what I have been trying so ineptly to explain to educators at my own school. There's a BIG difference, and one that completely changes how the classroom is run and what students take out of it."

"Book Creator is currently my favorite iPad app for creating multimedia books on your iPad. The app costs $4.99 (less with volume purchasing), but it is well worth it. The latest updates to Book Creator allows you to export your books to ePub 3.0 format. The exported file can be opened an read in the Chrome web browser using the free Readium browser extension. This is a great option as it allows a parent who doesn't have an iPad at home to view his or her child's work at home"

"While I was revisiting the topic of the 21st century pedagogy which I have covered in several posts here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, I come across this awesome graph created by our colleague Andrew Churches. I couldn't find better and more comprehensive graphic than the one below. Andrew did a fantastic work in capturing most of the concepts that make 21st century pedagogy. "

"My students might be great with their math facts but every year long division is a struggle. If you're looking for an alternative to math videos, try out the fantastic free Long Division Touch app which teaches the steps for long division. It's a great inspiration for creating tutorials with your students!"

"Bookry is an amazing free resource that enables you to create fantastic interactive content to your iBooks. Don't forget to follow us @thebookry and regularly visit our blog for the latest widget updates. Happy authoring! "

"If you're exploring the ocean with your students or looking for an informational multimedia text, check out Ocean Science. This fantastic free app is full of beautiful pictures and rich information about ocean life. "

"Infuse Learning is a new assessment service which works very much like Socrative. It allows teachers to set up quizzes which the students can answer via any device which can connect to the internet - whether that's a laptop, netbook, iPod, iPad or other tablet device. Like Socrative it is a fantastic addition to a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom. As well as the quizzes you can set up and save, you can also add Quick Assessment questions which can be given to the class at any point in a lesson. These can be quick True/False, Multiple Choice and Numeric answers and Likert Scale answers. There's also the option for students to draw a picture as their response to a question, which is an interesting addition which would work well for students with touchscreen and tablet devices."

"If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won't hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. Most likely you will hear something like, "It was all Mr. Jones. He just never gave up on me." What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. It's difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are continually re-evaluating how to quantify learning. But the first and most important question to ask is: Are teachers reaching their students?"

"If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won't hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. Most likely you will hear something like, "It was all Mr. Jones. He just never gave up on me." What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. It's difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are continually re-evaluating how to quantify learning. But the first and most important question to ask is: Are teachers reaching their students?"

"inClass is a fantastic free iPad app that students can use to take and keep track of the notes they record in all of their courses. inClass allows students to organize notebooks for each of their courses. Within each notebook students can include typed notes, audio notes, video notes, and pictures. The ability to store those four types of notes makes inClass a great app for students to use in a science lab where they might want to have a little video clip of an experiment along with their own typed notes about the lab experiment."

"I love learning new things and SnapGuide is a fantastic free app that you must explore! Pinterest is a great place for gathering new ideas, and SnapGuide takes this concept to a whole new level. SnapGuide is full of how-to guides that show step-by-step instructions on how to complete a variety of tasks. You and your students can even create your own how-to guides using this free service!"