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"I often talk with educators (and parents and administrators) who are convinced that their students are working within Project Based Learning environments. They tell me about the wonderful projects the kids have created and how much fun the kids have. I'm always delighted to hear the kids are having fun in school! However, I find that when asked a few probing questions, it becomes clear whether or not PBL is actually happening or if the teachers are merely creating projects for students to complete."

"Science is one of those subjects that really excite students because they get to see cause and effect, they get to create, record and then document results and they get to manipulate the variables that produce the data. Students then get to make connections between what they do and the real world. Add an iPad, a series of carefully chosen apps and a couple of probes and you can make all of these observations happen in a mobile environment - outside, at home or even on an excursion. I would love to be a student in a classroom with these tools!"

"So, it's about the learning and it's got to happen. It has to be understood and you need teachers, students and parents to see potential." Part 1: http://ow.ly/b2vAr

"I have been working for some time on a plan to move my programming classes off Macs and onto iPads. It's finally happening this year. A few people have asked me to write this up, so here goes."

"when we let the kids use the tools they are currently hiding in their pockets, great things happen"

Americans seem to be planning major change in technology integration in the classroom. By 2020, major changes need to happen at the intersection of knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and content to leverage classroom practises with the affordances of the 21st century.

"News that all the graduate students in my Future of Media seminar would receive iPads for the semester generated a flurry of excitement. Then something odd happened: The students, all in their mid- to late 20s, became self-conscious about carrying iPads. They refused to use them in public"

"Welcome to this week's edition of Treasure Chest-73 EdTech Resources You May Have Missed. It's really difficult to keep up with all that happens in educational technology. This is my attempt to make it just a little easier. I post a Treasure Chest every Sunday!"

"Regarding our 1:1 iPad Program commencing at the beginning of 2012 in our year 6 and 7 cohorts, i have attached all relevant documents which have been part of informing parents and our community about our iPad happenings so far. All documents are in PDF format and can be downloaded."

"We're finishing up the first semester this week, and, as usual, I'll be sharing the results of anonymous student evaluations of our classes and of me. I'll probably get to tabulating them over the weekend. I've also already shared many of the finals I'm giving to students this week. However, I haven't shared all of the projects I have students do. One of their final semester projects is to write and draw a picture saying what they thought was their best classroom moment over the semester, and what they had done to make it happen."

"Have you noticed how recently, more advertisement videos in YouTube have started to auto-play without prompting? I've noticed this is happening on other websites as well, in addition to YouTube. Since I often seem to have about 50 different tabs open in my web browser, this can present a challenge trying to find WHICH tab has the offending / playing video in it. It's an irritating and unnecessary problem to tolerate. I needed a way to block these video ads in YouTube and elsewhere."

"One question I get asked often is about flipping my Kindergarten class. If you have never heard about a flipped class read more about it here. The quick answer is I don't flip my class for my students. I simply haven't seen a need for this for my young kids. What I have been doing the last few years is flipping my class for the parents by using a classroom blog. This might not be flipping in the true sense of the word but it is as close as I have come. My goal is to use blog posts and videos to help parents understand the learning that is happening in our classroom. With that knowledge my hope is parents can support or even expand on that learning at home. I believe that informing parents about our learning is important at all levels, but especially for young kids."

"To be clear-learning can happen in the absence of technology. Integrated poorly, technology can subdue, distract, stifle, and obscure the kind of personal interactions between learner, content, peer, and performance that lead to learning results. But increasingly we live in a world where technology is deeply embedded into everything we do. Thinking about it simply in terms of "digital literacy" puts you about 5 years behind the curve. It's really much more than that-less about being connected, and more about being mobile. There will be growing pains, and I'm sure educators that have brought in BYOD programs into their school can come up with 50 reasons it won't work. But most of those 50 are a product of the continued poor fit that exists between schools and communities-the system and the humans it serves."

"If you use your iPhone as your go-to camera, you've undoubtedly come across photos that you want to print out and frame. The number one question I get from family and friends is how to make sure it'll fit into a given frame, whether it be 4x6, square, and so on. As it happens, you can size photos accordingly right inside the Photos app so they're frame ready, no computer needed. Here's how:"

"Most of the time you'll never have to worry about having to install a new operating system on your Mac - the one that's on there should work fine through thick and thin. But every once in a while you might want or need to - here are step by step instructions for making it happen."

"The breakthrough happened after the student took the Bartle's Gamer Profile Quiz and we found out that he was a "killer." Off-the-charts killer, but achievement meant nothing to this student. Just like grades. No, we haven't identified the next school shooter, and I sure wish that Bartle hadn't named one of the four gamer profiles "killer" -- but nonetheless, this student identified with this profile. Jane McGonigal mentioned it in her Gaming Can Make a Better World TED Talk when she discussed an epic meaning. My so-called "killer" student (and we really should rename this when applying it to education!) simply saw things as a battle between good and evil and wanted to fight on the side of good in an epic quest to make the world a better place. Points don't matter in gameplay, and grades don't matter, either. But when we tweaked the kinds of work he was doing in our Gamifi-ED project to focus on "world-changing games," he was suddenly engaged. Now his face lights up when he sees me. He's one of the first kids to class. He's an engaged gamer and, finally, an engaged student. "