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"Synopsis is a completely free iPad app for students that lets users create notes by highlighting different sections of a PDF document. Students can then modify the notes they have created by adding their own text. Synopsis gives students the power to summarize any text so they won't need to go back to a PDF document to study material.  Each individual note can be converted to its own flashcard there is no need to buy flashcards or type and create your own."

"Wow, what can we say! This past summer we decided to start a learning space design challenge on ClassroomCribs.com to highlight all of the amazing "cribs" that you have designed for students. Instead of just "aesthetics" we focused this challenge on brain-friendly learning spaces that promoted deep learning and engagement through design. And we were blown away by the response! Over 4,000 educators have joined our Classroom Cribs learning community and many of you sent in videos of your learning space as part of the challenge."

"The NMC Horizon Report: 2014 K-12 Edition was released this past week, examining emerging technologies and their potential impact on teaching and learning worldwide. Part of the NMC Horizon Project, a 12-year effort, this report highlights "six trends, challenges, and emerging technologies that will affect current practice" over the next five years. Aside from being great content for your next Twitter chat, this year's iteration of the NMC Horizon Report is a must-read for 21st century educators and education policy makers alike. Following is a summary of major points."

"Ed note: This is the first part of a two-post mini-series (can you call two posts a mini-series?) The second part of this post will be published tomorrow morning, and will focus on the design cycle of genius hour and passion-based learning. For the past eight years students in Year Six at Redlands have participated in a Personal Passion Project during Term Four. It is a way to finish their time in Junior School with a project that connects their passion with all they have learned about managing inquiry/design based projects to that point. Over the years it has proven to be a highlight of the year and has produced amazing results. With a change to the Australian & NSW syllabus we have had to revise our approach to the Personal Passion Project and so now is the perfect time to reflect on the past and identify the lessons learned."

"Students only need a model and a push to do amazing things. Then a smart teacher gets out of the way and let's the magic happen. When I first became engulfed in the amazing world of Twitter, I couldn't imagine not sharing the experience with my students. What started as a little spark and a hot mess three years ago has turned into a full-on immersion of social media in my classes. Twitter has amplified the voices of my students well beyond the walls of our classroom and it's echoing through the global learning landscape. Now, social media is an integral part of the learning that transpires and I can't imagine why others aren't using it. Recently, I guest moderated an #edtechchat that highlighted the versatility of Twitter in the classroom. With the help of my students who participated at 8pm on a Monday night and amazing educators across the world, we discussed the vibrancy Twitter can add to student learning"

"One of the most effective ways for Administrators to empower and encourage their faculty to use new and innovative tools is to model best practices by employing them in their own administrative duties. Google Docs, a tool within Google Drive, includes a number of robust features that can streamline teacher's administrative tasks and highlight their ability to foster collaboration among peers and students. If you need a quick tutorial on Google Drive, check out this article on Daily Genius. Here are four ways that Administrators can use Google Docs to both streamline their own administrative tasks and model effective use of technology."

"The camera is one of those apps on the iPad that we sometimes take for granted. We forget it is there or don't always use it to its full potential in the classroom. This week I am presenting at iPadU: Slide to Unlock Learning, and I wanted to highlight some of the many ways that you could use the iPad camera, so I put some ideas together and added some I had seen on the web or learned from others. The result? iPadography: Photo Projects for the iPad Classroom. So, if you are looking for ideas for using the iPad camera in the classroom, take a look at some of the slides below, and feel free to share it with others who might be interested!"

"With the growing interest in using iPads for teaching, the inclusion of technology as part of the 21st century skills, and the availability of iPads in classrooms, it becomes more and more important to create language lessons that make effective use of the device. Often teachers and learners alike are overwhelmed by the new technology and the wealth of apps that are available. When searching the Apple Store, for example, several language learning apps focus on grammar, vocabulary drills, and games in a variety of languages. However, it is not the objective of this article to highlight apps for grammar and verb drills. Instead, it is the goal of this article to present a sample of free-of-charge apps that were not necessarily created for language instruction but that can be used in a creative way to encourage critical thinking, enhance language proficiency, and integrate into existing curricula and lessons. WHY USE TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING?"

"According to an article on Time.com about the best and worst learning techniques, active learning methods (e.g. writing) are far more useful for long-term retention than passive learning methods (e.g. highlighting or underline words). One of the best ways? Surprisingly enough: flashcards, according to research from the Association of Psychological Science."

"I have recently come across this beautiful visual entitled " The Science of Storytelling" and was really taken aback by some of the stats it included. These stats come in the context of highlighting the importance of storytelling in marketing but for me I view them  from an education vantage point. for instance, in comparison with words, the human brain has the ability to process images 60 times faster.This shows how much our brains crave the visual component. Also, a majority of 92% of consumers want brands to make ads that feel like a story. You probably have already noticed this trend  on YouTube, so many brands now are marketing video ads  in the form of stories narrated by a given character. But why do we tend to favour stories and how does storytelling affect our brain?"

In this six-part series, I will highlight apps useful for developing higher order thinking skills in grades K-5 classrooms. Each list will highlight a few apps that connect to the various stages on Bloom's continuum of learning. Given the size and current exponential growth of the app market, I will also assist educators in setting criteria necessary to identify apps that maintain the integrity of teaching for thinking.

Shopping is not an easy task. When it comes to buy a gadget for your work related needs, you need to be very specific and attentive. In this tutorial, we are highlighting business features among the different operating systems as well as the best specs for business which you should keep in mind while purchasing your smartphone.

"We know that women are underrepresented in math and science jobs. What we don't know is why it happens. There are various theories, and many of them focus on childhood. Parents and toy-makers discourage girls from studying math and science. So do their teachers. Girls lack role models in those fields, and grow up believing they wouldn't do well in them. All these factors surely play some role. A new study points to the influence of teachers' unconscious biases, but it also highlights how powerful a little encouragement can be. Early educational experiences have a quantifiable effect on the math and science courses the students choose later, and eventually the jobs they get and the wages they earn."

"This recent example aside, the idea that games can be fun and educational is starting to take hold in the educational community.  That these fun learning games can come in the form of games like Minecraft, rather than "skill and drill" games is icing on the cake for students and teachers.  The number of recent popular press articles heralding a rising trend of digital game use in the classroom has made the team at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center wonder: just how common is this practice?  And further, which teachers are choosing to use digital games in their teaching, what particular goals do they have for that game use, and what kinds of outcomes are they observing among their students? With these questions in mind the Joan Ganz Cooney Center surveyed nearly 700 K-8 teachers about their use of digital games in their teaching (a follow-up to a similar survey we conducted in 2012 with BrainPop). I wanted to share a few of the highlights from our full set of findings."

"SAS Curriculum Pathways has released a new handbook called Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Developers, Educators and Learners. The handbook includes practical tips on creating applications for education, and highlights opportunities for collaboration between educational technology providers and educators. It also advises parents and educators on how best to use mobile learning resources in class and at home."

"Last year, at an event where teens showcased apps that they created for a competition, I spoke with the high school boys who won first prize. They expressed surprise at their achievement. "We built something, thought it worked, tested it, only to find out that there were snags," one of them said. "We started again, got a little farther along, and had to stop again. This happened over and over." Their comments highlight what the maker movement is and isn't. It's not about the stuff: the 3-D printers, the soldering irons, the sewing machines, the iPads, or the craft materials. A successful experience is about learning and innovation. That's what those teenagers discovered as they worked through the iterations of their app, and it's something to keep in mind as you consider software for your libraries. Below are three of my favorite maker apps."

"Whether you're the parent of a child with a reading disability or an educator that works with learning disabled students on a daily basis, you're undoubtedly always looking for new tools to help these bright young kids meet their potential and work through their disability. While there are numerous technologies out there that can help, perhaps one of the richest is the iPad, which offers dozens of applications designed to meet the needs of learning disabled kids and beginning readers alike. Here, we highlight just a few of the amazing apps out there that can help students with a reading disability improve their skills not only in reading, writing, and spelling, but also get a boost in confidence and learn to see school as a fun, engaging activity, not a struggle."

"Thanks to OnlineUniversities for this list of the Best Pinterest Boards in Educational Technology. Blogs and Twitter aren't the only social tools out there that can help you keep up with the latest and greatest developments in educational technology. Pinterest is rapidly becoming a favorite tool of educators all over the nation, and many have amassed some pretty great collections of edtech-related pins that teachers and students alike can use to explore new ways to learn, share, teach, and grow. While it would be nearly impossible to highlight every edtech pinboard out there, we've shared some of the boards we think stand out among the crowd here. Many are maintained by major educational websites, key figures in edtech, and well-known bloggers, but others were created by teachers just like you who simply want to share resources and tips with others in education."

"It is a challenge to seize children's attention and not to let it go. Some teachers experience great difficulties in keeping students engaged and involved in the educational process due to objective reasons. Luckily, there exist some tricks to help resourceful teachers, one of them being visual aids. Looking at bright and colorful images, students are more likely to digest the material without boredom and remember it afterwards. But why are visual aids so effective and how to create them? First of all, visual aids are helpful, because they show the data visually. Some facts, connections and outcomes are much easier to understand when they are represented as a picture. For example, some statistics, shown as a diagram will be much more winning than its detailed descriptions in words. Then, as visual images have the sense of modernity, they easily grab children's attention for some time. Thus, they are useful for highlighting some essential points and setting true accents. And finally, visual aids and pictures boost children's creativity. By looking at something beautiful and challenging, by perceiving the right way of data organization, students can get inspired and come up with new and outstanding ideas. "

"Last year, at an event where teens showcased apps that they created for a competition, I spoke with the high school boys who won first prize. They expressed surprise at their achievement. "We built something, thought it worked, tested it, only to find out that there were snags," one of them said. "We started again, got a little farther along, and had to stop again. This happened over and over." Their comments highlight what the maker movement is and isn't. It's not about the stuff: the 3-D printers, the soldering irons, the sewing machines, the iPads, or the craft materials. A successful experience is about learning and innovation. That's what those teenagers discovered as they worked through the iterations of their app, and it's something to keep in mind as you consider software for your libraries. Below are three of my favorite maker apps."