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"Curation is a term that is rapidly growing in popularity and is directly impacting the world of workplace learning and performance. In a world where the amount of information available to workers doubles every 18 to 24 months, it is impossible to keep up with the seemingly endless supply of it. "

"The latest version of the web's favorite email client comes with a host of new features, ready to help you reach Inbox Zero. But with new updates rolling out every month or so, it's hard to keep track of the latest tools. Just when you think you know it all, one little change can completely impact your whole experience."

" Using Twitter sounds so simple. Type out no more than 140 characters - the maximum allowed in a single tweet - and hit send. That's all, right? Not quite. Twitter's interface may look simple, but it is not, and its complexity has turned off many people who tried the service. This is a problem because one of the big questions facing Twitter before it starts trading as a public company, perhaps as early as next month, is whether it can attract enough users to become a robust outlet for advertising dollars. Although Twitter brings in money from advertising, it does not yet sell enough ads to make a profit. "

"I have been a fan of iOS 7 and its fresh new look the last couple of months. Most of the major apps have already updated their design to match that of the operating system. Dropbox has just refreshed their app to go along with the flat iOS 7 style. "

"TED Books is an iPad app that provides TED fans with short electronic books produced once a month by TED conferences. The books are less than 20.000 words long "long enough to unleash a powerful narrative, but short enough to be read in a single sitting.""

"The kindergarten student, a shy, Mandarin-speaking five-year-old immigrant in the tiny community of Sangudo, Alta., had barely spoken a word during the first three months of class. So her teacher was surprised one day last year when the girl struck up a conversation. The subject of their animated discussion? An image on the screen of an iPad. "

"This is a video project that I created for my Mobile Technologies class (ETEC 565M) in the UBC Master of Educational Technology program. My personal journey with this social media has opened up and transformed my educational world. Because of Twitter, I have enjoyed several professional experiences over the past six months like connecting with colleagues at edcamps, traveling to California to attend conference and collaborate with other educators, and establishing online communities and conversations through hashtags like #bcedchat. I am passionate about the use of this tool, among many, to help educators connect and transform their own professional learning experience. Check out my video below to find out more!"

"In early September, my sixth grade social studies students began playing the SimCityEDU beta. Around the same time, my seventh graders began playing a non-digital debate game -- complete with teams, a point system and a leaderboard. All of my students are rewarded for their growth and accomplishments with a digital badge system. After one month, I find that my students remain highly engaged in their learning. Gamifying my classroom has truly been transformative! "

"A few months ago, I posted an article by Shelly Blake-Plock called 21 Things in Education That Will be Obsolete in 2020, which lists some of the ways in which the face of schools will change in less than a decade. In this op-ed, which originally appeared in the Baltimore Sun, he describes what exactly needs to be done to get to there. "

This year, in conjunction with October's Connected Educator Month, Common Sense Media is hosting Digital Citizenship Week from Oct. 21-25. Throughout the week, there will be a webinars and other ways for schools and educators to get involved. But really, now is the perfect time to discuss digital responsibility, safety and citizenship with students, and there are plenty of valuable events and resources that you can use. Here are six of my favorite:

"If you've read my previous post about how we've been using Instagram in kindergarten, you'd know that we've been avid Instagrammers for the last couple of months. #mathphotoaday and #eduphotoaday have provided the basis for many terrific mini-lessons, and captioning photographs has provided authentic early writing practice. I've been amazed at how successfully my students have used Instagram and supporting apps such as Pic Collage, InstaCollage, and Color Splash. Last week, we were viewing our Instagram pictures on our SMART Board, and the kids were commenting on how beautiful a lot of them were. One little boy put up his hand and said, "Mrs. Caldwell, our Instagram pictures are so beautiful. I think that we should print them out and sell them and make money for our new playground." And just like that, a new project was born! Why does this always happen at the end of the school year when we have a million and one other things to do? But their enthusiasm was contagious and I agreed that it was a fantastic idea! And when a 6 year-old shows entrepreneurial spirit like that, who am I to stand in his way?"

"Editor's note:  Vicki Davis just wrote a new book called, Reinventing Writing. I asked her if she could contribute a post to The Innovative Educator explaining specifically how social media has reinvented writing. This is that post.   As hall of fame baseball player, Babe Ruth said, "Yesterday's home runs won't win tomorrow's games." To level up writing, we need to take advantage of the out-of-the park features and capabilities that social media inspired concepts give writing instruction. Most of us know how it feels to write an exciting Facebook status update or a powerful tweet. Without delay, we know the impact of our words as they are retweeted, commented on, and liked (or ignored.) With this in mind, it stands to reason that students want a response too. Paper essays that are only seen by the teacher with a wastebasket as their final destiny are a needless waste of time and potential. Writing can be so much more exciting and it isn't that hard to do. Notably, social media is impacting writing in the classroom in ten powerful ways. You don't have to be on social media (or even like it)  to feel the lift social media concepts can give writing in your classroom, as I share in my new book  Reinventing Writing released just this month."

"It is that time of year. Across the nation, teachers are saying goodbye to their students for a few months, while parents are tasked with helping their children avoid the pitfalls of the well-documented "summer slide." What many parents may have overlooked is the fantastic opportunity right at their fingertips -- Internet research."

"When app-smashing on iPad, students and teachers use multiple apps to create individual pieces of content that are then merged or smashed together into one culminating product. Applying this concept dramatically increases creative potential, and the rate at which apps are developing allows for new, unique, and dynamic creations to consistently challenge what seemed possible only a few months or weeks ago. The final product involved in app-smashing often lends itself to video, so to kick off the school year, here are a few app-smashing video projects."

"Last month, the Institute of Play released a 160-page whitepaper on successfully designing and implementing video games as classroom assessment tools. It is widely hoped that the Institute's study, along with further research by SRI, will prove conclusively that cognitive skills are significantly improved by playing educational video games. This was not news to the math education community, which has known about the benefits of games in the classroom for a long time. Back in 2004, a study by Tisa Lach and Lynae Sakshaug had already shown that middle school students made significant improvements in algebraic reasoning, spatial sense, and problem-solving abilities after playing biweekly sessions of popular tabletop games such as Connect Four, Mastermind, Rush Hour, and Guess Who. "

"Computer coding is promoted as a must-learn skill for 21st Century students. Dan Donahoo questions what's driving this view. Learning to code has become something of an edtech focus over the last 12 months. Venture capitalists are seeding places like Code Academy, Code.org and any number of mobile, apps and computer games to teach us and our students the language of computation. But, do all students need to learn to code?"

"That said, many things are not available to students for free - unless their school has an account on the site in question or a subscription to the journal you need. This is especially true in STEM disciplines, where most 'big' research studies are not available in full text for free until around 12 months after the date of publishing. So if you want the latest and greatest research, you'll have to pay for it - which isn't feasible or reasonable in many cases. There are a number of journals making a move to offer full text of scientific journal articles for free, and we've put together a short list of them below."

"With most teachers out of school for the summer by now, summer learning loss probably isn't top priority. After all, the kids are back in their parents' hands for at least a couple of months, right? If the students aren't in your classroom, there isn't a whole lot you can do beyond a summer reading list (that the parents may or may not encourage their students to complete, anyway). What you do have to worry about is the amount of catching up you need to do once you have students back in your classroom in the fall. The handy infographic below takes a look at some interesting statistics on summer learning loss, aka the 'summer slide'. It also offers some really simple ways to keep kids' brains churning along during their summer break. You can even offer these as simple recommendations to parents, to show them that summer learning doesn't necessarily mean their kids need to sit down and read all of Dostoevsky's works before the evenings get chilly!"

"With Connected Educator Month now upon us for the third year, I thought it would be fitting for folks to share their experiences in becoming what we call a "connected educator." I was interested in that "Aha!" moment people get when they go from the unconnected side to the more collaborative, sharing world of connected education, a world where educators share globally, collaborating with thought leaders, authors, administrators, teachers, parents, and even students with less regard for titles and higher regard for worthwhile ideas."