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"Learning to type well on the touchscreen keyboards of an iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch can take some time. To speed that process up, here are a handful of great tips to make typing on iOS virtual keys much easier and faster. Some of these you'll probably know and some you probably won't, but all are very worthwhile to learn and master:"

"Which digital device is the better learning tool for students - a Chromebook or an iPad? If you're not aware of the hottest current digital device debate, you're probably not a parent or an educator. Once upon a time, that debate might have been about VHS vs. Beta, or Mac vs. PC. However, in prime time ed tech school district circles, folks are fiercely focused on Chromebooks vs. iPads (both now below $400). The big question? Which is the smarter purchase for their students? On the flip side of the classroom debate, Mom and Dad might not like the fact that portable digital tools are becoming more and more invasive. However, how's a parent to ignore these must-have lightweight mobile monsters, which are antiquating the family desktop and nurturing independence? Not to mention all your kids' friends seem to have one. So which digital device is best?" If you're not aware of the hottest current digital device debate, you're probably not a parent or an educator. Once upon a time, that debate might have been about VHS vs. Beta, or Mac vs. PC. However, in prime time ed tech school district circles, folks are fiercely focused on Chromebooks vs. iPads (both now below $400). The big question? Which is the smarter purchase for their students? On the flip side of the classroom debate, Mom and Dad might not like the fact that portable digital tools are becoming more and more invasive. However, how's a parent to ignore these must-have lightweight mobile monsters, which are antiquating the family desktop and nurturing independence? Not to mention all your kids' friends seem to have one. So which digital device is best?"

"3 Reasons Why Faculty Meetings Are a Waste of Time By Peter DeWitt on April 10, 2015 6:50 AM Faculty Meeting.png Many school leaders walk into a faculty meeting with a single idea of how they want to move forward and walk out with the same idea. That's telling... John Hattie talks a great deal about the Politics of Distraction, which means we focus on adult issues, and not enough time...if ever...on learning. That is happening around the U.S. for sure. Recently the Assembly of NY State only furthered those distractions, which you can read about here, which means that school leaders and teachers have to work harder to maintain a focus on learning. Quite frankly, well before mandates and accountability, school leaders focused on the politics of distraction and not on learning. Compliance is not new in schools. Faculty meetings were seen as a venue to get through and something that teachers were contractually obligated to attend. During these days of endless measures of compliance, principals can do a great deal to make sure they don't model the same harmful messages to staff that politicians are sending to teachers. Jim Knight calls that "Freedom within form." In Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo quotes Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo) when he writes, "Creativity is often misunderstood. People often think of it in terms of artistic work - unbridled, unguided effort that leads to beautiful effect. If you look deeper, however, you'll find that some of the most inspiring art forms - haikus, sonatas, religious paintings- are fraught with constraints. (p. 190)" Clearly, constraints have a wide definition. There is a clear difference between the constraints of compliance and the stupidity of the legislation just passed by the assembly in NY. As we move forward, principals still are charged...or at least should be...with the job of making sure they offer part...inspiration, part...teacher voice...and a great deal of focus on learning. There is never a more important tim

"As I gear up to present student work at ETFO's ICT Conference in Toronto, I'd like to share some ideas: 1. Coding allows for students to learn across math strands instead of in isolation. 2. Coding is a place for students to fail safely. 3. Coding allows students to take risks and solve problems. 4. Computational thinking is a form of problem solving not accomplished with textbook work. 5. "Making" is creative. Creativity is fun. Here is a student application coded to support our Grade 8 probability strand. We extended our projects with Makey Makeys so users had a physical interaction."

"When 3D printing was first introduced over 30 years ago it felt like something more likely to appear in a Star Trek episode than reality. Today, more companies than ever are utilizing this technology to take their concepts from the boardroom to the design table in a matter of hours. The first step of every "solid imaging" project - as the name was originally dubbed by inventor Chuck Hull - is using 3D printing software, or computer aided design (CAD) software, to create your digital blueprint and send it off to the 3D printer to have it created layer by layer. The first thing Chuck ever printed was a tiny cup for washing the eye, something boring yet innovative in that it would spawn objects that even good ol' Chuck probably never thought possible. Below is a list of many of these items that can be created by a 3D printer that you wouldn't think would be. These items were selected for this list because you'd probably not think of them as manufacturable items and because some of them cannot be produced with a single process while employing traditional manufacturing processes."

"As you probably know, Google Drive is far more than a place to store files online. It also includes a suite of versatile creation tools, many of which perform the same functions as the ones we use in other spaces. These include Google Docs, a word processing program that behaves similarly to Microsoft Word, Google Slides, a presentation program similar to PowerPoint, and Google Forms, a survey-creation tool similar to Survey Monkey. Although Drive also includes other tools, these three are particularly useful for creating rigorous, academically robust projects. If your school uses Google Classroom or at least gives students access to Google Drive, your students are probably already using these tools to write papers or create slideshow presentations, but there are other projects they could be doing that you may not have thought of. Below I have listed 16 great ideas for projects using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms. (If you and your students want to learn more about how to use these apps, check out my Google Drive Basics course; more info at the end of this post!)"

"You've heard of it before. You're probably curious about what it is. But chances are, you're still on the edge about the whole thing. We're talking about the dark web-the mysterious part of the internet that isn't for everyone. At least, that's what you've probably heard. There are many rumors about what it is and why people go on the dark web. However, it's worth learning a thing or two about it. Who knows, maybe you'll even find some of your new favorite sites there. Stick around and we'll share some of the cool websites we've discovered in the hidden corners of the dark web."

"Before the advent of the uber-popular show Mythbusters or the push for more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in schools, parents and their kids were doing at-home science experiments. Now, the trend continues to blossom, although many of the experiments have remained somewhat the same…and always awesomely exciting! If you're a parent and you want to do something with your kid that isn't related to cleaning the toilets or forging through homework, check out these 20 great science projects that you can complete in the confines of your humble abode. Most of them use around-the-home items that you probably have on hand, although some will require a little bit of shopping ahead of time. To help you decide which are best for your children's needs, the 20 have been divided into projects for younger students and projects for older ones."

Free Anatomically correct 3d Human Anatomy site. Kevin Jarrett reminds us in the comments that if you're going to use Visible Body with younger students be aware that Visible Body is 100% anatomically correct. In that case it's probably best to use Visible Body as a teacher-directed exercise and not a individualized activity.

We have compiled a list of quantitative questions that involves algebra , Percentage, Area, Problems on Ages, Time and Work, Probability, Modern Algebra methods. Try solving them in 7 minutes as it will improve your confidence and will help in solving the exam that is to be held on 16th October to 11th November 2013. http://admissiontimes.com/cat-math/

We have compiled a list of quantitative questions that involves algebra , Percentage, Area, Problems on Ages, Time and Work, Probability, Modern Algebra methods. Try solving them in 7 minutes as it will improve your confidence and will help in solving the exam that is to be held on 16th October to 11th November 2013. http://admissiontimes.com/cat-math/

"iTooch Junior High School, by edupad Inc., is not only a state of the art and completely comprehensive educational app, it is exciting, effective and enormously fun! iTooch Junior High School has more than 10,000 exercises in ELA (reading, writing vocabulary, grammar) and Math (properties and operations, graphs, algebra, geometry, statistics and probability, and data analysis) and Health - Grade Six."

"Most of us use iPad only as a peripheral device to our computers and this is probably understood because of the nature and interface of computers that allow for much more freedom and space in handling our browsing and online navigation. For instance, I personally can not do certain things on iPad and I prefer to perform them on my laptop as is the case with writing this post and all my blog posts.That being said, there are now several apps out there that can improve the workflow of your day using iPad. These apps are designed specifically to work hand in hand with your computer and they will allow you to connect, share, and control your computer using your iPad. Thank you Greg for the list."

"Strip Designer is a great comic strip creation tool to add to your students' iPads. Priced at $2.99 USD it is $2 less than Comic Life and is just as good. Strip Designer provides dozens of comic strip layouts from simple one frame comics to one page layouts in a variety of configurations to multiple page layouts there is probably a layout that works for all students. And if not, your students can create their own custom comic strip layouts in Strip Designer."

"If you've ever run into a .zip file on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad you will probably have discovered it's a bit of a dead-end initially, because by default there isn't much you can do with zips or any other archive format. That doesn't mean you can't open ZIP files though, and in fact these archives can be viewed, unzipped, and opened in iOS with relative ease, but you will need to download a free third party app before you'll have the function included on your device. This will allow you view all of the contents of any zip file quickly, and also decompress the entire archive, or just extract a single file from a larger archive, providing quick access to the zip contents which can be saved locally or opened in another application of choice."

""No TV until you finish that level." Can you imagine? Recent research shows that video games, once considered public school enemy number one, might just be one of our greatest assets in delivering an effective education."

"The role of technology in learning isn't entirely clear-or rather, is subjective. While it clearly is able to provide access to peers, audiences, resources, and data, it also can be awkward, problematic, distracting, performing more strongly as a barrier to understand than anything else. Why this happens also isn't clear, but there are some common patterns and missteps to look for while designing or evaluating a learning process."