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"IPads, maker spaces, 3-D printers, and coding skills top the tech wish lists for 1,259 school librarians across the country, according to School Library Journal's (SLJ) 2015 Technology Survey. Educators are hungry to bring their students even more-whether that's robotics classes or Arduino kits."

"Are your students budding coders? Do they want to create and design apps? Apple has released a sophisticated app for students serious about programming. Swift Playgrounds, a free iPad app (iOS 10) that teaches Apple's programming language Swift, was among the major announcements at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2016. Released in mid-September, Swift Playgrounds is a robust app offering hours of programming lessons."

"Each year many of us look forward to the annual reveal of the AASL Best Websites and Best Apps at ALA Annual Conference. In case you missed those big reveals a couple of week ago, no worries!  (Rather, worry. For you are in for a serious rabbit hole experience.) Summer is here and you will be able to squeeze in at least a few explorations of some new tools to bring back to school from among both of the committee's selections. There were so many goodies and you can enjoy them in a variety of publication platforms."

"I'm in Minecraft, of course-the phenomenally popular, open-ended game that places players in a world in which they can live and build things infinitely. Marcus "Notch" Persson, the Swedish creator of Minecraft, started out by creating a simple game, allowing players to construct whatever they wanted, using a few different colored blocks, each equivalent to one cubic meter. Released in 2009, it has evolved into a massive, world-building video game in which players uses those blocks to create anything they can think of, from houses, caves, and machines to a scale version of the Death Star. Microsoft purchased Minecraft from Notch and his team for $2.5 billion in November 2014. There aren't any express objectives or any real way to win in Minecraft. It's a "sandbox," in gaming speak-offering free play without a specific goal and currently used by more than 18.5 million players, with some 20,000 more signing up every day. Users may choose between Creative Mode, in which they can build using unlimited resources by themselves or with friends, with no real danger or enemies, and Survival Mode, where they fend off enemies and other players and fight for resources and space. They can trade items and communicate using a chat bar. Modifications (or mods) can add complexity by creating things like economic systems that let players buy and sell resources from in-game characters using an in-game currency system. These downloadable mods can also add computer science concepts and thousands of additional features."

"In 21 years in education, I have seen many trends come and go. I am on a mission to keep makerspaces from being added to that list. That's at the core of everything I do now. Makerspaces are an educational philosophy, foundationally solid, and we can't allow them to be cast aside by cynics who might suggest they were just a fun fad that has run its course. We must work to secure the future of makerspaces. Their fundamental purpose is too important, the impact on students too significant. A true makerspace offers student-driven opportunity for open-ended exploration for everyone. Makerspaces are a mind-set, a culture. It's about the pedagogy. A great makerspace has seven key attributes: It is personalized, deep (allowing deeper learning), empowering, equitable, differentiated, intentional, and inspiring. If you have all of that, you can call your space a makerspace-maybe even a great makerspace. So what's next? What is the key to the future of makerspaces? Sustainability. That requires proper planning. I am not just talking about the initial planning that is vital to creating the right makerspace for your school. This planning is for the future, and it requires looking back."

Very easy to use. Share with email, FB, tweets, and pins. You can even embed the flyers into your web pages. Nice analytics feature. http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2012/04/15/postering-with-new-tools/

"I am a bit mobile keyboard challenged. While I type like a maniac, I'm what anyone would call a slow texter.  I have trouble with tasks others find simple-finding the perfect emoji, as well as basics like copying and pasting.  So, for me Gboard is a major keyboard shift. Last week, the Official Google Blog announced Gboard. Available at the App Store for iPhone and iPad, Gboard is the essential keyboard app you didn't know you needed.  (Well, I kinda did.)"

"In prepping for my on-campus course this semester I felt the need to freshen up my face-to-face discussion strategies. Digging around, I discovered some fabulous pedagogical portals well worth visiting for educators, both newbie and veteran.  Take a look if you and your partner teachers seek a little inspiration for engaging learners in meaningful conversations and a few new activities."

"Coding brings young children rich opportunities for language development and the "notion of learning from mistakes," says Chip Donohue, the dean of distance learning and continuing education at the Erikson Institute in Chicago, a graduate school in child development. "We actually don't do enough of that with young kids." The sequencing and patterns involved in programming reinforce skills that have always been taught in the early years, but now also create "habits of mind that are essential for the 21st century," adds Donohue, also senior fellow at the Fred Rogers Center, which provides resources and information on media use with young children. When children code together, they are also learning from each other. "In the process of learning to code, people learn many other things. They are not just learning to code, they are coding to learn," Mitchel Resnick, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, wrote in an EdSurge article. "In addition to learning mathematical and computational ideas (such as variables and conditionals), they are also learning strategies for solving problems, designing projects, and communicating ideas." Resnick adds that these skills are useful to everyone "regardless of age, background, interests, or occupation.""

"The concept was pretty straightforward, but the logistics were a bit complicated. We wanted to create four mobile maker space carts that could rotate among four middle school libraries in the Knox County School district of Knoxville, TN. It all started when our director of instructional technology, Theresa Nixon, encouraged us to apply for a TeacherPreneur Grant to fund a traveling maker space program. Our funding goal was approximately $50,000. Requesting  this much money meant that we needed a an idea that dazzled. As we prepared the grant application, the librarians representing the middle schools (Farragut, Vine, Carter, and Karns) discussed rotating maker space carts that would dock in each library for nine weeks. We hoped to optimize accessibility to high-ticket items such as 3-D printers and keep our libraries dynamic with new projects."

"This week UNESCO launched a framework illustrating its Five Laws of Media and Information Literacy (MIL). This global strategy marries the large, but often separated, disciplines of information literacy and media literacy and creates a common vocabulary for folks in multiple areas of knowledge to engage in conversation. It also positions these critical literacies as a combined set of competencies-knowledge, skills and attitudes-central for living and working in our world today."