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"Getting started with Spark is easy for users of all ages. This is one reason that I love sharing with teachers and students. When I lead a professional development session or visit a classroom, everyone can jump in and create a dynamic, visually stunning artifacts of their learning. So if Spark is entirely new to you, it won't take long for you to dive into this user-friendly tool with your students! You can turn students into movie-makers, website creators, and graphic designers with the Spark tools. From book trailers in the English Language Arts classroom to lab reports in the science classroom, the possibilities are endless!"

"What ignites your spark for teaching and learning inside and outside the classroom? What sustains your spark for creativity and innovation? What can be a spark of innovation to encourage teachers who are not early adapter / innovators in our schools? These questions and more are addressed by Wesley Fryer, Rachel Fryer, Brad Wilson, Autumn Laidler, Jess McCulloch, Cheryl Oakes, Amy Burvall, Richard Byrne, Kevin Hodgson, Brian Crosby, Jennie Magiera, Jason Neiffer, Diane Woodard, and Michelle Roundy in this opening keynote presentation for the 2014 K-12 Online Conference. Come travel with us from Oklahoma City to Michigan, Chicago, Australia, Maine, Nevada, Montana, California, New York and Wyoming as we explore the theme of "Igniting Innovation" for this year's conference. Please take the challenge posed by Wesley in this video: Record and share a short (60 second) video answering one of these questions about "igniting innovation!" Share your video on YouTube with the hashtag #k12onlineIgnite under a Creative Commons license. By sharing with a CC license you will permit and empower others to engage in "combinatorial creativity" and make combined remix videos including your ideas!"

"An innovative, free resource is now available to educators across the nation to help them ignite student interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Spark 101 inspires students to thrive in college and future careers and helps teachers bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world applications."

"Children are quick to ask "why?" and "how?" when it comes to new things, but research suggests elementary and preschool students learn more when teachers (and, presumably, parents) turn the questions back on them, writes Sarah Sparks in Education Week. Sparks reports on a symposium at the annual Association for Psychological Science research meeting held late last month, where panelists discussed how and when asking students for explanations can best enhance their learning:"

"Digital storytelling is one of the potent educational activities to spark students creative writing and engage reluctant writers. It allows students to have their own voice, communicate their thoughts and experiment with a variety of semiotic modes including text, images, audio and video. In today's post we have handpicked for you five great iPad apps geared towards unleashing the writing gene within students. Students can use them to compose their stories and presentations and share them with others via email or social media. Check them out and share with us your feedback. Enjoy"

"Over the years I frequently used resources like the BBC's Week In Pictures and Ten by Ten to give students visual prompts about current events. I found that the pictures often sparked more questions from students than just giving them a news article to read. The Getty Images Stream iPad app could be used for the same purpose."

Spark Podcast from CBC Amber Mac talks about Creative Commons from the 8:00 - 12:00 minutes mark in the podcast

"In my classroom over the last few years I've shown many Youtube videos to inspire resiliency, grit, hope, and discussion prior to guiding them in the creation of their inquiry questions about their passions and wonders during our weekly Genius Hour time.  This post is a follow up post to my post 23 Videos that Sparked Genius Hour Thinking, Collaboration, and Actions.  Many of those videos and the ones I am sharing now were shared with me through the wonderful connections I have made with educators learners on Twitter, Facebook, and at workshops.  I am continually inspired by the educators in my personal learning network.  Thank you to all of you who share your learning and inspirations daily.  You have helped me make sense of the ideas that are floating around in my head.  I am proud to say that students in my classes are constantly inspiring each other and their teacher.  Some of their work is shared on the list below."

"It's often the smallest spark that ignites the flames of inspiration and lifelong learning. The right balance between fascination and education, Star Chart is the perfect example of an app that can provide that spark for students. Overlaying a stunningly detailed view of the night sky on students' phones or tablet devices, the app can become your classes virtual telescope to explore the whole visible universe."

"Playing with a geometric puzzle or stress ball at your desk can seem like idle diversion. It may also spark clearer or more creative thinking. Certain kinds of hand movements have an impact on cognitive functioning, improving focus or sparking fresh thinking or faster learning, according to several recent studies. Researchers at New York University's Polytechnic School of Engineering are exploring how fiddling with desk gadgets might yield some of those benefits on the job. "

"When you're a designer you never stop learning. No matter if you're a UX designer, a graphic designer, or you specialize in illustrations or hand lettering, there's always something new to learn. That's one of the best parts of being in this field. And if you're struggling, it's helpful to know that there is a huge community of designers out there who are going through the same issues as you are. And who are eager to share their stories and impart their wisdom. Listening to them can help you become a better designer. With that in mind, we have compiled a list of the best design podcasts that should help spark your creativity and get you out of any slumps you may be in."

"Writing Sparks is a series of inspirational writing challenges for your whole class."

"SOON AFTER ChatGPT broke the internet, it sparked an all-too-familiar question for new technologies: What can it do for education?  Many feared it would worsen plagiarism and further damage an already decaying humanism in the academy, while others lauded its potential to spark creativity and handle mundane educational tasks.   Of course, ChatGPT is just one of many advances in artificial intelligence that have the capacity to alter pedagogical practices.  The allure of AI-powered tools to help individuals maximize their understanding of academic subjects (or more effectively prepare for exams) by offering them the right content, in the right way, at the right time for them has spurred new investments from governments and private philanthropies.  "

"Mention robots to many English teachers and they'll immediately point down the hall to the science classroom or to the makerspace, if they have one. At many schools, if there's a robot at all, it's located in a science or math classroom or is being built by an after-school robotics club. It's not usually a fixture in English classrooms. But as teachers continue to work at finding new entry points to old material for their students, robots are proving to be a great interdisciplinary tool that builds collaboration and literacy skills. "For someone like me who teaches literature by lots of dead white guys, teaching programming adds relevance to my class," said Jessica Herring, a high school English teacher at Benton High School in Arkansas. Herring first experimented using Sphero, essentially a programmable ball, when her American literature class was studying the writing of early settlers. Herring pushed the desks back and drew a maze on the floor with tape representing the journey from Europe to the New World. Her students used class iPads and an introductory manually guided app to steer their Spheros through the maze. Herring, like many English teachers, was skeptical about how the Sphero robot could be a useful teaching tool in her classroom. She thought that type of technology would distract students from the core skills of reading, writing and analyzing literature. But she decided to try it after hearing about the success of another English teacher across the country."