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"As an investment for 21st century teaching and learning Spring Cottage Primary School has invested in a MacBook Pro, 16 16GB iPad 2s in Key Stage 1, 16 16GB iPad 2s in Key Stage 2, 63 iPod touches for children in Year 6, Apple TV and new projectors in each classroom and a managed wireless system."

Fellow Literacy with ICT bookmarkers, Let's get together and make a badge for ICT teacher-leaders and co-ordinators in our public school system in Manitoba.

Support for new Manitoba Blackboard system - Distance Learning

Next to technology use in education, assessment generates buzz. Americans scramble to put together formative assessment into their system and here are links to research articles to show evidence of the race.

"OS 5 has arrived and rather than rattle off the list of new features, I thought it might be helpful to understand how the new operating system for Apple's mobile devices can help students (and others) with special needs."

"Shedding some light on this trend, these tips and tricks might be of interest to you and come in handy especially when you've just got an iPad in your hand. Most of them may also work well on other iOS devices like the iPhone and the iPod touch running on the same mobile operating system."

"The Palm Beach County school system has a full review of their deployment process along with photos and commentary. Their incredible wiki features tons of great resources (the best iPad apps for particular grades, how much iPad labs actually cost, etc.) so be sure to check it out. Below is their must-have guide for installing, setting up, and syncing iPads in the classroom:"

(download password: makeuseof)

"Often times when I go into a classroom to work with students and iPads I connect my iPad to whatever projection system exists in the room. I'm pretty comfortable unplugging cables from computers, but not everyone is. Recently I set up a bunch of schools with a one-touch solution to switch their SMARTboard or projector between their computer and their iPad."

"Apple has recently released iOS6. This is the latest and most recent and probably the most performing operating system out there. I personally liked its features and thought I might provide you with a little review in case you want to upgrade to it."

"When you eat something loaded with sugar, your taste buds, your gut and your brain all take notice. This activation of your reward system is not unlike how bodies process addictive substances such as alcohol or nicotine -- an overload of sugar spikes dopamine levels and leaves you craving more. Nicole Avena explains why sweets and treats should be enjoyed in moderation."

"I spend much more time and much more effort learning how to understand the people around me than I do code, systems, architectures, and technologies. I'm not an expert or even remarkable at it, but I work on it consciously and consistently. The it I'm describing here is called "empathy": the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner-Merriam Webster"

"Habits are unconscious patterns of behavior that are acquired with frequent repetition. This post will look at what habits exist among innovative educators. While the conditions in education are not ideal for our disruptive educators, there are individuals working hard from within the system to create change. Whether you are looking to join them, better understand them, or you are one of them, this post is for you."

"To be clear-learning can happen in the absence of technology. Integrated poorly, technology can subdue, distract, stifle, and obscure the kind of personal interactions between learner, content, peer, and performance that lead to learning results. But increasingly we live in a world where technology is deeply embedded into everything we do. Thinking about it simply in terms of "digital literacy" puts you about 5 years behind the curve. It's really much more than that-less about being connected, and more about being mobile. There will be growing pains, and I'm sure educators that have brought in BYOD programs into their school can come up with 50 reasons it won't work. But most of those 50 are a product of the continued poor fit that exists between schools and communities-the system and the humans it serves."

"Gamification is simply the application of "game" mechanics to non-game entities. The big idea here is to encourage a desired behavior. In this way, "gamification" amounts to installing mechanics or systems that recognize and reward behavior. Through increased visibility of nuance, documentation of progress, and rewarding of seemingly minor (but critical) behaviors, a specific outcome can be achieved."

"Most of the time you'll never have to worry about having to install a new operating system on your Mac - the one that's on there should work fine through thick and thin. But every once in a while you might want or need to - here are step by step instructions for making it happen."