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"Teachers are focusing on writing instruction like never before. More and more, they're asking students to write about what they read, helping them think through and craft their work, and using such exercises as tools not only to build better writers, but to help students understand what they're studying."

"I've never really thought about this until now, but if you use a tablet extensively, you have to watch how you're seated when you're using it. Just like how you sit in front of a normal computer matters to your back and neck posture, the same rules equally apply to when you're using your iPad, Android tablet or Kindle Fire."

"So you have tried many iPad educational games but still did not find the one that perfectly meets your students needs. Well you will never find a perfect one for your particular students because each group of learners have their own idiosyncrasies and only their teachers know them . That being said, using TinyTap you can now easily create your own games based on pictures of your choice. "

"I have owned an iPad for quite some time now, and found it to be an excellent tool for both amateur photographers like myself and professionals alike. Sure, an iPad will never be able to replace a computer for serious photo editing (well, for me, anyway,) but I feel that it has definitely earned a place in the discerning photographers kit bag."

"The need to develop critical thinkers has never been as urgent as it is now. In a world that is digitally focused and where there is an outpouring of information surfeit, students need to be equipped with the right tools to live up to the new learning exigencies. Critical thinking as a skill is the mother of all other skills and one that underpins and solidify students overall learning."

"I made this Webinar a few months ago…. Creation Tools for the iPad… and today I wanted to share some of the apps and ideas around Creating "stuff" on the iPad. With the camera, it's portability and some fabulous apps, it has never been easier for us to create our own resources on the iPad. And when I say "us", I don't just mean educators - teachers, therapists, parents and support staff, I also mean, our students as well. Anyone and everyone can harness the power and possibilities in the iPad to create some amazing things!"

"When I was a kid, I dreamt about our school desks as computer screens. How cool would it have been to be able to draw, write, and learn directly onto my own computer? As the years went on, people theorized that laptops would take over the classroom, but the price of these devices was too high for a 1 to 1 ratio. It never quite caught on in lower grade schools. Now, it is the age of the tablet. We have affordable high-powered computers that can provide all sorts of enrichment through an intuitive touch screen interface and the education world is taking notice. More and more classrooms are imagining the curriculum in the context of each child having his or her own tablet. Yet, some educators are still skeptical. How can a piece of technology truly enhance the learning process, without causing distraction?"

"For those who do not know, here are two basic Twitter principles: 1. If you only follow ten people, you will only see the general tweets of those ten people. 2. If only ten people follow you, only those ten people will see your general tweets. Although some might argue that the right ten people might be enough, I would argue that ten educators is a very limited professional learning network. The never-ending task of building a PLN is to continually follow really good educators to get the information they put out."

"Here's a great idea… Take your students to a gallery and let them interact with the sculptures like never before. We took a group of Year 10s on a walk through a sculpture garden and asked them to use their iPads to photograph the work. Using their iPads they created abstract images by using apps in workflows to manipulate the photos on the spot. The results were amazing. Rather than producing one picture, most students created a very diverse folio of work."

"If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won't hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. Most likely you will hear something like, "It was all Mr. Jones. He just never gave up on me." What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. It's difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are continually re-evaluating how to quantify learning. But the first and most important question to ask is: Are teachers reaching their students?"

"If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won't hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. Most likely you will hear something like, "It was all Mr. Jones. He just never gave up on me." What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. It's difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are continually re-evaluating how to quantify learning. But the first and most important question to ask is: Are teachers reaching their students?"

"Next Tuesday (February 5, 2013) I will be a guest on a free webinar hosted by Pearson's Online Learning Exchange. The webinar is titled Ten Easy Ways to Participate in Digital Learning Day. The copy below was written by the OLE team. I'd never call myself a "guru." "

"I have been doing a lot of apps review here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning but I have never posted about the tools you as teachers and educators can use to create your own apps. Just lower your eyebrows down, you can do it without any coding knowledge. Of course Android and Apple do provide tech savyy guys with the tools necessary to create their own apps but for us who know nothing about SDK and app development skills, platforms like the ones below will serve the purpose. You can create your app in less than a minute and the process is completely free. Here are some of the apps I learned from Steven Anderson and which you can use to create your customizable apps. Enjoy"

"One area that I don't have time to explore very often during the school year is creating music on my iPad. It seems with all the day to day activities of teaching that I totally loose touch with musical explorations and composing. I've been taking more time lately to do this and I am floored at what I can do with an iPad and a few apps. I am not going to give you a history lesson here but I will say that at one time in my career I dreamed of creating a wonderful MIDI lab outfitted with computers, keyboards, speakers and mixers for my students to use. That dream never happened because of the crazy cost involved. My dream has been reshaped. Here is what I've found…."

"One of the challenging tasks facing teachers in today's learning environments is increasing students engagement. I said challenging because our students' attention span is very short and unless you make your learning tasks appealing to them you will never succeed in keeping them on task. Some attribute this to the heavy presence of digital media in teens life and also to the negative practices that came as a result of this over indulgence in the digital such as multitasking. Below is an interesting graphic created by Mia Mac Meekin in which she features 27 activities teachers can use to increase students engagement and participation. Enjoy"

"Last night I had one of those incredibly horrifying moments that I hope you never experience. Just as I'm getting ready to go to bed at 11 PM in my hotel room I suddenly realize my iPad was missing. Losing an iPad is upsetting - knowing the damage someone could do if they accessed online accounts using my iPad was terrifying. Fortunately I knew I had some protection because I password protect my devices and had set up Find My iPad/Phone. Which can't be said for many of the educators I noticed using mobile devices at ISTE. But had I done enough?"

"Skype is an instructional tool that provides boundlessopportunities for authentic teaching and learning.  It allows us to explore beyond the four walls of our classrooms.  As elementary teachers, we sometimes battle to hold our students' short attention spans. Integrating Skype lessons brings the curriculum to life in ways never before possible.  You know that special moment when you announce a class activity, and it's greeted with claps, screams, and cheers?  That's Skype.  It brings pure joy, wonder, and intrigue to your students. Here's a list of ten ways to utilize it in the elementary setting, followed by some logistical tips for success."

""Ever wished you could bring the real world to virtual life?" As a matter of fact, this is one wish I have never had. However, tech guru Lisa Johnson (A.K.A. techchef4u) recently waltzed into my classroom, iPad in hand, to introduce me to "augmented reality". Before my very eyes, she made things appear through the "eyes" of her iPad… that simply weren't there."

"Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Go Back and Forth. Get Reactions. Rinse and Repeat. There are many ways of looking at the design thinking process. The main premise remains the same though: Take Action and Create Something to Solve a Problem of Some Sort. Below, I describe the most commonly used and taught Design Thinking Process. However, it is not about what the names of the 5 spaces are. Rather, "doing" design thinking is about understanding what each space involves and that the process rarely occupies a single space. In fact, any project will have the designers focusing in one area, but working within the constraints of several spaces. For example, new ideas will occur everywhere along the way to the "permanent" solution, even in the testing stage. And, the process is cyclical - it never ends... There are always improvements to be made."