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"Amazon has launched a new segment of Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), KDP EDU, targeted at EDUcators and authors of textbooks and other EDUcational content. Publicly available as a beta, Kindle Textbook Creator is designed to allow authors to use PDFs "easily prepare, publish and promote e-textbooks and other EDUcational content for students to access on a broad range of devices," according to a news release. Once created, the resources can be uploaded to KDP for use by students anywhere in the world on Kindle Fire tablets, iOS and Android devices, Macs or PCs."

Well written and informative guide to Facebook. Links to many resources you might not find on your own. Ties back to website with even more timely information for educators about social networking. Excellent resource!

"Want to strike up a conversation with your younger relatives this Thanksgiving? Ask them about Minecraft. If they don't play themselves, they'll know friends who do. And maybe, just maybe, they're even using it in the classroom. More and more teachers are finding ways to integrate game play into their lesson plans. Using an educational and security-friendly version of the popular building game, called Minecraft edu, teachers are engaging their students in social studies, language arts and engineering. "

Gov of MB BYOD Guide

"Abstract Universal Design for Learning is a framework for the design of materials and instructional methods that are usable by a wide range of students. One aim of UDL is to provide full access to students with special needs, but it offers significant affordances for all students, allowing them to benefit from learning presented through multiple sensory avenues and a variety of conceptual frameworks. Early research about the influence of UDL is positive, showing that it improves engagement and performance among all students. The 7 Things You Should Know About... series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues."

"Back in March of this year at the Future Ready Schools Summit at Leyden High School, I attended one of the featured speaker sessions led by James Sanders. It was a great session with lots of takeaways about meaningful digital learning. My biggest takeaway though, was one of the last things he mentioned in the session. I looked back at my notes and this is the last thing I typed… "Breakout room idea". James shared with us this breakout room idea and gave us a little background about how this all came about. He went on to explain to us that there are these escape rooms around the world where you pay to get "locked in" a room with friends and try to escape by solving puzzles and unlocking codes. He was in Edmonton, Canada, with some high school students playing one of these escape games and he was amazed at how hard these students were working during this game. James wanted to turn this incredible learning experience of problem solving and fun and into something that can be used in the classroom. I left there super excited about this."

"I'm 38 and so automatically love Star Wars. Inspired by the new film, 'The Force Awakens.' here are some #StarWars themed Edu posters for all the other Educating Star Wars fans out there. I made them using my 10-year-old neighbour Josh's excellent collection of Lego Star Wars characters - Thanks Josh! Hope you like them!"

"At 3Doodler, we are committed to supporting educators with curricular materials that inspire and make it easy to create. The materials hosted on this page are designed to introduce the 3Doodler into classrooms, libraries, museums, and makerspaces. All materials are freely available and downloadable. educators should feel free to adapt, hack or modify the suggested activities, lesson plans and units to meet their needs and those of their students. "

The posting below looks at a new approach to evaluating teaching. It is by Carl Wieman a professor of physics and of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. He is the founder of the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) at the University of British Columbia and the Science Education Initiative at the University of Colorado. He is a Nobel Laureate in Physics and served as the Associate Director for Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Cwieman@stanford.Edu, 650 - 497-3491. The posting is a condensed version of a substantially longer article that appeared in the January, 2015 issue of Change Magazine. http://www.changemag.org Regards, Rick Reis

"Rather than the maker experiences being an after school program, an add on activity, or an activity that is implemented when students have done their regular lessons work, it should be part of the regular, day-to-day curriculum. As noted in USC Rossier Online, "In order for your school and students to be fully invested in maker education, it has to be integrated into your curriculum, not squeezed in" (https://rossieronline.usc.edu/maker-education/sync-with-curriculum/).  Ayah Bdeir, who invented and runs littleBits, had this to say about integrating maker education into the curriculum: It's time for maker ed to move into the mainstream. Making should not be relegated to the times spent outside of class, e.g. lunch or after school. Nor should it only flourish in private schools, which don't have to teach to standards. We need to work to show how making is a rigorous process that leads to valuable new technologies, products and experiences. Specifically, we need to tie maker projects to standards-based curriculum and show clearly the kinds of knowledge, skills and practices students learn as part of making (https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-09-24-building-connections-between-maker-ed-and-standards) Albemarle County Public School District is very intentional in their implementation of maker projects: Maker projects can be created to support just about any subject area, from science to history to language arts. Maker education can be a tool for teaching the curriculum that you already have, At a glance, maker projects may appear disconnected from the curriculum. What may look like an arts and crafts activity, or just a bunch of kids playing with Legos, is actually a way to teach about ancient Rome or how to write a persuasive essay. (https://www.edutopia.org/practice/maker-education-reaching-all-learners) "

"Let's take a look at this vague idea of the 'classroom of the future.' This is all subjective, but it's worth talking about. So let's talk. Below are some ideas that are truly transformational-not that they haven't been said before. It's not this article that's transformational, but the ideas themselves. These ideas aren't just buzzwords or trendy edu-jargon but the kind of substance with the potential for lasting change. And the best part? This is stuff that's available not tomorrow with ten grand in classroom funding and 12 hours of summer PD, but today. Utopian visions of learning are tempting, if for no other reason than they absolve us of accountability to create it right now, leading to nebulous romanticizing about how powerful learning could be if we just did more of X and Y. But therein lies the rub: Tomorrow's learning is already available, and below are seven of the most compelling and powerful trends, concepts, and resources that represent its promise."