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"Digital books are transforming the way students of all ages learn today. The interactive elements of digital books enhance the learning experience, making it far more informative and interesting than before. Many teachers today are embracing this new media and producing some high quality student-made eBooks in their classrooms. One of the most fascinating ways to create an eBook is using a mobile device, particularly, an iPad. StoryKit, Book Writer, and Book Creator are 3 apps my students have used to create some highly interactive, professionally looking eBooks. All three apps are excellent examples of tools that allow students to unleash their creativity and tell their own stories."

"For teachers and educators, the ability to creatively combine web content with interactive images offers an exciting way to share engaging digital platforms for learning. ThingLink is a popular interactive visual image network being used by thousands of teachers around the country. One image can provide students with a unique and comprehensive hands-on lesson with information included via videos, hyperlinks, text and much more. The company recently announced its new editor for annotating video content, which allows teachers to add notes in this media too. Today in The Global Search for Education, I have invited 3 educators - Jamie Forshey, Lisa Johnson, and Sue Fitzgerald - to share their favorite examples of how they have been using the ThingLink digital tool to promote meaningful and fun learning. Jamie Forshey is an Instructional Technology Specialist and Computer Skills Instructor at the Bellwood-Antis School District in Blair County, Pennsylvania. She shares these three examples from her work with ThingLink:"

"The iPad really shines as a powerful media consumption device.  It's also a great tool for finding and interacting with information on the internet as well as a repository for offline browsing of articles and links saved to your Reading List.  But how well are you really acquainted with all the benefits Safari for the iPad has to offer?  In no particular order, here are the (5) most useful features that make interacting with Safari on the iPad an enjoyable and productive experience."

"Yesterday I wished my friends could see the beauty of my snowy backyard and I discovered the Meerkat app. It seems everyone is buzzing about the free app that allows you to connect your iPhone or iPad or iPod Touch camera to Twitter and live stream or schedule the video you shoot real-time to all of your followers.  You can shoot videos portrait or landscape and turn the camera on yourself or the scene beyond. Your live video stream shows up instantly on your followers' Twitter feeds.  As folks start to watch, their Twitter profile pictures appear, and you can see and interact with your viewers,  Your viewers' tweets to you appear on the screen, allowing you to respond.  Followers who have the app get notifications of additions and may watch, comment and interact on the app."

"Move away from the drib drab of everyday lessons and get more interactive using a free web-based tool called ThingLink. ThingLink can transform the way you teach, and not only that, but the way your students learn. Enough already? You want to know how this work? ThingLink is free image platform that converts an image into a rich and interactive experience by adding music, video, text, images, and more. The best part about ThingLink is you can jam pack everything onto one page and one image. By tagging your image with content from all over the internet  - YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, or  linking to a PDF to further explain something…you get the idea. "

"One of the most versatile and easiest-to-use platforms I've used over the past several years is ThingLink. I've used the interactive poster tagging tool to create and embed media-rich image maps, to annotate and evaluate the claims infographics make, as a portfolio and as a curation tool. This summer, educator, consultant and ThingLink Education Community Manager, Susan Oxnevad invites educators to share their creativity and push the envelope with a ThingLink Teacher Challenge on a Google+ Community. In her blog post, Susan explains the rationale for this free self-paced summer challenge: This challenge invites teachers to learn to use interactive images to redefine learning in the classroom. Learn how to connect audio, video, images, and text in one cohesive presentation during this self-paced professional development opportunity. "

"Close-reading is the product of a dynamic and deeply personal interaction between the reader and a text. It is an active process characterized by questioning, adjusting reading rate, judgement thinking, and dozens of other "strategies" readers use to make sense of what they're reading. This is an interaction that doesn't require technology, but can be changed by it.  It is a matter of fluency, strategy, and will. Two of these are easier to promote in students than the third (we'll let you guess which are which). And if we're going to start this conversation (monologue?) from a position of full transparency, technology isn't at all necessary for close reading. In fact, some might (effectively) argue that it's counter-productive there. There is so much potential to do anything but sit and roll around in a text that it can make using an iPad for reading seem like using a sharp pocketknife for a fork. But the other side of that argument is that, well applied, technology offers additional tools-and possibility-for readers, and to promote close reading of a text. (Something we discuss here in "Trying To Understand How Technology Changes Reading.")"

Online, interactive, standards-based science curriculum www.science4us.com

"People use the Scratch language to create interactive stories, games, and animations. Includes an active community to share projects. In the simplest terms, the Scratch language is a free programming language where you move blocks (also called bubbles) into a set order, then configure some of the blocks to create interactive stories, games, and animations."

"The technological landscape in schools is always evolving. As consumer trends like social networking, mobile applications and smart devices continue to make their way into the classroom, students are increasingly expecting an atmosphere of more interaction and less presentation. Beyond their expectations, the reality is that - as shown by multiple studies - students learn more through interaction and doing things for themselves, rather than passively absorbing content."

"Today the field of educational technology is literally bombarded with new ideas and devices that promise to revolutionize the way we teach. Some of these newcomers have strong potential and promise a unique learning experience. One such product is Osmo. Osmo is an innovative device that transforms an iPad into an interactive classroom accessory able to add a level of excitement that engages students in the learning process. Osmo is made of a vertical base for the iPad, and a reflective mirror that sits in front of the camera. These two unassuming accessories work together to change the physical space in front of the iPad into an area of active engagement that interact with a number of iPad apps made for Osmo."

"About two decades ago The MIT Media lab introduced the concept of block-based programming. The idea was to develop an interface that allowed computer programs to be built by simply dragging and dropping puzzle blocks to represent complex programming constructs and commands. With this new method for teaching and learning computer science, the hugely popular Scratch platform was born. This approach lowered the bar for experimenting with programmatic thinking, making it possible for students to create interactive animations and small games without writing a single line of code. This simple concept removed the need to learn the syntax of a formal programming language, and made teaching and learning the basics of computer science accessible to younger learners and to teachers with no formal coding background. Outside of the classroom though, coding has always been, and still remains, a process of typing letters, numbers and symbols. This text-based programming, used in programming language such as C, Javascript and Python, requires coders to obey and conform to formal syntax. Despite the pain of dealing with typos in names of variables and inevitable syntax errors, no other coding method designed to be more "user friendly" has really caught on. Tools have been offered for managers to define business logic through a graphical user interface without writing lines of codes. Or for web developers to add interactive behaviors to their websites without learning Javascript. But in reality, neither of those substitute the power and flexibility of text-based programming. And with neither winning significant adoption, the demand for the classic skill of text-based coding continues to grow and grow."

"At the Kensington Library making a learning environment that is accessible, friendly, and interactive has been the most effective way of reaching the most "difficult" children. When school is over and children flock to the library, the last thing they want is to sit still and be told what to do. For some, art activities and creativity come naturally but for others beginning a project is just another task to do in a day full of instruction. I think it is important to provide these children with a space where learning is just part of the environment. On of our first additions to the Kensington's Maker space was an interactive velcro wall where children design, build, and re-build a marble slide made from cardboard paper towel rolls and plastic bottles. Children often enter the Maker Space and start tinkering with the wall with out even thinking about it.  A wall of tools has also helped to inspire projects. The visibility of the tools can be a great motivation for a child to learn to hammer, use an electric drill, or a needle and thread."

"Augmented reality and virtual reality​ could fundamentally change the way we interact with and interpret data. "

"In the past decade, researchers have shown that playing games can boost students' ability to think in systems. Any game is a system, after all, and when players take actions, the game itself, as an interactive system, can change. Moving a knight across a chessboard, for example, can change everything for the opposing player. What is systems thinking? According to the Partnership for 21st-Century Learning, systems thinking relates to critical thinking and problem solving, and systems thinkers can "analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex systems.""

"The Periodic Table of Elements, in Pictures and Words is an interactive site that shows students how each element is used or is present in familiar products. When students click on an element in the interactive display an image of a familiar product or object appears along with a description of the element and its characteristics. For example, if you click on aluminum an image of airplane appears along with a description of aluminum, its uses, and its characteristics."

"Please, No More Professional Development! By Peter DeWitt on April 17, 2015 8:10 AM Today's guest blog is written by Kristine Fox (Ed.D), Senior Field Specialist/Research Associate at Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations (QISA). She is a former teacher and administrator who has passion for teacher learning and student voice. Kris works directly with teachers and leaders across the country to help all learners reach their fullest potential. Peter DeWitt recently outlined why "faculty meetings are a waste of time." Furthering on his idea, most professional development opportunities don't offer optimal learning experiences and the rare teacher is sitting in her classroom thinking "I can't wait until my district's next PD day." When I inform a fellow educator that I am a PD provider, I can read her thoughts - boring, painful, waste of time, useless, irrelevant - one would think my job is equal to going to the dentist (sorry to my dentist friends). According to the Quaglia Institute and Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center's National Teacher Voice Report only 54% percent of teachers agree "Meaningful staff development exists in my school." I can't imagine any other profession being satisfied with that number when it comes to employee learning and growth. What sense does it make for the science teacher to spend a day learning about upcoming English assessments? Or, for the veteran teacher to learn for the hundredth time how to use conceptual conflict as a hook. Why does education insist everyone attend the same type of training regardless of specialization, experience, or need? As a nod to the upcoming political campaigns and the inevitable introduction of plans with lots of points, here is my 5 Point Plan for revamping professional development. 5 Point Plan Point I - Change the Term: Semantics Matter We cannot reclaim the term Professional Development for teachers. It has a long, baggage-laden history of conformity that does not

"As I mentioned in a previous post, I am always intrigued by sites that offer interactivity but are not apps (ala Quizlet). I had observed Mr. Wayment's class reviewing the Greek & Latin roots using an 82 card Quizlet deck he had created. Students were utilizing various activities within Quizlet (e.g. Speller, Learn, and Scatter) to review the terms."

"WWF Together is a beautiful iPad app and Android app that features interactive stories about endangered animals around the world. Each of the interactive stories includes beautiful images and videos, facts about the animals and their habitats, and the threats to each of the animals. Some of the animals currently featured in the app are pandas, marine turtles, elephants, tigers, polar bears, bison, whales, gorillas, rhinos, and snow leopards."

"At the end of 2016, I found myself mentally exhausted and barely able to string together a coherent thought or formulate an original idea. As I swiped through my social media feeds for inspiration-or maybe procrastination-a nagging feeling hit. I needed a break from screen time. Pediatricians, psychologists, and neuroscientists warn of potential negative consequences associated with constant mental stimulation as a result of interacting with our devices. Without a screen-free space for my brain to relax, stop firing, and just think, I felt incapable of significant mental processing. I could blame the technology for thwarting my attempts at creative thought, or I could blame myself for taking the easy route and using my devices to constantly stimulate my brain. Though I chose to blame myself, I am finding a lot of support for the idea of blaming technology when discussing the idea of screen time. Get the best of Edutopia in your inbox each week. Mobile devices have the potential to provide amazing learning opportunities as well as great distractions. They can further social interactions to help us build stronger connections in our communities, or allow us to destroy relationships by hiding behind a screen. In the book The Triple Focus: A New Approach to Education, authors Daniel Goleman and Peter Senge describe three essential skills for surviving in a society increasingly dominated by internet-enabled devices: focusing on ourselves, tuning in to others, and understanding the larger world. While the authors apply these concepts to the broader field of social and emotional learning, these same foci also apply as we address the issue of screen time with our students and children."