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R. Byrne: "Code Maven and Game Maven are interactive programming tutorials from Crunchzilla. Code Maven and Game Maven use the same style as the popular Code Monster javascript programming tutorial. That style is to present a piece of code with instructions on one side of the screen while providing a visual of the outcome on the other side of the screen." Students can learn how to program at their own pace. Great for teens into gaming -- or those who might like to be.

Simple Modular Programming Language & Environments is presumably simple enough for kids to use to create tablet apps or computer programs. Haven't had a change to try it out. For Windows-based computers and tablets only.

This is a simple programing language to get very young children into programing without knowing how to read. Might be interesting to experiement with the tool.Directions, lessons, and resources at this site. "ScratchJr will have three components: 1) a developmentally appropriate interface; 2) an embedded library of curricular modules with STEM, math, and literacy content to meet federal and state mandates in early childhood education; and 3) an online resource and community for early childhood educators and parents. "

The Pi Zero has 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM, with 2 micro USB ports and HDMI slots, as well as an SD card slot. The computer run Linux, and can be programmed, all in a credit card sized board. The foundation hopes to bring millions to the world of programming.

"Computer programming can help kids develop vital problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. Not sure where to begin? This list offers ways to jump-start a coding adventure. It also encourages kids to become creators and not simply consumers of technology. Teaching everything from simple commands to complex programs, our favorite coding apps and websites come in a range of formats designed for different ages and abilities. For even more popular picks to spark your kid's interest in coding, be sure to check out our favorite tools that cover STEM topics and our Learning with Technology topic center." Lots of choices for very young learners.

"Programming is magic. It's the ability to create things from pure imagination. We started CodeCombat to give learners the feeling of wizardly power at their fingertips by using typed code. "As it turns out, that enables them to learn faster too. WAY faster. It's like having a conversation instead of reading a manual. We want to bring that conversation to every school and to every student, because everyone should have the chance to learn the magic of programming. "CodeCombat is a community project,with hundreds of players volunteering to create levels, contribute to our code to add features, fix bugs, playtest, and even translate the game into 50 languages so far. Employees, contributors and the site gain by sharing ideas and pooling effort, as does the open source community in general. The site is built on numerous open source projects, and we are open sourced to give back to the community and provide code-curious players a familiar project to explore and experiment with. Anyone can join the CodeCombat community! "

"What does this emerging landscape of educational delivery models look like? I have categorized the models not just in terms of modality-ranging from face-to-face to fully online-but also in terms of the method of course design (see Figure 1). These two dimensions allow a richer understanding of the new landscape of educational delivery models. Within this landscape, the following primary models have emerged: ad hoc online courses and programs, fully online programs, School-as-a-Service, educational partnerships, competency-based education, blended/hybrid courses and the flipped classroom, and MOOCs (see Figure 2)." This article has excellent graphis and visuals to help explain his categories.

This blog discusses a tool that allows you to collect data on your personal use of email, and helps you understand all the controversy over government collection of data. "They have created a new program called Immersion. It works by signing you into your Gmail account and collecting only the meta-data from your account usage history. From there you can get a picture of your emailing habits from that single account, and you will be shocked at what you see. "According to the three creators, there are four purposes to the program: self-reflection, artistic representation, privacy revelations and the ability to develop a strategy in your communications on a professional level."

"Google's Drawing program is the perfect platform to practice orthography- the skill of writing characters and symbols to create words- in language classrooms with non-Roman alphabets, such as Arabic or Chinese. Students of these languages need lots of practice handwriting the new alphabet or pictographic symbols, which is difficult to do in a digital environment. In traditional word processing programs, typing pictographic languages, such as Chinese, requires the student to change the keyboard language and then phonetically type the syllables. Characters will pop out fully formed, which is efficient and useful, but bypasses the important orthographic practice! Google Drawing presents teachers with an opportunity to digital collect and monitor their students' orthography without having to scan in and email worksheets. The Scribble Tool in Google Drawing allows the user to create free form lines and by extension hand-drawn language characters. Couple Google Drawing with a pen mouse and Chinese language students are fully prepared to complete short answer or extended writing assignments online." You could also use Google Drawing for students from pictographic language to practice handwirting English.

Emaze is a much less complex presentation program than Prezi, but has similar interesting effects. Teachers use a variety of presentation programs to give variety to their lectures. Free (sign up), and online, whith lots of examples. A nice example of a science Emaze about the human nervous system: http://app.emaze.com/40664/central-nervous-system#slidenum=1

You may not be aware, but Google Docs also has a presentation program feature. So if you can't afford Office, but have Internet access, this is a great tool. (Also check out the drawing program.)

"These videos give you an up to date outline of using the program Blogger. They start off with how to create your first blog all the way through to adding more pages and authors to your blogs" R.Stannard takes you through the updated Blogger program. I have used Blogger for years, but now tend to just use Diggo and Scoop.It, the latter for the more reflective, pedagogically oriented discussions. Blogs are very helpful as a place for student portfolios, and are easy to tag and search.

Programs and resources to "ignite critical thinking skills and creativity, to generate self-pride and insprie life-long learning for diverse audiences." Programs for early childhood Ed through Teachers, and school group tours.

Ways for younger students to start tinkering with programming language, including "Move the Turtle," from the old LOGO, Symour Papeert, and Apple IIe days. Some are apps for mobile devices.

This is the kind of real-life project that makes sense to students an could be used for extensive vocabulary and syntax development. The app used to create Chow Checker (which finds allergens in foods you enter into the app) is free from MIT App Inventor, which has extensive help and documentation. R. Byrne claims you can get students started with this without knowing anything about app programming yourself.

"If This Then That helps you automate tasks like saving your Pinterest pins to your Evernote account, setting text alerts for calendar events, and sending email attachments directly to your Dropbox account. There are thousands of formulas, "recipes" is what IFTTT calls them, available in the gallery of recipes." Byrne suggests uses for teachers, but this might be an good place for students to try out simple programming skills. t/h R. Byrne

A tablet-based way to create games using pre-made icons and moves. Introduce students to programing and game development as a creative project. Then go on to Code Academy for more advanced stuff.

" CodeMonkey is a fun and educational game environment where students learn to code in a real programming language, no previous experience needed. " Students start with a game that helps teach them CoffeeScript, an HTML5 variant. The teacher's kit helps with basic computer science concepts. Students should be able to build their own games after mastering the code.

Dvolver is a simple online cartoon movie maker (formerly Dfilm). Students select a background scene and add a type of scene, characters, costumes, music, etc., and write dialogue. The program then runs the scenario as an animated movie. Note: Some character costuming will be offensive to conservative students.