centreforelearning

Google Plus (Google+) is Google's crack at Social Media. It's very similar to Facebook in the sense that all members have their own unique network, and anything and everything within your network will show up in your news feed. In other words, just as Facebook shows you what your friends LIKE, Google Plus shows you what your contacts +1.

Twitter has today updated its app with a bunch of improvements including performance and launch time stuff. But the big addition is support for Twitter’s new Cards types, including the ones that allow you to launch and install apps right from a tweet.

Mobile and smartphone usage is most prevalent in the morning and evening. Smartphone users tend to glance at and skim over emails more than desktop users who tend to fully read emails. Smartphone users around the world tend to use their smartphones at home more than anywhere else. From October 2010 to October 2012, email open rates on smartphones increased by 300%. Mobile email creates twice as many conversions as social and search. The average price of an order placed from a mobile device is higher than the average order from a tablet or desktop. Mobile and smartphone usage is higher Thursday – Monday than on Tuesday or Wednesday.

A recent study of Google+ showed that it is more popular with parents than students,  which could be a favorable indicator of how popular it is for those educators of the same generation.

One example of how teachers are using Google+ Pages to run their classrooms, is that of Mr. McDowell who teaches World History at West Hills High School. Mr. McDowell has made great use of Google’s tools to give students access to documents, schedules, presentations, videos and password protected areas like attendance and grade records.

access to Google+ tools and pages from any computer promotes interactivity on the site and is a big hit with educators

1. Robust Search

2. Targeted Audiences

3. Privacy Protection

A growing list of schools are turning to the "serendipity engine" to help students find cross-discipline collaborators for passion projects.

finding a cross-disciplinary collaboration is tougher--most of us are more likely to head to a meetup or networking event to fish for someone outside of our skill set. That’s fine, but it’s not a very efficient way to find exactly what you’re looking for.