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"Perhaps the most difficult aspect of project-based learning for me was figuring out how I was going to assess it. I'm sure some teachers love assessing and marking student work, but honestly, I'm uncomfortable with most grading and scoring. I appreciate feedback and I don't mind giving feedback, but I hate reducing it to a letter, number, or score. To me, it undervalues the learning."

"One of the core principles of good iPad usage that my EdTechTeacher colleagues have developed is the idea that educators should focus on creation apps rather than content apps. Most apps that are designed to teach specific content are terrible, so educators shouldn't think of iPads as repositories of apps but rather as portable media creation devices. Thus, educators don't need to review and master the hundreds of education apps that come out every year; rather, they should consider how a small suite of apps related to annotation, curation, and image, audio, and video production could support diverse student performances of understanding. "

"as a parent, when I got up to say a few words I simply acknowledged that for many the whole technology thing is overwhelming and the audience's heads nodded in agreement. And, I didn't speak about iPads or how they could be used. I simply said that I had seen the number one reason why for this school and for our children a 1:1 iPad program was the way to go. That reason was because the teachers believed it was the way to go. And, we should back them."

Have you ever felt that your online students needed more direction on how to approach a discussion board? Have you thought that with just a bit more assistance students would really engage in the forum and take it to the next level, rather than just do the minimum required to get points?

"From Moodle to Edmodo to Inquisiq r3, there's a lot of tools you can use to manage, track, and deliver courses and training programs in your school. They're called Learning Management Solutions (LMS) or sometimes Learning Management Systems. Either way, how do you pick which is the best? A new infographic from Capterra spells it out in simple stats."

" Here is a "How to Twitter Guide" to share with new and veteran teachers."

"Is your high school teaching students to access the Internet for research? Then it is essential that students also learn how to validate the information. The Internet is a place where you can find "proof" of essentially any belief system that you can imagine. And, for too many students, "If it is on the Internet, it is true.""

Here are some questions I have for anyone in the edtech community that has taken their school down the path of 1-1 learning with iPads: Does giving every student an iPad mitigate or exacerbate issues of equity in our school communities? iPads are often times promoted as being really 'easy' to use. Is this true? And is 'easy' what we really want? What are the learning dispositions we aim to foster in our students and school community and is going all-in with iPads going to help us build these dispositions? How are iPads helping your students participate in the long tail of invention, creation and manufacturing (the 'Third Industrial Revolution' as some have called it)?

"If you have sat through one too many bad PowerPoint presentations or seen too many posters thrown together at the last minute, it's time to change how your students put together their presentations. With these 10 presentation tools for students, you will significantly reduce the amount of boring presentations you have to sit through. These tools will encourage your students to be creative and think critically when they plan their next presentations."

"This past year has been one of my biggest learning spikes as a teacher since my first year in the classroom. I have been working with other teachers who are at all stages of their teaching careers and we have been focusing on innovative teaching practices within a school-based inquiry. I have embraced not being the expert, being uncomfortable with not knowing all the answers, and being unsure about how a strategy or a lesson will go. I have found myself increasingly trusting my learners. I am learning like crazy (just like my students) and trying not to burst with excitement! The key has been working with my amazing school staff, along with other dedicated teachers and mentors in our district and throughout the province. I have been collaborating with my colleagues, and I have been implementing new ways of teaching. We are doing wonderful things here in Delta and we need to encourage our colleagues to share their successes with others."

Combines national data and a number of international rankings - including PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS - to provide an interpretation of how countries are performing relative to each other. In this report it identifies 8 essential skills that young people will need to enter the global workforce.

Sharing your App Store or iTunes account with a family member while keeping iCloud separate is possible, and easy!

"The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students"

" How to create personalized, annotated, customized maps using Google Maps."

In this day and age, where anyone with access to the internet can create a website, it is critical that we as educators teach our students how to evaluate web content. There are some great resources available for educating students on this matter, such as Kathy Schrock's Five W's of Website Evaluation or the University of Southern Maine's Checklist for Evaluating Websites.

Sometimes you may want to embed just a portion of a YouTube video in your web pages. For instance, you are embedding a movie from YouTube but want the viewer to focus of one particular scene that begins at 'x' seconds and ends at 'y' seconds. When the scene has finished, the embedded clip should stop playing irrespective of the length of the video. Well, here are two simple ways to help you embed a part of any YouTube video:

"For those just getting started, a few basic terms to help you easily and quickly navigate your way around Twitter. For those who already use Twitter, you may want to jump down to the next section, Benefits for Educators, or simply download the Twitter Cheat Sheet at the bottom of the post."

Good account of Twitter's impact on educators & collaboration. Also great link to PBS Media Shift which is a great site to follow

"Exceptions don't contradict what I'm trying to explain here, but rather prove the point that: A tool is just a tool! I can use a hammer to build a house and I can use the same hammer on a human skull. It's not the tool, but how you use it that matters."