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Per David Warlick blog - "A recent report (Ready to Innovate/pdf) from The Conference Board and Americans for the Arts, in partnership with the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), reminds us that creativity, and integral part of innovation, is among the top five skills that will become more important over the next five years. Yet, according to their survey, school superintendents and American business executives differ in some significant ways in what this means."

Though this article is written for the business sector, there are many great parallels with how we experience social media's acceptance in the educational realm. The suggestions that are given are readily applied to our setting, as well. In the enterprise, many employees think blogs are merely websites on which people talk about their cat or their latest meal. Many don't know the differences between and advantages of such tools as message boards, blogs, and wikis. They have heard of these terms in passing, but the demands of their day-to-day jobs have prevented them from recognizing the distinct benefits of each tool. Solution: It is useless to advocate for social media tools in a vacuum. Unless you're describing a solution to a practical problem, busy workers will not respond to buzzwords like "wiki," "blog," and "community." Your client usually has about a 30-second attention span in which you can sell a social media tool. An aide in my arsenal has been the excellent videos by Lee Lefever at Common Craft. Lee visually explains social media concepts "In Plain English." Common Craft videos quickly explain complex and sometimes unfamiliar technologies in a few minutes, sans the buzzwords, hype, and sensationalism. Problem: Cynical Clients Who Don't Want to Share Information Unfortunately, some potential SharePoint users balk at the technology because they have no desire to share their knowledge for the benefit of the organization. These individuals tend to equate their knowledge with job security; therefore, they feel nervous about sharing out of fear that they wouldn't be needed any more.

This interactive U.S. map can display customized Electoral College results. State abbreviations and the number of electoral votes can be toggled on or off for each state. Electoral votes are automatically tallied. and displayed. TeqSmart is a professional development group committed to providing quality teacher training on todays cutting edge instructional technology tools. For questions or comments regarding this product please email us at training@tequipment.com, or visit our websites: http://www.teqsmart.org.

Build a wall/online notice board,no registration necessary,embed multimedia.Announcments,post its, happy birthday whatever.

Extensive resources for teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum. SMART Board specific tools are highlighted.

"In Argument Wars, you debate historical Supreme Court cases by advancing arguments and backing them up with supports. Play New Jersey v. T.L.O., Brown v. Board of Education, or Gideon v. Wainwright today! Coming soon: Texas v. Johnson, Miranda v. Arizona and more!"

"Create free educational worksheets such as flashcards, game boards, and quizzes to print directly from your browser"

Spaaze, an infinite virtual cork board, is a new visual way to organize pieces of information

As a school administrator, mentor teacher, school board member or educational leader you are responsible for providing a safe and secure environment within which students and faculty will work. In the past this has involved building details in the physical world; the brick and mortar. In schools today this now includes the online world. You must have, at least, a basic level of understanding in the areas of

This is an interesting site that I can incorporate with my new class smart board.

Free children's books for SMART boards, PPT, etc.

Should we pay schools to go to school? Should we pay them for getting good grades? Don't we send a wrong message if we don't - since work is all about getting compensated?

They tried this in Chicago a while back and it didn't have any long-term results, just an initial bump. I'm personally not against it, but I don't know if it will successful.

"I can remember a particular English Teacher who used one of those terms in just about every sentence to us. "I have to provide you '21st Century Skills' or else you won't be prepared for college or the 'real world." Being a Senior, close to graduation, I didn't really want to know or even care about, what she was talking about; I just wanted out!"

Trying to explain to people what Twitter is and more and more what it is not. And in education it is especially hard trying to convince Superintendents, School Boards, administrators and others that Twitter is a viable place for learning about real-time events and a place where educators can take part in some really meaningful professional development.

"As school districts explore the use of social computing throughout the school day and as an approach to extend instruction; many educators are making the decision to create a wiki, publish video online, or to participate in blogging, social networking or virtual worlds. Social media guidelines encourage educators to participate in social computing and strive to create an atmosphere of trust and individual accountability. Teachers who must hide their online activity because of nonexistent social media guidelines risk losing their jobs and reputations. A better approach is to collaboratively develop a policy that is acceptable to administrators, school board members, teachers and parents allowing for involvement in the global conversation in which many are contributing."

Historic maps for students & teachers Welcome to ETC's collection of historic maps. Here you will find over 5,000 maps representing many different time periods. A friendly license allows teachers and students to use up to 25 maps in non-commercial school projects without further permission. All maps are available as GIF or JPEG files for screen display as well as in PDF for printing. Use the GIF or JPEG maps for classroom presentations and student websites. Use the PDF maps for displays, bulletin boards, and printed school reports.