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Not that long ago I was a writer of interesting and engaging educational programmes. Fortunately, that is no longer the case. The programmes that I wrote and shared with a team of teachers were generally well accepted and the feedback offered was always politely positive. I enjoyed writing these programmes but in recent times I have enjoyed even more stepping away from this process and in doing so empowering the team of teachers that I learn with. The programmes that this team produces far exceed the quality I could ever have hoped to produce but more importantly the students are benefiting from their experience of highly engaged and thus engaging teachers.

The consistent message is that we are preparing our students for success in a world very different to that which was the norm only a short time ago. The implications of this change are immense and require a shift in our thinking about what matters most in our classrooms. Such is the pace of change that within any school there will be multiple generations who normalise different perspective on technology and its place in their lives. What becomes clear that the skills we most need within our schools at every level are those which are critical for individuals to be empowered, self-navigating learners. But what does this mean in practical terms?

A good large file sharing tool which generates a short link for easy sharing. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Make art by choosing two template images. Then generate lots of variations and edit until it's right. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Art%2C+Craft+%26+Design

Make a photo collage quickly and easily from your social sites, Bing Image search and more. Just choose your images and choose a layout. You can even enter text as a layout. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Photos+%26+Images

Shape your photos with this online collage generator! Add images from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and anywhere else on the Internet. Choose shapes from pre-made templates or create your own to build eye-catching collages!

"In a move that will surprise very few, Encyclopedia Britannica is expected to announce that it will no longer print its 32-volume set of printed encyclopedias, the New York Times reports. This comes 244 years after the iconic reference books first went to press. The usefulness of such reference materials has been on the decline for years, especially since the advent of Wikipedia. Whatever flaws its open, crowd-sourced editorial model may invite, Wikipedia is generally regarded as a comprehensive and mostly-accurate source of information, which can be accessed for free."

This is a fun, cute, social 3D island world designed especially with children in mind. Children make an avatar and follow a quick tutorial and explanation of safety rules. The children can take their characters on quests, play educational games and interact with other users of the site. A fabulous feature of the site is that users are encouraged to 'make and do' offline as well. These activities can be uploaded to a scrapbook and multimedia blog. Offline activities also generate points in the game. The scrapbook is defaulted to private and no photos of children will be approved by moderators if the scrapbook is public. All the usual safety features are in place, including a 'report' and 'block' other users button. The basic account with most features is free, but there are optional 'paid for' extras. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

A collection of great looking printable reward certificates for both general use and subjects. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Classroom+Management+%26+Rewards

"Podcasts app is the easiest way to discover, subscribe to and play your favorite podcasts on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Explore hundreds of thousands of free audio and video podcasts from the Podcasts Catalog, and play the most popular podcasts, organized for you by topic, with the all-new Top Stations feature."

A useful site that allows users to dictate and generate text. A great resource for children with writing difficulties to get their ideas written quickly. It works with a range of languages including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and more. For mistakes, the site offers alternative words with similar pronunciation. Only works with Chrome. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

In summer, the atmosphere is dense, a vision of a beautiful summer vacation you, mind must be full of sunshine, beach, waves and Bikini on a variety of attractive summer scene!If you want to enjoy, then the option for Bikini to go to the seaside is a compulsory "vacation homework"!So please have a look Bikini summer swimsuit general mobilization, high discount 9.95 yuan less.

Make a video slideshow using your photos and audio files with this useful site. [Be aware - Not all user generated content is suitable for children] http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Photos+%26+Images

Legally changing your name means you can leave your online identity behind. What could this mean for the Generation Y? There may not be anything too incriminating on your Facebook page, but future employers may think otherwise.

A great site for generating logos. Great for websites, blogs or even for pretend letters for 'Mantle of the Expert' and other activities. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Join Group URL... priceless.

This is a superb random word generator split into nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Great for infusing a little magic into creative writing sessions. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English

This is an interesting project where the site generates random pieces of music for you to edit and share. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Music%2C+Sound+%26+Podcasts

Bingo Baker makes it easy to create bingo cards. You can generate hundreds of random cards and print them using the printer-friendly PDF (with no ads or watermarks). You can also save paper (and waste electricity instead) by playing your bingo game online (it works on the iPad). "

From Richard Byrne Free Technology for teacher, quoted below:Listen and Read - Non-fiction Read Along Activities Listen and Read is a set of 54 non-fiction stories from Scholastic for K-2 students. The stories are feature pictures and short passages of text that students can read on their own or have read to them by each story's narrator. The collection of stories is divided into eight categories: social studies, science, plants and flowers, environmental stories, civics and government, animals, American history, and community. Applications for Education Listen and Read looks to be a great resource for social studies lessons and reading practice in general. At the end of each book there is a short review of the new words that students were introduced to in the book. Students can hear these words pronounced as many times as they like. Listen and Read books worked on my computer and on my Android tablet. Scholastic implies that the books also work on iPads and IWBs"