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Something is missing from my classroom lately and I am quite happy to have seen it disappear. It is the traditional line at the teacher's desk formed by students awaiting feedback on a recently completed piece of writing. What has replaced this is our use of Google Docs and Slides as a tool for the collaborative development of ideas from initial thinking and strategising through to final editing and refinement. It has introduced a new workflow to the class that both streamlines the process of providing feedback, allows for greater detail and transforms the process into one that is richly collaborative.

"Virtual Assistants have been with us for a while and many of us have had experiences similar to the dialogue above. However, they are getting better and becoming more of an assistant than a hindrance. Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon all have voice activated assistance. I've used them all at different times for my personal use, especially Google Now, but Amazon's Alexa assistant is the only one I've used in the classroom via an Amazon echo. Many of the following ideas can be done on any of the above assistants, but I will focus on Amazon's Alexa."

See how you can leverage Google Maps and Earth to connect your classroom to the world. This session will highlight relevant ways, including iPad-specific applications, and the underlying philosophy of how these tools can be used in your classroom. The Earth is interdisciplinary and you should be using it!

Excellent suggestions for how to use images in classroom to provoke discussion and create an interactive lesson. Done with PowerPoint and shared through Google docs.

Free resources and lesson plans for teaching with technology

Good blog about free technology teachers can access for education

Young students use Facebook in the classroom What do you think?

Poor idea. First of all, it models disrespect for terms of service: One item on Facebook's terms of service page says "You will not use Facebook if you are under 13." Second, we know from a growing body of psychological and neuroscience research that once people (esp young people) have developed friends networks, that they spend hours and hours of their time at home doing facebook, at the expense of real-time face-to-face socializing, exercise, and homework. The quality of work they do goes down dramatically when they switch back and forth from Facebook to their homework (the Facebooking activity impairs their ability to remember what they were doing before they switched). This can also contribute to sleep deprivation, which itself results in a whole host of poor health/cognitive problems. A better alternative: teaching kids alternative exciting ways of social networking and working collaboratively online that don't have the massive distraction factor of Facebook: teach them how to make flip videos and post them on drop box; teach them how to make wikis; use a Ning social network; teach them how to use Google Docs, forms, etc. Teach them how to use Diigo! Even teaching them how to twitter is a wiser idea. . . just.

Diigo is a powerful information capturing, storing, recalling and sharing tool. Here are just a few of the possibilities with Diigo

Great information that will help both educators and students figure out how to use Diigo in the classroom.

"Teachers never have enough time. We have curriculum to cover, skills to teach, reports to write and meetings to attend. The demands are endless, both in and outside the classroom. 10 ways to save time, both in and out of the classroom."

A good list that includes some ICT strategies such as Twitter and Google Docs.

Eric Curts shares a wealth of information on GAFE apps - tutorials, resources, etc. I saw him on Classroom 2.0 Live doing a preso on Google Drawings. It was excellent and I want to check out his other resources.

Here are five go-to Google tools for social studies classrooms. How to videos accompany each tool featured.