"It seems like just yesterday that I was a disconnected nomad working hard to maintain the status quo and conform to a rigid system commonly known as education. You see, prior to 2009 I was adamantly opposed to even the thought of using social media for both personal and professional reasons. As a building level leader burdened by endless responsibilities, I could not fathom wasting even a precious minute in what I saw as a perpetual time sap. " Read the rest of this post to see how Eric discovered being connected on social media and engaging in conversations with passionate educators has transformed his work in education.

"Organise your classes, tasks and exams & never forget a lecture or assignment again"

Three strategies for using videos to engage students in conversation and inquiry

"An infopic is a photo with text layered on top that is designed to communicate a message. The message might be a summary, quote, definition, notes, data, weblink, hashtag, or other informational tidbits. The information might come from a conference, workshop, activity, lesson, video, book, a conversation, etc. Your blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google Plus are great places to share infopics." Tony shares how to create infopic in a great video. He is an amazing teacher!

"The rise in e-Learning's popularity isn't showing any signs of slowing. In fact, judging by the following Top 10 eLearning statistics for 2014 article and infographic, the future of the e-Learning Industry is brighter than ever."

"As learners, we are sometimes challenged (not often enough fortunately) to think big.  We are able to ask the question 'what if' when looking at a challenge.  We are tasked with redesigning, recreating, reimagining or rethinking the entire thing.  Maybe these are more 22nd century ideas. Well, when it comes to our high school system and overall student experience, here are my suggestions:" (Get ready for some out of the box ideas)

"What Is Transformational In Your Educational Vision?      Part of the challenge in educational reform is that not everyone defines learning or education the same way.  Sure, we all refer to things such as literacy, college and career ready, 21st century skills, etc.        However, what is the core purpose of one's education?  Beyond specifics related to employment skills, literacy skills and standards mastery, I offer up this idea: Education is meant to transform one's life.  In other words, education has to dramatically, or even radically, transform the person into a new, improved person that is more emotionally, socially, and intellectually ready for any challenge the world has to offer."

"Math Time Attack! has Flashcards, Quiz and Test modes to help learn and recall multiplication, division, addition and subtraction with an emphasis on speed and accuracy."

"In this video I show you how to create an interactive YouTube video. Adding interactivity is a great way to boost engagement and rigor with the videos you create for students"

Great suggestions for setting up an iPad & Greenscreen - with examples of student work.

Nice overview of Webb's Depths of Knowledge and its connection to "rigor" - one of the most overused and misunderstood words in education these days. 

"Alternatives to Google Image Search - Richard Byrne - FreeTech4Teachers.com"

Three year transition roadmap to Blended Learning

Blended Learning Scorecard developed by Redbird Learning.

Great, easy lesson on how to teach the power of privilege to young people in the school environment (and other settings, as well).

I would add, that these tips work for 1:1 coaching, as well.

Some neat tools for annotating Youtube videos and assessing student understanding/learning during and after the video.

Wesley Fryer shares how he set up a Green Screen station and the pictures they took at a Fall Festival. Obviously, his idea could be used for a variety of applications.

Current events are a powerful medium to engage students and their thinking in so many different ways. Here are 50 to get you started!

"Poetica is a neat new service for collaborative editing of documents. The best feature of Poetica is its similarity to writing on a paper document. While reading a document you can click on any word or space between words to insert a line drawn to the margin where you write your comment. Clicking on a word or space also allows you to simply insert a suggested word above the line. If you want to suggest a change for an entire sentence you can highlight it and insert a drawn line to the margins where you can write your suggestions. Your suggestions are written in blue while your corrections are written in red." Supports imports of .docs, .pdfs, .rtf files.- definitely want to use this as a tool with Chromebooks