The Google Educast, hosted by the Google Certified Teachers, features a weekly roundup of the newest Ed tools from Google, highlighting best practices using Google tools, and further highlighting the impact that these tools have on the classroom, schools, and school districts.
"In a recent post, Edudemic introduced us to a very intricate, color-coded visualization by Envisioning Tech on what to expect in education technology in the next 30 years or so. And these concepts are not broad generalizations- Envisioning Tech takes topics like digitized classrooms and tangible computing and segments them into practical ideas to produce a well-organized, cohesive diagram"
Links to many useful forms for teachers to facilitate the use of technology with students. Templates include: questionnaires, permission forms, preparation sheets, outlines, reflection, self-assessment, guideline contracts. From Ed Tech & Mobile Learning
Mike Fisher's livebinder on iPads In Schools has lots of links to user guides, tips, for students, for teachers for special ed, for administrators and more.
Woo Hoo! At last we can now control page level permissions in Google sites. This could be a game changer for schools who have been using Google Ed Apps.
I quote: "I have to admit that I'm completely intrigued by the forthcoming CrunchPad, brainchild of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. I asked this weekend if it would be an Ed Tech game changer, and, quite frankly, I think this has the potential to be the biggest thing since the OLPC XO."
whether you are creating an environment where learning can take flight - dry kindling, tall trees - or are you creating an environment where, with a lot of damp branches, there is a lot of smoke, but little fire?
As +George Siemens suggests while talking about connectivism as an answer for the digital age, "learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under the control of the individual."
"In a fantastic discussion as a part of +Ed Tech Crew Episode 240 focusing on what it takes to be an IT co-ordinator, +Ashley Proud spoke about the demise in tinkering amongst students. Although +Mel Cashen and +Roland Gesthuizen mentioned about taking things a part, giving the conversation a more mechanical theme, I feel that tinkering is best understood as a wider curiosity into the way things work."
"A list of the top 50 K-12 ed tech blogs special, putting a spotlight to some of the biggest conversation starters in educational technology today.
These bloggers represent nearly all aspects of K-12 education, from teachers and administrators, to strategists and technicians. Through their influential work and their blogs, these thought-leaders have garnered . Some were nominated by our readers, and some are veterans of last year's list that have stayed on top of our charts."
Google in 2015 is focused on the present and future. Its social and mobile efforts, experiments with robotics and artificial intelligence, self-driving vehicles and fiberoptics.
"The Internet Archive is not Google. The Internet Archive is a chaotic, beautiful mess. It's not well-organized, and its tools for browsing and searching the wealth of material on there are still rudimentary, but getting better."
Wonder why Ed Tech Crew is on there?
"...almost 50 exemplars of effective practice in support of students' digital experiences. The exemplars have been written up with the support of the staff (and in some cases students) involved."
Drawn from Higher Ed, but applicable in secondary too.