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"How to integrate less distracting YouTube videos into the classroom:  This one is really a no brainer: want to use YouTube? Clean it up!  I find great content I find on YouTube (as do my students). All of the "extras" around the videos can be SO distracting as a searcher and viewer.  These options are outstanding for making videos less distracting so that your students can focus on the learning happening."

"Evernote Clearly lets you read your favorite content on the Web distraction free. A simple to use browser add-on for web browsers, Evernote Clearly removes unwanted advertisements, navigation bars, and other distractions with a single click, leaving only the content you care about in a clean, easy to read format."

Digital classroom tools like computers, tablets and smartphones offer exciting opportunities to deepen learning through creativity, collaboration and connection, but those very devices can also be distracting to students.

"The teachers who instruct the most advanced American secondary school students render mixed verdicts about students' research habits and the impact of technology on their studies. Some 77% of advanced placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers surveyed say that the internet and digital search tools have had a "mostly positive" impact on their students' research work. But 87% say these technologies are creating an "easily distracted generation with short attention spans" and 64% say today's digital technologies "do more to distract students than to help them academically.""

"Those of us who are social media-savvy suffer from a burgeoning problem that constantly threatens our ingenuity. If we fail to acknowledge and solve this problem, our brilliant ideas may may never see the light of day."

"Not even one decade ago, educators considered cell phones and laptops a most egregious classroom distraction. These days, though, many tech-savvy teachers actively try to incorporate them into engaging lessons rather than snatching them away. While tablets, smartphones, and other mobile computing devices have yet to enjoy universal implementation, many in the business adore exploring emerging technologies to unlock their full potential as learning tools. Such as these folks, listed in no particular order!"

"A decade ago, electronics and cell phones in the classroom were considered little more than a distraction. Today, new devices such as tablet computers and smartphones are changing this perception. Educators are finding innovative ways to supplement their lectures with the newest technology, and students are beginning to see their devices as essential components of their college experience. Naturally, major device manufacturers are now battling for dominance in the field. Below, we explore how Apple is winning the battle for education technology and what gives them the edge over the sizable competition in the market."

Never mind the digital divide, it is the distraction divide from which we need to protect our students.

"The role of technology in learning isn't entirely clear-or rather, is subjective. While it clearly is able to provide access to peers, audiences, resources, and data, it also can be awkward, problematic, distracting, performing more strongly as a barrier to understand than anything else. Why this happens also isn't clear, but there are some common patterns and missteps to look for while designing or evaluating a learning process."

"Following small-scale trials, Korean officials are reportedly moving forward with a plan to install remote management software on students' smartphones. iSmartKeeper is an app that restricts what services and apps students have access to. With the app installed, teachers have the ability to lock phones down in one of six modes. Educators can choose to lock all of the phones in the school, allow only emergency calls, allow only phone calls, allow calls and SMS, or turn off specific apps. The idea is to prevent distractions in class, and iSmartKeeper can also allow access to only a single app, ensuring that educational apps can still be used as teaching aids."

All search engines are engaged in a constant battle with entities that aim to manipulate search engine results for various reasons. Search Engine Optimization can be a major money earner or a significant distraction depending on what side of the search activity you are on. This infographic explores how Google is attempting to deal with one aspect of SEO, Content Farms.

After Google+ entered the social networking scene not so long ago, the number of online distractions hasn't really decreased. At the same time, innovations and smarter solutions to handle your actions online have fortunately continued to thrive too. Instead of the usual to-do lists, news readers, or sharing tools, they tackle things in new and more helpful ways. What's most important for me, is that they slot right into my workflow, and allow me to become more efficient without changing my behavior. A few apps recently managed to do so brilliantly. Here are my favorite new tools to help you stay focused and use the Web more innovatively.

Simple to use. Go to the site to access the expanding library of jigsaw puzzles created by others. You can search for puzzles based on a theme, by puzzle difficulty (easy is 60 pieces or less and challenging puzzles have 240 plus pieces). In the puzzle work space, you can zoom in or out to give yourself more room to work. The 'full screen' mode removes other distractions and helps to focus on the challenge at hand. The site requires the Flash plug-in to make the puzzles interactive. If you create an account (it's free) you can upload your own images to make your own jigsaw puzzles to share. This will also remove ads from the puzzle pages. The tool does not require an email address to register.

"A collection of popular Android apps to help students with their writing. Using these apps students will be able to: access a wide variety of creative writing prompts, generate plots and outlines for writing projects, focus more on the writing task under hand using distraction-free editors and many more."

"...more and more faculty are turning toward banning laptops in the classroom citing, at minimum, that classroom discussion is completely stymied, or worse, students are failing to learn."

Blog post summarising a research project which explored the factors at play when students are 'distracted' by their mobile device in teaching situations.

This would be a great start for anyone with Chromebooks or just using the Chrome browser to get the most out of the experience

"With its open-ended nature and robust creation tools, Minecraft has been used to create some amazing things. And as one teacher learned, those very same elements that make the game so compelling also make it a great educational tool.

A fun game to try out, don't let the graphics distract or confuse you. This is easy to use, bigger and much more complicated than it first looks. Good learning potential.