Group items tagged

More recently I've discovered some great new tools to read and share my favorite content which I've included here in this list. Whether you are a person who just likes to stay on top of the latest news, a blogger like me who needs a way to organize the vast amount of information that comes my way or a person who just enjoys sharing what they find with others you'll love this list.

" A recent study at Illinois Wesleyan University found that fewer than 25% of students could perform a "reasonably well-executed search." Wrote researchers, "The majority of students - of all levels - exhibited significant difficulties that ranged across nearly every aspect of the search process." That search process also included determining when to rely on Google and when to utilize scholarly databases, but on a fundamental level, it appears that many people just don't understand how to best find the information they seek using Google. Thanks to the folks at HackCollege, a number of my "secrets" are out. The infographic below offers a helpful primer for how to best structure searches using advanced operators to more quickly and accurately drill down to the information you want. This is by no means an exhaustive list of search operators and advanced techniques, but it's a good start that will help set you on the path to becoming a Google master."

A theory stemming from an experiment by social psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s claims every living person is connected to any other through only six friends. According to a recent study, Facebook reduces the six degrees of separation to only four, meaning the world's largest social network makes the world even smaller (figuratively).

Opps - may need to update comment on recent show about asprin - lucky we had the medical disclaimer.

Was pointed towards this at the recently apple event - there is also a great tool in Lion server for managing large scale deployments of iPads.

"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"

"Many great websites stream video and audio as an alternative to a traditional TV/Cable/SAT service. Some are subscription based, like Netflix and Hulu Plus. Others are pay per view, like Vudu. And some are free, such as Hulu, ABC, CBS, NBC, and the BBC. There's only one catch. They're generally only available in one country. National broadcasting websites are only available in their country of origin. While some services are expanding internationally, like the recent arrival of Netflix to Canada, the expansion is slow and it's difficult due to the content deals that are made for each country. Another burdensome restriction on freedom is the blocking of social media sites by some countries and by many businesses. Thankfully, there's now an immediate and easy answer. And you just discovered it!"

The invention of the tablet PC has created a new medium for book publishing. Interactive books are everywhere, and have revolutionized the way people consume the printed word. With the recent software available to allow easy creation of interactive books and with the race to bring these products to market, there seems to be a more and more dilution of quality and a loss for the meaning of interactivity. When publishers create new eBook titles or convert a traditional printed book to a digital interactive eBook, they often miss the added value this new medium can provide.

Google Maps has been available on the iPhone since the device's launch, but on Monday Apple announced its own version of Maps for iOS 6 - one that will be replace the Google service on its smartphones. Google recently announced an update to its mapping service as well. While both services certainly have a lot in common, there are also quite a few distinctive differences between the two.

Useful tips from a classroom teacher. "Using forms in Google docs lets anyone create forms quickly and share those forms via email, embed them into a webpage or blog. If you are a teacher, you can create formulas that allow you to have these forms graded in minutes. The formula part is a bit challenging, so I wrote this article to talk about how I recently created a final for one of my classes."

"Could there be a less expensive Google Glass competitor coming soon? GlassUp aims to give customers an alternative to Google's connected glasses with its own pair of augmented reality specs. Italian company GlassUp was recently added to crowdfunding site Indiegogo and has already raised nearly $25,000 (of its $150,000 goal). Similar to Google Glass, the eyewear works with your smartphone and makes it easy to see emails, text messages, Facebook updates and news right in front of your eyes. Its maker, Gianluigi Tregnaghi, says he created GlassUp two years ago - before Google ever announced its Glass product."

"Edmodo recently released a new look for their website. Many times when a website changes. there's a ton of confusion about old features, new feature, and where everything is now located. Not with Edmodo! The simple and clear design makes it easy to navigate between all of the tools. So there shouldn't be too much confusion for existing users, and teachers who want to learn how to use Edmodo for the first time are met with a sleek and simple interface."

"The global shift in education technology means that in the future the ten billion dollars once spent by schools mostly on PCs will be divided between tablets, Chromebooks and netbooks. But will the lion's share of the market go to Apple? Or Google? Or some other player? Or will it be evenly divided? Although Apple's iPad is currently the mobile device of choice, the majority of the market is still up for grabs, and there are some compelling reasons why educators recently have begun to choose Chromebooks over iPads, Netbooks and PCs."

"The track record of commercial products designed with privacy as a top priority has been abysmal - at least until recently. The ephemeral texting app Snapchat is turning assumptions upside down about young people and their desire for digital privacy."

"The progression of where online learning started and how it has grown is really quite staggering, especially since it has only become a discussion staple for most of us pretty recently. The handy infographic below gives us an interesting timeline of digital learning, shows some of the different categories that digital learning comprises, and offers up some interesting statistics on the number of people participating in online learning and the growth that it has seen over the years. Keep reading to learn more."

"Unfortunately, the code in your browser that powers Facebook still knows what you typed-even if you decide not to publish it.* It turns out that the things you explicitly choose not to share aren't entirely private. Facebook calls these unposted thoughts "self-censorship," and insights into how it collects these nonposts can be found in a recent paper written by two Facebookers. Sauvik Das, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon and summer software engineer intern at Facebook, and Adam Kramer, a Facebook data scientist, have put online an article presenting their study of the self-censorship behavior collected from 5 million English-speaking Facebook users. "

"As we begin a new year, BBC Future has compiled 40 intriguing predictions made by scientists, politicians, journalists, bloggers and other assorted pundits in recent years about the shape of the world from 2013 to 2150. .. And to get a gauge on how likely they are to happen, we asked the special bets department at British betting firm Ladbrokes to give us their odds on each prediction coming true."

"According to a recent survey of people in 65 countries, 73.4% of people own a smartphone. Those with smartphones check them an average of 110 times per day, which amounts to every five or six minutes spread out over a twelve hour period. Another study found a slightly higher frequency - 150 times per day. That's a lot of people with instant, constant access to email, social networking, and text messaging. Not all of them will suffer all or most of these negative effects, but the draw of checking  your phone "just one more time real quick" is obviously difficult to resist. Heck, most people don't even try to resist it, because staying connected and apprised of everything everywhere can only be a good thing, right? Let's take a look at some of the possible consequences:"

"Welcome to my computing resources. Click on the CS Planning link for a selection of computer science resources suitable for primary pupils. If you are planning digital literacy you can find primary schemes of work in the DL Planning section. You can find out information about me from the Phil Bagge link. There is a sample KS2 schemes of work here. You can find out why I think computing is important for primary pupils in my recent article. If you want to see samples of pupils work from the schools I teach at you can view my blog. I use twitter to publicise new planning, articles and pupils work samples. "

"Researchers have uncovered an extremely critical vulnerability in recent versions of OpenSSL, a technology that allows millions of Web sites to encrypt communications with visitors. Complicating matters further is the release of a simple exploit that can be used to steal usernames and passwords from vulnerable sites, as well as private keys that sites use to encrypt and decrypt sensitive data. "