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Serious issue - just starting

"The Royal Children's Hospital provides a unique environment for student learning. The Education Institute has started the new year with a fantastic program of project-based learning to engage students in meaningful learning experiences with real world relevance."

"THE federal government's scheme providing high school students with laptop computers is on the brink of collapse, leaving parents with hefty bills and educators with a chaotic start to the school year. Schools are already telling parents they must lease approved laptops for pupils this year, at a cost of hundreds of dollars. Some are telling students to bring their own computers, raising a raft of problems around internet capacity, security and provision of software, as well as placing pressure on low-income families."

"Since I started this Experiment to use Evernote in every aspect of my classroom, I wasn't really sure what I was going to discover. I was sure there would be some way that Evernote was not going to meet my needs and I would be forced to add another tool to my chest while I continue the experiment for the school year. One way I was weary of was lesson planning. I have used the the traditional planner book for years and it has always been very good to me. I could easily flip back and see what I what I did the year before as I planned the upcoming school year. I'm not a big fan of trying to fix things that are not broken, but I figured I needed to give it a try in the name of the Experiment. Needless to say, I was not disappointed."

Wow! This is (I think) is what I've been waiting for. Memrise has gameified 2nd language vocabulary learning. Nice intuitive interface and simple to get started

FORGET about postcodes and street numbers. A new mapping system called 'what3words' can find any searchable spot on the globe with a three-word code. The London-based start-up has divided Earth into 57 trillion squares, each of them three square metres large. Every individual square has been assigned a unique three-word code. With a simple, map-based search, you can pinpoint any location and find its code in a matter of seconds. It sure beats writing down a full address.

"Google Classroom is finally available to all Google Apps for Education teachers and students. The venture into the world of learning management systems seems to be a pretty solid one. First impressions: It looks and feels like a Google product and so is familiar to most. It's clean and simple (which should make it easy to use) It provides a home base for everything you do in Drive" The author then briefly explains 12 ways she would use some of the features in a classroom situation. They offer ideas worth considering.

"It is pretty much a given these days that students have mobile phones, tablets, and e-readers. Leveraging what your students already have and already know how to use is a smart idea - even if you aren't implementing a full-on BYOD classroom environment. There are many ways to have students use their mobile devices in the classroom in a format geared towards learning rather than for leisure. The infographic in this post takes a look at ten fairly general ways to use devices in the classroom. The general nature of some of the recommendations makes it a great starting point if this is a newer concept for you or for a particular group that you're working. "

Katrina Schwartz and Ki Sung at MindShift started a podcast titled "Stories Teachers Share". It highlightst the many varied and interesting work teachers do daily. It gives teachers the opportunity to help the larger community better understand what it really means to be a teacher.

... provides a concise account of where things currently stand in regards to AI, robots and the future of jobs. If we fail to start adapting, it means grim times ahead, and intense socio-political struggles over resources. As Stephen Hawking put it last year: "Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared,  or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution."

Soundtrap allows you to make music online, from any device, with your own instruments or the virtual ones on the site. The free version offers 5 projects, many loops, instruments and sounds as well as other features. It works on Mac, Windows, iPad, Android tablets and phones, Linux and Chromebooks. It allows you to start, edit and collaborate on your recordings and, being cloud-based, wherever you are. You can collaborate with others and share your music on Facebook, Twitter and SoundCloud, as well as Spotify and iTunes. You can sign in with Office 365, Google, Facebook or an email account. There are premium options with more features and fewer limits.

"Just click the button above to start recording. We will give you an mp3 you can save, and a link you can share with anyone. "

CHOMP IS THE SEARCH ENGINE THAT FINDS THE APPS YOU WANT. Chomp's proprietary algorithm learns the functions and topics of apps, so you can search based on what apps do, not just what they're called. Try searching for "puzzle games", "kids games", "expense trackers", "tip calculators" or "chat" and start finding great apps.

"Textify.it visualizes images using text. Lots of text. Drag and drop images on to the page to start, every image produces a unique result!"

via @e_gran

Thanks to technologies like GPS and QR codes, these games combine real-world experiences with virtual information. The games can capture geo-tagged audio recordings, for example, or photos and videos that student players can view when they reach a particular place or meet a particular character. Characters can talk with students, provide information, exchange items or respond to tasks. Authors can also create virtual items that players can retrieve and exchange. The key is the ARIS platform, which enables teachers, designers, artists, and students to create place-based narratives. Game designers say the open-source platform is easy to use; educators don't need a programming background to get started because the work is done with an online authoring tool.

Listen to relaxing music, ambient atmospheres and astonishing sound effects. Just click on an image below to start chilling. If you want, you can even create your own atmospheric sound mix, online and for free. Every audio template can be easily edited for your own needs.