A fantastic list of apps for iPads in edu. On this page, we are showcasing Apple Apps which can help educators with teaching and learning activities, as recommended by various educators within the #UKEdchat forum. You can easily sort the columns by clicking the arrows by each heading. Are we missing an iPad app which you use a lot in school? Please let us know in the comments box at the foot of the page, or via @UKEdchat on twitter, facebook, or Google+.

I'm not sure we need these skills to be taught as a separate subject. Technology has been changing the way people learn and interact for thousands of years. Many researchers argue that major innovations adopted by society have an effect on the structure of the human brain. There is little doubt that the Internet has changed the way people find information and the way they communicate. Changes to the way that students learn, and probably what they learn, need to follow.

Wow! A fabulous info graphic that looks at all the learning theories.

Electronic portfolios are gaining so much popularity among teachers and students. Their easy accessibility and availability anywhere anytime make them really worth trying. There are actually several web tools that you can use to create digital portfolios and I have already reviewed some of them in this post, however, today I am sharing with you an excellent video tutorial from EdTechTeacher on how to use Google Drive as a portfolio solution in iPad classroom. Check it out below

A fantastic Google Presentation by John Pearce looking at Web 2.0 tools and other cloud based apps to support thinking

A fantastic Google Presentation by John Pearce looking at Web 2.0 tools and other cloud based apps to support thinking

OMG! Everything you need to know about Pixlr a great online photo editing tool that links in with your Google drive account.

Snap! is a drag and drop programming interface designed to help students learn to program. Snap! uses a visual interface that works in your browser on your laptop as well as on your iPad. To design a program in Snap! drag commands into a sequence in the scripts panel.

This DEECD endorsed course runs throughout Terms 3 to 4 and provides teachers in Victorian State Schools with a flexible professional development program showcasing how teachers from around the state are adding value to teaching and learning through effective and seamless use of ICT in the classroom.

Really, there are so many apps available it can be hard to know where to begin and once you find something that looks useful, it's difficult to assess it properly until you've download and installed it on your iPad. iPad music apps that are free can take away the risk of choosing a dud and they can be useful when book-listing apps for students on a tight budget.

Wow what a great chrome extension. This looks like a great tool for all writers. I especially like the 'collect highlights' tool. Make sure you watch the accompanying video to see how it works.  Read&Write for Google Docs is a cool extension I found on Web App Reviews that can benefit ELLs and struggling readers. The extension provides you with a special toolbar on the top of your Google documents.

Some interesting apps here to support the teaching of Mathematics. I have used Dragonbox+ its awesome for teaching Algebra. Great for high flying grade 6's to year 8's Developers have introduced a greater range of apps across all areas of the Maths curriculum that can be used to enhance the Maths teaching and learning in your classroom. Here's a selection of 20 apps that cover Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability ( these are the Content strands (CS) Australia's Mathematics curriculum has been categorized under ). They also cover the proficiency strands (PS) of Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning. I'm sure other countries' curricula are similar in many regards and you will be able to make the connections.

"The participatory research methods used in the project can provide rich contextual understanding of the everyday, everywhere presence of mobile technologies in young lives needed to devise effective strategies for dealing with mobile or smart phone use in and out of the classroom and supports efforts to give young people a greater voice in the decisions affecting their engagements mobile technologies."

Still not convinced Mobile Learning is something your organization should evaluate? Consider these eye-opening statistics published by different organizations such as ASTD, iPass, Towards Maturity and Ambient Insight. Data from their most recent surveys reveals some interesting facts that you might be interested in.

Productivity and simplicity, these are two things the modern knowledge worker craves. Google Reader is my "secret weapon" of productivity and I'd like to show you how I get the most out of this program.

I'm a big, big fan of Diigo. I appreciate that I can save and share bookmarks, highlight and leave comments on webpages, annotate resources, host and participate in groups and forums on particular topics, message and interact with friends and colleagues, and much more. It's a very big component of my personal learning network (PLN). I'm also impressed and pleased that the Diigo founders and employees listened to its community of teacher-users and developed Diigo for Educators (More fondly referred to as EduDiigo). Here are some thoughts about about why teachers and learners might use Diigo.

ThingLink helps you create and discover rich images. Be creative! Make your images come alive with music, video, text, images, shops and more! Every image contains a story and ThingLink helps you tell your stories. Follow image channels from your favorite bands, bloggers and friends. Your ThingLink interactive images form a channel that other users can follow. This looks great images can be annotated and embedded into a wiki or blog etc. 

Some ideas around why we created @motmedu Looking for a conference with a difference? What story do you have to tell? The #motm13 Unconference is built around stories for the purpose of making strong connections with other passionate educators who are integrating ICT with pedagogy.

Looking at the New Directions for school leadership and the teaching profession discussion paper, the only evidence presented to support the assertion that Victoria's education outcomes are not improving is the report "Challenges in Australian Education: results from PISA 2009: the PISA 2009 assessment of students' reading, mathematical and scientific literacy" Specifically the New Directions paper focuses on reading literacy, where in 2009, 14,251 students were given a two-hour pen and paper comprehension test. To get an idea of what types of competencies the reading test is assessing we can look at the sample test , with questions range from comprehension about a letter in a newspaper, the ability to interpret a receipt, comprehension around a short story, an informational text, and interpreting a table. While it doesn't seem unreasonable to want our students to be able to accurately perform these kind of tasks, these tests are not a true or accurate representation of the skills and competencies our students need in today's technology driven world.

Imagine the web as a giant galaxy where the planets are sites clustered together by likeness, and what you might get is something like The Internet Map. Representing over 350,000 websites from 196 countries and all domain zones at the end of 2011, the map displays over 2 million site links based on topical similarities. Each site is represented by a circle, with size depending on the amount of traffic, and the space between each is determined by frequency, or strength, of the link created when user's jump from one website to another.

On June 21 2012, the Government released a discussion paper which states its vision for the improvement of the teaching profession. The 'New Directions for School Leadership and the Teaching Profession,' aims to stimulate and inform discussion on the future of the teaching profession and school leadership.  As a collective of grass roots teachers, who are not currently being asked to participate in educational debates and discussion, we see this as an opportunity to enable teachers' voice.   Teachers: A great, yet untapped, source for policy makers.