"Programming is one of the most valuable skills you can pick up in these modern times, whether for career prospects or to stretch your brain and create something awesome. If you're just getting started on your coding journey, here are ten tips and resources to set you off on the right foot."

One teachers guide to some of the many good free tools for creating comics and cartoons on the web, as well as apps for tablets and smartphones.

3 good Android apps to use for creating instructional videos. Each has been discussed by Richard Byrne to give you a good idea about their strengths nd how they might be used in education.

A list of reasons why students should be taught coding plus links to 4 tools from Google for Education that will assist classroom teachers.

"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. "

"One teacher describes the big impact robotics, coding, and STEM has had on her students"

This article offers a list of questions that were developed to help teachers clarify the unique added value of a digital learning environment, and whether their assignments were making the best use of this environment. "The six questions should be used when evaluating the design of assignments and student work and if the answer is "no" to them, then the chances are that technology is not really being applied in the most innovative ways. The questions we ask to evaluate implementation and define innovation are critical."

An annotated list of six resources that could be used for coding with primary school students (5-11). They are all free and provide students with opportunities to be exposed to programming.

How to use minecraft to teach across schools. "Minecraft is an engaging platform for creativity, computational thinking, collaboration and learning. Crafting learning opportunities in Minecraft between schools is a wonderful opportunity to develop student collaboration and ICT for learning skills. Mineclass, started by a bunch of Australian Microsoft Expert Educators, was conceived to make interschool Minecraft projects a reality"

Doctor Who is teaming up with a Dalek and trying to save the universe and teaching children some early computer programming skills at the same time in a game due to launched on the broadcaster's CBBC website. The Doctor and the Dalek includes voice narration from current Doctor Peter Capaldi, and a new story by Phil Ford, who has written for the TV show.It is a free web game is aimed at 6-12 year-olds, and involves freeing a battered Dalek from a ship of Cybermen, then building it back up to full strength through puzzles based on the programming elements of the new English computing curriculum. At the moment the game is only playable on computers, but the development team is working on future updates that will will try to make it work on tablets too by early 2015.

A very well thought out table that contain some useful comments by Nancy White. It is useful because it moves from the technology use to integration to learning by design. Very interesting model and something worth considering.

A nice annotated list here. Although those listed in the post are linked to the iOS versions they are also available from google app store when I checked . (We would not need #5 and #9 so did not check these.)

"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."

A discussion of some tools that you could use to add questions and clarifying notes to videos that you can then share with students.

"Google released a new handy Chrome extension for both Mac and Windows users. This new add-on allows you to open files in your Google Drive directly into a compatible application that you have on your computer. Before, you had to download the file and then launch the appropriate app on your computer to open it and edit it and when you re done you had to save the edits and save it back to Google Drive. Now this process becomes pretty seamless using only a couple of clicks."

A tools for turning on captions when using videos in the classroom. It is very simple, effective, change for teachers to make and use in their classrooms.. schools only really need one person to sign up to the email update list and be the school advocate.

"Published on 21 Oct 2014. A quick overview on how to create an interactive video for you classroom. A great way to boost classroom engagement and rigor through YouTube."

"A great technology integration rubric for teachers. This rubric is slightly different from others published in the blog in the past in that it is more detailed and covers several key areas that technology can be used in."