As the post-PC era moves from interesting theory to cold, hard reality, one of the most pressing questions is: How can we use tablets, and especially the iPad, to help people learn? Most of the focus has been on ebooks replacing textbooks, a trend fueled by Apple's recent updates to iBooks. Specifically, the company released iBooks Author, a tool for creating immersive ebooks on the desktop. Plus, the new iPad is now the first tablet with a retina screen, making reading and watching multimedia on the device even more enjoyable. But technology is only as good as the system it's applied to. Much like a fresh coat of paint will not improve the fuel efficiency of a '69 Mustang, the application of technology to a broken system masks deeper problems with short-term gains.

Recently I have gotten a lot of feedback on my previous PBL posts, mainly asking me how I develop my PBL ideas.  So, I thought it might be a good idea to let everyone take a peek at the process I use to write my PBLs.  Just be warned that I haven't yet perfected the art of crafting a PBL yet, but hopefully some of this will help you in any PBL writing you may do.

Ocean Tracks is an Australian website on which students can view the tracks of marine animals in an online 3D environment. The "tracks" part of Ocean Tracks shows you where in the world tagged animals are swimming or have swum. Ocean Tracks uses the Unity browser plug-in to provide animations of the underwater views of tracked animals. You can see what bluefin tuna, swordfish, sharks, and many other fish see in 3D.

Amazing, revolutionary, a new era in technology'.  The iPad may be all these things but in my humble opinion it is bad for education and schools.  Here are some reasons.

Thank you for visiting our website and learning about what apps we are using in our elementary classrooms. While this list is extensive, we understand it is not exhaustive of all apps available. Feel free to join our website and add any additional sites that you use with your students. Creators are adding new games and tools to the app store every day, so continue to visit and do research to learn and share the latest and greatest tools. iPads are transforming the classroom. With shared resources like these we will continue to help educators here and around the world educate their students.

This is a freebie from Edudemic looking at how the iPad can be used under three columns, consume, collaborate, produce. Interesting as a starter document.

Two years ago I wrote a column for Inside Higher Ed entitled "The iPad for Academics." Now, two years and two new models of iPad later, it seems time to revisit some of that original column: How well does it stand up, how did my predictions turn out, and what have I learned since then? The answers are, roughly, "good" "O.K." and "a lot." When I wrote my column, no one was sure what the future held for the iPad, and there was serious skepticism about the more apocalyptic predictions. In fact, somewhat boringly, Apple's release of the iPad did what most Apple products do -- change the world, sell millions of units, and alter our information ecosystem irrevocably -- but it didn't end the world.

Google Chrome is such a great resource for students. First things first, the browser allows users to sign in to Chrome anywhere and bring up bookmarks, history, and settings, an incredible feature for students on-the-go who are using multiple computers. In addition to this useful feature are a wealth of awesome extensions that students can use to save time and concentrate their efforts. We've found 21 time-saving Chrome extensions that students can put to use, from note-taking apps to books, citations, and reminders.

When the Pew Internet Project first began writing about the role of the internet in American life in 2000, there were stark differences between those who were using the internet and those who were not.1 Today, differences in internet access still exist among different demographic groups, especially when it comes to access to high-speed broadband at home.

There is something in games based learning that seems to get missed out of much of the discussion. While it's common to think of using game-like approaches or video-games I find much of what is said revolves about how games work in terms of mechanics. Level ups, XP (experience) and badges seem to dominate the gamification dialogue. I wonder how you can gamify the workplace or the classroom without also exploring the more important aspects of why people play - how it feels to be immersed in a story that you feel a part of. Players are given badges and tokens all the time, except these don't provide that intrinsic motivation that people often associate with gamification. For the love of it. How do you get people to play for that reward?

In February this year, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon announced the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) would conduct an inquiry into copyright law to make sure it was keeping pace with the digital age. The inquiry was initially flagged by former Attorney-General Robert McLelland in 2011. "Fifteen years ago no one used Google as an internet search engine, viewed YouTube videos on iPads or listened to music on their mobile phones," McLelland told the 15th Biennial Copyright Symposium on 14 October in Sydney.

Helpful educators on Twitter submitted some of their favorite mobile learning websites, apps, and resources. Tony Vincent put these submissions into the set of posters that were placed around the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown at Mobile Learning Experience 2012. If you weren't at Mobile 2012 or missed some of the posters in person, they are posted here for your learning pleasure.

Let's CC is not a search engine, but rather offers quick and easy access to search services provided by other independent organizations from one single page just like search.creativecommons.org. CC Korea has no control over the results that are returned and makes no warranties whatsoever regarding the results. If you are in doubt you should contact the copyright holder directly, or try to contact the site where you found the contents. Let's CC uses APIs provided by Fiickr, Jamendo, ccMixter, Youtube and Slideshare, so you can find CC-licensed images, sounds, videos and docs at once with just one click. You can also save your favorite works and add tags to them. They are stored in My Favorites folder, so you can see them anytime you want. On My Favorites page, you can manage previously marked as favorite contents and add tags to them. Moreover, Let's CC contents that have been marked as favorite will appear at the top of the search results so that users will be able to find more relevant contents easily.

A great pdf presentation from Jarrod Robinson contains so many PE and Health related apps

Links to a BYOD Responsible Use Policy pdf, FAQ pdf from St Mary's Secondary school in the US.

Facebook is moving back to its roots in education with this morning's big announcement of custom groups for schools called, not surprisingly Groups for Schools. While I'm dubious about how, if, and why individual teachers may want to use the service… it'll be great for entire schools who don't have the budget or resources to build their very own online community. So here's the deal: Facebook will let you have an area of the site where anyone with your school's or district's .edu email address can get in and participate. It's basically the same model that Mark Zuckerberg used to launch the site many moons ago.

3DTOAD.com is 3D/360 website that allows parents, students and teachers free access to 3D images of a variety of educational subjects. Items that once could be viewed only in the classroom are now available 24 hours a day via any internet connection. Images presented for viewing are selected jointly by Techtol Imaging LLC as well as Ohio Universities and Colleges.

We tapped Twitter to learn what educators say are the downsides to implementing the Flipped Learning method, and we have provided our opinions that address the five major criticisms.

The Unofficial Google Image Search by Drawing tool provides you with a drawing space and some simple drawing tools to create a sketch. When your sketch is complete just click "search by drawing" and you'll be sent to the Google Image search results that best match your drawing. The Unofficial Google Image Search by Drawing tool can also be used to upload and draw on an image that you have stored on your computer. If you want to search for pictures of yourself or pictures of people that look like you, you can use your webcam to take a picture of yourself and search through the Unofficial Google Image Search by Drawing tool.

In the past 12 months, Google doubled its staff, tinkered with its search engine to speed up results, and now answers more queries than Microsoft and Yahoo combined. But there's one query we had to answer ourselves: How does Google work?