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"Did you know that Google Docs has support for QR codes built-in? That's right, if you know the right function, the Spreadsheets app can generate QR codes with whatever inputs you like."

Waterlife is an interactive story about the water cycle in the Great Lakes. Waterlife is a twenty part story through which students can learn about the role of water in our lives. Through the story students learn about things like fishing, pollution, invasive species, wetlands, and the politics of water conservation. When students select a part of the Waterlife story they will be able to hear narration, see visuals, and read the text of the story. Some parts of the story also contain links to external resources that student can explore.

Another interesting discussion in regards to why students should learn to code. A good comparison with learning a spoken language and some of the benefits, such as problem solving and understanding the world around us. Ends with the suggestion that, like playing a sport, coding is good for you.

"Classmint lets anyone create interactive, audible, annotatable and beautiful study notes that can be folded like paper. It also maintains automated revision list to aid in timely revision." [via @rmbyrne]

iPad Creative brings you a wide range of articles with a focus towards the creativity and fun. Much like the iPad itself this blog isn't just for geeks, it's for everyone!

"Knowing how to search Google isn't just helpful for your own searches, but can help you to better understand and utilize search engine optimization strategies."

"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."

Another interesting piece about makerspaces. This time how one teacher librarian (librarian and English teacher) in the US used robotics kits in her library to respond to their reading. Her students to created characters from the stories they read and then brought them to life. Innovative and engaging hands-on learning - what's not to like. Other examples are discussed as well.

"Animoto is an excellent tool for creating audio slideshows. But there are some limitations to it that some teachers don't like. Most notable of those limitations is the time limit (30 seconds unless you get an Animoto for Education account), lack of space for text, and that students have to remember a username and password to use it. The YouTube slideshow tool provides a tool for creating audio slideshows without those three limitations of Animoto."

"I was asked by a colleague in another school the other day if I could give her a snapshot into what I actually do, and what the role of an ICT Integrator actually looks like (from my perspective anyway). Apparently she wants to talk to her school leaders about having an integrator on their staff and was trying to get an idea of what the role would entail from someone who does it..." A great read from Chris Betcher continuing on with the theme of what does an ICT and an e-Learning coordinator do.

"As we all know, search engines like tracking you - your IP address, your search terms and so on. They use this to build up profiles, store the data and so on. It can be a real pain trying to search without this information being stored, but you can try Disconnect Private Search. This routes your search queries through their proxy servers before they go to the popular search engines, including Google, Bing and Yahoo."

"Cyber-bullying, update-addiction, sexting - from the perspective of a parent raising a ''digital native'' child, social media seems fraught with dangers. But new research suggests the risks inherent in social media use by younger generations might be overblown. danah boyd, assistant research professor at Harvard and principal researcher for Microsoft Research - like k.d.lang, she prefers the lower case - has completed a large-scale study on how US teenagers use the internet in general, and social media in particular. Her book is called It's Complicated, and is the result of in-depth interviews with scores of teens over an eight-year period."

The exams are conducted from May - July 2014. Following are exam details - Like & Share - www.facebook.com/theadmissiontimes

"What I gained from this exercise was a thorough understanding of issues surrounding Cloud Computing and the information I needed to be able to speak confidently with my school community about the move we were making. If you're a school looking to move into the Cloud Computing space, then measures like this are necessary. If you're an Australian school looking for links to assist you with the process, then take a look at the following."

"Here's what she found: hiding from big data is so inconvenient and expensive that even Vertesi doesn't recommend it as a lifestyle choice. (She presented her findings at the Theorizing the Web conference in New York last week.) So what does that mean for companies who say users can just "opt out" if they aren't happy with (so-called) privacy policies? Can you be a person on the internet without sacrificing all your data to the Google Powers That Be? I talked to Vertesi about her experiment, its implications, and why hiding from big data can make you look like a criminal"

"The PC is dying, long live the PC! These headlines have been thrown around for years, as sales of laptops and desktops have continually dwindled downward. The tablet has long been pinned as the murderer of the traditional computers and it certainly looked like it was going to be the one to do away with them (perhaps in a few years), with the focus of many companies such as Apple and Microsoft shifting towards a tablet-first world."

This looks like it could be a good tool to get students enthusiastic about publishing online magazines of their own. I a wondering if I can get some of our writers and reviewers to create a magazine for the library..

Interesting commentary on the benefits of teachmeets and Twitter chats from Chris Betcher.

No one who is part of this new movement believes all kids should grow up to be programmers. We believe it would be a beautiful outcome if all kids grew up knowing how to use computers to enhance their natural abilities, whatever those are, and grew up with the confidence to be "makers" instead of just consumers. Computer programming is ultimately about problem solving and creating. "Thinking like a computer scientist" really means understanding what problem you are facing and breaking down that problem into solvable chunks. The better you get at recognizing the problem the more efficient your solutions become."

"Have you read The Paperless Classroom with Google Docs by Eric Curts? If not, you should. It is a great way for Google schools to harness the power of Google for sharing documents, and establishing a workflow for students to turn in work for teachers to grade and return in a paperless environment. I love it. In fact, I liked it so much that I decided to pay homage to it with a version that is dedicated to doing the very same thing on the iPad using just the Google Drive app."