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"What does 2014 hold for your online life? If you're young, it probably won't involve Facebook that much. This year marked the start of what looks likely to be a sustained decline of what had been the most pervasive of all social networking sites. Young people are turning away in their droves and adopting other social networks instead, while the worst people of all, their parents, continue to use the service."

"Twine is an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories. You don't need to write any code to create a simple story with Twine, but you can extend your stories with variables, conditional logic, images, CSS, and JavaScript when you're ready. Twine publishes directly to HTML, so you can post your work nearly anywhere. Anything you create with it is completely free to use any way you like, including for commercial purposes. "

Another tool that might provide an different entry point to coding and logical thinking for those who might initially feel they're not that way inclined.

"Storing information in the cloud is great, but sometimes it's nice to have your personal data right on your hard drive. There's a way to export your personal information from your various Google accounts, and now you can on Facebook, too. If you'd like to download a copy of your Facebook data, there's an easy way to do it. That way you can keep all your personal information - videos and pictures from your wall, for example - on your computer, without worrying about ever losing your stuff, should your account get hacked. Here's how:"

"There are days I just hate technology. Just when I think I'm ahead of my kids, up pops another ridiculously stupid app like Yik Yak. The latest app to make news, Yik Yak allows users to comment anonymously-because you know, who needs to take responsibility for their words, right? I've read a couple of blogs about it, too-great takes from Portrait of an Adoption,  Baby Sideburns and Tween Us. And then there's the schools, at least locally, trying to get the app disabled. Good luck with that. Because here's the thing. The app developers only care about one thing-and it's not your kid."

"If students find NAPLAN tests too stressful, wait till they find out what it's like trying to get a driver's licence or a good job if they're illiterate, writes Jennifer Buckingham."

During your time at school you will complete many projects and research assignments that require you to find and use information from a variety of sources - many of which will be online. Sometimes, however, searching on the web can feel like you are lost in a jungle of information? You may feel overwhelmed and ask yourself the following questions... Where do I start? Where am I going to get the information I need? How do I know what is 'good' information? Which are the best websites for this assignment? Well, the Research Safari is designed to help you navigate your way through the 'jungle of information' to help you create a dynamic assignment.

"Whether you realize it or not, dozens - if not hundreds - of apps and services have access to your social accounts and can see everything you're doing online. Tweets, Likes, your location, are all there for the taking. What's worse, there's a pretty good chance you unwittingly gave them permission."

"SAMR has been an incredibly useful framework for conversations around, and implementation of, educational technology in schools and districts. I mean, goodness, just look at a Google image search on the term. But there's something about it, or rather, the way it is often promoted, that has always given me that feeling like a piece of food is stuck in the back of my teeth."

"Unlike some learning tools, BYOT resources have to be diverse because of the inherently flexible nature of BYOT. What works for one school or district may not for another. Another challenge for educators looking for BYOT "stuff" is that what you're finding is likely scattered all over the internet. Which makes the handbook of BYOT "stuff" that convergemag.com created (and grabonlee is hosting) all the more helpful. In it you'll find 10 checklists for creating-or simply checking-your BYOT plan, covering the following topics."

"Would any of my students turn down a 1:1 MacBook Pro? Of course not. Still, I believe there is great value in the limitations of resources. When we engage in Device Wars on twitter and the blogosphere, we all seem to exercise significant bias in equating the best classroom tool with the one that we find most productive in our personal or professional lives (I touched upon that in disagreeing with folks who contend that the iPad is not a creation tool). Do I have a vision of what technology I'd like in my class in the perfect scenario? Sure I do. Do my students and I really need that state of shiny utopia, especially when it is (in my view) impossible to achieve in an equitable fashion? I don't think so."

Solve For X is a place to hear about and discuss radical technology ideas for solving global problems. Radical in the sense that the solutions could help millions or billions of people. Radical in the sense that the audacity of the proposals makes them sound like science fiction. And radical in the sense that there is some real technology breakthrough on the horizon indicating that these ideas could really be brought to life.

"The NSW Department of Education and Communities will soon formally encourage schools to implement a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, allowing students to use their own devices, like laptops, tablets, smartphones or e-readers, in the classroom."

"Blogging on platforms like WordPress has become very popular over the past 10 years. This video is an introduction to blogging in plain english and was designed to give viewers a brief overview of what blogging is and how to participate. For more information on Edublogs visit: http://edublogs.org/"

All those who are planning to come to Sri Lanka on a job can join this group and also like, if any of your friends are looking for a Sri Lanka job check this out for openings.

The philanthropic non-profit, and supporter of NewTech Network and EDWorks, has just released an infographic of what the future might hold. (Check out the accompanying report for the full shabam.) Possibilities include "individualized learning playlists" of "digitally-mediated or place-based learning experiences" in "self-organizing schools." KnowledgeWorks also has profiles and dossiers of what students and educators might look like in 2025.

"While the term has become controversial since Prensky penned the phrase, the idea is still relevant-and the social perception of the "new students" Prensky was talking about continues to shift with the birth of new digital tools. However, the question that many experts are asking remains: does a fluency in new media tools like Facebook and Apple TV equate to digital savviness?"

"If you're a visual learner like myself, then you know maps, charts and infographics can really help bring data and information to life. Maps can make a point resonate with readers and this collection aims to do just that. Hopefully some of these maps will surprise you and you'll learn something new. A few are important to know, some interpret and display data in a beautiful or creative way, and a few may even make you chuckle or shake your head."

"It seems like every other month, Evernote gets additional upgrades. A few are quietly released, while others are highly anticipated by heavy Evernote users. Since I wrote my last article about Evernote's new design and file storage upgrades, the popular notebook has gotten important new features, including Reminders, a highlighter and tighter security for subscribers, among others."

"This visualization attempts to organize a series of emerging technologies that are likely to influence education in the upcoming decades. Despite its inherently speculative nature, the driving trends behind the technologies can already be observed, meaning it's a matter of time before these scenarios start panning out in learning environments around the world."

"If you have been using the sharing feature of Google Docs (now Google Drive) for some time, you may have quite a few files in the Drive that are accessible to other users. Would you like to review this list? Here's a simple Google script that will scan your Google Drive and prepare a list all files that have been shared from your Google Drive."