Ed Tech Crew

Advocates say that "flipped classrooms" help overburdened teachers differentiate their instruction to reach more learners, provide an avenue into more hands-on and student-driven learning during classtime, and shift the teacher's role from "sage on the stage" to learning coach and facilitator. Critics say it's just a fad, relies too heavily on rote instruction, and doesn't go far enough in making the needed changes for teaching and learning reform. I've rounded up this list of videos so you can learn more about the challenges and benefits of flipped classrooms.

Informative article on Flipped Classroom with links to the 'Flipping the Classroom' video playlist and Mary Beth Hertz's excellent blog post, "The Flipped Classroom: Pro & Con" 

I created a two-minute introduction to The Flipped Classroom: The Full Picture using the new animation tool, Powtoon.  It's a bit gimmicky but much fun.

Alan November's Building Learning Communities Conference present a post rich in resources on the Flipped Classroom

Well on one random post, I grabbed one random picture off of google and then a few weeks later I got contacted by the photographer who owned that photo. He sent me a takedown notice, which I responded to immediately because I felt awful that I had unknowingly used a copyrighted pic. The pic was down within minutes. But that wasn't going to cut it. He wanted compensation for the pic. A significant chunk of money that I couldn't afford. I'm not going to go into the details but know that it was a lot of stress, lawyers had to get involved, and I had to pay money that I didn't have for a use of a photo I didn't need.

10 Things in School That Should Be Obsolete | MindShift http://t.co/oBFO5FD via @Diigo and @Stephen_H #VICpln PLLlead Another one of those lists but I suppose is good to keep in mind. The question is are these just wishful thinking? How do we get there? What is needed to get there? Are those that control the money and policy going to let us get there and if not how are we going to change their minds? 

inklewriter is a free tool designed to allow anyone to write and publish interactive stories. It's perfect for writers who want to try out interactivity, but also for teachers and students looking to mix computer skills and creative writing.

"Create ebooks from anywhere directly in your web browser for FREE. No limit on number of ebooks that you can create. Download books in ePub format - accepted by Amazon, iBooks and more. Preview your work in HTML format directly in your browser. Epub Validation Tool. Linked Table of Contents created automatically from Chapters. Upload covers and media files."

"Enough with the maximum attachment sizes! Need to send a large file right now? No problem. With Pastelink, you can send files up to 250MB. But wait, there's more. Make an account with us and send files up to 2GB -- don't worry, it's still FREE." Files are available for 7 days.

Reflection mirror app to view MAC screen on iPad

100 Blogs Every New Teacher Should Read vis Vicki Davis.

"With classes, homework, and projects-not to mention your social life-time is truly at a premium for you, so why not latch onto the wide world that Google has to offer?"

Albert Einstein knew an awful lot. And if you pay attention to his work and his most famous statements about it, you might just think he was talking about us, the social media crew. We might not be looking for a unified theory for all things quantum in our day jobs, or pondering the discrepancies between particle theory and relativity, but here are a few things Einstein has managed to summarize for us just the same. Funny how some concepts apply pretty universally…

A fantastic website updated regularly with great new web tools / sites. This is created by State Libraries Association. Loads of great resources.

"As one of the leading open source blogging platforms, WordPress has inspired hundreds (if not thousands) of plugins and tools to customize your blog. In this article, we've compiled a list of more than 300 of our favorites."

A large list of video conferencing options.