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"Assessment is a necessary part of the teaching and learning process, helping us measure whether our students have really learned what we want them to learn. While exams and quizzes are certainly favorite and useful methods of assessment, out of class assignments (written or otherwise) can offer similar insights into our students' learning. And just as creating a reliable test takes thoughtfulness and skill, so does creating meaningful and effective assignments. Undoubtedly, many instructors have been on the receiving end of disappointing student work, left wondering what went wrong… and often, those problems can be remedied in the future by some simple fine-tuning of the original assignment. This paper will take a look at some important elements to consider when developing assignments, and offer some easy approaches to creating a valuable assessment experience for all involved."

"The truth: What a person "needs" in terms of instructional design depends on many factors such as prior knowledge, readiness to learn, motivation, etc… but not on a preferred learning style. This blog post from Guy Wallace in eLearn Magazine does a terrific job of summarizing the issue and the research findings. He reaches out to heavy hitters such as Ruth Clark, Harold Stolovitch, and Will Thalheimer. These are folks who work hard to review the research and assess the validity of it."

"Technology influences education. It's a bit late to discuss how social media and technology may reshape learning and schools. The train has already departed and so we can observe some changes taking place. There are plenty of ways to go about it-social learning networks currently offer first class tickets to the "next-gen" learning."

"There is something that bothers us about conversations about replacing face-to-face teaching with online learning: they often fall into a trap of assuming that incorporating synchronous interaction is the optimal way to make learning more personable, that it approximates the face-to-face setting closest, and is therefore preferable and better. More often than not, synchronous interaction here implies some form of two-way audiovisual interaction, even though there are text-only forms of synchronous interaction (e.g., Twitter live chat). There are also asynchronous forms of audiovisual interaction (e.g., voicemail, recorded lectures). But we feel the enthusiasm for audiovisual synchronicity often comes without sufficient discernment, and without deliberative consideration of how asynchronous learning can be not only viable but productive."

"Purpose: Improving our chance for a common language in discussing existing and emerging learning trends, model, and technology in hopes of innovation in classrooms, and collectively, education at large."

"Creating timelines is another important digital skill to be added to the the 33 digital skills we have compiled before. Students should be able to easily create their own learning timelines and share them with each other.This can have a huge positive impact on their overall learning process. Educational Technology and Mobile Learning has sifted through some of the best free timeline making tools and come up with the list below. Just to refresh your mind, a timeline is " a way of displaying a list of events in chronological order, sometimes described as a project artifact. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates alongside itself and usually events labelled on points where they would have happened.' ( from Wikipedia )."

"Introduction Joan Lucariello, PhD, City University of New York Students do not come to school as blank slates to be filled with instruction. Rather, they come to school with considerable knowledge, some correct and some not. Either way, that knowledge is based on intuition, every-day experience, as well as what they have been taught in other settings. Teachers and researchers generally refer to preinstructional knowledge as preconceptions. Since a considerable amount of our knowledge is organized by subject matter (mathematics, science, etc.), so too are our preconceptions. Before beginning instruction on any new topic, teachers need to know their students' preconceptions because learning, and therefore instruction itself, varies depending on whether students' preconceptions agree with the concepts being taught or contradict those concepts. When preconceptions are consistent with the concepts in the assigned curriculum, student preconceptions are called anchoring conceptions. Learning, in such cases, is much easier. It becomes a matter of conceptual growth, enrichment, or adding to student knowledge. More often, teachers find themselves teaching concepts that are difficult for their students to learn because students' preconceptions are inconsistent with the concepts being taught. In these cases, preconceptions are termed alternative conceptions or misconceptions."

"What is Inquiry Pedagogy? Pedagogy is defined as "any conscious activity by one person designed to enhance learning in another" (Watkins & Mortimer, 1999, p. 3). Inquiry pedagogy therefore, is based around a set of teaching and learning strategies that involve student-centred research and investigation that encourages metacognitive thought processes, discussion and collaboration. Carroll defines Inquiry Pedagogy as an understanding about society and its interactions that "requires us to seek out knowledge as well as apply historical skills to determine why events occurred and what motivated the people to take the action they took" (2012). "

"Without a doubt my most popular posts have consistently been science websites. Below, I have combined all the science websites that I have shared so far and have added nine new ones. Whether you have been following my blog, or if this is your first time, I promise you will find many great resources for your students."

" Education Technology A report from the Alliance for Excellent Education identifies four key challenges that public school district leaders must address in the next two years in order to successfully bring digital learning and education technology into K-12 classrooms. "

"hat is the question I've found most helpful whenever I begin one of the workshops I lead on my campus to help academics create and manage their digital identities. Faculty members, graduate students, and others typically respond by saying they would read the candidate's work and talk with others in the field, but eventually someone will say, "Google her." Indeed, it's often the first thing someone says. I then ask attendees what someone might learn if he or she were to Google them. Would they be happy with what a search-committee member, journalist, or conference organizer looking for a keynote speaker learned about their work? Would it tell the whole story?"

"f we hope to construct enduring understanding in our students, it's critical that, now more than ever, we know their strengths and interests. By incorporating students' strengths and weakness into authentic learning experiences from the beginning of each unit, while at the same time including opportunities for feedback, metacognition and revision, we promote a variety of cognitive and emotional benefits that can lead to academic success. For example, students with interpersonal learning strengths find that cooperative group work increases perseverance. Students with artistic, computer, dramatic or organizational skills benefit from appropriate opportunities to engage in building knowledge through their strengths and interests. "

"20 Ways to Use Comics In Your Classroom Through Josh Allen's Tech Fridge blog I recently learned about this slideshow created S. Hendy who writes Digital Tools for Teachers. The slideshow, Tap Into the World of Comics, presents a series of comic creation tools followed by twenty suggestions for using comics in your classroom. "

"Fun4thebrain Fun4theBrain is a game based math site for students who are learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. There are dozens of fun math games to play and you can also find printable math worksheets as well. While the focus of the website is math, they also offer a small sampling of games and activities based science, ELA, and a few that are just for fun."

"This is our first year of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and boy, did the students bring it. They brought it all! We have iPads, Surface RT and Pro, iPhones, Droids, Chromebooks, Macs, and PC laptops. Here's my current thinking. Please share yours in the comments section below. "

"When collaboration goes wrong, it can be toxic for learning and classroom culture. We are all familiar with the scene: a group of students that is supposed to be completing a collaborative project has splintered off into dysfunctional factions. Maybe it's one student who has sullenly separated her- or himself from the rest of the group, or maybe the group has become two non-communicative teams with separate visions. Sometimes these conflicts lead to resentments that have the potential for long-term damage to the classroom community. "

"AR Tools are Being Used Today by Creative Educators in Fun, Innovative Ways, but few Know About it (yet). Educators are always looking for new ways to enhance learning and expand the horizons of students in an engaging and interactive way. Gone are the days when class plans were based around exercises from a text book. The world around us is changing rapidly and even preschool age children are becoming more proficient with different types of handheld devices like tablets."

"Can you imagine the level of first-hand knowledge today's students would have if their classrooms came equipped with time machines? Well, believe it or not, they do. Teachers can turn to YouTube to create a virtual time machine. Thanks to uploads of old footage, documentaries and reenactments, YouTube offers a plethora of opportunities to experience history. But wading through countless hours of videos, some appropriate and many not, can be a major undertaking.The handy infographic below allows teachers to take their students on an educational trip through history. Keep reading to learn more!"