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This article from eLearning Industry takes the reader through five advantages to using games in the classroom. The article also has links within it to take readers to other articles and apps.

Examples of apps and tools to assist with assistive technology implementation

From CollegeStats.org, a list of mobile apps, software, and online resources for different types of disabilities that might affect college students.

This app is an extension in Google and allows students to read aloud while being recorded. This is especially helpful with struggling readers to go back to listen to themselves read with the teacher and find where struggles lie.

This appears to be an easy tool for students to use creativity to create fiction and nonfiction books. Teachers can also create resources for classes. Books can be read aloud for the user.

This tool allows students to create a digital eBook. There are ways to include text, images, audio, and even voice clips into the book. Student creativity can be unlocked with this digital tool. All grade levels and content areas can find ways to use this tool.

Buncee is a web-based tool that allows users to create interactive presentations. Both internal and external resources can be used on the slides. Additionally, the user can create software directly on the slide. This allows the user to create several boards that progress in a slide show format.

Explore math with desmos.com, a free online graphing calculator

Desmos is a free online graphing calculator that allows students to graph functions, plot data, evaluate equations, and explore transformations. It is a powerful and reliable tool that can be accessed online or through the app for free.

Having someone (or something) proofread everything you type is extremely helpful.

This teacher presents a possible solution for those students who learn at different paces, come with different abilities and are participating in a flipped classroom. She suggests using Book Creator as a way for students to engage in creating books.

This article summarizes a study aimed at explaining collective behavior on social networking platforms through intentional social action, which is known as the We-Intention theory. The study focused on Facebook in particular, because it is widely popular among university students and could, thus, illustrate social media's impact on students' motivation to learn via virtual communities. In the article, the We-Intention theory is driven by social influence factors, social presence, and elements of the uses and gratifications (U&G) model. U&G, as defined in the article, explains why individuals gravitate toward certain digital media over others. U&G assumes individuals are both goal-directed and aware of their needs, listed as purposive value, self-discovery, entertainment, social enhancement, and maintenance of interpersonal connectivity. The study identified two U&G needs, entertainment and interpersonal connectivity, as significantly determining intentional social action under the We-Intention theory.

That article is very interesting stating that most use Facebook for instant communication and connection. The need for instant gratification. Joining too many groups or trying to connect to too many people does make it hard to have a specific connection to one group. May be the reason that people post so many random topics and photos.

Interesting perspective on Facebook from the point of view of students using the platform.Since most of my background is from K-12 education, I have not witnessed teachers using the platform with their students. I have found that most K-12 teachers use Facebook to communicate with parents. It does seem to have a similar impact on getting parents motivated and active in class activities. Most parents use Facebook and once they know they can follow their child's teacher and get updates via the social media app, parents tend to do so

In this article Librarian Andrea Wilson Brooks discusses how the educational theory of connectivism can be used to enhance the delivery of information literacy instruction. She begins the article with a discussion of the connectivist theory and then moves on to the specific role that this theory can play in 21st century library instruction. The instruction that Brooks talks about in this article utilizes mobile technology, in particular, tablets. She concludes the article with a series of specific examples of lessons based on connectivism. Each activity involves the use of mobile devices, various apps, and social media platforms to engage the learner while developing his or her information literacy skills.

I travel the country teaching educations about instructional technology and one tool I love is Smore.com. It makes it quick and easy to create, collaborate and share ideas with others.

My Diigo share about the EdTech site called Smore.com