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Bitty Browser is an incredibly cool and useful tool. It allows you to embed a website inside another web page - so if you want to embed a web page for people to use in your wiki, just use the bitty browser. You can even create up to 100 feeds and make a mini RSS reader for education news for those teachers you KNOW will NEVER use RSS. Fascinating tool.

Cool tool to allow you to embed a web page into anything else.

Free creative commons licensed music for download!

Digital storytelling music site - just be careful, you may want to prescreen and download some yourself as there may be some profanity.

a source of free and legal music downloads. The music on Jamendo comes from the artists who upload it themselves. While not all of the music is licensed for re-use, there is a substantial collection of music labeled with a Creative Commons license. As always, before re-using any of the music you download make sure it is labeled for re-use.Applications for EducationJamendo could be a good source of music downloads for students to use in video and podcast projects. Some of the music does come with an "explicit" label so you probably don't want to send young students searching on Jamendo on their own. In that case it would be better for you to build a collection from which students choose.

Set up free conference calls and allows as many people as you like to set up and participate in the conference call. Many of us use skype, however, if you go over 10, and people are just in the US, you could use this instead. The great things is that this gives you recording of the conference with no time limit. The MP3 file is given to the host.

Great post by Ben Grey on his participation in Constructing Modern knowledge - he hits several things including the fact that many at the conference said that computer programming should be mandatory for all students and a presenter who said that the problem with today is that too many people have a voice. My comments from Ben's blog are below. Great conversations happening here! Programming - OK, on the programming thing, here are my thoughts. In our curriculum our objective is not as much a specific LANGUAGE. One year I may use HTML with Javascript, this past year I used LSL - what I want kids to know that when they encounter programming and coding that there are certain conventions. Some are case sensitive, some are not. How do you find out how to add to what you know about programming? Do you know where to go to find prewritten code? Can you hack it to make it work to do what you want it to do? We spend about a week - two weeks but I require they know how to handcode hyperlinks and images - they are just too important. But to take 12 weeks or 6 weeks to learn a whole language - yes maybe some value - but to me the value is HOW is the language constructed or built. What are the conventions and how do I educate myself if I am interested in pursuing. What comes out of this time is kids who say either "I never want to do that" or "this is really cool, I love coding." They are doing very simplistic work (although the LSL object languages were pretty advanced) but since we don't have a full course nor time in our curriculum, I do see this as an essential part of what I teach. I'm not teaching it for the language sake but for the sake of understanding the whole body of how languages work - we talk about the different languages and what they are used for as part of Intro to Computer science and have an immersive experience. To me, this is somewhat a comprimise between leaving it out entirely or forcing everyone to take 12 weeks of it. I

Teaching with maps (whether on the whiteboard or using a set of personal computers) makes learning much more visual, exciting and personally relevant. uLearn is the easiest way to access a range of Ordnance Survey mapping in the UK, plus stunning aerial imagery and historic maps, all in a safe educational environment. Much more than just Geography Use maps as an index, not only to study geographical locations but also alongside uLearn's enormous library of geo-referenced resources. Explore the historic, cultural and factual aspects of your chosen locations across the planet. Just select a topic, zoom in to a place of interest and the resources available will automatically light up. And uLearn's mapping tools are interactive - stitch maps together, add your own photos and videos or annotate them to highlight your teaching focus. uLearn's maps and resources can be manipulated to meet your classroom needs, whatever the curriculum area. Really simple tools for creating lessons Whether using the resources already in uLearn or uploading your own resources, uLearn allows you at the click of a button, to capture the maps and resources for your lesson, ready to use in the classroom. It's as simple as clicking the 'Save current view to playlist' button!

Here is a lovely cross- curricular project that the spanish teacher and I did together. She came to me and said, "I want to use this but will you help me on the technology side, I don't have to understand the technology to use the technology." My answer is YES! We took 2 days, did it in class, and there is a rich project that also gives her a legacy to hand down to other classes and for others to use and share. In this, students are taking tours of countries. They will play this and critique it in class using the teacher's hook up between her computer and large screen tv.

This is fascinating. Ms. Davis, I found your website not too long ago and wanted to tell you that I really enjoy your blog. Loved the posts about your "Daily Spotlight on Education." You make an a lot of important information easy to follow and it definitely seems like you got a great thing going for you. Keep up your great work and best of luck to you in the future. My name is Jeffrey and I'm with ASPEX, a leading producer of Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) and Microanalysis software. Our company recently kicked off a "Send Us Your Sample" campaign, which allows anyone to mail us an object of their choosing and have it scanned for free under one of our powerful desktop SEMs. Since your blog primarily deals with education, this would be a great opportunity for some of your educators to get some samples done for their class. People can send us a broken iPhone, an old toothbrush, or even a dead insect...anything they want to see a picture of under a powerful microscope. It's pretty cool. Once we receive the samples, we'll notify senders of their results via email. You can view other reports we've done here: http://www.aspexcorp.com/resources/send_sample.html Since we started this campaign, we've seen a lot of interest from professionals, educators and students all around the globe. Given the focus of your website, I wanted to contact you about posting the information about "Send Us Your Sample" on your blog. We have recently posted a YouTube video that shows how we go about sampling and how to demo our SEM. We would love to partner with you to spread the word about this offer in a blog post so more people get the unique opportunity to have something scanned by an SEM. We also have our "Name That Sample" Campaign in which we put up a sample and the person who guesses correctly, or closest, wins a Brand New Netbook! Just another way of interactivity within your blog. Encourage your readers to Name That Sample! We can talk about details if you're interested. Thanks

Share your story and earn money. What's the deal? Prizes: One $10,000USD grand prize; six $500USD category prizes (three awarded to schools per category and three awarded to individuals per category). Prizes are in US Dollars or equivalent in British Pound Sterling or Canadian Dollars at contest closing date. Deadline: Upload by 11:59:59 PM US Pacific Time on April 5, 2011 Check out what time this is where you live Content: Your video must address one of three issues Being A Good Online Citizen Using A Mobile Phone Wisely Maintaining Your Privacy Online Eligibility: All residents of Canada (excluding Quebec), the UK and the US, 13 years of age and older.

What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of using technology for learning? Are tech tools essentials, distractions or somewhere in between? How are other teachers using technology? What tech skills do today's teachers need to use digital tools effectively? Here is a collection of Learning Network resources, Times multimedia and articles and useful outside links to help both digital immigrants and digital natives think through these questions.

"Bell, F 2010, Network theories for technology-enabled learning and social change: Connectivism and actor network theory , in: Networked Learning Conference 2010: Seventh International Conference on Networked Learning, 3-4 May 2010, Aalborg, Denmark. PDF - Published Version Download (236Kb) http://usir.salford.ac.uk/9270/1/Bell.pdf Official URL: http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/ Abstract Learning never was confined to classrooms. We all learn in, out of, before, during and after episodes of formal education. The changing sociotechnical context offers a promise of new opportunities, and the sense that somehow things may be different. Use of the Internet and other emerging technologies is spreading in frequency, time and space. People and organizations wish to use technology to support learning seek theories to frame their understanding and their innovations. In this article we explore Connectivism, that is positioned as a theory for the digital age, in use on a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Connectivism and Connective Knowledge, in 2008. We then compare Connectivism with another network theory, Actor Network Theory, to explore possible synergies. We found that Connectivism enables educators and learners to legitimise their use of technology to support teaching and learning. Connectivism, a relatively new theory, can benefit from a richer empirical base as it develops. Since the scope of educational change can vary from a specific learning setting through organisational and societal settings, we can develop theories through empirical exploration of cases across the range of settings to support our understanding and actions."

"In 2007, [filtering] was high school students' number one obstacle to using technology at their schools (53 percent). For middle school students, two obstacles tied for the greatest barrier (39 percent each): "there are rules against using technology at school" and "teachers limit technology use". It's likely that when students face obstacles to using technology at school, they also face obstacles to inquiry-based learning opportunities which can include online research, visualizations, and games."

Excellent overview of Rupert Murdoch's taking on of Google and that they should not index his sites, even though he can easily opt out of indexing, that they are somehow demonetizing his work by searching since he wants to "reduce his audience to those who will pay" not "increase his audience." This is a fascinating read and case study for those following Fair Use.

TheVisualMD site offers a rich, visual experience to learn, understand, and interact with health content on the Internet.TheVisualMD is brought to you by Anatomical Travelogue, LLC. Anatomical Travelogue, LLC is a medical imaging research and media production company based in New York City. Our unique 3D visuals are the foundation and signature of all Anatomical Travelogue products, including books, websites, TV shows, and museum exhibits. We use the visuals to tell stories and educate the public on topics and issues related to health and wellness. Our visuals are produced using real human data from a variety of medical scans - magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer tomography (CT) ultrasound, and confocal laser scans. The data is collected, digitized, and recompiled using volume-visualization software. These volumes and virtual models are dissected, repositioned, colorized, and texturized as necessary to bring them to life. This website contains advice and information relating to health care. It is not intended to replace medical advice and should be used to supplement rather than replace regular care by your doctor. It is recommended that you seek your physician's advice before embarking on any medical program or treatment.

A.I. Duet is a great Artificial Intelligence computer piano keyboard that responds to sequences input through your computer keyboard. Developed using Google's Magenta project, the algorithm uses a neural network to learn how to respond through to the key strokes. Simply use a keyboard, use your computer keys, or even plug in a MIDI keyboard. A.I. Duet is built by Yotam Mann with friends on the Magenta and Creative Lab teams at Google.

Excellent tips for using Evernote - I use all of these tips except the transcription and signature features. Evernote is so useful. I also like to embed documents in my notes which make repetitive tasks much easier.

An interactive White Board (IWB) or SMART Board has the potential to deliver content better than traditional methods of teaching. Why? Because it provides multi-media functional interaction across audio, video, and computer media. It is also ideal for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. These qualities of an IWB also promote the dynamic delivery of content (if used to its full potential) in an engaging manner, which allows students to interact with science or math content their self. Examples include: * data manipulation * responding to data * even creating data So with all these attributes - "How are interactive white boards unsuccessfully used in science and math classrooms?" For the most part - not effectively!

Using ipads to teach vocabulary. In this mainstream media article, students are using Toontastic to create stories and learn new vocabulary. My students enjoy Puppetpals, another great one to use.

The great firewall of china comes to the US via Bing. It looks like Bing is filtering Chinese language searches in the US to match more what someone would see INSIDE China. This is pretty disturbing but also points to the challenges of creating different "filters" by country and also knowing where people are coming from (due to the use of proxies.)

This infographic with links and information about the many learning theories is one that college profs would love to use. This also demonstrates the power of useful infographics. I'm clipping this to Evernote to keep it handy. Very useful tool.