ETMOOC

Kyle Pace, Google Certified Teacher and Instructional Tech. Specialist shares his insights into creating workflows in Google Drive with students. The most common methods used are #2 and #3 (Doctopus is another popular script that I like). However, another teacher shared another on you can view here ( http://goo.gl/Kuy3b9 ) that utilizes the idea of a digital portfolio. Using one of these methods is KEY to helping you and your students more effectively leverage Google Drive...and keep your Inbox a bit leaner from all of those file sharing notifications.

iPad screen recording and annotation app - 99 cents

Step by step tutorial on how to get started with blogging by Sue Waters of Edublogs. Sue is part of my PLN and is my go to person when I have questions about blogging. She's wonderful!

This post explains the "why" and "how" of Twitter in teacher friendly terms. Joanne Fox is an elementary ed. teacher who helps moderate #Caedchat on Sunday evenings when she's not teaching and tweeting. Make Twitter your Superpower as a teacher or administrator.

College writing/literature instructor shares how he uses Google Docs to teach writing.

A Twitter friend, Holly Clark aka @hollyedtechdiva,(http://hollyclark.net/), shared a post she found about how Google Apps can make a difference for teachers & students. And they are making a difference, and there's so much more we can do. Just think, students and teachers in our district have created over 30,000 docs, 1,712 spreadsheets, 1,027 presentations, & 2,894 folders. There are also over 9,000 files uploaded and stored in Google Drive. And there are 10 things Google Apps teachers rarely, if ever hear. Check them out :)

Concise definition of self-directed learning, six bullet points, and a nice infographic of self-directed learning. An important point mentioned: "One of the misconception about self-directed learning is that learners learn in complete isolation from others while in fact the core idea behind SDL is that learning is driven by intrinsic motivational factors  stemming from the learners own desire to learn and drive his/her learning experience beginning with recognizing a need to learn."

Helpful look at some of the reasons we need to help students learn how to engage in online content through blended and asynchronous learning environments.

Infographic (flow chart style) about questions to ask before posting a photo online.

"Meet Dictation v2.0, a web-based speech recognition app that will transcribe your voice into digital text using the Chrome Speech API. You can also install Dictation as a Chrome App." I tried it and it works pretty well. No special software is needed, so it will run fine on a Chromebook.

Backchanneling has a lot of promise with students in many different content areas. Here is a Social Studies teacher who shared her first experience using Today's Meet as a tool for doing formative assessment and teaching critical thinking skills during a film she showed students. Check out the learning process she shares in her reflection.

Great visual and description of how to use Google Drive in creative, effective ways with students. Don't forget, Google Apps also export in MS Office formats.

Jennifer Roberts, a veteran English teacher in San Diego, and a Google Certified teacher, shares how she approaches plagiarism with her students and uses the tools in Google Apps & Google Search to help curb intentional and unintentional plagiarism.

"From One Second to the Next," the rather unlikely film below, came together when AT&T approached the legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog and asked if he would direct a series of short films warning people about the dangers of texting while driving. The result is four stories. This film might be one to open the eyes of young people in our high schools.

The post really points to the possible pitfalls of online courses. It also suggests the importance of examining & evaluating the effectiveness of online courses - including the teacher's pedagogy and instructional methods - and student receptiveness, level of engagement, and success in courses. The comments after the post provide a lively discussion. Blended learning seems to get high marks.

Kirsten Wilson (@teachwiki) shares how social media has provided the platform for educators (& others) to share, collaborate, & communicate, moving us from just being social to a community of learners. Curation is an important part of that process. She shares apps she uses to collect and share with others. I like how she includes several good questions to consider in the process.

"The conversation below on the Power of Twitter Chats was designed to share the value of this mode of professional development with other educators." Embedded video by six educators on the Power of Twitter Chats was designed to share the value of this mode of professional development with other educators.