FPS Integrating Technology into Your Classroom

"eMeet.me is a free, web based, online meeting service thats so easy and fun, that even grandma could use it. You can video conference, screen share, and chat. People can dial in by phone, or use their computer camera and microphone. We even record your meetings for later playback! Take your virtual meeting to a beautiful place around the world with our built in backdrops."

"Managing tablets as learning tools in the classroom is not easy, especially when many kids use them largely as toys outside of school, if they have access to a tablet in their home environment. Kids often come to school and instinctively want to engage with a tablet as a toy, expecting to be free to play the games they want to play and explore the apps they are interested in. To get kids to shift into tablet as learning tool, teachers are finding that instilling fair, reasonable and consistent classroom habits in tablet learning environments is key."

"The fully automatic bibliography and citation maker. Save time by creating a cited page instantly in the MLA, APA,or Chicago referencing styles! It's easy, fast and it's free!"

The Buck Institute is a national leader in Project-Based Learning. There are a number of great rubrics on the website that assess 21st Century Skills (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, and citizenship). As we look for projects to assess students' 21st Century Skills, this resource is a one-stop-shop for those rubrics.

"Last year my students designed infographics for the first time. I enjoyed the process and the products. It was a fun strategy to teach my students crucial research skills while encouraging them to think creatively about how to visually communicate information. This year I was literally blown away by the work my students did on their infographics. I wanted to share my process and examples of student work to help support other teachers."

"Simple: Whether you're uploading, sharing, or viewing files, everything is just a click away! Smart: Folders are automatically named based on the number and types of files uploaded. Powerful: View photos, videos, documents, presentations, spreadsheets, books, audios, fonts, codes & more, online." 100 MB maximum file size; can transfer 2 GB per share

"What are best practices to make a flipped classroom model work?"

"I take a look at four ways that teachers can add questions to a YouTube video for their students to answer when watching a video at home or on their own."

"Maps can be a remarkably powerful tool for understanding the world and how it works, but they show only what you ask them to. So when we saw a post sweeping the Web titled "40 maps they didn't teach you in school," one of which happens to be a WorldViews original, I thought we might be able to contribute our own collection. Some of these are pretty nerdy, but I think they're no less fascinating and easily understandable."

"Maps seemed to be everywhere in 2013, a trend I like to think we encouraged along with August's 40 maps that explain the world. Maps can be a remarkably powerful tool for understanding the world and how it works, but they show only what you ask them to. "

"Here are 100 great tips for using the documents, presentations and spreadsheets in Google Docs."

"Tablets for Schools recently commissioned research on e-safety  (done by Family, Kids and Youth, an independent research agency) with over 3500 students aged 11-18. We asked for their thoughts on what their schools and parents were doing with regard to internet safety."

"Here is a handy guide for students published by EasyBib. The guide takes students through a variety of websites, pointing out signs relating to their reliability.  By looking closely at information relating to a site's author, date of publication, citations and links, as well as publisher information, students can get a better grasp of what makes a website a credible source. "

ThingLink is a simple piece of code that users can install on their website or blog. This code allows teachers or students to designate parts of sites or pages (pictures, etc.) that will produce a pop-up with a description and or a link to something else on the web.

"The Maker Movement, a technological and creative learning revolution underway around the globe, has exciting and vast implications for the world of education. New tools and technology, such as 3D printing, robotics, microprocessors, wearable computing, e-textiles, "smart" materials, and programming languages are being invented at an unprecedented pace. The Maker Movement creates affordable or even free versions of these inventions, while sharing tools and ideas online to create a vibrant, collaborative community of global problem-solvers. Fortunately for teachers, the Maker Movement overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing. By embracing the lessons of the Maker Movement, educators can revamp the best student-centered teaching practices to engage learners of all ages."

"Want to Make Your Own Set of Flashcards? Step 1: Modify the Google Spreadsheet Template Copy this template into your Gmail or Google Apps account. Enter as many terms as you want. Name your set of flashcards by changing the name of the worksheet (at the bottom)."

"What does student engagement look like? I have received this question from teachers in a number of different forms. Often the words "apathetic" or "unmotivated" are used in place of "disengaged." But the point is the same. Many of us have had students in the classroom whose stubborn lack of interest or motivation threatens to undermine the positive learning environment we've tried to create. How do we turn this around?"

"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. Unlike the regular Chrome web apps that are nothing but fancy bookmarks, the Dictation App for Chrome will run entirely on your computer."

"AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic feedback tool. Use it as a tool for online brainstorming or embed it on your website or blog as a poll or guestbook."