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"I am not a Twitter snob - really - but there are some people who have been using Twitter and think that it's just a matter of tweeting random musings and links to their own website - or feeding from their Facebook status updates! Those people haven't gotten the point of Twitter yet. Really there is no point following someone if they don't know how to use Twitter properly - unless you know them in real life and are planning to gently help them along the way."

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are online learning events that can take place synchronously and asynchronously for months. Participants assemble to hear, see, and participate in backchannel communication during live lectures. They read the same texts at the same time, according to a calendar. Learning takes place through self-organized networks of participants, and is almost completely decentralized: individuals and groups create blogs or wikis around their own interpretations of the texts and lectures, and comment on each other's work; each individual and group publicises their RSS feed, which are automatically aggregated by a special (freely available) tool, gRSShopper. Every day, an email goes out to all participants, aggregating activity streams from all the blogs and wikis that engage that week's material. MOOCs are a practical application of a learning theory known as "connectivism" that situates learning in the networks of connections made between individuals and between texts.

"Special education addresses the individual differences and requirements of students with special educational needs. As a teacher or trainer, working with students with special educational needs requires specific skills and strategies to create and deliver effective programs of work for them. This free online education course serves as an introduction to the field of special education. The course begins by outlining core elements of special education, including the change in educational legalisation in recent years with particular emphasis on legislation in America. The responsibilities of teachers and trainers are also detailed, along with the individual educational plan (IEP). The course describes the most frequent disabilities encountered in the mainstream classroom: learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), intellectual disabilities, behavioural disorders, and physical disabilities and sensory impairments. The course provides key information about each of these disabilities and describes practical strategies on how to assist and teach students with these disabilities. This free online education course will be of great interest to professionals in the education sector who would like a greater knowledge and understanding of working with students with special educational needs, and to all students who are interested in special education."

"What encourages students to do well in school? Often, it comes down to grades. Many students will work harder in order to earn a higher grade. Colleges want to see good grades. Parents want to see good grades. Grades are good, right? Of course they are, but the grades should not be the only goal. Learning for the sake of it should be a goal, including what they learned, how long they remembered it, and how they applied it to new situations."

40 Creative Ways Teachers Are Using Cell Phones in the Classroom @vcnam http://t.co/L8fxY6AI

Bringing a cell phone to class usually starts a debate between teacher and student. Most teachers completely ban them. They are often regarded as distractions from learning. There are several issues concerning mobile learning like social media, Internet filtering, safety laws, teaching techniques, school policies, etc.

"While the open content movement in education continues to gain steam, more teachers are starting to learn about free content they can use and adapt to their own needs for their classrooms. But educators are focusing too heavily on acquiring content, rather than contributing and improving to it, according to a company that helps teachers and students access open education resources."

Apps have exploded on the scene, and while there are plenty of time wasting games available on the market, today's offerings also include a wide range of affordable apps that enrich learning and allow for quick on-the-go play. Whether your child is waiting for the doctor or relaxing on a long car ride, the following apps are some of the best games that pack an educational punch.

It is important to realize the implications for our students of our own critical reflection. Students put great store by our actions and they learn a great deal from observing how we model intellectual inquiry and democratic process. Given that this is so, a critically reflective teacher activates her classroom by providing a model of passionate skepticism. As Osterman (1990) comments, "critically reflective teachers - teachers who make their own thinking public, and therefore subject to discussion - are more likely to have classes that are challenging, interesting, and stimulating for students" (p. 139). Stephen Brookfield

From flipping your classroom to deploying digital textbooks, there's a lot of disruption happening in the classroom. We talk about these trends every day on Edudemic and hope that helps you stay on the so-called bleeding edge of education innovation. But rather than talk about the latest trends, why not actually find out how (and if) teachers are adopting each trend? The below infographic details the 6 hottest teaching trends and looks at how they're being adopted

"If you aren't using Google Forms in your classroom yet, you and your students are missing out on the limitless possibilities Google Forms offers. And to make using Google Forms in the classroom even more teacher-friendly, Google recently announced at ISTE 2016 that Google Forms now have an automatic grading option. Here are 10 ways that I like to utilize Google Forms in my classroom."

"Making the most of technology in the classroom ensures that lessons are more than just pages in a book or lines on a whiteboard; it brings them to life. That being said, teachers need to juggle many responsibilities over the course of a workweek, and simply don't have time for inefficient, time-consuming, or undependable technology. In order to even foster authentic learning experiences, first the logistics all have to line up. If you're messing with a complicated setup or fumbling your way through technology created with a poor user design, that's time that you're not spending with your pupils. It is possible to attain the best of both worlds, provided that you scout out the right technology tools to benefit your classroom. Learn more about technologies that are particularly feasible to integrate into your lesson plans below:"

QR codes… Disposable fad? Or useful technology? Opinions on whether QR codes are of real value is a hotly debated topic. But regardless of polarized views on the technology, there are some teachers using QR codes in education in some very inventive and exciting ways.

As more and more people join the world of Twitter (460,000 signups per day), school parents and teachers are more commonplace on this global social media tool. According to a recent Pew Internet Study, 84% of all Twitter users are between the ages of 18-49. Why is this important to school officials? The age range includes the majority of our school parents.

Today we are introducing you to another kind of search engines  labelled ' specialized search engines '. These ones here are also very important and can provide you with better results by specializing a little and using a search that is not trying to answer everything.

Today there are over 5.9 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide, and for every one person who accesses the internet from a computer two do so from a mobile device. Given the ubiquity and rapidly expanding functionality of mobile technologies, UNESCO is enthusiastic about their potential to improve and facilitate learning, particularly in communities where educational opportunities are scarce. This Working Paper Series scans the globe to illuminate the ways in which mobile technologies can be used to support the United Nations Education for All Goals; respond to the challenges of particular educational contexts; supplement and enrich formal schooling; and make learning more accessible, equitable, personalized and flexible for students everywhere.

As mobile learning and technology is more readily integrated within classroom settings, QR codes can be used as an interesting method to capture a student's attention and make lesson material more interactive. Good collection of links Quick response codes, also known as 'QR' codes, are simple, scannable images that are a form of barcode. By scanning a QR code image through a mobile device, information can be accessed including text, links, bookmarks and email addresses.

This special report features a series of columns by Dr. Lawrence C. Ragan, Director of Instructional Design and Development for Penn State's World Campus, and will help you establish online instructor best practices and performance expectations. The following snippets are just a taste of the insider's advice found in the full report: Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #1 Show Up and Teach - The necessity of this statement is borne of the misimpression that the online class "teaches itself." Since most of the course is already authored and designed for online delivery, instructors may believe they simply need to serve as the proverbial "guide on the side" as the students navigate the learning system. Not true! Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #2 Practice Proactive Course Management Strategies - The online instructor can help create a successful learning experience by practicing proactive course management strategies such as monitoring assignment submissions, and communicating and reminding students of missed and/or upcoming deadlines. Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #3 Establish Patterns of Course Activities - Although the online classroom environment provides tremendous flexibility of time and place of study, establishing and communicating a course pace and pattern of work can aid both instructor and student, and alleviate confusion around how the course operates. Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #4 Plan for the Unplanned - For those small or not-so-small occasions when "life happens," having a strategy for informing students of these changes can go a long way to maintaining course continuity. Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #5 Response Requested and Expected - Timely instructor feedback is essential for the online learner to manage their learning experience. Instructors are expected to respond to student inquiries within one business day.

YouTube can be a great technological resource for teachers to use in the classroom. But with so many videos and channels, how can educators find quality content without watching hours of video? Here are ten great channels that are certain to provide educational content worthy to spark student's minds.

What does Google Moderator do? Google Moderator allows you to create a series about anything that you are interested in discussing and open it up for people to submit questions, ideas, or suggestions. These are called submissions.  Anyone can come to the site and submit a question, idea, or vote, and anyone can vote. Google Moderator shows you a question in the box with the blue background. This is called the Featured Question. A topic is a way to break up your series into smaller, more manageable topics of discussion. You can have one topic, or multiple topics. For example, if you create a series of 'Book clubs' for your organization, topics could be 'Fiction,' 'Non-fiction,' or 'Auto-biographies.'