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"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."

Use Educational Technology to overcome institutional barriers in Higher Education. Follow a case study to learn how to deploy educational technologies in your institution. Guides to get the most out of using educational technology in Higher Education: e-Learning Learning Management Systems Information Systems

For teachers and trainers to fulfil their instructional role most effectively, their teaching methods must be grounded in educational learning theory. Understanding the learning process is a key element of educational learning theory and provides a framework for teachers and trainers to plan, create and deliver effective lessons, and assess each student's learning. In this free online education course, you will be introduced to the learning process. The course begins by differentiating between teaching and learning, and by describing teachers' and trainers' perspectives on learning. The course provides details about two major learning theories: behaviourism and constructivism. Within the section on Behaviourism, operant conditioning and its implications for teaching are examined in detail. The section on Constructivism compares and contrasts two subtypes of constructivism: psychological constructivism and social constructivism. Finally, the implications of constructivism for teaching are discussed using two practical strategies. 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 the learning process that will enhance their teaching and training, and to all students who are interested in the process of how we learn. Introduction to the Learning Process for Teachers and Trainers is originally from and published by Global Text Project and has a duration of 2-3 Hours for the average learner.

The unprecedented uptake of mobile devices, in particular mobile phones, in both developed and developing countries opens up new possibilities for increasing education access, equity and quality. Mobile learning, a growing field of ICT in education, has the potential to significantly impact the delivery of education. However, an enabling policy environment is needed to fully realize this potential. UNESCO's research has revealed a dearth of policies related to mobile learning. To address this gap UNESCO, in broad consultation with relevant stakeholders, will develop a set of guidelines to help national government policy makers and educators create environments that enable the safe, affordable and sustainable use of mobile technologies for education.

"Reusing existing Open Educational Resources (OER) can save significant time and effort. The OPEN partners recommend TAACCCT grantees invest up-front time finding OER to reuse rather than starting development of new educational resources right away. A significant benefit of OER is that they provide source material to build your development efforts around. No need to invest development effort in creating something that already exists. OER come in a wide variety of types. Many educators are simply looking for individual media elements to use within their courses, such as photos, graphics, videos, and audio, that are openly licensed in a way that freely permits education use. The page below will help you find openly licensed media elements to use within your courses. To jump directly to what you are searching for use these links:"

"The list of mind blowing videos covering the topic of 21st century education and learning is growing bigger and bigger. There are actually some clips that I think every teacher should watch if not twice then at least once. These videos are not only an inestimable source of inspiration but are also a good resource packed full of great ideas on where education is right now. I know not all of you have the chance to get your hands over these videos because of your busy teaching schedules but as an educational blogger I do come across several of these videos and whenever time permits I curate lists to share with you. "

The First Steps into Learning and Teaching in Higher Education massive open online course (mooc) will run from 21 May to 22 June 2012. This mooc is developed by the HEA/JISC funded OpenLine Project at Oxford Brookes University. First Steps into Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, is targeted at new lecturers, people entering higher education teaching from other sectors and postgraduate students who teach. We also welcome experienced lecturers to update and share their knowledge and expertise. The First Steps course is an element of the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development's (OCSLD) HEA accredited Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PCTHE).

"The Ed Tech Developer's Guide: A Primer for Developers, Startups and Entrepreneurs is a free guide that addresses key questions about the education ecosystem and highlights critical needs and opportunities to develop digital tools and apps for learning.  Written with input from knowledgeable educators, developers, and researchers who were willing to share what they have learned, the guide is designed to help entrepreneurs apply technology in smart ways to solve persistent problems in education."

"Graphite is a free platform from Common Sense Education that saves you time by making it easy to discover the best apps, games, and websites for your classroom. With thousands of reviews of tools such as Edmodo, Kahoot, ClassDojo, and LightSail, our community of educators take the guesswork out of finding innovative ways to transform your teaching practice. Graphite is changing the way educators discover the best edtech tools by providing reviews written by teachers like you and experts in the field. On Graphite, you can learn best practices for teaching and connecting with our growing community of educators. Enjoy and expand your love of teaching with Graphite."

"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."

There is a growing controversy over the use of Facebook in education.Some argue for its integration  and others disfavour  it. I believe that the main reason behind this controversy is the lack of solid empirical researches about the overall value of not only Facebook but all other popular social networking in education. There are , however, some researchers ( like Crook and Harrison ,Charnigo, Barnett-Ellis, Hewitt and Forte, Mathews, Mazer and Murphy ) who have written about the potential of social networking in education, yet only few studies have specifically addressed its role in pedagogy.

When we heard the buzz surrounding the new role video games are playing in education, we had to throw our hat in the ring. Today, innovative educators are finding ways to incorporate Portal™ and Portal 2 into their classrooms-helping teach physics and critical-thinking skills. It's eye-opening to see how video games can be used in amazing and unexpected ways to help educate our next generation. In response we've created Teach with Portals and there you'll find the beginnings of an engaging set of lesson plans, created by teachers, using the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker. Teachers sign up for the Education Beta and get access to Portal 2 and the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker and a teacher-created collection of puzzles for as many students as they'd like - for free. Using interactive tools like the Puzzle Maker to draw students in makes physics, math, logic, spatial reasoning, probability, and problem-solving interesting, cool and fun, which gets us one step closer to our goal - engaged, thoughtful kids!

Technology and education are pretty intertwined these days and nearly every teacher has a few favorite tech tools that make doing his or her job and connecting with students a little bit easier and more fun for all involved. Yet as with anything related to technology, new tools are hitting the market constantly and older ones rising to prominence, broadening their scope, or just adding new features that make them better matches for education, which can make it hard to keep up with the newest and most useful tools even for the most tech-savvy teachers. Here, we've compiled a list of some of the tech tools, including some that are becoming increasingly popular and widely used, that should be part of any teacher's tech tool arsenal this year, whether for their own personal use or as educational aids in the classroom.

iKeepSafe is dedicated to the education of families on how to stay safe online. That's why we've teamed up with Google to develop curriculum that educators can use in the classroom to teach what it means to be a responsible digital citizen. The curriculum is designed to be interactive, discussion filled and allow students to learn through hands-on and scenario activities. Each workshop contains a resource booklet for both educators and students that can be downloaded in PDF form, presentations to accompany the lesson and animated videos to help frame the conversation.

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.

"Whether you're studying online or at a traditional college, there's no question that school is expensive.  But not everything has to cost an arm and a leg.  There are plenty of free distance education resources out there for cash-strapped students-if you know where to look.  Here are 135 free ways to enhance your education online. Free Classes Many of these schools and sites offer a large number of free courses and courseware.  These links to individual classes represent only a small sampling of what they have to offer, and the sites are worth exploring further."

"We hear a lot about what things are popular in terms of technology, the cool new devices that are coming out, and trends that are happening with classroom technology integration. But just because something is a trend (or even a requirement) doesn't that it is popular or liked. It doesn't mean you won't hear people grumbling about it. Often times, trends become trends because a lot of people like them, but in the case of education, trends can happen easily in the following scenario: administrators like the idea and think it is great, and teachers have to implement said idea regardless of if it is a great fit with their classroom and students. So what common education technology trends are really supported and loved by teachers, and which ones make them want to bang their heads on their chalkboards/desks/smartboards/laptops? The handy infographic below brings together data from European and North American teachers to get their points of view on the subject"

"This is a collaborative board designed to share the best and brightest original blog posts on related educational technology topics from EdTech Bloggers across the globe. This board is for educators PK-12. The goal of this board is create a collective feed of edtech blog resources for educators."

Tablet computing and mobile devices promise to dramatically impact education. This Ning network was created to explore ways iPads and other portable devices could be used to re-imagine the process of education and re-kindle students' innate desire to learn.

Google announced a new service that could make Android tablets a stronger challenger to iPads in education. Google Play for Education (not live yet) promises the features that many of us have wanted for a long time.