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"Wikibrains is a neat website designed to help you brainstorm in a web format. When you brainstorm on Wikibrains you're also performing a basic Internet search at the same time. To create a brainstorm web on Wikibrains start by entering one word or phrase. When you enter a word you will be prompted to add more words by completing the phrase, "Makes me think off..." Each new word or phrase that you enter will be added to your web. As you enter words on the right side of the screen you will see links to search results about each word."

Online dictionary of new words and phrases with example citations for each term. You can search for new words by using the WordSpy's search engine or browse by category such as business, culture or technology. Read definitions and view the context those new words were commonly used in the media.

"How can Twitter, which limits users to 140 characters per tweet, have any relevance to universities and academia, where journal articles are 3,000 to 8,000 words long, and where books contain 80,000 words? Can anything of academic value ever be said in just 140 characters? We have put together a short guide answering these questions, showing new users how to get started on Twitter and hone their tweeting style, as well as offering advice to more experienced users on how to use Twitter for research projects, alongside blogging, and for use in teaching."

Taxedo is really brilliant wordcloud generator and you an do funky wordclouds in all inds of shapes. also like the fact that you can exclude the non essentia words with the click of a button

They may look like jumbled and messy flowcharts for the insane, but mind maps are actually extremely useful and perfect tools for brainstorming. You essentially take a flow of ideas and translate them into interconnected webs designed to help clarify your thinking (or mind, as it were). I love mind maps and am always impressed at the amount of care that goes into the creation of one. They truly resemble the crazy way our brains work as we link together somewhat illogical thoughts to form a cohesive idea. In other words, these following mind maps are actually how are brains all work whether you like it or not. There are thousands of mind maps out there and even some snazzy tools to help you make your own. The following maps are some of my favorites and hopefully won't scare you too much. Hopefully they'll inspire and educate!

Teachers are presenters. Let's be frank. They get up in front of a room of people and present. They then encourage the students to work together and continue the presentation through other methods. in other words, teachers need to know how to present and create slideshows. If you've been hunting around for a few free presentation tools for teachers, then you're in luck.

A common question that we get with regard to technology projects is "how do I grade it?" The 21st-century communication and collaboration skills which are used with most technology based projects are, in many ways, real-world problem-solving skills. The standard, multiple-choice type tests simply are not going to be able to assess students' learning. Instead of thinking of the assessment itself as the measurement, we are going to need to examine our students' performances of understanding. In other words, the assessment is the tool through which we can gauge how much our students have learned.

I n recent years, there has been explosive growth in students creating, manipulating, and sharing content online (National School Boards Association, 2007). Recognizing the educational value of encouraging such behaviors, many school leaders have shifted their energies from limiting the use of these technologies to limiting their abuse. As with any other behavior, when schools teach and set expectations for appropriate technology use, students rise to meet the expectations. Such conditions allow educators to focus on, in the words of social technology guru Howard Rheingold (n.d.), educating "children about the necessity for critical thinking and [encouraging] them to exercise their own knowledge of how to make moral choices."

"Unlock the Written Word and Unlock the World. Newsela builds reading comprehension through leveled articles, real-time assessments and actionable insights."

You've heard the buzz word - curation - being thrown around like it's a gadget we all know how to work. In reality, good content curation isn't as simple as pushing a share button. It's actually a combination of finding great content and following some simple best practices on how to successfully share that content.

could be a good, free Android app for students learning English, Spanish, or French to use for independent practice. The feedback feature will help students recognize errors in their pronunciations and correct them before moving on to more difficult words and phrases.

Have you ever found that you are on a website and you want to quickly print the page or a portion of the page? When it prints it is lopsided because it was meant to be on landscape, it is 16 pages long which you didn't realise plus you have wasted ink with a whole lot if unnecessary pictures and words (not to mention unwanted ads!)?

"Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom."

This add-in enables you to embed a Creative Commons license into a document that you create using Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office PowerPoint, or Microsoft Office Excel. With a Creative Commons license, authors can express their intentions regarding how their works may be used by others. The add-in downloads the Creative Commons license you designate from the Creative Commons Web site and inserts it directly into your creative work.To learn more about Creative Commons, please visit its web site, www.creativecommons.org. To learn more about the choices among the Creative Commons licenses, see http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/meet-the-licenses.

"This free online computer skills course is a highly-demanded compilation of Web-based training for five Microsoft Office 2010 software products including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook. This is a perfect course to do as an individual seeking to increase one's desk-based productivity. It also makes an excellent new employee induction training programme, or can be used as a required course for up-skilling your organisation's current staff. For those who happily use older versions of Microsoft Office, particularly 2003 and 2007 versions, the new feature sets of Microsoft Office 2010 will be a revelation. You will get an excellent return on your time and energy by updating your Office productivity skills via this free online course. For those who have completed ABC IT, our comprehensive introductory computer course, the Microsoft Office 2010 course is the perfect next step as a means of getting your Microsoft Office skills up-to-date."

Google Search is the most widely used search engine on the Web and processes several hundred million search queries every day. However, there is a level of sophistication to Google Search that most people don't know about and therefore don't use. Using the advanced search features on Google Search would greatly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the search process for all users. This free online course will demonstrate both the advanced features now available on Google Search and give practical examples of how to use them. This course will give you a clearer understanding of how Google Search works, why word order matters, how to read the Search Engine Results page, how to remove invasive results, and how to use WHOIS and look for other site information. You will also get a clear knowledge and understanding of how to use features such as conversions, the calculator, search-by-image, and translation services. You will see examples of how combining these techniques together will give you much more effective search results in a faster time. This course will be of great interest to all users who use Google Search in a professional capacity as they will learn how to input more specific search queries and obtain more relevant search results in a faster time, and to individuals who want to learn tips and techniques about improving their search process.

"When adopting technology in the classroom, one of the key concerns for teachers and administrators is classroom management. I am often asked if there is a way to "lock down an iPad screen" or "ensure students cannot go to inappropriate websites" (e.g. Social Media). In other words, how do we keep students on task and are not distracted by the novelty of gadgets or communicating with friends via texting or social media. Often, teachers will take up devices (such as mobile phones) to avoid the issue of students texting or checking Facebook on their phones (eliminating access to a powerful, pocket computer in the process)."