Issues and Trends

FBI Cyber surf island: splits activities by appropriate grade level and covers digital citizen and safety issues.

Kim, this is a great resource! When you have your kids on the internet it can be hard to make sure they don't visit sites that are inappropriate! I like how this website focuses on safety and also focuses on certain grade levels! I think this is something a lot of teachers should really look into.

"Bring the wild to your classroom with ARKive Education! Our FREE education resources for 5-18 year olds can be used to teach a range of curriculum subjects including science, geography, English and art. Packed full of links to our amazing wildlife photos, videos and fact files, each education resource includes classroom presentations, activities and teac"

Kim, I really enjoy this website! I like how this website is also split up by grade levels! This makes it so much easier for teachers to search for resources. I think it is so awesome how it has a bunch of different photos and information! This seems like a really useful website! I can't wait to check it out more! -Austin

Web 2.0 publishing tools to use with students in the classroom.

Kim, I loved this resource and believe I could effectively use it in my future classroom once I gained a though understanding of the various programs. I like these ideas because they are collaborative tools and I believe it will be rewarding for students when they are able to share and publish their finished work. These tools can motivate my students and will be a strong push for them to achieve more and work harder! This resource is designed for teacher but will benefit teacher and students once they are put in place in a classroom. Thank you for these awesome ideas!

I real like this website,

Online Tools for Student-Centered Learning - Web 2.0 tools to engage students in discussions, analyze information and solve problems. Collaborative learning tools for the classroom

Kim this is a great Web 2.0 tool. This would be a great resource for teachers and students in promoting self-directed learning. I think self-directed learning is crucial in education, and gets us away from the "spoon feeding" phenomenon that so many students have grown accustomed to.

Donnison, S. (2007). Digital Generation Pre-Service Teachers as Change Agents: a Paradox, Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 32(4).

Digital Generation Pre-Service Teachers as Change Agents: a Paradox

MOOC around the World. Moocish online education resources

MOOC around the World. MOOCish online education resources

Backchannel type free resource. You can choose the length of time you would like to have chat available on archive.

"Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105. pdf Full Text"

"Transformative learning (Mezirow, 1991, 1995, 1996; Cranton, 1994, 1996) is the process of effecting change in a frame of reference.

A webpage developed by Sandra Day O'Connor that teaches students about branches of government, citizenship, and other areas of social studies.

A webpage developed by Sandra Day O'Connor that teaches students about branches of government, citizenship, and other areas of social studies.

A webpage that allows teachers to interact with students online. It reminds me of eLearning.

A webpage that allows teachers to interact with students online. It reminds me of eLearning.

I used Edmodo for about four years and I loved just about every minute of it. For a long time, I swore by Edmodo, as it had the most capabilities and services, and tried to convert most teachers to at least trying it out with one class. The site has definitely changed over the last few years, adding new features and even an App Store, however there are so many new LMS resources out there now, that I kinda felt like Edmodo has started to lag behind and is often playing catch-up. I also started to get kids in class complaining that it was just too much like Facebook and that it was really difficult to find assignments and resources easily. I've since switched to Schoology (https://www.schoology.com/home.php) and it has fixed nearly every complaint and problem I had with Edmodo. It gives the teacher more customization options and it is really easy to grade assignments and quizzes. Students have also told me that it's way easier to know where assignments are and what they are supposed to do and how to turn it in. Don't get me wrong, Edmodo is still very awesome and it will help you become a better at your management of assignments, just know that there is a lot of competition and innovation happening from other sources. Great post!

An online guide for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in classrooms grades kindergarten to 12th grade.

An online guide for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in classrooms grades kindergarten to 12th grade.

There are a lot of resources here for all classrooms, teachers, and students. It is divided up into 14 different categories and everything that I've looked at is free to your classroom. I've been searching for a few resources, such as a good audio-to-speech converter and some better graphics organizer sites. I typically have students create a end of the semester portfolio that documents all of their learning and their final products in various categories and I can see how sites like Cacoo, Organizely, and Popplet could really help me out.

Blog to share ideas and resources with teachers, parents, and young people.

Blog to share ideas and resources with teachers, parents, and young people.

Megan, I love reading and checking out blogs. Especially when they relate to education! Lisa Nielsen's blog seems to be a great resource for not only teachers, but parents and students too. I think that it can help impact and benefit aspiring teachers because it has so many resources and ideas related to education!