Tech Integration Group (Urvi, Justin, Afzal)

"So the following infographic from Mentoring Minds is immediately relevant to all educators, and students as well. It's a bit of a mash of Habits of Mind, various 21st century learning frameworks, and the aforementioned learning taxonomies, promoting collaboration, problem-solving, and real-world connections (standard "critical thinking fare" with Habits of Mind-sounding phrases such as "Open-Mindedness.""

Great "how to" resources for many different instructional technology tools. Easy to use and free.

"This is where Google Drive shines. Thanks to built-in integration with literally hundreds of third-party apps, Drive not only stores all your files, it brings powerful, PC-like capabilities straight to your browser. To access these apps, open your Google Drive and click on the Gear icon on the right. Click "Manage apps" and then click "Connect more apps" in the window that pops up. Welcome to your new life in the browser. Check out your superpowers below."

"In a recent post, I critiqued the claims in Ferris Jabr's Scientific American article, "Why the Brain Prefers Paper" that addressed the differences in comprehension between reading from paper and reading from screens."

"Twitter chats are such a great way to stay connected and informed in your professional circle, and education is no exception. Through education chats, you can find out about new methods for teaching, tech resources, even jobs for teachers. Most chats are held weekly, and offer an opportunity to have a regularly scheduled conversation with like-minded educators."

"One good thing about this easy-to-use technology is that students can still use important English language arts skills like writing a narrative, planning a sequential story, and including key details when getting ready to make a movie. These apps can enhance the work that you are doing with children in the classroom and give them room to be creative storytellers."

"ou don't need a degree in rocket science to know that visually organized data appeals more to students than plain text-based scribble. The visual stimulus is quickly captured by the brain and requires way less processing to understand and code it than written text. As teachers, we need to capitalize on this and try to include as many relevant visuals as possible. One way to do this is to use these visual alternatives to Google Docs. The web tools below have almost the same collaborative features Google Docs provide and they also have an added feature which is that of capturing and organizing data visually."

"Respondus LockDown Browser™ is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within Blackboard, ANGEL, Desire2Learn, Canvas, Moodle, and Sakai. When students use Respondus LockDown Browser they are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or access other applications. When an assessment is started, students are locked into it until they submit it for grading. Available for both Windows and Mac."

"In the playlist below, I've gathered some videos about educators and schools who are welcoming the sea change that is mobile learning. I've also collected some tips and information to help you navigate these tricky waters. Will the 2013-14 school year be the one you start to go mobile in your classroom?"

A How To - detailed and awesome

"Have you ever tried to convey the feeling of walking through your favorite park? Or have you wanted to create an interactive tour of a memorable journey? Well, starting today, it's now possible for you to build your own Street View experiences to do just that. Using a new feature in our Views community, you can easily connect your photo spheres to create 360º virtual tours of the places you love, then share them with the world on Google Maps."