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This is a terrific article sharing tips about implementing new practices in your classes. Great primer on how to avoid common pitfalls, and help increase your chances for success. May the odds be ever in your favor!

This one doesn't have anything to do with class, but if you are introducing your class to technology it is a great place to start. My granddaughter's junior high tech class uses it. I was introduced to it when one of our faculty used it to make me a graduation gift. He put my thesis into the web site, printed it out and framed it. I loved the gift.

A social Networking Tool that allows users to create polls and quizzes in an international setting via texting,twittering,and the web.

Audience response system that uses mobile phones, twitter, and the web. Responses are displayed in real-time on gorgeous charts in PowerPoint, Keynote, or web browser.

This was used in a class I took and I found it a fascinating tool to doing a poll or survey for a class. It allows students to use the tech that they generally already use to a great extent - such as responding by text from the phone using a code specific to that poll, responding via twitter, or on the PollEv.com site directly. I haven't integrated this yet into a class, but I can really see potential here after using it in a class

You'll feel like a superhero. The above comments are from Padlet's hype...but I recently learned about this tool for collaboration at a conference. It seems to be a wall where you can collaboratively post things. You do not need to sign up for an account to use it. From the little I've used it, it seems worth exploring. Lisa

A colleague used this tool in a workshop and I thought it was great! I'm eager to embed this into my online courses.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that social media has changed more than just how we pass the time, it has now infused itself into formal learning channels. Although adoption is slow (for instance, only 15% of teachers find value in Facebook, Wiki, and other social networks), time will only show that it will rise. I think that the integration of social media in higher education has its benefits and challenges... however I can say that undisputedly it is one of the better ways of increasing communication between academics and students.

I love this publication on how to facilitate a discussion board. It is easy to read and just has a TON of tidbits on how do run a good discussion board in your online class. I refer to it often. It is a little old, so as I recall, there might be a few links within the document that are broken, but there is a lot of content, so you won't miss it probably.

Thanks for sharing this Christina, Working on facilitating a discussion next week and I found it helpful.

Adobe offers a number of free courses that can help you learn tech tools. Some of the courses are self-paced and others are collaborative. Occasionally they have an extensive Train the Trainer course. When I took it in 2016, it was an 8 week course with an additional 20 days tacked on to the end to finish course requirements. I liked the focus on the importance of creativity in education and best practices in adult learning theory. It is the closet thing to a MOOC that I have taken. If you take it, pay close attention to how to track your posts...the platform makes it a little difficult to go back and look at the responses to your posts when you did not initiate the first post.

I have used this in my classes and love it! The free Poll Everywhere mobile app is perfect for responding to polls, presenting polls, and clicking through PowerPoint presentations. Use it to... 1.) Respond to polls: Audience members can use the app to respond to the presenter's questions live. 2.) Poll an audience: Presenters can ask the audience questions and display poll responses live. 3.) Navigate in Powerpoint: Presenters can control the flow of Powerpoint presentations using a smartphone as a wireless remote. Participants Audience members or students can easily respond to polls or vote using the app on a smartphone or tablet. Aside from the app, they can respond via web browser, text message, or Twitter. Presenters Professors, teachers and presenters can create and display questions on the fly, including Q&A and multiple choice polls. Questions can be presented directly from the web or embedded in a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. Audience responses are displayed in real-time. Great for classroom participation, or gathering opinions from the audience. PowerPoint Remote Presenters using PowerPoint can use the Poll Everywhere mobile app as a presentation clicker, to navigate through your PowerPoint presentation with ease. It has a slick, streamlined design and a set of polling controls built-in. Key Features: * Create or answer multiple choice, true/false, open ended, ranking poll, and clickable image questions. * Participants are automatically shown the presenter's current question, for quick and easy participation. * Watch results update live. * Click through a PowerPoint presentation with the included Presenter Remote feature.

What a great way to be able to asynchronously poll students and still allow them to remain anonymous. This also gives students to see how well their knowledge compares to other students. It also allows them to see if their way of thinking is similar to other students.

I liked this resource. It included a video on the basics of Twitter and some ideas for what to tweet for those who wish to use it in the classroom.

This article is aimed toward faculty in mathematics departments who are working to increase the number of high-achieving mathematics students from racial and ethnic minorities and for researchers investigating these endeavors. The Emerging Scholars Program (ESP) is one of the most widespread models for supporting such increases. It is also one of the oldest, so there is a considerable body of research, both quantitative and qualitative, related to its impact. Whether or not one chooses to implement an ESP, this discussion of the history, philosophy,

A powerful reference database that can be used to keep track of sources and also integrated with word processors to generate bibliographies and such. This does a very good job of importing metadata from websites and online texts, and pulling additional information for sources from other databases. It would be nice if this were a bit more customizable, but it may get there in time. The folks developing this are very helpful and responsive to users.

Given the harsh criticisms that social networks commonly face when it comes to their use by teenagers, I thought it would be useful to post this newspaper piece that presents the opposite argument: Social media might be usually considered to be just places of the lurking danger of real-life social isolation (among more gruesome dangers in this context), but they could also be seen as places where a teenager can be inventive, discover aptitudes and of course develop his/her social skills. Also, it discusses research which shows that teenagers are more often than not well aware of the dangers that lie behind the (ab)use of social media.

Hmmm, should I share this with my teenage son?

Good article, though I am still sceptical!

This is a nice list of free educational tools for online instructors. It includes several of the tools we've explored in class and more! Check it out!

This looks like it might have some interesting things, although it is a very general gathering of tools. This is what they say... Do you support Free Technology for Teachers ? If Yes, I highly encourage you to share this Free Educational Technology Resource with fellow teachers interested in implementing Free Technology in Classroom . I am a great supporter of Free Educational Technology.

Mostly about High School but I think still pertinent.

This is an interesting article about 8th graders. It applies also to most of high school students also, but I believe that mature adults can use it as a useful tool that enhances education. For many it is nothing more than an escape from the duties of the real world. I have found it to be both "All about me" and informative. Social media does need to be taught in the classroom if it's going to used.

Using windows is different from using Mac. This is several attempts to get it right I hope it works this time around.

I provided this link when I started up my Diigo account but now I cannot find it. Here it is again, for fans of Sir Ken Robinson!

Social media may have started out as a fun way to connect with friends, but it has evolved to become a powerful tool for education and business. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter and tools such as Skype are connecting students to learning opportunities in new and exciting ways.

I like this site as it offers innovate ideas for bringing social media into classrooms. It also categorizes the suggesions by levels - K-12 and college. It also gives suggestions for students' use and for teachers' use.

This blog has followed social gaming juggernaut Zynga's progress for a couple years now. One of its most popular gaming apps is FarmVille, which runs on Facebook and touts an estimated 70 million players, making it one of, if not the, most popular games ever. Testaments to the game's popularity abound. I opted to post this here as we are debating the use of Web 2.0 tools in education. Farmville dominated Facebook games for a number of years, and educators made use of this trend to enhance their teaching. Though it has not been developed for educational purposes, I know even teachers of business studies who used it in their classes with students 13+ of age. This example should encourage us to make use of what is trending and popular with our students to our advantage!

Educators may feel sometimes like they're on an island with little help in sight. But as technology teaching resources go, it may encourage you to learn that there are a number of online solutions available to help promote education from teaching reading basics to organizing classroom activities and encouraging civic involvement.

This was a great article! Many of the technology tools that were listed are going to be on my list of things to try! Thanks for the read, Ranzie

20 of the most promising new apps, websites and online education technology tools or services every teacher should be using to help improve classroom learning:

Teachers should only use social media as a teaching tool to improve their students' education. "If it's not to the betterment of your kids, why are you doing it? It may not be for you," says Brian Aspinall, an elementary teacher in Chatham, ON who speaks and blogs about technology and educational reform. "Don't do it because you went to a conference on Twitter and someone said you should do it."