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Whether you are new to the computer, returning for review or just want to gain more 21st century skills, our free computer tutorials can help. From Computer Basics to Microsoft Office to Apple, we have a wide range of free computer tutorials to choose from.

So what is Computational Thinking? Well it is a collection of diverse skills to do with problem solving that result from studying the nature of computation. It includes some obviously important skills that most subjects help develop, like creativity, ability to explain and team work. It also consists of some very specific problem solving skills such as the ability to think logically, algorithmically and recursively. Computer Science is unique in the way it brings all these diverse skills together.

iTALC is a use- and powerful didactical tool for teachers. It lets you view and control other computers in your network in several ways. It supports Linux and Windows 2000/XP (Vista support will come) and it even can be used transparently in mixed environments! In contrast to widely used commercial equivalent software, iTALC is free! This means you do not have to pay for expensive licenses or things like that. Furthermore the source-code is freely available and you're free in changing the software to fit your needs as long as you respect the terms of iTALC's license (GPL). Freedom in two ways! Features iTALC has been designed for usage in school. Therefore it offers a lot of possibilities to teachers, such as * see what's going on in computer-labs by using overview mode and make snapshots * remote-control computers to support and help other people * show a demo (either in fullscreen or in a window) - the teacher's screen is shown on all student's computers in realtime * lock workstations for moving undivided attention to teacher * send text-messages to students * powering on/off and rebooting computers per remote * remote logon and logoff and remote execution of arbitrary commands/scripts * home-schooling - iTALC's network-technology is not restricted to a subnet and therefore students at home can join lessons via VPN-connections just by installing iTALC client Furthermore iTALC is optimized for usage on multi-core systems (by making heavy use of threads). No matter how many cores you have, iTALC can make use of all of them.

"Keeping your computer in good shape gets to be tedious and annoying when you have to try to fit it in to your busy schedule. Rather than letting things slip through the cracks and watch your computer slow to a crawl, fall victim to a nasty virus, or crash and burn with no backups, we've put together everything you need to tackle to stay on top of all your computer maintenance tasks. Here are the four things we're going to look at (feel free to click to skip to any of the sections):"

A good list of advice for backing up your computer when teachers often conduct a clean up between teaching years.

Clifford Stoll is the author of High-Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don't Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian. Stoll argues that computers give students' information, but don't help them learn.

"Every technology pundit in the world has an opinion on where personal computers are headed. They use words like cloud and social to describe our online activity, an increasing amount of cores when asked about processors, and the word touch is thrown around more and more. All this aside, where are personal computers headed?"

If you are looking to use Google Docs but also want the security of Microsoft Word then the Offisync Beta plugin may be worth considering. Offisync allows you to open and save your documents online in Google Docs and access them from any computer. THis enables you to access your files from any computer with or without Microsoft Office. You can also manage, create and delete Google docs folders and add collaborators to your documents and manage their permissions.

If you are looking to use Google Docs but also want the security of Microsoft Word then the Offisync Beta plugin may be worth considering. Offisync allows you to open and save your documents online in Google Docs and access them from any computer. This enables you to access your files from any computer with or without Microsoft Office. You can also manage, create and delete Google docs folders and add collaborators to your documents and manage their permissions. For another perspective check out http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/offisync_microsoft_office_plus_google_docs_is_the_perfect_app.php

"Melbourne has several remarkable links to the earliest days of computers. Here we describe a tour that takes in many of these places, and can be done by a combination of walking and tram travel. The tour is a chance to explore another dimension of Melbourne's history and to better understand how computers have changed science, business and society."

"Are there computers in the classroom? Does it matter? Students, Computers and Learning: Making the connection"

"There are any number of ways to look at cloud computing. Three infographics illustrate how differentt the subject is viewed. The works demonstrate the diversity of the communities interested in cloud computing. All three appeal to people with little or no knowledge about the topic."

Professor MacFarlane discusses many issues which ring true to me. In particular: - lack of vision for what education could be like with new technology (around 4 min mark) - the web2.0 and technology revolution is great for the 15% of people who have a good life anyway because of their suituation and culture (5:30) - others don't benefit from the access to the technology - they need help (6:00) - no change in classroom over last 20 years with computers and in danger of no change in next 20 years (7:30) - instruction vs. construction (8:30) - expect learning to change with introduction of technology (10:30) - but hasn't really done so - student self-directed learning is separate from school work i.e. at home and not related to school (14:30) - much of what kids do on computers at home is trivial (16:00) - the ones that do have good experiences are the same 15% (16:30) - kids that are missing out have a computer at home probably but no access to the community that enables them to have these experiences (17:10) - doing something by themselves does not really benefit them - it is being part of a community that had benefit for learning - what are we dong for these people? (19:10) - talking about missing pedagogical model for how to teach (22:00) - teachers are expected to use technology to provide innovative learning but no model against which to do so, some don't use it at all, some use it inappropriately - there maybe some individual examples but not overall (23:00) - schools bad at connecting with their communities in a learning sense (26:00) - talks about chinese online writing community and how they comment, collaborate (34:00) - community (47:30) - communitites aren't formed when people are brought together in schools etc. - need to have a common problem or interest (48:30) - Plant's definition? - in education the problem is because assessment is done individually (49:00) - so forming groups and sharing ideas is not attractive for students - worried about not getti

"Working in technology administration, I have always bowed down to uniformity. I can't help it…it's the way we were all taught in the technology industry. It was routine and comfortable. Everyone got the exact same computer with the same image. Everyone had to login to active directory. Security groups were applied with abandon. I wax nostalgic just thinking about it.Fear of BYOD But those days are coming to an end. This is due to a huge number of factors including ridiculously tight school district budgets, much lower computer prices and cloud computing. I believe more and more schools will soon adopt bring your own device (BYOD) as a matter of economic necessity and recognition of educational potential."

Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company based in Cupertino, California. It develops, designs, and sell computer software, consumer electronics, offers online services. Some of its hardware products are iPad Tablet computer, iPhone Smartphone, Mac personal computer, Apple Smartwatch, Apple TV digital media player, and iPod portable media player. Aside from hardware, they also have software like MacOS and iOS, Safari web browser, iLife and iWork creativity and productivity suites, and iTunes media player. The company also offer services like the iTunes Store, iCloud, Mac App Store, Apple Music, and the iOS App Store.

Michael Callanan on Ockham's Razor (15 July 2012). Interesting ideas about the impacts of computers in the classroom.

"The iPad itself is a great device -- I love mine and it's changed the nature of computing on our couch. It is the ultimate in personal computing; it is not, as my wife and I have discovered, very good at being a shareable device"

Interesting iPad review. Good reason why kids need these tablet computers in the hands, not locked up in school labs or libraries.

"Picture to People (P2P) is a huge Computer Graphics project. One of its parts is a big collection of free online professional Computer Graphics effects"

Electronic resources represent an increasingly important component of the collection- building activities of libraries. "Electronic resources" refer to those materials that require computer access, whether through a personal computer, mainframe, or handheld mobile device. They may either be accessed remotely via the Internet or locally. Some of the most frequently encountered types are: E-journals E-books Full-text (aggregated) databases Indexing and abstracting databases Reference databases (biographies, dictionaries, directories, encyclopaedias, etc.) Numeric and statistical databases E-images E-audio/visual resources

Turn simple photographs into videos using this site. Once you sign up (it's free) you begin by choosing a video template and then adding your pictures from Facebook, Flickr, or your computer. You can set the order of your pictures, add captions to them and add text slides if you wish. Next you add music, either from their library or add your own from your computer. Your last step is to add a video title and any additional text and you're done. Completed videos can be uploaded to You Tube or Facebook and can even be embedded into a website or blog. The site does have a 30 picture maximum but that is long enough for most people.

A post from Richard Byrne. Read Write Web and Latitude recently conducted a survey of children in which they asked the kids to share the things they think computers and the Internet should do. As you might expect some of the responses were very imaginative. I look at the results of the survey as a preview of what computers and the Internet will do in the next decade or two. If you don't want to read the reports here and here, at least watch the video below summarizing some of the students' responses

Common Craft video on computer hardward