Group items tagged

A really nice Google movie on how Google Search works. There is a bit of Google propaganda at the end but if you want you can trim this.

Looking at the use of apps like Foursquare and Gowalla to geotag this article picks up on both the positives and negatives. A great read keeping in mind the process in which other similar technologies develop and grow.

Want to get started with Edmodo, then these are the official getting started notes?

From Aaron Lee comes a great article on being more efficient in using Twitter to locate information. It is based around the use of the Firefox Twitter plugin though this is not mandatory.

This Google site, (what else :), from Jennifer Dorman, a Google Certified Teacher is designed as a clearinghouse of Google resources to support her Google Boot Camp workshops. It is so far the most comprehensive Google resource I have seen.

Create debate is an online space to browse a debates on an ever expanding range of topics, create your own debate or popularity contest, participate in a debate amongst other activities.

"Listorious makes it easy to find who matters on any topic with the best Twitter people search on the web." This is a site where you can find who or which list is hot in education in Twitter at the moment.

In order to better understand students and others use proxies to get around system filters, (and also to perhaps argue against the ultimate futility of filters), this article from makeuseof.com on how to use proxies and hacks to check your Facebook account behind a filter, makes for sobering reading.

A very appealing introduction to the concept of Creative Commons suitable for students as well as teachers.

Mashpedia is a real-time, multimedia and social encyclopedia with millions of articles providing dynamic, fresh information; it's free to use and open for public participation, allowing users to discuss specific topics, post and answer questions, share relevant links or contribute in new creative ways. Mashpedia presents an organized mashup of results from Wikipedia, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Google News, Books, Blog Posts, and further contextual information, thus providing a quick, practical outlook for every topic.

Twurdy has been created to provide people with access to search results that suit their own readability level. Twurdy uses text analysis software to "read" each page before it is displayed in the results. Then Twurdy gives each page a readability level. Twurdy then shows the readability level of the page along with a color coded system to help users determine how easy the page will be to understand.

Andrew Churches uses his facets of the digital citizen paper to develop a set of discussion points suitable for younger students. Read and add to the commentary.

Andrew Churches extrapolates from ancient Rome in this excellent discussion on 6 tenets of Digital Citizenship. As he says, "The internet is a little like the proverbial elephant that never forgets. Our digital footprints are not like the footprints on the beach, washed away by the next wave or rising tide. Rather they are like footprints left to dry in the wet concrete of the footpath."

From the Queensbury Union Free School District comes this Moodle based 21st Century Technology Skills course. The 10 Week Computer Literacy Course for 6th grade students covers Understanding Computers | Digital Literacy | Digital Citizenship | Cyber Safety

"Scratch is often cited as one of the best introductory languages for teaching kids - or anyone, really - to code. So it's no surprise that a Rutgers University honors class called "Programming for the Masses" would utilize Scratch as part of its goal of making programming a more accessible, everyday skill. What is unique - and if I may say so, pretty fun - is the direction that a research project, an outgrowth of the class, has taken since. The project is called Scratchable Devices, and with it, computer science Professor Michael Littman and some of his students are working to make it easy for anyone to program their household devices by using Scratch."

"QR Codes are similar to bar codes making it possible to access Web sites and messages through a camera phone. " This wiki from the University of Wyoming is a great collection of ideas, guides and tutorials.

"The educator and developer community at iear.org has taken nominations and votes for their 2010 Best App Awards. While nominations and voting is now closed, the list of dozens of nominees is a valuable resource. Nominations were made in early December by those who read I Educational Apps Review's blog. There are nearly 20 categories and each category is divided into elementary and secondary. You can view the 125 apps categorized in a spreadsheet or view their icons in a widget. Clicking an icon will take you to the app's details page in the App Store. The widget was made using Appsfire's Widget Maker."

"We've been getting a lot of questions ever since our GMAT Choose Your Own Adventure video went up. Well, one question, really: How can I make one for my students? Answer: It's easy! Youtube has a great tool called Spotlight that lets you make any video interactive. It's really handy for lessons and quizzes. Essentially, you can ask students a question - or a series of questions - and when they answer show them a personalized video response according to how they did."

"As people share more information about themselves online, the internet, in effect, has created a public transcript of consciousness -- storing our thoughts, locations, social lives and memories in data warehouses all over the world. This has enabled technological advances and shaped our social interactions. It's also really freaked some people out. "

"This video illustrates how we are using QR Codes to enhance learning opportunities for our students at McGuffey School District in Claysville, PA."