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There is no denying the fact that the type of students we teach today are completely different from last century. Today, we need to look at some of the skills we, as teachers, need to equip ourselves with to better live up to the challenge. Among all the challenges we have in education, we need to catch students' focus and get them engaged in the learning process. Here is a list of some important digital skills that you, as a teacher, need to seriously consider if you want to pave the way for the 21st century teaching.

My favorite one is the use of infographics to visually stimulate students! I am aware of the importance of such a skill and it is the only skill that I haven't tried to acquire yet! I hope that those abe will get me there. Thanks for sharing.

When it comes to searching for educational apps to install on your iPad it feels like you get drowned in an avalanche of apps and resources from which you emerge empty-handed. Everyday new apps go viral and to keep up with the updates in this field is really a daunting challenge. Thankfully, there are many trusted educational resources ( this blog is one of them ) where educators and teachers can get to discover and learn about new useful apps to use in education.

I was looking at the applications familiar to me under Bloom's Taxonomy for iPads and for some reason it was surprising to find Skype as an evaluating tool! How could Skype be used for evaluating!?

Digital stories push students to become creators of content, rather than just consumers. Weaving together images, music, text, and voice, digital stories can be created in all content areas and at all grade levels while incorporating the 21st century skills of creating, communicating, and collaborating

Van Nood explains that after spending years with paper portfolios, he transitioned this concept into digital form, and have started to implement Evernote as the primarily system for creating portfolios in his classroom. He was using portfolios with limited success and spending a lot of time on them, until Evernote came into the picture. When he first started researching options, he was coming across a lot of companies that were really expensive, charging a lot for each student's use. He also knew that he needed an app for mobile devices that would make it easy to capture and document paperwork and he wasn't finding that in most of the tools I was evaluating. Evernote was free, had an app for virtually every device, and he could get started right away.

Many free templates to create games, quizzes, activities and diagrams.

Especially interesting is the QR game that can be used in schools that allow mobile devices - check this out. Great active game for all subjects

Best online gradebooks to keep a record of students' progress and achievement.

Another gradebook you might be interested in is located at http://gradebookportal.com/ It is free and includes the following: --Free Online GradeBook for teachers to easily customize. Build customized weighted grading from anywhere at anytime 24/7. Grade anytime & anywhere with auto calculation term and final grades --Instant Progress Reports are intuitive and keep Students and Parents up to date --Track attendance and alert parents on absentees --Class Calendar keeps students, parents and teachers current on upcoming exams, meetings, events. Attach assignments, post homework and attach documents. --Build user logic to send email and text messages based on grades and attendance parameters --Communicate with all of your students and parents and build custom contact lists --100% secure and safe environment with several layers of encryption

What I like about it is the instant progress report! I use the gradebook of BlackBoard and I don't think that they have this feature.

The best free tools to create quizzes online.

A fee-based site that allows you to have your students blog in a secure setting. Create individual or group blogs, and keep track easily of students' participation

A cute, but effective, video presentation for novice French language learners explaining the difference between when to use "on" and "nous".

Start a WordPress blog or create a free website in seconds. Choose from over 200 free, customizable themes. Free support from awesome humans. I think language students - from beginner to advanced - can improve reading and writing skills through blog usage. Adding multimedia elements can help inspire creativity, encourage digital literacy, etc.

The easy way to create and share extraordinary videos of your life. Our online video maker turns your photos, video clips and music into video in minutes. I can envision using Animoto in an Intermediate Spanish course and having students document - in audio and video - part of their day, be it what they ate for dinner in campus dining hall or a trip to a local museum, etc.

Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories you can make and share on any device. I think the artwork might help inspire even the most tentative of L2 writers. I can envision using this in a beginning Spanish course, to get students thinking creatively.

This is a nice site for the beginning language learner. The students have the opportunity to explore the states, politics, sports and more. A great component of the site is that the students can read the information and can have the info read to him/her

This is a website provided through Deutsche Welle. Two teams of German learners from all over the world compete with each other. A very fun and interactive learning adventure. It reminds me a little of the Amazing Race. An advantage - everything is free, videos, activities, worksheets.

A "hot/cold" interactive map game to find major cities in France. In French with audio and visual clues

A new application by Google that can be used by teachers and students. Students can create, upload, assemble, and present their work.

This is very similar to the Evernote e-Portfolio at https://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fblog.evernote.com%2Fblog%2F2012%2F02%2F28%2Fhow-to-create-a-portfolio-with-evernote-education-series%2F?gname=umuc_edtc_wl Thanks for sharing!

The 2nd annual "Taste of France" in NYC just occurred at the end of September. It sounds like a fantastic "Communities" connection to keep on the radar for those people in the NYC area for next year.

Highly engaging websites that teacher in form of song and games. Interest especially for middle and high school students.