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Over the past two years, Forsyth County Schools in Cumming, Ga., has slowly allowed some of its 34,000 students to bring their own notebooks, iPhones or other computing tools to school and connect them to the district network. By allowing students to bring these devices into school they are allowing students to be creative in the classroom by giving the opportunity. So many districts have students "shut down" when they come into the building, and using mobile devices is what students know best, we need to embrace their knowledge, creativity and abilities in the classroom.

This was a really interesting article about some of the security issues related to mobile devices. Since some mobile devices are used in the classroom, it is important for educators and students are aware of some of the safety issues and how to avoid potential problems associated with them.

This article explains MobiSocial's collaborative look at the future of mobile social networking. It offers some info on new apps created to aid in its uses, safety and ethics.

This is great article about how new technology must also incorporate new teaching methods. The "old wine in new bottle" metaphor is used, that if we use the same type of materials and they are just dressed better (on iPads, Smartphones, Smartboards, etc.) then there may not be any genuine higher order thinking going on in the classroom.

This article succinctly describes the results of a comprehensive research study conducted by Harris Interactive for educational publisher, Pearson. Within the articles a link is provided to access the results, including a 40-slide PowerPoint presentation and a 32-page detailed report, each containing several statistical charts. The report is useful for schools deciding which device(s) to provide for students or to use in a BYOD situation.

digital natives- can we keep up?

Quizlet allows the teacher to make all sorts of games that students can play to improve vocabulary, spelling and grammar. Plus its mobile. Computer, tablet and phone.

The article looks at how to shift from limited classroom instruction focused on lecture, homework, discussion, memorization to using the web as a tool to expand the learning experience. Imagine getting a tweet from a student who is outraged when Lennie kills Curly's wife in Of Mice and Men? Aaron Iffland explains how to make your classroom viral while requiring students to engage more in their own learning.

I like this article and I think students learn best by doing. I think I am addicted to my phone. I can paly games, read, wrtie, email and socialize all at the sametime. It's fun and educational!

A very cool site that matches up iPad apps with learning objectives.

There are so many things out... some good, some bad, so when I find a resource that has done some of the leg work for me, I'm always interested.

Wow, What great tools? We are thinking about incorporating apps into the Web Development class next year. Very excellent sources and information. Thanks for sharing Sterling!

There are some amazing tools listed on these sites, including a Mind42 map of Web 2.0 Tools. I can see that my map is quite lacking compared to these. But, now I have an idea as to what to aim for. It would be great to set my students loose of some of these tools. "If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow." (John Dewey). This has been one of my favourite quotes along with "We need to prepare our students/children for jobs that have not been created yet" (Unknown). For me, they sum up what we as teachers need to strive for and that we need to keep on trying to stretch ourselves and our students...after all, we are 13% of the way through the 21st Century. It's exciting.

Collect, curate and share your ideas, inspirations, and projects! Popplet is a place to engage in visual conversations on any topic of your choosing, quickly and easily, with your friends, family and colleagues on both the internet and mobile web.

Popplet is an app for the web and iPad, where you can collect, curate and share your ideas, inspirations, and projects.

Popplet is the universal tool available to educators. The app gets students thinking outside the traditional scope of a poster and can collect pieces along the way. Perfectly inspired!

Author and innovator Milton Chen discusses how communication using mobile tools and web 2.0 technology encourages life long learning and proposes that project- based learning creates student engagement and involvement.

A discussion on the use of Web 2.0 tools (mobile devices!) and the need to update acceptable use polices.

Good article on teaching students how to be decent digital citizens. Emphasis on parental involvement too. I found this interesting as we struggle with the admin's decision to ban mobile devices in the middle school. This article gives helpful advice on communicating with students on how to monitor and use the devices appropriately and safely.

This article focuses on why it's so difficult to find good mobile computing apps that foster education.