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The Roundup is on a Short Hiatus...

7/25/2013

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Hello!  I'll be on a short break for a family reunion and then my move back to Colombia to start the next school year, but I'll be back the first week in August!  In the meantime, if there are any awesome stories I miss, or apps you'd like to see reviewed, send me a message or a tweet!  See you in a week!

-Mike
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The Daily Roundup - July 24th, 2013

7/24/2013

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Today's Roundup begins with Dr. Jackie Gerstein's blog at User Generated Education.  She has a new reflection over her recent maker education workshop, which also discusses the importance of making, tinkering, and self-directed learning.  The article, "STEAM and Maker Education: Inclusive, Engaging, Self-Differentiating" is an excellent read and if you have a chance to lead, attend, or send your kids to a camp like this, it's a pretty wonderful experience.


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iLean Technology has a new review of Oxford Owl which is a collection of free children's books.  Plus, each book has an accompanying audio track, activities, and questions to see if students understand the story.  For the full review, including ideas for classroom integration, check out the article.


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Annie Murphy Paul at Mind/Shift has a new post which asks, "Can Playing Video Games Give Girls an Edge in Math?"  In the article, Paul reflects over recent research studies coming to the conclusion that "girls should play more video games." Turns out, gaming can lead to better development of spacial skills which in turn can lead to better development of STEM skills. 


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FriEdTechnology has a new review of "GeoGuessr: An Addictive Game with Educational Potential."  The game works through Google Maps and the player is given a random location, as much time as they want to look around, and then asked to figure out where they are in the world, based on what they've seen.  It's pretty fun (and addicting) and the article has more info and ideas on how to use the game.


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Free Tech for Teachers has five new resources up:
  • RADCAB - Website Evaluation Framework for Students
  • How to Create Your Own Custom Search Engine
  • Cooking With Solar Energy - Hands-on Project
  • Adam Savage Shares Lessons from Failure
  • Two Video Guides to Website Evaluation


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Jessica Slusser at Getting Smart has a new post on "Finding the STEM in Sports with NBC Learn."  For all you sports fans out there, NBC and the US Golf Association have partnered up to create the Science of Golf, a new video series with some wonderful potential for the classroom.  The videos show students "how the principles of science affect everything about the game."  And you can check out the article for a full interview with the team and some integration ideas.


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Educational Technology has four new resources to check out:
  • What Students Should Know about Copyright
  • Open Educational Resources Explained (below)
  • 3 Good Drawing Apps for Kids
  • Learning Theories for the Digital Age

Introduction to open educational resources 2013 from Michael Paskevicius

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Lisa Nielsen at the Innovative Educator has a new post covering "3 Great Reasons to Use Twitter in Your School."  In the post she discusses how schools can use Twitter to send free text alerts to parents, create an instant news ticket to celebrate success, and host twitter education chats.  She's also created a great Prezi (which includes some further examples and explanations) which is embedded below:


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Teach Thought has a great new article on how teachers can use Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ for "A New Kind of Professional Development."  The post discusses how teachers can use these tools to instantly connect with other teachers in personal PD sessions.  What I really like about this idea is that it's not just watching videos on a topic (not a one-way street), you can actually communicate and collaborate with other educators, live, and it's pretty awesome.
If you're interested,Ed Camp is a great place to start.

Teach Thought also has a new post entitled, "What a Digital Native Needs to Know About Playing Outside."  The post is a comical and enjoyable piece that is directed towards kids, letting them know what this whole "playing outside thing" is really all about.  If you're having trouble getting your kids off the couch this summer, send them on over to this article before you kick them out of the house.


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Finally, Ed Reach has 3 new podcasts posted from today:
  • 5 Project Building Websites
  • Express your Thoughts with Visual Notes
  • FlipBoard and Your iPad 1:1


The Lightning Round...

  • Teach Thought shares 34 Learning Games from EdShelf
  • They also have a new infographic on 3 Steps to Promoting Creativity in Education
  • EdSurge has a collection of Tweets on How to Best Choose EdTech Products
  • Edutopia discusses 18 Apps That Support the Creative Process
  • Edudemic covers 7 Ways to Get more out of Twitter
  • And they have a new infographic on The Biggest Concern For Schools Deploying iPads

And that's all we've got for today!  Thanks for reading!  We'll end with a new infographic from Getting Smart on the Use of Social Media in School.  See you tomorrow!

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Courtesy of: Getting Smart
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The Daily Roundup - July 23rd, 2013

7/23/2013

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And we're back!  Today we'll start at Emerging Ed Tech with a post on the "5 Ed Tech Resources I Used While Working in a Low-Income Class."  The list covers some great tools like Pinterest and Class Dojo that would work well in any setting, not just low-income classrooms.  The post also talks about HayStack Edu, a site for teachers to find resources and jobs.


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EduTech For Teachers has a new guest post on "Using Technology as an Effective Teaching Tool."  The post discusses the benefits of implementing technology in the classroom.  The article also covers simple steps that can be taken to begin integrating technology into lessons.  If you're looking for some good examples and explanations on how edtech can be useful, this is the post for you!


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The Ed Tech Review's new post,"BYOD: Useful Policy for Special Education" discusses how laptops and tablets can be effectively utilized in SPED classrooms.  The article outlines six ideas and suggestions for using a BYOD policy and talks about how student involvement and responsibility can improve through the use of technology.


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Lisa Nielsen at theInnovative Educator has a new guide to help teachers "Stay Connected to Parents with Google Voice."   If you've never used Google Voice, it's a free phone service provided by Google that let's you call, text, and send voice mails.  Nielsen offers some great suggestions on using Google Voice to save time and easily connect with parents.


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Edudemic has a new post on "How to Keep up with Education Technology News"  (aside from reading the Roundup, of course).  Ed Tech, and tech in general, is a tough field to keep up with.  As I've found while writing for this site, there are tons of new apps, reviews, and articles every single day.  They suggest subscribing to the Education Dive newsletter (it's definitely a great resource) to help stay on top of everything Ed Tech.


Edudemic also covers:
  • How to Actually Use Wikipedia in the Classroom
  • 5 Amazing Ways to Collaborate with Another Class (excellent article)


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Free Tech for Teachers has four new resources to check out:
  • Two Minute Geology Lessons
  • Three Ways to Make Useful QR Codes for Students
  • Instructional Tech Coordinators Need to Understand...
  • Geodia - A Timeline of Mediterranean Archeology


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Susan Davis at Getting Smart has a new post on "Teaching Reading in the Digital Age."  In the post, she ponders on the idea of, "What does it mean to be a reader today?"  She discusses how tablets and digital books affect reading, the importance of reading for pleasure, and how should teachers teach reading in the digital age.  It's an excellent article, not only for Language Arts teachers, but for all subject areas.

Alesha Bishop at Getting Smart also has a review of The Zones of Regulation, a "digital, interactive learning tool designed to help players successfully recognize and regulate their emotions and responses."  The app is an excellent tool to help students work on social and emotional skills and Bishop provides a complete review of the game (including potential drawbacks) for those interested.

Finally, Getting Smart covers "3 Tech Tools for the First Day of School."  In the post they discuss The Answer Pad (which we recently reviewed), Educlipper (which we also recently reviewed) and Write About This, which is an app to help elementary students respond to visual writing prompts.


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Teach Thought has three new posts to check out.  The first covers "Wisr: Quizzes on Twitter by Content Area."  Wisr is a pretty fun (and useful) resources for those who like to tweet and be quizzed. Teach Thought also covers "10 Tips for Better Teaching with Tablets" a great article for anyone with tablets in the classroom.  Plus, they provide a brief look at the new app Brickflow, which we recently reviewed here at the Roundup.


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The Ed Reach Network has four new podcasts posted:
  • All About Augmented Reality
  • Live from DENSI (Discovery Education)
  • The Makers of ISTE
  • Peer Instruction with Eric Mazur


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Finally, Justin Reich at Mind/Shift has a new post on "The iPad as a Tool for Creation to Strengthen Learning."  This is Reich's third post in the four part series (part 1 and part 2) and in the article he focuses on using iPads as tools for creation.  He provides examples of how iPads are being used in the "best" classroom but also some great stepping stones to help teachers begin the journey towards creation.


The Lightning Round...

  • Edudemic shares 7 Time-Saving iPad Tips for Teachers
  • Educational Technology has Visual Lists of iPad Apps for Teachers & Students
  • They also cover 4 Important Graphics on Blended Learning for Teachers
  • And Getting Smart gives us 40 Sources for Curated Educational Videos

And that's all for the Roundup today!  It's good to be back!  Although, at the end of this week the Roundup will be on a week-long break while I move back to South America to start my next year of teaching down there.  Thanks for reading and we'll end with a new infographic from Edudemic on How Teens are Using Social Media.  See you tomorrow!

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Courtesy of: Edudemic
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The Daily Roundup - July 18th

7/18/2013

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Welcome back!  I'll be out of town from tomorrow until Monday, so this will be the last Roundup until next Tuesday, and it begins with... Ed Tech Magazine and a new article on distance learning entitled, "When it Comes to Distance Learning, Schools Use What Works."  If your school offers distance learning (for credit recovery, or for electives, or maybe just for classes that aren't available) this article has some great tips for helping to select the best distance learning tech for your needs.


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Emerging Ed Tech has posted the conclusion to their three-part series on teaching with iPads, and this post focuses on the students' perspective (thefirst post was about administration, the second was about teachers).  The article offers three lessons that were learned throughout the three-year review as well as information on student engagement and success.


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Alley Watch has a new article about a pretty awesome edtech startup called Degreed.  The service aims to "jailbreak" the degree by scoring and validating your lifelong learning, and not just through universities, but also through sites like Khan academy and other MOOCS.  They want to provide a complete picture of all the learning a person has accomplished through accredited and non-accredited sources.  The founder, David Blake, also has a great Ted Talk about the service.


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Free Technology for Teachers has two new resources up:
  • 500 Political Cartoons Lesson Plans
  • Coloring Book of the Future uses Augemented Reality
           (This app is really, really awesome for kids)


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Anyone that has tried to introduce new technology in a school knows that there are usually some teachers who are either skeptical of new tech, or just not comfortable with it.  Edudemic's new article, "5 Ways to Support Teachers Skeptical of Technology," offers some tips on the best ways to help those teachers begin to integrate new tech into their classroom.

Edudemic also has a new infographic on the "Facts and Figures Behind Education in America."  The infographic covers everything from the current US graduation rate (73.4%) to the total number of students enrolled in elementary and secondary schools (55,394,000) and more!  It's a well designed graphic with some interesting statistics that I think students would enjoy as well.


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Educational Technology has three new posts to check out:
  • Google Books Provides Thousands of Free Books
  • Storytelling For the Youtube Generation (Prezi below)
  • 5 Powerful Tools to Try On the Kindle


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Alison Anderson at Getting Smart has a new post on "7 Social Media Tools to Tell your Classroom Story."  In the article, she outlines how to use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Blogs, Podcasts, and Youtube, to connect with your students and share the story of your classroom.  She provides links to excellent guides for each of these social media tools as well as tips and ideas for how to get started.


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The Podcast machine, Ed Reach, has three new casts up:
  • NCLB Renewal Brings Greater Political Discussion
  • EdCeptional, Take 2 on The Myth of Average
  • Organizing Our Stuff and Workflow


The Lightning Round...

  • Lisa Nielsen shares a new Infographic on Cyberbullying
  • Teach Thought has 15 Literacy Apps to Create Books on the iPad
  • Edudemic covers 10 Digital Resources that will Improve your School Library
  • And, they've got 3 Reasons to Use Video in the Classroom
  • Plus, a new infographic on How Students Use Smartphones
  • Finally, USC Rossier (via Edudemic) shares an infographic on Why Teachers Quit

And that's it for the Roundup today!  As I mentioned at the beginning, I'll be out of town until Monday night so the Roundup will return next Tuesday.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and thanks for reading!  We'll end with a new flowchart to share with students on image use from the web...
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The Daily Roundup - July 17th

7/17/2013

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Today's Roundup begins at Education Dive with the news that Edudemic's founders, Jeff Dunn and Katie Lepi, have launched a new site designed to help teachers (and everyone) become better technology users.  The article, "Edudemic Founders Launch New Online Learning Platform: Modern Lessons," outlines the site's  goals and mentions that the majority of the site content is available free of charge!


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Ed Surge has a new post detailing "How Teachers, Entrepreneurs Can Create Common Ground."  The post covers Chicago's Education Technology Startup Collaboartive from last week.  The Edtech event was a "collection of roundtables where entrepreneurs could engage in small group discussions with educators."  No giant vendor booths, no flashy presentations, just conversations between teachers and product designers.  Check out the article for more info.


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Teach Thought starts off with a post outlining "The Defining Characteristic of Early 21st Century Learning."  The article argues that in order to be a successful 21st century educator you really only need to be a master of one skill: being open to possibility.  If you are able to run a "highly curious, question-based, connected and joyful" classroom that is open to possibility, and the rest will fall into place.

Teach Thought also has a post on "20 Reflective Questions to Help Students Response to Common Core Texts."  The article discusses the basics of the new common core assessments and reflects on the questions presented in the image below (click for full size):

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Free Tech for Teachers has four new resources to check out:
  • Use PDF4Kindle to Convert PDFs to Kindle Format
  • Organize your Thoughts & Tasks with Thought Boxes
  • Create 100 Free Animations on ABCya Animate
  • Create Flipped Assignments with Knowmia


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EduTech for Teachers has a new guest post up on "The Benefits of Multimedia Feedback for Students."  The post offers the excellent suggestion of using software like camtasia to record yourself (the teacher) going through a student's assignment, offering "live" feedback, and adding comments to your assessment.  It's an excellent (and speedy, once you get the hang of it) way to improve feedback.


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I'm a big proponent of offering coding and programming classes in school and learning how to code is a great way to practice problem-solving and critical thinking skills.  To that point, James Walker at Getting Smart has a new post up entitled, "Coding is Not Just for Computer Programmers."  Walker argues that in addition to skills coding can teach a student, the number of job opportunities available to those who know how to code is ever-increasing.  It's a subject should be taught in every school.

Alison Anderson at Getting Smart also has a new article on "Transforming Special Educaiton with iPads in LAUSD."  The post focuses on the Los Angeles school district and how their special education program has been using iPads to transform their daily curriculum and intervention strategies.

Finally, if you're not familiar with the SAMR (Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition) Model it is used to understand how computer technology might affect teaching and learning (here's a good video explanation)  To help make better connections between SAMR and 21st Century Skills, Susan Oxnevad at Getting Smart has a new post, "The SAMR Ladder Through the Lens of 21st Century Skills."  In the article, Oxnevad has an interactive image (via ThingLink) that helps explain the connections between SAMR and the 21st century skills.


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Finally, Ed Reach has four new podcasts up!
  • Changing the World with Adam Bellow
  • The Microsoft Educast
  • Summer Teaching and Learning
  • Productivity Hack - Tweeting from your Omnibar


The Lightning Round...

  • Teach Thought shares 10 Popular Blended Learning Resources Teachers Actually Use
  • Educational Technology has a new Google Plus Cheat Sheet for Teachers
  • Ed Tech also has 5 Great iPad Apps to Explore the Human Body in 3D
  • Finally, Educational Technology shares 5 Great Ted Talks for Teachers

That's it for the Roundup today!  Thanks for reading!  We'll be back tomorrow and then on a short break until Tuesday.  See you tomorrow!
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The Daily Roundup - July 16th

7/16/2013

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Welcome back!  Today the Roundup begins at Education Week with a discussion over the current debate in congress on standardized testing, "Adaptive Testing Gains Momentum, Prompts Concerns."  The article discusses the overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (i.e. NCLB), new proposals that are in the mix, and how adaptive and standardized computer testing fits in the picture.


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Katrina Schwartz at Mind/Shift has a new post which asks "How Do Tech Tools Affect the Way Students Write"  The article is in response to a Pew Research report that was released yesterday and which shows that technology does in fact have aa effect on how students write.  Of the 2,462 educators interviewed, 50% said digital technologies make it easier to help shape student writing.  For more details and a great summary and analysis of the report, check out Schwartz's article.


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Amy Mayer at FriEdTechnology has a new lesson up on Gmail entitled, "Smart Gmail Lesson 9: Learn to use Tasks in Gmail and Google Calendar."  If you're a Gmail user and not familiar with how to create tasks, it's a built in feature with Gmail that can be found at the top left (click on the triangle next to "Gmail") It's basically a way to create organized to-do lists, but as Mayer explains, there are some great ways to integrate tasks with your calendar and emails.  Here's the video:


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Edudemic has a new review of "IWitness: A Free Way to Bring Educational Videos Into Your Classroom."  The relatively new service created by the USC Shoah Foundation brings first-person stories and interviews into the classroom.  The site has access to nearly 1,300 full life histories and testimonies and is an excellent resource for the history classroom.


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Educational Technology has two new reviews to share.  The first is for "Kidoodle.tv: Educational Video Content for Kids."  It's a Canadian-based video on-demand service for kids under 12 and it's free while it's in beta mode!  And if you've ever wanted to "Visualize your Tweets" check out their new review of Visible Tweets, which lets you do just that!


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David Mahaley at Emerging Ed Tech (and Franklin Academy Principal) has just posted part 2 of his "Teaching and Learning with the iPad" series.  The first post focused primarily on the administrator's perspective on iPad implementation, but in this new post we see things from the teacher's viewpoint and learn what worked and what areas presented challenges.  


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And finally, if you're thinking you want to do some serious classroom redesigning for next year, Teach Thought's new post, "How Should Your Classroom Look This Year?"  might be a good place to start.  The post walks you through the steps of designing the perfect classroom space with an eye towards creativity, "the illusion of classroom management,"  and creating a positive atmosphere for your students.


The Lightning Round...

  • Educational Technology shares 50 Educational Podcasts for Professional Development
  • They also have a new infographic with 20 Presentation Tips for Educators
  • Edudemic shares the Ultimate Printable Guide to the Apple iPad
  • And Getting Smart discusses the Flipped Class over Twitter with #EdTechChat

And that's all for the Roundup today!  Hope everyone is enjoying these dog days of summer and catching a few more days at the pool before heading back to class in a few weeks (is it that soon already?)  Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow!
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The Daily Roundup - July 15th, 2013

7/15/2013

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Welcome back to the Roundup!  I hope everyone had an excellent weekend!  Today we start with a post from Wesley Fryer at The Speed of Creativity.  In the past month, the Economist has written two articles about education and technology which have been, to say the least, a bit harsh.  Over the weekend Fryer posted hisexcellent response to these articles, outlining the multiple falsehoods and mistakes that the Economist published.  Fryer's post is definitely worth a read.


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Courtney Buell at EdCetera has a new article entitled, "Fighting Distraction in Online Courses."  While not as popular in K-12 education as in higher ed, online courses are certainly on the rise.  Buell's article discusses some of the new ways that online courses are working to keep students engaged in learning and some of the new tools that are available to help students fight distractions.  


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If your school is considering a BYOD policy (or has already implemented one) the Ed Tech Review's new article, "BYOD Successful Implementations From Around the World" might be worth a look.  The post discusses six different schools from around the US that have met with success in their BYOD policies.  Plus, for most of the schools, their BYOD policies are public, so you can see the framework they're working with.


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Free Technology for Teachers has four new posts to check out:
  • 7 Ways to Use Video in Your Classroom
  • Capital Toss - A State & Country Capitals Game
  • Quest for Credit - A Personal Finance Lesson
  • 5 Resources to Help Students Make Healthy Food Choices


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EduTech for Teachers has a guest post from the weekend entitled, "Transform Learning Potential with ExamTime."  The article discusses the free online learning platform, ExamTime.  According to the site, "we've created ExamTime with the aim to help students improve the way they learn through the use of proven techniques and tools: Mind Maps, Flashcards, Notes, and Quizzes."  You can check out the post for some examples of ExamTime in action!


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I'm a big fan of Twitter, but it took me a while to see and understand the full educational potential of the site.  At first it seemed like every other social networking site, and that it was just full of people tweeting about what they had for lunch.  But, as I came to find, and as this new post from Edudemic explains, "Twitter can help make you a better teacher."

Edudemic also has a new post explaining "How to Teach Music and Art Online."  Many times, it seems that online learning is only focused on the core subject areas.  Or, if it's used for an elective, it's one that can "easily" be taught online (i.e. mostly fact-based, not skill-based).  So, it's nice to see that support is growing for online programs in subjects like art and music.  These can be incredibly beneficial for students who don't have access to these classes, or if their school has cut funding for those programs.

Finally, Edudemic discusses"10 Innovative Educational Programs Run by Google."  Some of these programs I was familiar with (like the Doodle for Google award) but it turns out Google actually has quite the collection of educational programs up their sleeve.


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Educational Technology has three new posts to check out:
  • iPad Basics for Teacher & Students (embedded below)
  • iPad Apps for Autistic Students (embedded below)
  • A Discussion of the MIT App Inventor Tool

iPad basics from j_villis
 
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Paul Roen at Getting Smart has a new article on"Carving a Place for Blended Learning in the Era of Teacher Evaluation."  The post discusses how new teacher evaluation systems need to include a space for blended learning.  The role of the educator in a blended learning setting is different than in the traditional setting, and evaluation tools should reflect that. Getting smart also their weekly roundup posted as well, in case you missed anything from last week.


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Lisa Nielsen at the Innovative Educator has a new post discussing "11 Innovative Strategies for Ensuring Device Equity."  The post outlines some excellent ideas for helping all students have access to technology, even in districts where budgets are an issues.  If you're looking to help increase the available tech resources in your school or district, Nielsen's article is a wonderful place to start.


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Teach Thought has three new posts up, the first of which discusses, "Why Teachers - Not Schools - Are the Real Institutions."  The articles argues that teachers are more than just instructors, they are also "value-generating institutions. And simply put, [teachers] are directly responsible for a student's partial accumulation of knowledge and skills."  The post goes on to further make the case for teachers as institutions.

Terry Heick at Teach Thought also has a new post on "How Overly Academic Learning is Killing Education."  Heick makes the argument that too much focus on achieving proficiency is detrimental to our education systems.  

Finally, for those interested in game-based learning, Teach Thought shares, "10+ Game-Based Learning Resources: From Practical Applications to Academic Theory."  


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Ed Reach has two excellent new podcasts up from the weekend:
  • The Classroom: A Space Redesigned
  • Five Options Upon Reading an Email




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And finally, we'll head over to EdSurge for the finale of today's Roundup.  First up, a new article by Katrina Stevens entitled, "What Real Collaboration Between Teachers and Techies Looks Like."  The post covers a recent gathering in Chicago between teachers, administrators, and techies, to learn about edtech startups and try out their products as part of the          Ed Tech Collaborative.  

And speaking of edtech startups, Ben Stern at EdSurge also has a post on the "Role for Teachers in Every Edtech Startup."  The article discusses how teachers can get involved and help out with edtech startups that they are passionate about.


The Lightning Round...

  • Tech & Learning shares iPad Safety Apps
  • Edudemic helps us Turn our iBook into a Video in 3 Easy Steps
  • Getting Smart shares new STEM-related Tech Tools from Edshelf
  • Teach Thought gives us 22 Ways to Use Twitter for Learning Based on Blooms' Taxonomy

And that's it for the Roundup today!  Thanks for reading!  We'll close with a new infographic from Zintro, via Edudemic on How to Effectively Use the Top 4 Social Networks.  See you tomorrow!

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Courtesy of: Edudemic
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The Weekend Roundup - July 12th, 2013

7/12/2013

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Welcome back!  The weekend edition of the Roundup is coming out a little early this time around because I've got a crazy weekend ahead and wanted to get this posted beforehand!  So today we'll start at Edutopia with a new post entitled,"iPads: From Pedagogical Crutch to Education Innovation."  The article discusses easy ways to start integrating iPads in the classroom (using the iPad as a crutch) before going big time and using the iPad for innovation and deeper learning.


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Next up, Katrina Schwartz at Mind/Shift has a new article entitled, "Breaking the Mold: School Fosters Design and DIscovery."  The article shares some excellent ideas for the new directions education can take in the future, and poses some answers to the question of "What do we do in a world where learning is no longer directly tied to an institution, and is being placed into the hands of the learner?"


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Ever since my college years, I've been a big fan of educational theory; however, it's always nice to have some concrete examples of tools or apps that are actually making a notable difference in the classroom.  In the Ed Tech Review's latest article,"How are iPads Used in Schools?  Some Real Life Examples" you get exactly that.  There are some excellent apps covered here and they cover everything from students with disabilities to improving literacy to STEM classes.


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Richard Byrne at Free Tech for Teachers has three new posts up that are worth a look:
  • Create Picture Stories with Phrase.it
  • What Works and What Doesn't in Net Safety Instruction
  • Two Free Wikispaces Classroom Webinars


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Kelly Tenkely at iLearn Technology has an excellent new review up on "Adobe Forms Center: Create & Share Interactive Forms."  Adobe Form Central is a "free web application that lets you create PDF's that are actually web forms which can be filled out directly on the PDF."  Check out the full review for more, including Tenkely's ideas for classroom integration.


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Yesterday, Getting Smart and Digital Learning Now! released a new paper entitled, "Online Learning: Myths, Reality & Promise."  Today, they've got an excellent summary of the paper posted on their site.  The paper addresses three main myths about online learning: Myths about Students, Myths about Online Teaching and Learning; and Myths about Systems and Policies.  For more, you can check out the post.

Alison Anderson at Getting Smart also has a new article entitled, "What Blended Learning Looks Like in Kindergarten."  The piece focuses on Woodlawn Elementary in Lawrence, Kansas (Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!) and discusses how teacher Barbie Gossett has integrated blended learning into her Kindergarten classroom.


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Teach Thought has a new article on how "Writing Can Save 21st Century Learning from Itself."  The post focuses on the Common Core shift in writing and literacy standards (which are no longer exclusive to language arts, but mixed in with other core subjects).  The article goes on to discuss what this looks like in other subject areas and the struggles (and benefits) teachers can face when integrating literacy standards.


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Finally, Ed Reach has three new podcasts to check out:
  • EdModo - The Educator's Perspective
  • Google Educast: Seeing the Lite
  • ISTE Relived: The Gamers of ISTE


The Lightning Round...

  • Educational Technology shares 15 Must Have Apps for your New iPad
  • Ed Tech also provides an Interactive Tour of Google Drive for Teachers
  • Edudemic covers 70 Tools and 4 Reasons to Make Your Own Infographics
  • Teach Thought gives us The 50 Best Smartphone Apps for Teachers Arranged by Category

That's it for the early weekend edition!  We'll be back on Monday, but until then, have a wonderful weekend!  We'll end with a new infographic from the Ed Tech Review on the Ed Tech Adoption Rate in   K-12 Teaching.  Thanks for reading!

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Courtesy of: The Ed Tech Review
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The Daily Roundup - July 11th, 2013

7/11/2013

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The Roundup Returns!  And we'll start today at Mind/Shift with a post entitled, "Confused About Ed Tech Tools?  New Rating Site for Apps and Games."  The articles discusses Graphite, a new tool from Common Sense Media.  We mentioned it last week, but since then, the site is really starting to grow and show its potential.  If you want to know the opinions of other teachers and parents before buying an app, this is a great place to look.


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Next up, Ed Tech Magazine has a video and discussion on "Building Technology into the Common Core Standards."  The Common Core Standards provide some technology integration ideas, but now, more and more teachers are working to create new lessons and ideas with integrated technology components that align with the standards.  For more on tech and the CCS check out this Teach Thought post and this SlideShare presentation from the Lakeland Central School District.


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For the ESL/EFL teachers out there (and even for the teachers who have ESL/EFL students in their classroom) Emerging Ed Tech has an excellent new post with "8 Great Online Resources for ESL/EFL teachers."  These online resources can help with everything from lesson planning, to speaking and listening practice.  It's definitely a great collection of tools.


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2and2, an Australian company that "creates beautiful digital experiences that educate, entertain, engage, and inspire" has several new posts up that discuss technology and education.  First up, "Technology in Education is Inevitable."  This post is mainly a reflection over a recent study from Speak Up which indicates that "students believe they need access to more technology, and most school's aren't yet accommodating that need."  The post goes on to discuss why this is happening.

2and2 also has a new article entitled, "Games: The Teaching Tool of the Next Generation."  This post argues the benefits of game-based learning and provides some excellent examples (like ABC Zoom, a game for exploring the microscopic world.)  It's a great read and if you have any interest in using games in education it's worth your time!


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Craig Crittendon (guest poster at the  Innovate Educator) has a new article on BYOD policies, "5 Lessons for Success."  In the post, he outlines five tips to help teachers, administrators, and students meet with success in a 1:1 environment.  The ideas are based on his own experience with implementing 1:1 programs and are worth considering for any school that is heading in that direction.  


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Richard Byrne at Free Technology for Teachers has several new tech resources up from the past few days:
  • FunBrain - Dozens of Education Games for K-8
  • Two Cute Explanations of Social media
  • Zoho Survey -  A Survey Tool LPacked with Features


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Edudemic starts off with a new article on "3 Online Learning Platforms Perfect for Teachers."  The post covers three tools that are all about "increasing skills and learning using the power of the web, and each of the sites either has courses designed for teachers or they have courses designed by teachers."  If you're looking for some online summer professional development this July, this article is a great place to start.  They cover Versal, Coursera, and Udemy.

And of course, we couldn't have a Daily Roundup without some talk of flipping classrooms, and Edudemic's post on "4 Things to Consider Before you Flip Your Classroom" has us covered for today.  If you've thought about flipping your classroom (or even if you already have) this is a great post to read.


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Educational Technology has four new resources to check out:
  • 3 Good iPad Apps for Narrative Writing
  • The Power of Hashtags for Teachers (Great collection)
  • 10 New Web Tools for Teachers
  • 8 Things Kids Should be able to do with Tech


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The Ed Tech Review has two new posts up, the first of which is an excellent collection of "Educational Websites that Amaze Kids."  If you're looking for new websites for elementary students, head on over!  There has also been a lot of talk lately of using educational metadata to help improve instruction, and if you're a fan of all that number crunching, the ETR has a new infographic on Learning Analytics.


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Alison Anderson at Getting Smart has compiled a superb list of "10 Tools Every Teacher Should Master this Summer."  A lot of the list comes from new tools out of ISTE and they're all excellent resources.  And Getting Smart also has a write up on "TechGirlz to Host Second Annual Entrepreneur Camp."  TechGirlz in an NPO "dedicated to empowering girls to be future technology leaders."  It's a great organization and they're right in the middle of the second year of their camp.


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And if you've still got a hankering for ISTE news, Teach Thought has you covered with "10 Things I learned at ISTE"  The post covers some general reflections and thoughts as well as a few specific ideas and tools.  Teach Thought also has an excellent new article on how "Digital Media Can Change the Tone of Learning."  The post covers the huge number of benefits that utilizing digital media can have on classroom instruction.


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If you want to create a classroom blog (especially with younger students) and you haven't tried out KidBlog yet, I highly recommend it.  I used it this semester for an international blog pals project and it worked wonderfully.  And if you want to find out a little more about the service, Ed Reach has a new interview up with the founder, Matt Hardy.


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Finally, if you're not familiar with EdSurge, they have a huge collection of excellent guides and tools that are incredibly helpful.  The most recent one I stumbled upon was to help teachers "Try Education Technology Before You Buy."  It's a great collection of resources that teachers can try out for free and decide whether or not they're a good fit for the classroom.


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What a Roundup!  So that's all for today, we'll end with a new infographic of Flipped Learning Explained Visually just in case you're still curious about this whole flipped learning business.  And we've talked about ThingLink a lot, usually from Jamie Forshey at EduTech for Teachers, but here's an another excellent example of how it can be used from The Speed of Creativity.  The Roundup will be back on Saturday with the weekend edition and until then, you can always follow us on Twitter and Facebook.  Thanks for reading!


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Courtesy of: Educational Technology
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The Daily Roundup - July 9th & 10th

7/9/2013

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I'll be out of town today and tomorrow, but back for Thursday's post.  In the meantime, check out some of the new reviews!  See you Thursday!

-Mike
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