Why Online Learning Is Vital to Improving Education

What Happens Each Minute on the Internet [Infographic]

via Übergizmo

Major Ed-Tech Trends for 2013

via Onlinecolleges.net

How the Internet Has Changed the World

via Mashable

From hactivism to the flipped classroom, the Internet has sparked an online revolution with digital tools.

Classified documents on Wikileaks helped spark the Arab Spring, and protestors organized through Facebook. Daily tweets about the Egyptian revolution increased 100% after the overthrow of the country, showcasing the power of trending.

Not only has the World Wide Web assisted in shaping our political persuasions, but also our personal interests. While there are 139,500 professional photographers in the U.S., Instagram rekindled the snap-happy side of everyone, with 90 million active users each month on the social platform.

As the number of Internet users grow, the world changes, as suggested by this infographic from NowSourcing. There were more than 2 billion web users in 2012, which is a 566.4% increase from the year 2000 (we’ve come a long way from Y2K).

Check out the infographic for more stats about how the Internet has made an impact.

Social Media Explained by Cats

Thought this was cool and wanted to share….

via Visual.ly

Source

The 33 Digital Skills Every 21st Century Teacher Should Have

via Education Technology and Mobile Learning

Every single teacher is concerned about his/ her teaching practices and the skills involved in this process. How many times have you wondered about a better way to teach the same lesson you have delivered to an eariler class? How often have you used technology to engage your students and improve their learning ? These are some recurring questions we keep regurgitating each time our teaching skills are put to the test.

It is amazing how technology has changed the whole world giving rise to new forms of education we never thought of. Our students are more digitally focused than any time before. They spend more time interacting with their mobile devices than they do with their parents or close relatives. Admittedly, this digital boom has both  positive and negative impact on our students. Lack of concentration, short attention span, distraction, visual  stimulus overload, identity theft, lack of real world socializing, privacy issues, depression, and many more are but a direct result of the growing exposure to this technology. Studies have even proved that multitasking, which some educational technology experts brag about in relation to the use of today’s technology, reduces the power of our concentration to the half.  We should not, However, only look at the empty side of the cup, the other side is way bigger.

There are  actually several pluses for the use of technology in education and to try and list them  all here is way beyond the scope of this short post. Generally speaking,  no two argue over the fact that technology advantages in education ( and in our life at large ) way  outnumber  its downsides. It is thanks to technology that you are now reading this post and will probably share it with your colleagues.

There is no blinking the fact  that the type of students we teach today are completely different from last century’s. We , definitely, 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 would have in education, there is not as daunting a challenge as catching students focus and getting them engaged in the learning process. For this particular reason, and in addition to the skills I initially mentioned in 21st Century Teaching Skills article, I would like to provide you  with another list of  some equally important digital skills that you, as a teacher, need to seriously consider if you want to pave the way for the 21st century teaching. I have added a list of web tools under each skill for teachers to better exploit it.

Please, remember that I have spent many laborious hours working on  this post and all I ask is a credit back to Educational Technology and Mobile Learning when re-using this content somewhere else.

The 21st century teacher should be able to :

1- Create and edit  digital audio

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
Free Audio Tools for Teachers

2- Use Social bookmarking to share resources with and between learners

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
A List of Best Bookmarking Websites for Teachers

3- Use blogs and wikis to create online platforms for students

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
Great Tools to Create Protected Blogs and Webpages for your Class

4- Exploit digital images for classroom use

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• A List of Some of The Best Photo Editing Tools for Teachers
• A List of Great Tools for Teachers to Create Animated Pictures and Images
• A list of Some Awesome Photo and Image Resources for Teachers

5- Use video content to engage students

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• 80 Educational Alternatives to YouTube 
• A List of some of The Best Video Tools for Educators

6- Use infographics to visually stimulate students

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• 8 Free Tools to Create Awesome Infographics
• Educational Infographics to Share with your Students
• A List of Top Educational Infographics
• A Set of Awesome Infographics on Language Learning
• This is how Teachers Can Embed Infographics in Their Blogs and Websites

7- Use Social networking sites to connect with colleagues and grow professionally

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• Teachers Comprehensive Guide to The Use of Social Networking in Education
• Top 25 Social Media Websites for Teachers
• Google Plus Use in Education
• Facebook Use in Education

8- Create and deliver asynchronous presentations and training sessions

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
A List of The Best Presentation Tools for Teachers

9- Compile a digital e-portfolio for their own development

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
Free Tools to Create Digital Portfolios 

10- Have a knowledge about online security

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• Teachers Free Tools and Resources on Internet Safety
• Online Safety Tips and Tools to Protect Kids online and Inform Parents about Internet Dangers
• Free Resources to Teach about Bullying

11- be able to detect plagiarized works in students assignments

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
Free Plagiarism Detector Tools fr Teachers and Educators

12- Create screen capture videos and tutorials

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
Five Great Screen Capture Tools for Teachers

13- Curate web content for classroom learning

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
10 Must have Bookmarklets for Teachers

14- Use and provide students with task management tools to organize their work and plan their learning

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
A List of Great Task Management Tools for Educators

15- Use polling software to create a real-time survey in class

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
15 Free and Easy Poll/ Survey Tools for Teachers

16- Understand issues related to copyright and fair use of online materials

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• Teach your Students Copyright Issues
• The Full History of Copyright from Its Origins to What it is Now

17- Exploit  computer games for pedagogical purposes

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• The Gaming Revolution in Education
• Video Games Improve The Brain’s Performance

18- Use digital assessment tools to create quizzes

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
Free Tools to Create and Administer Quizzes

19- Use of collaborative tools for text construction and editing

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
A List of Great Free Collaborative Tools for Educators

20- Find and evaluate authentic web based content

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
The Three Effective Ways Teachers Should Know about

21- Use of mobile devices like tablets

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• 8 Free Resources on The Use of iPad in Education
• A Free Comprehensive Guide to The Use of iPad Apps in Education
• A List of Excellent iPad  Apps for Educators

22- Identify online resources that are safe for students browsing

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
A List of Awesome Kids-safe Websites

23- Use digital tools for time management purposes

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• 8 Free Tools for Better Time Management
• Five Free Tools to Organize and Schedule Meetings

24- Learn about the different ways to use YouTube in your classroom

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• 17 Free YouTube Tools Every Educator should Know about
• A List of YouTube Tools to Crop, subtitle, convert and Save Videos

25- Use note taking tools to share interesting content with your students

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• 9 Great Note Taking Tools for Teachers
• Free Android Note Taking Apps for Educators

26- Annotate web pages and highlight parts of text to share with your class

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
13 Free Web Annotation Tools for Teachers to Draw, Add notes, and highlight interesting parts in webpages

27- Use of online graphic organizers and printables

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
A List of Free Graphic Organizers for Educators

28- Use of online sticky notes to capture interesting ideas

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
13 Free Sticky Notes Tools for Teachers and Students

29- Use of screen casting tools to create and share tutorials

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
A List of The Best Free Screen Casting Tools for Teachers to Record and Share Tutorials

30- Exploit group text messaging tools for collaborative project work

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
9 Free Group Text Messaging for Educators

31- Conduct an effective search query with the minimum time possible

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :
The Entire Google Search Guide for Teachers

32- Conduct A Research Paper Using Digital Tools

Here are some tools for teachers to develop this skill :

• Free Research Tools Every Educator Needs to Know about
• 6 Free Tools to Easily Cite Resources for students and teachers

33- Use file sharing tools to share docs and files with students online

A List of The Best File Sharing Tools for Teachers

50 Education Technology Tools Every Teacher Should Know About

via Edudemic

Technology and education are pretty intertwined these days and nearly every teacher has a few favorite tech tools that make doing his or her job and connecting with students a little bit easier and more fun for all involved.

Yet as with anything related to technology, new tools are hitting the market constantly and older ones rising to prominence, broadening their scope, or just adding new features that make them better matches for education, which can make it hard to keep up with the newest and most useful tools even for the most tech-savvy teachers.

Here, we’ve compiled a list of some of the tech tools, including some that are becoming increasingly popular and widely used, that should be part of any teacher’s tech tool arsenal this year, whether for their own personal use or as educational aids in the classroom.

Social Learning

These tools use the power of social media to help students learn and teachers connect.

1. Edmodo: Teachers and students can take advantage of this great tech tool, as it offers a Facebook-like environment where classes can connect online.
2. Grockit: Get your students connected with each other in study sessions that take place on this great social site.
3. EduBlogs: EduBlogs offers a safe and secure place to set up blogs for yourself or your classroom.
4. Skype: Skype can be a great tool for keeping in touch with other educators or even attending meetings online. Even cooler, it can help teachers to connect with other classrooms, even those in other countries.
5. Wikispaces: Share lessons, media, and other materials online with your students, or let them collaborate to build their own educational wiki on Wikispaces.
6. Pinterest: You can pin just about any image you find interesting on this site, but many teachers are using it as a place to collect great lesson plans, projects, and inspirational materials.
7. Schoology: Through this social site, teachers can manage lessons, engage students, share content, and connect with other educators.
8. Quora: While Quora is used for a wide range of purposes, it can be a great tool for educators. It can be used to connect with other professionals or to engage students in discussion after class.
9. Ning: Ning allows anyone to create a personalized social network, which can be great for both teachers and students alike.
10. OpenStudy:Encourage your students to work together to learn class material by using a social study site like OpenStudy.
11. ePals: One of the coolest benefits of the Web is being able to connect with anyone, anywhere. ePals does just that, but focuses on students, helping them to learn languages and understand cultures different from their own.

Learning

These educational tools can help you to make lessons fun, interesting, and more effective.

1. Khan Academy: Many teachers use this excellent collection of math, science, and finance lectures and quizzes to supplement their classroom materials.
2. MangaHigh: MangaHigh offers teachers a wealth of resources for game-based learning in mathematics.
3. FunBrain: If you’re looking for a great collection of educational games, look no further than FunBrain. On it, teachers can take advantage of fun tools for math and reading.
4. Educreations: Educreations is an amazing online tool for the iPad that lets teachers (or students) create videos that teach a given topic. Perfect for studying or getting students to show off their knowledge.
5. Animoto: Animoto makes it simple to create video-based lessons or presentations for the classroom and to share them with students or anyone else.
6. Socrative: Available for computers, mobile devices, and tablets, this student response system engages students through games and exercises on any device they have on hand. Even better, teachers can easily assess student progress and track grades.
7. Knewton: Adaptive learning has been a hot topic in recent months, and with Knewton it’s something that any teacher can access and use. The site personalizes online learning content for each student according to his or her needs.
8. Kerpoof: On Kerpoof, students can get creative with their learning with games, interactive activities, drawing tools, and more that are both fun and educational.
9. StudySync: With a digital library, weekly writing practice, online writing and peer reviews, Common Core assignments, and multimedia lessons available, this site is a fully-featured tool for teaching and learning that can be a big help in the classroom.
10. CarrotSticks: On this site, teachers can take advantage of a wide range of math learning games, giving students practice while they have fun.

Lesson Planning and Tools

Use these tech tools to pull together great lessons and design amazing and memorable student projects.

22. Teachers Pay Teachers: Have great lessons to share? Looking for something to add to your classes? On this site you can do both, selling your own class materials and buying high-quality resources from other teachers.
23. Planboard: Make sure your lessons are organized and that your day runs smoothly with the help of this amazing online tool designed just for teachers.
24. Timetoast: Timetoast is a pretty cool for student projects, allowing them to build sleek, interactive timelines in minutes.
25. Capzles: There are so many different ways that Capzles can be used in the classroom, there’s bound to be an application that fits your needs. What does it do? Capzles makes it simple to gather media like photos, videos, documents, and even blog posts into one place, making it perfect for teaching, learning, or online projects.
26. Prezi: Want to build presentations that will wow your students? Make use of this online tool that makes it simple to do all kinds of cool things with your lessons, even allowing collaboration between teachers.
27. Wordle: Create stunning word clouds using Wordle, a great complement to language lessons of any kind.
28. QR Codes: QR codes (or quick response codes) are showing up with greater frequency in education. If you’d like to get in on the trend, you’ll need a tool to create and manage the codes like Delivr and one to read codes, like any of those listed on this site.
29. Quizlet: Quizlet makes it easy for teachers to create study tools for students, especially flashcards that can make memorizing important information a snap.
30. MasteryConnect: How are your students performing with regard to state and common core standards? MasterConnect makes it simple to track and analyze both, as well as other elements of student performance.
31. Google Docs: Through Google Docs, teachers can create and share documents, presentations, or spreadsheets with students and colleagues as well as give feedback on student-created projects.
32. YouTube: Not all schools allow YouTube, but they are missing out as the site contains a wealth of great learning materials for the classroom. There’s even a special education-focused channel just for teachers and students.
33. TED-Ed: TED isn’t just a great place to find inspiration anymore, the site also contains numerous videos that are organized by subject and can help you to teach everything from how pain relievers work to Shakespearean insults.
34. Glogster:Glogster is a social site that lets users mash up music, photos, videos, and pretty much anything else you’d like. It’s a great way to create learning materials and a handy tool for creative student projects.
35. Creaza: Want to bring your student projects into the 21st century? Creaza can make that possible, offering tools to brainstorm, create cartoons, and edit audio and video.
36. Mentor Mob: On Mentor Mob, you or your students can create a learning playlist, which is essentially a collection of high-quality materials that can be used to study a specific concept.

Useful Tools

These tools can help you to stay connected, organized, and increase the ease of building multimedia lessons and learning tools.

37. Evernote: Capture great ideas, photos, recordings, or just about anything else on your Evernote account, access it anywhere, and keep it organized. A must-have tool for lesson planning.
38. Twitter: There are so many ways Twitter can be used in education. Teachers can connect with other educators, take part in chats, share their ideas, or even use it in the classroom to reach out to students.
39. Google Education: Google offers a number of great edtech resources for teachers, including email and collaborative apps, videos, lesson plan search, professional development, and even educational grants.
40. Dropbox: Easily store, share, and access any kind of data from anywhere with the easy-to-use and free Dropbox service.
41. Diigo: Diigo lets you treat the web like paper-based reading material, making it simple to highlight, bookmark, take notes, or even add sticky notes.
42. Apple iPad: One of the most widely used, though expensive, tech tools being used in today’s classroom is the Apple iPad. With a host of educational apps being developed for the device, it’s become a favorite of teachers and students alike across the nation.
43. Aviary: Aviary is a suite of tools that make it easy to edit images, effects, swatches, music, and audio or to create and modify screen captures.
44. Jing: If you’re teaching kids about tech or just about anything else, a great screenshot program is essential. Jing is one great option that allows teachers to take screenshots as images, record up to five minutes or videos then edit and share the results.
45. Popplet: You and your students can use Popplet to brainstorm ideas, create mindmaps, share, and collaborate.
46. Google Earth: From geography projects to learning about geological processes, Google Earth can be an amazing and fast way to show students anywhere in the world.
47. DonorsChoose: Need funding for a classroom project? You can get it through this site that hooks up needy teachers with willing donors.
48. SlideShare: With SlideShare, you can upload your presentations, documents, and videos and share them with students and colleagues. Even better, you can take advantage of materials that other have uploaded as well.
49. LiveBinders: Like a real-life three ring binder, this tech tool allows you to collect and organize resources. Much better than a binder, however, the site also comes with tools to connect and collaborate and a virtual whiteboard.
50. AudioBoo: Through this tool, you can record and share audio for your students or anyone else.

Does the Smartphone Have a Place in the Classroom?

This is amazing considering the number of people who really don’t allow the use of smart or any type of phone in their school or classroom. Elliott and Cathy ahve been writing about mobile devices and “Big change for small change” since 2000!!! Lisa Nielsen has been also writing about the use of cell phones and all of them will tell you that cell phones are still an uphill battle to use in schools. Tablets or iPads are becoming more prevalent and more accepted but phones are still not where they need to be. I hope that they will be soon as our children’s futures are at stake!!!!

via The Journal

With an increasing number of social networks and technologies commanding more and more of our students’ time and attention, are we too far gone to successfully integrate smartphones and mobile technologies into classroom learning?

“Originally this was going to be a panel discussion about the Pros and Cons of cellphones in classroom,” acknowledged Therese Mageau, editorial director of T.H.E. Journal, at the FETC 2013 conference in Orlando, Wednesday, “but I couldn’t get enough people to be on the ‘cons’ side of it.” It was an interesting revelation that didn’t appear to surprise many in the audience.

“Instead,” she said, we’re going to collaboratively take on the top concerns received over the course of the year by THE Journal around the use of cellphones in the classroom. The idea, said Mageau, is to come up with some “acceptable, responsible use guidelines, policies, and practices that you can take back to your schools and districts” and talk to others that share these concerns.

Along the walls of the meeting room were 10 sheets of paper, each with a different issue or point of discussion, distilled from the hundreds of concerns Mageau received throughout the year:

• Texting (as a distraction)
• Social media (as a distraction)
• Sexting
• Cheating
• Student device equity
• Bullying
• Lost or stolen devices
• Safety during lockdown
• Teacher device equity
• Platform management

The audience was divided into groups and assigned a single issue to collaboratively address. “I don’t want this to be official language,” instructed Mageau. “I want this to be creative output from you about how we deal with these issues in the classroom.” Discussion was facilitated by Elliott Soloway and Cathie Norris (who recently started blogging for T.H.E. Journal), and results were recorded on a Google document and shared with the larger group for feedback.

Texting
Educators addressing the issue of texting as a distraction all seemed to agree that requirements around responsible use were paramount to addressing this concern. “We need to make sure students are adhering to policies, including no social texting in the class, or risk losing their individual privileges,” commented the group’s spokesperson.

Social Media
With multiple social media platforms available for use, the group focused on this concern felt it imperative that only schools-based social media sites were used, and that students were not allowed to self-enroll. “Students will register as someone else if you give them the opportunity,” said one educator in the group. “You have to be sure you can verify an online identity is valid.” Others in the group recommended only allowing social media when it is an integrated component of a lesson.

Sexting
According to the group spokesperson, this issues boils down to communicating clearly and repeatedly what constitutes appropriate use of a cellphone, its camera, and the sharing of data of any kind. For middle and high school students, appropriate behaviors should be integrated into the curriculum and consequences for violating the policies should fit the individual action.

Cheating
This one, according to the group, is pretty straightforward: Students should not use devices in class unless given explicit permission. If they violate this rule, their devices are confiscated.

Student Device Equity
The teachers addressing device equity proposed several creative solutions, including working with local carriers to provide devices for low-income students, seeking grant opportunities from various agencies, pairing students without a device with those who have one, and providing access to alternate mobile technology such as iPads and iPods.

Bullying
Similar to concerns around sexting, cyber bullying was seen as best addressed through effective education and communication, coupled with a policy that held students accountable for their actions and involved all parents from the outset.

Lost/Stolen Devices
The way to best address this concern, according to the group, is for total responsibility for the device to rest with the student. Lost or Stolen devices will be reported immediately, and teachers will be required to model acceptable use and care, but it should ultimately be the responsibility of the student to manage and care for their devices.

Safety During Lockdown
Educators in this group all agreed that cell phone use during lockdown should be strictly prohibited and any infraction dealt with immediately.

Teacher Device Equity
“If the expectation is for the use of these devices in the classroom,” said this group’s spokesperson, “then it should be the responsibility of the school to provide devices to teachers who don’t currently have that technology.” The group also noted the importance of strong professional development resources, especially in cases where teachers are not already familiar with the technology.

Platform Management
The discussion around platform management raised as many questions as it did answers. Overall, the group agreed that integration of cellphones in the classroom should be device agnostic, include appropriate infrastructure before implementation, have a solid communications plan for all stakeholders, and provide appropriate tech support resources specifically trained to address issues associated with mobile devices.

“So what I think we’re saying,” commented Soloway at the close of the session, is that most of this boils down to classroom management, and recognizing that it’s less about the device and more about modeling appropriate use.

“This is certainly more demanding,” he said. “But teachers are seeing benefits, and some are instantaneous.”

Figuring all this out “takes time,” said Mageau, but there is a benefit. And in many cases, the group agreed, the benefits far outweigh the extra effort.

7 Essential Principles of Innovative Learning

The 5 in 5: Innovations That Will Change Our Lives in the Next Five Years

“Computers are powerful enough now, but what do you think they’ll be able to do five years from now? This article featured on IBM has the answer—hear from some of the best and brightest and their predictions on how technology will integrate further into our lives in the following videos.”

via IBM.com

We think of the five senses as exclusive to living things

Processing sights and sounds requires eyes, ears and, most important, a brain—right? But what if your hardware shared your senses?

In the era of cognitive computing, systems learn instead of passively relying on programming. As a result, emerging technologies will continue to push the boundaries of human limitations to enhance and augment our senses with machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced speech recognition and more. No need to call for Superman when we have real super senses at hand.

This year IBM presents The 5 in 5 in five sensory categories, through innovations that will touch our lives and see us into the future.

From IBM’s Chief Innovation Officer
Read what he says about The 5 in 5

Touch: You will be able to touch through your phone

In the 1970s, when a telephone company encouraged us to “reach out and touch someone,” it had no idea that a few decades later that could be more than a metaphor. Infrared and haptic technologies will enable a smart phone’s touchscreen technology and vibration capabilities to simulate the physical sensation of touching something. So you could experience the silkiness of that catalog’s Egyptian cotton sheets instead of just relying on some copywriter to convince you.

Learn more

Sight: A pixel will be worth a thousand words

Recognition systems can pinpoint a face in a crowd. In the future, computer vision might save a life by analyzing patterns to make sense of visuals in the context of big data. In industries as varied as healthcare, retail and agriculture, a system could gather information and detect anomalies specific to the task—such as spotting a tiny area of diseased tissue in an MRI and applying it to the patient’s medical history for faster, more accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Learn more

Hearing: Computers will hear what matters

Before the tree fell in the forest, did anyone hear it? Sensors that pick up sound patterns and frequency changes will be able to predict weakness in a bridge before it buckles, the deeper meaning of your baby’s cry or, yes, a tree breaking down internally before it falls. By analyzing verbal traits and including multi-sensory information, machine hearing and speech recognition could even be sensitive enough to advance dialogue across languages and cultures.

Learn more

Taste: Digital taste buds will help you eat smarter

The challenge of providing food—whether it’s for impoverished populations, people on restricted diets or picky kids—is in finding a way to meet both nutritional needs and personal preferences. In the works: a way to compute “perfect” meals using an algorithmic recipe of favorite flavors and optimal nutrition. No more need for substitute foods when you can have a personalized menu that satisfies both the calorie count and the palate.

Learn more

Smell: Computers will have a sense of smell

When you call a friend to say how you’re doing, your phone will know on the full story. Soon, sensors will detect and distinguish odors: a chemical, a biomarker, even molecules in the breath that affect personal health. The same smell technology, combined with deep learning systems, could troubleshoot operating-room hygiene, crops’ soil conditions or a city’s sanitation system before the human nose knows there’s a problem.