Teacher Shelley Wright is on leave from her classroom, working with teachers in a half-dozen high schools to promote inquiry and connected learning. I think the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy is wrong. Hear me out. I know this statement sounds heretical in the realms of education, but I think this is something we should rethink, especially since it is so widely taught to pre-service teachers.  I agree that the taxonomy accurately classifies various types of cognitive thinking skills. It certainly ide...  show all text

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This afternoon I discovered a new feature in Google Documents (now a part of Google Drive) that could prove to be handy for students to use while writing research papers. Google Docs now has a search function built-in. This feature allows users to search the web without having to leave the document they're viewing. To access the new feature open the "tools" menu then select "research" while you have a document open. The search box will appear on the righthand side of your screen. See my screens...  show all text

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I think collaboration and reflection are 2 of the biggest skills that kids need but aren't really getting enough of. Having the opportunity to work together in meaningful ways and to reflect on their work and the work of their peers is key to being a learner. There are lots of tools that you can use to help kids collaborate and reflect. Blogs are a great example. Podcasts are another. However, each can be daunting to set up and actually do. That's why I love Voicethread. What is Voicethread y...  show all text

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When we talk about using cell phones in class, we’re not just talking about using cell phones in class. The idea of mobile learning touches on just about every subject that any technology addresses: social media, digital citizenship, content-knowledge versus skill-building, Internet filtering and safety laws, teaching techniques, bring-your-own-device policies, school budgets. At its core, … Continue reading →

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Earlier this month, the education startup incubator ImagineK12 held its second Demo Day, where its latest cohort of startups made their pitches to investors. I pointed to the write-up of Inigral’s Michael Staton in my weekly roundup of ed-tech news, but I realized this past week that I’ve done a particularly lousy job reviewing these latest startups here. I’ve covered Hapara and Instagrok (here and here), but that’s just two out of nine. So I’m resolved to try to cover a few more of these star...  show all text

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Earlier this month, the education startup incubator ImagineK12 held its second Demo Day, where its latest cohort of startups made their pitches to investors. I pointed to the write-up of Inigral’s Michael Staton in my weekly roundup of ed-tech news, but I realized this past week that I’ve done a particularly lousy job reviewing these latest startups here. I’ve covered Hapara and Instagrok (here and here), but that’s just two out of nine. So I’m resolved to try to cover a few more of these star...  show all text

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Some of the Internet’s best resources dedicated exclusively to educational uses of the iPad. The popularity of the iPad in our schools continues to grow, and with it, the proliferation of... [Please click on the post title to continue reading the full post. Thanks (and thanks for subscribing)!]

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Richard Rothstein gives a commencement speech that unpacks the conventional wisdom driving education policy and finds that it doesn’t always resemble the truth.

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Poll shows thousands are thinking of quitting as former Ofsted chief warns of widespread disillusionment Morale among state school teachers is at "rock bottom", according to a former chief inspector of schools, who speaks out as unions warn that a "perfect storm" of government meddling threatens an exodus of talent from the profession. Christine Gilbert, who resigned as head of Ofsted last year, said there was evidence of widespread disillusionment in schools despite the level of teacher profes...  show all text

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By cutting the number of lunch duties and other obligations outside the classroom, teachers at one school are spending more time pursuing ideas they can apply to their teaching and learning.

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I've seen plenty of presentations that try to incorporate social media, polling, and other interactive tools. It's all an effort to engage the audience and keep the conversation going. But usually these presentations don't do it right.

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Blogger and elementary principal Joe Mazza suggests (at least) 12 reasons why it's essential for school districts to open a Twitter account and start tweeting

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Mr. Sendak, known in particular for “Where the Wild Things Are,” was widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century.

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One of our main goals at Powerful Learning Practice is to turn educators into 21st Century educators. That is, teach them how to use social media and other powerful Web 2.0 tools to transform their classrooms into learning environments that are ready for today’s iGeneration students. One of the most common questions we get is, “But where do we find the time to use all this new technology?” To answer that question, we developed this infographic – A Day in the Life of a Connected Educator to show...  show all text

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Last year we introduced Hangouts On Air to a limited number of broadcasters, enabling them to go live with friends and fans, for all the world to see. Since then, this small community has grown the feature in lots of creative ways. And they’ve made one thing crystal clear: when groups of passionate individuals can broadcast live, together, the results are truly remarkable: Today we're excited to launch Hangouts On Air to Google+ users worldwide. So if you have something to say—as an aspiring...  show all text

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cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by Ken Whytock I recently decided to compile some of the blog posts that I have written regarding social media and administrators on my own blog site.  I have created a “page” for these articles that I will continue to update as I write posts that may be helpful, but I just wanted to share this as a blog post to those people who may subscribe to this through an RSS feed or email subscription.  There are so many good articles out there but I wanted to co...  show all text

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College students today are more tech savvy than ever before. Just how important is technology to their academic lives? More than 90% use email to communicate with professors and 73% say they cannot study without technology. Seven in 10 take notes on keyboards instead of paper, virtually all students who own an ereader and most use digital tools when preparing a presentation. All that tech has caused something of a dependency too — 38% of students can’t go more than 10 minutes without checking t...  show all text

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Here are five great slides that I found recently in the Great Quotes About Learning and Change Flickr pool. Which one’s your favorite? The Illusion of Lecture Master Learners Halcyon Days Good vs Good Enough The REAL Pedagogical Problem Related posts: Technology will free learning from the dead hand of the past Video – Learning to change Two great quotes from Richard Elmore

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Windows users now have a way to wirelessly mirror iPad and iPhone to their computers with AirSever. Similar to Reflection for Mac, AirServer is software installed on a desktop or laptop that turns that the computer into an AirPlay receiver with no Apple TV required. There's absolutely no software to install on iPad or iPhone because AirPlay mirroring is built into iOS (but currently only on iPad 2, iPad 3rd generation, and iPhone 4S).  AirServer offer a 7 day trial period, though you will have ...  show all text

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When used effectively, technology plays an important role in enhancing the learning process. Teachers can use digital devices to present supplemental material for lessons or to encourage students to take a more hands-on role in their education.

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Rumours of this app were leaked last week, then it all went quiet, so its good to see that there’s now an official announcement on the EdCompass blog. From this summer, teachers and students will be able to use SMART Notebook software on an iPad using the SMART Notebook app. Using the SMART Notebook app, it will be possible to use many of the tools typically used on the SMART Board. It will be possible to open SMART Notebook file on their iPad, from an e-mail or site such as Dropbox, and write,...  show all text

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Be aware of the insidious and unspoken lessons you learned as a child. To thrive in the world outside the classroom, you’re going to have to unlearn them. Dangerous things you were taught in school:             1. The people in charge have all the answers. That’s why they are so wealthy and happy and [...]

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The transition to the more extensive use of technology in classrooms across the West has resulted in the integration of bring your own device (BYOD) schemes, equipping students with netbooks and tablet computers, and lessons that use social media & online services. Gesture-based technology is on the rise; according to the latest NMC Horizon Report, gesture-based technological models will become more readily integrated as a method of learning within the next few years. The iPhone, iPad, Nintendo...  show all text

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PLPeeps blasted the Twittersphere with a who’s who of top edcuation blogs and online thought leaders in education on April 29. PLP’s second twitter chat discussed, “With everything that’s out there, who are your “go-tos” – the thinkers you want to learn from, the people who live in your world who make you laugh while showing you new ideas, the ones who always give you something you can use the next day.” Tweets went flying and while this list isn’t comprehensive, we’re sharing some of the links...  show all text

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Suzie Boss (@suzieboss on Twitter) is a journalist and author of Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age. She's also a regular blogger on Ed

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According to their latest product blog post Google Docs, which is now a part of Google Drive, now has more than 450 fonts available to all users. To access all of these new fonts select "add fonts" from the bottom of the font selection menu that you've always used. Selecting "add fonts" will open  up a new menu in which you can mix and match fonts to your heart's content. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers. Follow on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.

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Awhile ago, I wrote a post entitled, “What Should A Networked Educational Leader Tweet About?“, which was meant to be a guide to administrators new to Twitter on tweeting and sharing information using this social media tool.  It is something that I am hoping all educators can use, but I obviously think that administrators should really understand the important use of social media in schools. As our own school division and schools all over the world are starting to use organizational Twitter acc...  show all text

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