Useful links

• Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines Poster | TeachBytes A poster that sets out some copyright and fair use guidelines for teachers. Created by the people at Tech&Learning.

• A Good Digital Citizenship Poster from Edmodo ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning  “Links to a poster from the website Edmodo on the best digital citizenship practices. This visual is available for free download in PDF format. Edmodo succinctly outlined the key tips students need to keep in mind while using the digital space. These tips are valid for any kind of online as well as offline activity. The purpose is to teach kids about proper nettiquette and ensure their safety when using the net.”

• Google Classroom: Submitting Collaborative Google Slides | Teacher Tech A discussion about the value of using Google Slides in classroom situations. All students in the class can collaborate on a single Slides presentation. The teacher can view and assess/give feedback to students whilst they are working on any presentation. All students can see the contribution of other classmates easily socollaboration and peer evaluation is simple. It is also offers a simple way for everyone in the class to share their ideas and stimulate discussion.

• Massachusetts School Library Association – What does a School Librarian Do? Perceptions vs Actual Two graphic organizers created to illustrate what teacher librarians do. Ther second one is a great visualthat illustrates the scope of the job.

• Learning Spaces on Pinterest | Learning, Personal Space and Creative Area “Learning Spaces – an infographic designed to encapsulate some of the latest thinking on contemporary learning space design.”

• 20 Classroom Setups That Promote Thinking A discussion about how the setup in a classroom can impact on how students think. The gist of it is – If you design learning with physical space and interaction in mind, it absolutely can have a positive impact.

• 10 Classroom Rules for Using Technology | Educational technology | Learn2Earn Technology tools are being brought into classroom to enhance learning experiences and engage students. All teachers need expand on the set of rules to their classroom to help students understand appropriate behaviors and use of these technologies. The rules suggested in this post give students the freedom to use these new tools without abusing the privilege.

• 10 New Ideas for Creating Literacy Centers – Daily Genius An update from an earlier post. These simple but effective ideas would be easily adapted for a range of schools, classrooms and students.

• Reading Log for Kids | Reading Incentive Program | Reading-Rewards.com

• http://21cif.com/tutorials/challenge/soccerchallenge/Nyms_index.swf Interactive tutorial games to strengthen searching.

• Learning through ICT Resources. Thematic Units, Lesson Plans, Rich Topics, Educational Links and Favourites (Favorites-Bookmarks). One to One laptops “n2edu.com provides free teacher and pupil resources. Learn to Think, Learn to Learn. Online for 15+ years. The developers are pioneering in providing integrated thematic unit learning resources, that provide a basis from which rich learning tasks can be undertaken. We are one of the leading educational web-sites for educators in New Zealand.”

• Study Vibe – How to study – study skills for primary and high school studentsToll to assist you learning the research process.

• 8 Fun Free Online Creativity Tools for Students “Special highlights coming via a variety of creativity tools that add some unique and creative flair to projects.” 8 tools and discussed and links provided.

• Copyright Lesson Plans: Copyright 101 Video Lesson A lesson to explain copyright, Creative Commons, and how to license your work “

• School Library to Learning Commons: a transformational journey Presentation by SLAV member Camilla Elliott

• 5 Reasons to Teach Kids to Code Infographic | My Educational Technology Blog: A Place of Resources and Tools for Educators This infographic sets out some very good reasons to support the case for teaching coding in schools.

• 31 Amazing Sites with Free Music for Videos | McCoy Productions Post listing some great sites that offer music that can be used and shared.

• 15 Best Sites for Open Source Images “This post offers a few resources on guidelines, and then a list of the top sites for open source images that are safe to get useable pictures from. “

• Minecraft Teacher Worlds – Dr Fog Minecraft Teaching Blog “Teachers should love Minecraft. It took me a long time to discover why. The reason being that Minecraft is and will become the PowerPoint of the 21st Century. If you think about it, it still lets you share information, the difference now being the information space is in 3D.”

• Minecraft Mental Maths -Week 1 – Dr Fog Minecraft Teaching Blog Many ways teachers could use mMinecraft in learning/teaching situations.

• Educating for a Sustainable Future – Cool Australia  Cool Australia promises to make learning about our natural world exciting while making the teacher’s role easier. We bring sustainability into the heart of the curriculum by incorporating themes such as Energy, Water, Waste and Biodiversity into learning activities and units of work across the entire curriculum. “Cool Australia empowers students to construct their own vision of a positive future. Cool Australia is for all teachers especially those who thought that sustainability was not in their brief or was too big to tackle.”

• The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2015 – So Far | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… A very useful summary of some of the available technologies

• 6 Ways to Motivate Teachers: Be the Hope @coolcatteacher

• 10 Formative Assessments Tech Tools to Put to the Test in 2015 | edutechchick “Technology, as an instructional tool, can be especially powerful when used to conduct formative assessments because technology has the ability to provide feedback in a very timely manner”

• Code talkers: Education’s new literacy | The Underdog’s Advocate A post that asks “Are we preparing students for a future-ready, tech-based economy?

• How To Embed Pinterest Boards And Pins On Your Blog – The Edublogger Pinterest remains a popular tool that is being used by educators in a variety of ways. This post offers an easy to follow “How-to” if you want to embed pinterest images or boards. ” You can link from your blog to your Pinterest boards, but often bloggers like to embed specific pins or entire boards into their blog to create a better user experience for their readers. Pinterest makes this easy to accomplish. You can embed either pins or boards into your blog in just a few steps.”

• The Ultimate Guide to Gamifying Your Classroom | Edudemic “A gamified classroom has many benefits. Students are required to think critically, problem-solve, consider alternative solutions, and analyze information from multiple sources. Gamification, though, is no easy chore and you may need a lot of support along the way. Our best advice is to smart small, dive in, see what works, and tweak your plans along the way. We’d love to hear about your experiences with gamification in the classroom”

• Digital Citizenship One Liners | Teacher Tech “We all know we need to teach students how to behave appropriately on the internet, avoid scams, be safe and how to be digitally literate. Digital citizenship should be part of every classrooms curriculum, not just the responsibility of a tech class. Common Sense Media has a wealth of resources and lesson plans for teachers on digital citizenship. The presentation in this post is a crowd sourced document of one liners of digital citizenship that can be used in faculty meetings, with students or professional development workshops. You canAdd your own digital citizenship one liners @ http://goo.gl/7mSvhK”

• 5 Reasons Why Maker Days/Labs/Spaces Can Trump Traditional Library Programming — @TLT16 Teen Librarian Toolbox “One librarian discusses what makes a maker lab/space more desirable than engaging in more traditional library programming.”

• Digital Citizenship “NIST Year 9 students have worked very hard to collaboratively create this website. This website will teach you all about Digital citizenship and how important it is in the online world. Students have either worked alone or in groups to create videos which will teach you about the various different sections of digital citizenship, these include; Ergonomics, Online Safety, Online Security, Social Media Safety, Digital Etiquette, License and Rights, Digital Commerce and Online Tips. “

• Teacher Recommended: 50 Favorite Classroom Apps | MindShift | KQED News “The annual list of apps that educators favor this year shares some commonalities with last year’s favorites. Teachers tend to drop apps if they become too expensive or sometimes if the updates are so overwhelming that they no longer know how to use the product. It’s a delicate balance:”

• How is “Connected” Connected? | My Island View “There are discussions of the “connected educator” in various blog posts. In 21st century model of education the term “connected educator” in this context refers to educators who are exploring or embracing the development of collegial sources and access to all sources through connections made using technology. They are still maintaining relationships with colleagues in their buildings and district, and they still maintain connections with students and parents. They are expanding their reach however to global connections made possible through technology. .”

• How to Create a Powerpoint Presentation that Won’t Put People to Sleep [Infographic] | Daily Infographic

• The positive connection between games and online learning | The Edvocate Game-based learning has the potential to drastically improve the way children are taught. Games have peculiar qualities that let them engage hard-to-reach students in a way lessons cannot. Researchers have begun to explore the intrinsic qualities of games that make them promising learning tools, and anecdotal evidence is available everywhere.

• Code Club at Clifton Hill Primary School – YouTube “Explore Code the Future’s first code club. David, a software engineer, and Kate, a teacher at Clifton Hill Primary School in Melbourne, Australia, show us around their weekly code club.”

• Trying to dig deep with a flipped classroom | Innovative pedagogy – Dean Pearman The author discusses why he is a fan of the flipped classroom. “The flipped classroom allows the class to dig a little deeper into active learning. It’s a big misconception that the flipped classroom is about making videos and placing them online, sure that’s one part of it. It’s an important part of the puzzle as its forces you to focus on the explicit content you would like students to know. Making a 5 – 8 minute lesson isn’t easy, but it certainly makes you consider what your learning objectives are . The real power of the flipped classroom is what happens the next day in class. The flipped classroom opens up opportunities. My main goal is to go deeper and have students participate in a richer active learning experience where I become more of a coach to guide their learning. The classes become much more collaborative in nature where students are solving complex problems with an emphasis on higher order and critical thinking skills.”

• 4 Educational Apps That Schools Love | EdTech Magazine “Educators weigh in on their schools’ favorite Google Play for Education apps.”

• 7 Skills Students Need for Today’s Classwork | Ask a Tech Teacher “Classrooms are infused with technology. Many lessons ask students to use for online or digital tools. Accomplishing this so it serves educational goals isn’t as much about knowing how to use the tools as constructing knowledge in an organic, scalable way. To prepare students to make the cerebral leap between tools used for a particular project and tools available as-needed requires preparation in eight areas discussed in this post.”

• How to Lead Professional Development for Makerspace and STEM Educators | EdSurge News “How does one lead professional development when introducing a makerspace? At Elizabeth Forward High School, the 2015 Pittsburgh FAB Institute was held June 15 – 18, 2015. Sponsored by the Grable Foundation, the 2015 Pittsburgh FAB Institute provided a rich professional development to 75 teachers across the country focusing on digital fabrication. These educators ranged from beginners to experts, elementary, middle and high school teachers, educators from museums, college professors and school administrators and these educators were interested in what aFABLab looks like in schools.”

• Lifehacker Pack for Chrome: Our List of the Essential Extensions “Google’s Chrome browser is packed full of an incredible amount of extensions that add all sorts of functionality. It’s tough to sift through the store to find what’s useful though, so Lifehacker has put together a collection of the best Chrome extensions.”

• EdTechTeam: 10 Ways to Change Your Classroom with Google Cardboard

• “Animal Farm”: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion | EDSITEment

• Minecraft Resources for Teachers on Flipboard | Flipboard “The game Minecraft is an emerging way to teach and learn basic concepts of collaboration in the classroom. Minecraft rose to popularity due to elaborate pop culture recreations and the ability to explore other people’s lands. With Minecraft, students can learn about survival, experience history digitally and create models of cells for biology class. If you are using Minecraft in your class, follow these magazines to get new ideas for your lesson plan.”

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.