8 Education Technology Books Every Leader Should Read

“Over the past few years I have read a fair collection of winners, a fair collection of losers and far too many mediocre education technology books. The aim here is to share the ones that have been so highly recommended they are considered must reads. Each of these has been a recommendation from someone within my PLN and so comes from very good authority and credibility. And of course, to continue learning from this PLN please do add your own suggestions and must-reads in the comments below.”

tags: educational technology edtech books educationalleadership

The Biggest Loser 2013 – Google Drive

12 Most Picture Perfect Ways To Ensure You’re Legally Using Online Photos

“US Copyright laws may be years behind the fast-paced world of social media and blogs, but they still control how a copyrighted work can be used. And while there are aspects of Copyright law that have “gone digital,” the Digital Millennium Copyright Act doesn’t provide anything new when it comes to explaining how to properly use another person’s photos or images online. And because most people won’t read the law and even those who do may not understand exactly what it means, I offer you these to help you”

tags: copyright photos images digitalimages digitalphotos

The Dos and Don’ts of Teaching Digital Literacy | Common Sense Media

“Is there a right and a wrong way to teach social media in schools? Some administrators think so.

Many schools across the country have banned the use of social networking platforms, but others are transitioning to a more proactive approach. Many experts and school officials say that abandoning the more reactionary responses to social media is the first step toward implanting a more effective digital literacy education.”

tags: digital literacy literacy digital citizenship digitalcitizenship

importance of eportfolios for today’s students & job seekers | Emerging Education Technology

ePortfolios are still a key component to getting into the schools you want and getting hired for the jobs you desire. In fact, it’s safe to say that they matter just as much now as they ever did, if not more. The reason we’ve stopped seeing as many articles about ePortfolios is because they’ve approached standard practice in the education and employment fields. It’s taken for granted that today’s students will know how to create one by the time they complete their college degrees and seek new employment opportunities, if they didn’t already create one as they prepared to apply to colleges.

tags: eportfolio portfolio digitalportfolio

7 Image Editing Tools to Create Awesome Visual Content | Inspiring Generosity

tags: editing tools image pictures images digitalimages

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Wonderful Free Templates to Create Newspapers for your Class ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

“If you want to create a newspaper for your class, you can do it through one of these templates. The procedure is very easy. Just download the template you are going to use, and once downloaded open the file and start customizing it the way you want. You can insert your text , images, change text colour and fonts, change headings and titles.”

tags: educational technology templates newspapers class

How to Foster Grit, Tenacity and Perseverance: An Educator’s Guide | MindShift

“How can we best prepare children and adolescents to thrive in the 21st century? This question is at the heart of what every educator attempts to do on a daily basis. Apart from imparting content of knowledge and facts, however, it’s becoming clear that the “noncognitive competencies” known as grit, perseverance, and tenacity are just as important, if not more so, in preparing kids to be self-sufficient and successful.To that end, the Department of Education’s Office of Technology has released a report called Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance”

tags: education teaching 21stcenturylearning

Kodu Game Lab – Microsoft Research FUSE Labs

“Kodu lets kids create games on the PC and XBox via a simple visual programming language. Kodu can be used to teach creativity, problem solving, storytelling, as well as programming. Anyone can use Kodu to make a game, young children as well as adults with no design or programming skills.”

tags: game lab microsoft research fuse

Pixabay – Public Domain Images

Finding free quality images is a tedious task – mainly due to copyright issues, attribution requirements, or simply lack of quality. This inspired us to create Pixabay – a repository for outstanding public domain images. You can freely use any image from this website in digital and printed format, for personal and commercial use, without attribution requirement to the original author.

tags: public domain photos photography stock images

Beyond the Book Report: Ten Alternatives | Edutopia

“Let’s consider some activities that allow a student to show understanding of a book and that might be enjoyable. This selection of activities is also intended to meet the needs of different kinds of learners — or to contribute to the development of skills beyond writing. I often allowed students choice in deciding how they wanted to respond to a book — they could choose from a list like the one below.”

tags: stories digitalstorytelling projects bookreport

20+ Storybook Creation Tools and Apps : Teacher Reboot Camp

GREAT List and summary of storybook creation tools

tags: stories digitalstorytelling onlinestories

iPad apps for learning objectives

iPads have exploded throughout schools and classrooms. Their flexibility, versatility, and mobility make them a phenomenal learning tool. As teachers seek ways to integrate these devices, we recommend focusing on specific learning goals that promote critical-thinking, creativity, collaboration, and the creation of student-centric learning environments. Below, you will find a list of objectives, each one connecting to recommended apps and tools.

tags: ipad apps ipads