A Great Visual Timeline Chronicling The Major Literary Events, Movements, and Authors

July 1, 2014
Here is a wonderful infographic that has been making rounds online during this week.This visual which is created by online-literature captures some of the major literary periods and movements from the medieval period stretching between 500 to 1500 to the post modernist era that started in the late sixties of last century and is still going on till today. This timeline also chronicles important events that marked the trajectory of literary history together with brief mentions of the popular authors in each of these eras (from Beowulf to Samuel Beckett).

This visual can be a great resource to share with students to help them learn about the major events, movements, and authors that shaped the literary history. And if students want to learn more about each of the literary eras featured in this timeline they can browse this Literary Periods page.

Click Here to access the full original timeline.

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Map Terms Kids Should Know About

June 30, 2014
Teaching kids how to use and work on maps starts first with getting them acquainted with the map terminology. These are the different geographic terms and map concepts that will allow students to identify and understand the lingo used in map creation and description.For instance to describe the exact position of a point, students need to know the difference between absolute and relative locations. They should also able to understand what the word equator or hemisphere means. These and several other important map terminology are included in this wonderful article from Kid World Citizen.

image source: http://kidworldcitizen.org/

These map words and concepts are illustrated and defined in such a simple language that your kids will easily grasp. Share the list with your kids and students and when they are ready to start creating their own maps, these map creation tools are a great start for them.

I learned about this resource through Langwitches.

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Over 40 Great Websites for Kids and Young Learners

June 30, 2014
Looking for some wonderful sites for your first graders ? The resource below is definitely a must have. This is a Symbaloo board created by Emily Richeson where she featured 45 websites particularly curated for young learners.These sites include interactive games and exercises to provide your first graders with practice on key literacy areas such as Math, reading, and writing. I spent sometime sifting through these sites and I found them really worth sharing with you here. I invite you to have a look and share with your colleagues.

Click here to access these websites.

For those of you not yet familiar with Symbaloo. This is a personal startpage that allows you to easily navigate the web and compile your favorite site all in to one visual interface. Save your bookmarks in the cloud and access them from anywhere with any device. Watch this video to learn more about Symbaloo.

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A Comprehensive Guide Featuring 101 iPad Tips and Tricks

June 29, 2014
I just came across this wonderful guide and could not let it go without sharing it with you here in EdTech and Mlearning. Whether you have just bought a new iPad or you have been using one for awhile now, this guide will definitely help you make the best out of your "iPadding experience". I have spent sometime trying out some of the tips it features and I am really amazed at how much I did not know I could do on my iPad.

image credit: gottabemobile.com

This guide, created by Josh Smith , features 101 iPad tips and tricks. And as Josh said, "this list of over 100 iPad tips and tricks is broken down by tips to help you get started, use the keyboard better, surf the web on the iPad easier, sync your photos, data and calendars as well as get the most out of your iPad with entertainment apps and services."

Here are the 9 main sections of this guide. Clicking on anyone of them will take you to the part of the guide  where you can read more about it.

• iPad Setup Tips
• iPad Tips & Tricks for New Users
• iPad Keyboard Tips & Tricks
• iPad Web Browsing Tips
• iPad Camera & Photo Tips
• iPad Entertainment Tips
• iPad Apps and Organization
• Email and FaceTime Tips
• Bonus Tips & Tricks

All thanks go back to Penina Rybak throug whose Tweet I learned about this guide.

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Interactive Visual Featuring 6 Tasks You Can Easily Do Using iPad

June 28, 2014
This is an interactive image (created using Thinglink) that features a bunch of useful iPad apps that you can use to do tasks you would traditionally do using a pen and paper. I really liked the idea of providing alternatives to do things digitally. For instance, instead of taking notes in a notebook or on paper you can use Evernote or any other note taking app to do it on iPad. The good thing about doing things digitally is that you have the added advantage of accessing, editing, and sharing your work across different devices and platforms and also saving it on the cloud to access it anytime anywhere you go.

As is the case with all the interactive Thinglink images I shared here in the past, the app icons shared here are hyperlinked, just hover your mouse over any of them to access it on the iTunes app store.

Source: Apple A Day


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StoryDesk- A Powerful Alternative to PowerPoint and Prezi

June , 2014
StoryDesk is a good presentation app for iPad. Its beautiful interface makes it fast and easy to create presentations that help you break down complex concepts into bite-sized, easily understood bits. In many ways, StoryDesk is a next generation alternative to PowerPoint and Prezi.

How StoryDesk Works
At it’s core, StoryDesk is a collection of interactive templates. These templates do all kinds of stuff – ranging from video playback, to file storage, to playful and engaging ways to make your existing content interactive. To begin, you first download StoryDesk from the Apple App Store. It’s a free app (at least the basic version is). Once you’ve registered, you can tap the + button to create a new presentation. From here, a few templates are automatically dropped in to the presentation. But the first thing you’ll notice is that the structure of the presentation looks nothing like a typical slide show. It’s nonlinear – meaning you can organize your slides in a grid. This is really interesting, as it lets the presenter create hierarchies of content. The important stuff can live at the top, while the finer points can be layered below. It’s very novel way to present – kudos to StoryDesk for coming up with this type of
navigation.
Creating Content
Adding content to the templates is as simple as tapping and holding on the templates. Here I can add photos or text or video (and more).

The files are imported from the cloud – either using one of the many storage services StoryDesk integrates with (Google, Dropbox, Box, and more). Files can also be uploaded to StoryDesk’s content management, found at StoryDesk.com.

StoryDesk’s Interactive Templates are phenomenal. I counted close to 50, and they’re all designed for touch-interactivity. My favorites were Robusto, Burns, and VideoStar. The templates make creating a beautiful presentation idiot proof. In the instances when I prefer to use content I already have (like a PowerPoint or a Keynote), I used the “Slider” template to drop in a PDF version of the slide. Super
easy.
Navigation
This is where StoryDesk differs dramatically from the typical slide show. Instead of only being able to flip left and right, StoryDesk enables nonlinear navigation. With a single swipe I can navigate to any screen I need to. This very much changes the flow of presentations. Instead of the content driving the conversation, the content can support the conversation. It reflects the changing nature of presentations, which are a lot more conversational and interactive than they used to be.
RoundtableTM
Roundtable is StoryDesk’s latest feature. It lets a presenter guide a group presentation from her device to up to 10,000 iPads. Seriously. I don’t know who presents to audiences of 10,000, but it’s nice to know you can. The audience can follow along and interact with the content, but only the presenter has the power to advance to the next screen. 

Watch this video to learn more about StoryDesk

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31 Paid Android Apps Are Free Today (Offer Expires Tomorrow)

June , 2014
Here is a good deal for Android users from Amazon App Store. Today I learned from Digital Inspiration that the Amazon App store is giving away a package comprised of 31 paid Android apps worth a little over $100 for free. This is only a limited offer which will expire tomorrow (28th June).

The  apps offered in this package are multifarious and cover a wide variety of areas. Some of the popular apps include gaming and utility apps such as Splashtop ( remote desktop), media streaming (Plex), language help ( Travel Interpreter) and backup app ( MyBackup Pro).

Not all of these apps have educational value but they can be great for personal uses. To download these apps you need to have Appstore installed on your phone. For those of you who haven't installed it yet, read this detailed guide to learn how to do it.



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