Educational Technology

Excellent Web Tools for The 21st Century Learner

July9, 2014
Today while I was browsing my Google Plus feeds I came across this wonderful work by Pip Cleaves. This is a slideshow presentation in which Cleaves features a plethora of web tools to help educators and teachers (who do not always work in the app world) create effective learning designs. These tools are arranged into six main categories:

Image credit:Pip Cleaves

Collaboration
These tools are to enhance collaborative work and interdependent performances:

Knowledge Construction
These tools are to help learners seek new venues of knowledge using a mixture of web search, content curation and content presentation.

Self- regulation
These tools help learners control and organize what they learn.

Real World Innovation and Problem Solving
In this category are featured a set of websites that provide learners with innovative and challenging ideas, projects, and thinking designs.

ICT for Learning
This category provides some examples of ICT ( Information communication technology) tools deemed important for learning.

Skillful Communication
These web tools are to enhance and develop skillful communication of digital content

Tools for 21st Century Learning Design - Web Tool Edition from Pip Cleaves

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A Great Guide to Developing Critical Thinking through Web Research Skills eBook

5:33 PM critical thinking

July 9, 2014
Developing Critical Thinking through Web Research Skills is a free PDF eBook from Microsoft for teachers and educators.This short 37 pages ebook provides a wide range of ideas for teaching web search skills and critical thinking in all grades (k-12). It also features different resources to introduce teachers to the concept of critical thinking and provides them with practical guides on how they can go about incorporating critical thinking skill in their instruction.

I came across this wonderful eBook through a resourceful list containing more than 300 free eBooks provided by Microsoft. This eBook as well all the other eBooks featured in that list are free to download. You don't need to sign up or register to download them.

Here is a quick look into the table of content of Developing Critical Thinking through Web Research Skills:

Literacy and Critical Thinking in the Digital Age
A New Set of Skills: Essential Web Research Skills
Ideas for Teaching Web Research Skills and Critical Thinking in Grades K–12
Resources
Conclusion

Developing Critical Thinking through Web Research Skills eBook is available for download from this link. Enjoy

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Teachers' Ultimate Directory of Free Image Sources

5:04 PM Public domain Image resources

July 9, 2014
Here is a great and comprehensive directory of free image sources compiled by The Edublogger. This collection is specifically created to help teachers, educators and students have instant access to a wide variety of web resources where they can search for and access free images.The sources featured in this directory are organized according to these 4 criteria:

Subjects:
This has to do with whether the resource is genre-specific or just a mass collection of different images.

High Resolution:
This shows whether the images have a high resolution quality that makes them suitable for editing and printing or not.

License:
This is about the kind of licenses under which images are listed: These licenses vary from Creative Commons, Public domain, to unique licenses that allow users to download or embed them.

Safety
This shows whether the resource is safe for student use or not.

The image resources included in this directory are arranged into the following categories:

Search engines
These are search engines that help you search for free images.

Large crowdsourced collections
These are collections provided by users on a vast network of platforms.

US government collections
These are images provided by the different officers of US government. The images are public domain (unless otherwise noted).

Unique collections
These resources are provided by individuals or small to medium-sized networks of users.

Specific subjects
These are specifically curated image resources. The images are arranged according to specific niches they pertain to.

Clipart
These resources features a wide variety of clip arts, diagrams, cartoons and several other visuals.

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10 Great Search Engines for History Teachers

5:08 PM historic map resources

July 8, 2014
After the publication of "9 Google alternatives for academics and student researchers" today I am sharing with you this excellent list of academic search engines specifically curated for history teachers. Using these search engines, you will be able to look for and find resources and materials to use in your class with your students. These resources include original historical documents, maps, images, records, memorials, primary source materials, interactive timelines and many more.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

Use the LUNA Browser to check out David Rumsey’s Map Collection with more than 30,000 images, searchable by keyword.

Genesis

Find excellent sources for women’s history with the Genesis dataset and extensive list of web resources.

Fold3

Get access to historical military records through Fold3, the web’s premier collection of original military records and memorials.

Internet Modern History Sourcebook

Use the Internet Modern History Sourcebook to find thousands of sources in modern history. Browse and search to find full texts, multimedia, and more.

Library of Anglo-American Culture and History

Use the history guide from the Library of Anglo-American Culture and History for a subject catalog of recommended websites for historians, with about 11,000 to choose from.

HistoryBuff

History Buff offers an online newspaper archive, reference library, and even a historical panoramas section in their free primary source material collection.

Digital History

University of Houston’s Digital History database offers a wealth of links to textbook, primary sources, and educational materials in digital history. The database has multimedia, an interactive timeline, active learning, and resources for teachers.

Internet Ancient History Sourcebook

The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook is a great place to study human origins, with full text and search on topics including Mesopotamia, Rome, the Hellenistic world, Late Antiquity, and Christian origins.

History and Politics Out Loud

History and Politics Out Loud offers a searchable archive of important recordings through history, particularly politically significant audio materials.

History Engine

In this tool for collaborative education and research, students can learn history by researching, writing, and publishing, creating a collection of historical articles in U.S. history that can be searched for here by scholars, teachers, and the general public.

Courtesy of: Online Universities

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6 Good Academic Search Engines for Science Teachers

4:41 PM Science resources

July 8, 2014
Below is a list of popular academic search engines with a focus on science. These search platforms will provide instant access to a wide variety of science related resources. These include journal and magazine articles, reports, documents, books, and many more.

9 Good Google Alternatives for Academics and Research Students

10 Great Search Engines for History Teachers

Biology Browser

Biology Browser is a great resource for finding research, resources, and information in the field of biology. You can also check out their Zoological Record and BIOSIS Previews.

SciCentral

Use SciCentral as your gateway to the best sources in science. This site has a literature search, journals, databases, and other great tools for finding what you need.

Strategian

Strategian is a great place to find quality information in all fields of science. Featured resources include free full-text books, patents, and reports, as well as full-text journal and magazine articles, plus a special collection of Vintage Biology with important articles and books in biology.

Science.gov

In this government science portal, you can search more than 50 databases and 2,100 selected websites from 12 federal agencies. This is an incredible resource for millions of pages of U.S. government science information.

CERN Document Server

This organization for nuclear research serves up a great search and directory for experiments, archives, articles, books, presentations, and so much more within their documents.

Analytical Sciences Digital Library

Through the Analytical Sciences Digital Library, you’ll find peer-reviewed, web-based educational resources in analytical sciences, featuring a variety of formats for techniques and applications.

WorldWideScience

Use WorldWideScience.org as a global science gateway, offering excellent search results in the sciences, and even the option to select specific databases and find resources in your own language.

Courtesy of: Online Universities

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A Comprehensive BYOD Toolkit for Schools

4:22 PM BYOD

July 7, 2014
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is not only about students bringing their own devices to class and using them for educational purposes. It is much more than just a problem of hardware but is rather a question of what "learningware" students need to install and use with their devices. Most of the discussions on BYOD center around the accessibility and availability of devices together with the fact that students are experts of their own devices.

If your school is planning to employ BYOD and is looking for some theoretical background about this trend then this comprehensive literature review is a must read. This review represents a reasonable and representative scan of the available literature on BYOD. The visual below is based on this literature review and sketches a general framework of what BYOD is all about, its models . reasons to use it and many more.This infographic is created by Pip Cleaves and the original version can be viewed from this link.

Top 16 Digital Storytelling Apps for iPad

3:57 PM iPad digital storytelling apps

July, 2014
Here is a chart I have been working on over the last couple of days. The chart features some of the best iPad apps for digital storytelling. This selection is created in such a way that teachers can find in it apps for any grade they teach. Also the chart features the most updated versions of apps. If you want to download and print this chart, use this Google Docs link. Enjoy

App name	Description
Sonic Pics	Turn your photographs into narrated slideshow movies. Here how it works: 1. Add images from your photo library or snap new ones with your camera. 2. Arrange your photos however you would like. 3. Record a voiceover narrating your images as you swipe through them.
Storyrobe	Storyrobe is an innovative tool for creative self expression with the digital media
Puppet Pals HD	Simply pick out your actors and backdrops, drag them on to the stage, and tap record. Your movements and audio will be recorded in real time for playback later.
My Story	Create and share ebooks and stories by adding drawings, photos, and stickers. Then record your voice on every page and share your story with friends, family and classmates.
Little Bird Tales	Capture the Voice of Childhood: Easy to create digital stories with recorded audio! Ideal for students in the primary.
VoiceThread	Create and share dynamic conversations around documents, snapshots, diagrams and videos -- basically anything there is to talk about. You can talk, type, and draw right on the screen.
Story Kit	Create an electronic storybook.Write some text, add some illustrations by drawing on the screen, record and add your sound and there you go.
Toontastic	Toontastic is a creative storytelling app that enables kids to draw, animate, and share their own cartoons with friends and family around the world.
ZooBurst	ZooBurst is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own augmented reality 3D pop-up books
30 Hands	30hands Mobile is a fun, innovative storytelling app that allows students, teachers and anyone with creativity to easily create narrated stories or presentations based on photos, images, drawings or video clips using an iPad
Sock Puppet	Sock Puppets lets you create your own lip-synched videos and share them on Facebook and YouTube. Add Puppets, props, scenery, and backgrounds and start creating. Hit the record button and the puppets automatically lip-synch to your voice.
Story Wheel	Story Wheel is an educational game that improves your child’s cognitive abilities. Story Wheel helps develop an understanding of story composition, strengthens imagination, and improves oral language skills. It is a perfect complement to your child’s language arts school curriculum.
i Tell a Story	“i Tell a Story” allows children to narrate and record their stories. Students can use the i Tell a Story app to practice oral reading fluency, transform poetry writing, explain how they solved a math problem, practice using new vocabulary terms, or record a written story.
Tell about This	Tell About This is an easy platform to inspire and capture children's thoughts and stories! Respond to interesting photo prompts using voice, craft custom prompts and add profiles to personalize the experience!
StoryBuilder for iPad	Story Builder is designed to help children accomplish the following educational goals: 1) Improve paragraph formation; 2) Improve integration of ideas; and 3) Improve higher level abstractions by inference.
Story Dice	Story Dice is a creative writing prompt tool to come up with ideas for plot, character, and setting. It can be used for both written and oral storytelling.