Your bank data, your accounts, your email, and your life are all wrapped up in your ability to create secure passwords and remember them. And yet most educators (and their students) struggle to remember passwords. With so many passwords stolen, there are things all of us SHOULD know to make our identities and bank accounts safer. Mark Burnett, author of the most commonly used passwords wordcloud featured on this post, says that the top 10,000 passwords represent 98.8% of all users. (This was said before services like Last Pass began being used.) So this means that if a hacker has those 10,000 passwords and takes a crack at your account, then 98.8% of us are at risk. Wake up and smell the cybercrime, friends. It is time to get savvy. 1 - Never Tape It On Your Desk Most password theft happens because of "social engineering." Most people keep their password taped under their keyboard or in the right or left hand drawer or wallet. Get an app like Password Caddy (http://j.mp/pcaddy)  on your phone and store your password there, not out where the world can see it. 2 - Switch to a passphrase Use a phrase instead with uppercase, lowercase, and numbers included. Ilovetofishat6:00am! is an example. 3 - Don’t be obvious If you look at the worst passwords of 2013 (http://j.mp/worstpass) 123456 and password top the list. (Sunshine and letmein are also in the top.) Don’t use your spouse’s name, kids, grandkids, birthdays, phone numbers or a keyboard row of any kind. 4- Never save your passwords in your web browser Unless you’re using LastPass or another secure service, this is the worst way to save your passwords. 5 - Have a unique password for your bank and email account NOW When you sign up for a site that asks for your email and password - DON’T ENTER YOUR PASSWORD TO YOUR EMAIL. It is asking you to set up a NEW password for that particular site. No one will ever ask for your email password. No one. Your email password and your banking password should be unique and NEVER USED AS THE PASSWORD ON ANY OTHER SITE. 6 - TRICK: substitute numbers and letters Pick certain numbers to replace letters - like a code — you could always use the number 7 instead of T’s for example. 7 - TRICK: Use the site name somehow in the password You can have a system for passwords but make them unique by using the site name you’re logging into somehow. 8  - Use a password manager Many experts are recommending password managers after the recent Heartbleed bug that impacted 60% of ecommerce websites. (http://j.mp/pwdmgr) Remember that if you mess up and forget your master password for one of these services you’re locked out of everything permanently. You could write it down and lock it in your safety deposit box.  One Password, LastPass, Dashlane are 3 good ones. (I use LastPass and love it but it does take some getting used to.) 9 - Use a fingerprint reader Biometrics or the using of your fingerprint or some other unique identifier related to your biology is definitely the way things are going. I love the fingerprint unlock on my iPhone 5s. (NYMI has a heartbeat sign in tool coming the end of the summer.) 10 - Lock your screen and log out If you step away from your computer or mobile, set it to lock or log out. This is particularly important for teachers. If all of this overwhelms you, get LastPass and be done with it. Only .18% of us have completely unique passwords. It is time to wise up - we can do better. Having a method to remember highly secure passwords will keep you and your loved ones safe. Spread the word. This article was adapted from one I published in my newspaper column for the Camilla Enterprise/ Pelham Journal. The post 10 Important Password Tips Everyone Should Know appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Email is not free. It never has been. Surprisingly, the average office worker spends one fourth of their workday reading and responding to email. To stop one of the biggest culprits of wasted inbox space, help everyone understand five email basics before forwarding  mail of any kind. 5 Things to Know Before Forwarding Mail to Anyone 1 - Check for Accuracy on Snopes Most importantly, the frantic emails with breaking information are usually false. Before forwarding mail, research the facts at snopes.com. Tech Tip: Any time you get an "urgent warning" from someone via email, ask yourself if you know the person who claims this experience. Is this a friend of a friend of a friend or someone you know? Keep in mind, sometimes real things happen to real people and email can be a great way to prevent your friends in an area where scammers are operating from being taken. Take examples like the flyer in the carjacking ploy  to be alerted that all that is urgent is not so. In this case, the previous carjacking example has been flying through people’s inboxes in some form since 2004. Do your research and stop the madness! You harm your credibility when you don’t check your facts! When you forward a hoax email, you show that you don’t confirm the accuracy of what you repeat. (It makes us wonder what else you tell us that you don’t verify, for example, gossip.) To keep your credibility, tell everyone the corrected information when you find proof that your earlier email is false. 2 - Change the Subject Line Getting messages that say Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: (Like Mistake #1 above) show that the last four people who forwarded the message didn’t change the subject line. To clearly help your friends know what is in the message, change the subject (and remove the Fw’s.) 3 - Add a Comment on the Email Readers want to understand why messages from you are important. (See Mistake #3 above.) So, if you’re too busy to comment about something by typing your thoughts at the top, don’t forward. I’ve even seen people who forwarded to 20 people without reading it first. Now they have wasted the time of another 20 people. How rude! 4 - Delete the Emails on the Message Would you give your friends’ phone numbers to strangers? Many don’t know when they forward without deleting email addresses at the top of the message body, they’re doing the same thing with email. Eventually, when those long messages with everyone’s emails fall in the hands of con artists, everyone on that message will have their email sold to spammers or identity thieves. In mistake #2 above, the sender of the message included everyone’s email and the previous sender did too! I’ve seen forwarded emails with hundreds of email addresses - ripe for email harvesters to grab them. Tech Tip: This practice is called email harvesting and is also why listing emails publicly on a website is a bad idea. That is why you’ll see people spell out their email like vicki [at] coolcatteacher [dot] com instead of typing the address. In other words, when someone gets your forward, the words of what you are forwarding should be at the top of the message - nothing else. They shouldn’t scroll down until eternity comes to read your message. (See Mistake #4 above.)  Additionally, they should never see anyone else’s emails. 5 - Protect Email Privacy: Use Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) for Distribution Lists Understandably, people get angry when their private email is shared without permission. To explain this point further, when an organization sends a message to everyone without using BCC, everyone on the message sees your email address. (See example #2) If he was included in the message, crazy old Uncle Bosephus can now fill everyone’s inboxes with his information that aliens are going to land in town square a week from Sunday. Click the BCC to send a blind carbon copy. This practice comes from typewriter days when they would make a carbon copy that went to someone not listed on the memo or letter — or a blind copy. It is perfectly acceptable practice to use this for distribution emails, however, if sending an email to a few people, it is best practice for everyone to know who they are (unless they would mind the others seeing their emails.) Here’s a trick to send messages to large groups while protecting privacy. Email recipients have your email in the From: line, so type yours in the To: box as well. Then, put your friends’ emails in the Bcc: box. As a result, the only email message that shows is yours in the To: box. You’ve protected your friend’s privacy as you email a group. Tech Tip: Most email programs will limit you to 50 people on a message, so if you want to use more, create a distribution group of some kind. If you do this a lot with your personal email and someone reports you as a spammer, your email may get "blacklisted" by others, making it impossible for them to get your message. This is why professional organizations should use Mailchimp or Aweber instead for their mailings. If one person gets marked a spammer, it could impact everyone in the organization. So, friends, think before you forward. Time is money. Don’t waste either. And hey, while you’re at it, maybe you should forward this to your fast forwarding friends. This article was adapted from one I published in my newspaper column for the Camilla Enterprise/ Pelham Journal. If you think your local newspaper might be interested in syndicating my column, ask them to contact me. I believe that the only way to combat cyber criminals is to start doing a better job of educating everyone on technology in simple ways. It will make stronger communities. The post 5 Email Tips Everyone Should Know Before Forwarding Mail appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Reinventing Writing, the print copy, will be shipping soon. I’ve worked so hard on the research and writing of this book to be helpful to the modern teacher. While the Reinventing Writing Kindle Version is out already, the print copies are supposed to ship June 11. In celebration, I’m hosting a Goodreads author giveaway and giving away 2 copies of the book! Enter now and enjoy. If you want to know more about this book, review the book trailer and table of contents or see what early reviewers have said. Goodreads Book Giveaway Reinventing Writing by Vicki A. Davis Giveaway ends June 10, 2014. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win Hat tip to Joanna Penn for her great podcast The Creative Penn who taught me about the Goodreads Author program. Visit my Goodreads Author Page.  The only drawback of Goodreads for authors is that although it pulls in Amazon star ratings, people call also rate your book on Goodreads who aren’t verified purchasers. Sometimes people for whatever reason may rate your book who haven’t read it. But if you’re going to write anything,  you have to have a thick enough skin to put yourself out there or don’t write. I think this book will be helpful for anyone using technology tools to write. The focus is on the tools and how to use them. Enter to win the book! The post BOOK GIVEAWAY: Enter to Win a Copy of Reinventing Writing appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

The #WorkWonders contest is here! Quickly snap a picture of something you’ve created  in Microsoft Office and share it to me in Twitter or Instagram . To enter, include the hashtags #WorkWonders and #contest . At the end of the contest, the best one wins a Microsoft Surface 2. What a perfect reason to try out the new Office Mix or Office 365. If you can, I’d love links to videos, blog posts, or examples of what you’re doing to share with other teachers. Visit the Work Wonders Website! How I #WorkWonders with Office Mix: Surface Pro (v1) with keyboard, stylus, Microsoft Wedge touch mouse and my external USB mic . Krispy the Cat gave no assistance. You can win a Microsoft Surface 2 and a featured blog post here on my blog where I write about what you’ve done. How I #WorkWonders Every Day I use Microsoft Office every single day (as I have since 1987 when I was a freshman in college and first cracked open my software box for Microsoft Word.) You can see how I #WorkWonders by just looking at my new book Reinventing Writing. I wrote the book in Microsoft Word while exchanging revisions and comments with my publisher.  As seen in the picture, I used my Surface Pro and the free PowerPoint Office Mix to #WorkWonders — the book trailer to launch my new book Reinventing Writing. In my classroom, well, let me count the ways: In my classroom I #WorkWonders by creating presentations, review games, and screencasts in PowerPoint. All of my complex rubrics are created in Excel and I duplicate the pages to give feedback for each student and print a personal copy of the rubrics while Excel does the Math for me. I write most of the curriculum for my students in Microsoft Word and print it as epaper to give digital handouts. Oh, and then there’s OneNote - I take notes into OneNote on my Interactive White Board (IWB) and we share notes together in that amazing notetaking service. When I create tickets for the scavenger hunt games we play, I use Publisher to create those (including QR Codes) and use Access to track the equipment we have all over campus in my IT Role. Now, all of this has gone more portable with my Surface Pro 1. In my experience, the Surface Pro 1 is the best laptop I’ve ever owned. (See picture.) In fact, it is so small I carry it in my pocketbook everywhere. Later today, I’m going to share a blog post to dive deeper into Office Mix.  Office Mix is the greatest screencasting tool anywhere. For this reason, every flipped classroom teachers should try it out. ### How to Enter the #WorkWonders Contest 1. Snap a Photo or Screenshot. Take a picture  or screenshot that answers this prompt: How do you #WorkWonders using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, One Note, Access, Publisher or Lync? (For the purpose of being even more helpful to others links blog posts are welcome but not required. Just send the link to your blog post with the pic.) Although your entry doesn’t have to be for use in the classroom, I’ll take a shine to teaching or something used by schools. 2. Enter Via Twitter or Instagram Send me a picture of what you did (to @coolcatteacher on Twitter and Instagram.) 2 Hashtags Required: #WorkWonders #contest To earn extra favor with the judges (me) you can include a link to a blog, website, or video with more info in your tweet or Instagram status. See full contest rules and prizes but only one entry per person and sorry, international friends, US only. See Official Contest Rules How Will the #WorkWonders Winner Be Judged? You can win a Microsoft Surface 2 by entering the #WorkWonders contest with a simple tweet or Instagram post hashtagged #WorkWonders #contest  Creativity/Originality (25%)  Quality of Submission (25%); and  Fit to Applicable Contest Theme (50%). I’ll be judging entries sent to me on Instagram and Twitter.  During the contest, I’ll be sharing the cool stuff you’re doing as it comes in. ### What Do You Win in the #WorkWonders Contest? Microsoft Surface 2 Tablet A special blog post I’ll write here about you and your creation The joy of  inspiring other people! (And the eternal gratitude of Krispy the Cat.) #WorkWonders Contest Details Launch Date: 6/3 When this post goes live! End Date: 6/9 (at midnight EDT) Winner announced: 6/16 So, quickly, get out your camera or take a screenshot now, it will take just a moment to enter. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Legal residents of the 50 United States (DC), 18 years or older. Enter Promotion by: 6/9/14. To enter and for Official Rules, including prize description, visit http://bit.ly/1lQtjOu. Void where prohibited. Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) The post Share how you #WorkWonders with Microsoft Office and Win! appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

The #WorkWonders contest is in high gear. As a result, people are sharing how they #WorkWonders using Microsoft Office by posting pictures on Twitter and Instagram. (This morning’s post gives contest info.) Since I’m asking you to share how you #WorkWonders, I’m going to share one way I #WorkWonders using Microsoft PowerPoint and the new (free) Office Mix Plug-in. To do this, all you need to do is have PowerPoint 2013 and download the Office Mix Plug In from their website. How I #WorkWonders With Office Mix: The Best Screencasting Tool Ever This year I’ve used screencasts to create lessons as my students learn how to use Microsoft Office in sophia. They learn online and I travel the room and help them face to face. While it uses the flipped classroom techniques,this isn’t flipping because students are using the screencasts in class. Think of it like team teaching with myself - an online me and a face to face me. To #workwonders with Office Mix, I used my Surface Pro (v1) with keyboard, a Wacomm Bamboo stylus , a Microsoft Wedge touch mouse and my Blue Snowball USB mic to get good sound. No cat required to do this. Because it is so easy, Office Mix is changing everything about how I screencast. Just click the Office Mix Plug in inside PowerPoint and record the video slide by slide. It lets you do screencasting, embed videos, write on the screen and will record webcam. To see how Office Mix works, watch  the book trailer I made with it. PowerPoint is natural fit for me this week when I needed to create my booktrailer for my recently launched Reinventing Writing Book. I used my PowerPoint slides I already had with Office Mix plug-in on my Surface Tablet to #WorkWonders. ( Although I have a fancy mic in my setup in the picture, the mic inside the Surface Pro would be just fine.) Because the app is so great, I would be sharing about Office Mix whether I ran this contest or not. Office Mix is that good. Watch the Book Trailer on the Office Mix Site or Download It How Do You #WorkWonders? Enter and win a Surface 2. How do you #WorkWonders with Microsoft Office? Quickly grab your phone or take a screenshot of something you’ve created in Microsoft Office and send it to me via Twitter or Instagram with the hashtags #WorkWonders #contest . See yesterday’s post for more about the contest and judging. Learn More About the #WorkWonders Contest When the contest is over next Monday, the winner gets their own Surface 2. (As can be seen in my video, if you don’t have a touch screen to use with Office Mix, you’ll want one.) Do something awesome with Office - no matter how big or small, #WorkWonders and share it now. Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) The post How I #WorkWonders With Office Mix and PowerPoint appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Most educators use Microsoft Office every day but don’t unleash its power. Here are 15 ways you can #WorkWonders with Microsoft Office with links to ideas. You have until Monday to snap a picture of how you #WorkWonders and send it to me on Twitter or Instagram. As I announced Tuesday, the winner will receive a Surface 2. (See Tuesday’s post for full details.) #WorkWonders from around the US are pouring in on the official #WorkWonders website so feel free to browse their entries to figure out what you want to share. Microsoft Office is something many of us have been using every day for twenty years or more. Why not celebrate the coolness? I opened my first box with Microsoft Word in 1987 and it has been there like a close friend ever since. After I show you an example of a graphic I made in PowerPoint, let’s dig deeper into Microsoft Office with some cool free resources. How I #WorkWonders Using PowerPoint Below you can see the 20 Questions from Chapter 2 of my new book Reinventing Writing. I created this in PowerPoint using Smart Art. If you’re curious, I added the numbers by inserting text boxes. The arrow is a symbol and I found the check icon from a site with free clip art. Many people don’t realize, there are guides to help you align everything in PowerPoint, too or you can hold down control and click the items you want to align and use the alignment buttons. In this example, you see the 20 questions we should ask about any technology tool before using it in our school. I created this for Chapter 2 Reinventing Writing and the publisher and I liked it so much, we kept it in the book.  Because it is so easy, PowerPoint is my go-to tool for making graphics of any kind and I teach this to students. When I created charts an tables for my book Reinventing Writing, it was easier for me to just make them in PowerPoint and save as an image to insert in my manuscript in Microsoft Word. Most of the images created originally in PowerPoint are used throughout the book. This is just one way I work wonders using Microsoft Office. (To find out more about the 20 questions to ask, see chapter 2 of my new book Reinventing Writing (c) 2014 Vicki A. Davis and Routledge Publishing More ideas… 15 Simple Ideas of Ways to Work Wonders with Microsoft Office Don’t let this limit your imagination. I’ve also given you examples and websites if you want to know more ways to #WorkWonders. Try one of these and snap a pic! Do you collaborate with peers on documents using Office 365? Grab a screenrecording of how it works or take a pic. (See these great tips for collaborating in Office 365.) Have you created a screencast for your students using PowerPoint Office Mix? Share the video. Do you create cool rubrics using Excel? (You can make and download them at Rubistar or use this tutorial.) Do you use Excel for data analytics or charting? (If you use a screen snip, remember to blur out anyone’s name that might show.) Did you know Microsoft has a Data Analysis Toolpak that is a pretty cool add in. Have you written or created something lately to share with others using Microsoft Office? Do you have a cool hack or trick that you use almost every day in Office that will help other educators? (Loved the recent Lifehacker 6 Tips on Better Formatting in Microsoft Word.) Do you take notes with your students in One Note? Do you share your lesson plans or other items in One Note? (See this extensive One Note Tutorial at udemy that you and your students will love.) Do you take notes with others for a class in One Note? (Did you know this tool is free to download?) Do you share papers or edit collaboratively with your students, teacher, or professor? Do you have a cool way you use PowerPoint to teach and engage students? Grab a picture or share a screencast? (Have you seen the Pinterest Boards with free PowerPoint templates for teachers?) Have you already created or shared something cool that you’re doing with Office almost every day? Do you connect and talk live with collaborators while you’re writing or creating documents together? Do you create infographics or charts using Powerpoint? (Most of my graphics for my new book Reinventing Writing were created using Smart Art and Tables in Powerpoint and saved as a tiff or png — see below for an example.) Share those charts and what you did. Do you have your students create newsletters in Publisher? (Have you see the new Publisher templates online?) Do you have your students use SmartArt to compare things, create Venn Diagrams or make infographics?(See these Smart Art Tutorials and Tips) You have until Monday to share how you #WorkWonders using Microsoft Office. Grab a quick screenshot or picture (as I did here) of something you’ve created and send me the pic via Twitter or Instagram right now. You could win a Surface 2. See Official Contest Rules   Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) The post 15 Ways to #WorkWonders with Microsoft Office. Share yours #edchat appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Three D Printers are exciting new technologies, but what are the best practices? Kelly Hines received a MakerBot 3D printer through a proposal she created on Donors Choose. The 3D printer has transformed her classroom in so many ways but is not as hard to use as you might think. In this episode of Every Classroom Matters, Kelly shares about costs and best practices for teaching with the 3D printer. Hear Kelly Hines Talk 3D Printing in her 5th Grade Classroom She’s partnering with a design classroom at the high school to create a powerful multi-age learning experience. This is one of the tools that I predict will be the big conversation at ISTE 2014. Personally, I’ll be making the final selections for one that someone has agreed to donate to my classroom for next year. Show Notes Kelly Hines #59, How 3D Printers Opens New Possibilities for Project Based-Learning Kelly Hines describes how she uses 3D printing with fifth grade students.  Her students have become the experts for classroom visitors. The students develop skills in using 3D printing for charities and social change. The students explain the printer as a glue gun which works with the MakerBot site. They also are using Block a Thought app which allows drag and drop building plans to print using the 3D printer.  Kelly notes that the students don’t want jewelry or personal items printed, but are concerned with printing things like prosthetic hands for others. The other thing that has been really neat to see is the level of social consciousness that they’ve developed. One of the first things that they saw on the MakerBot website was the man who printed a working prosthetic hand for his child…they said Mrs. Hines, we should MAKE one of those.— Kelly HinesTeacher, Greensboro North Carolina She subsidizes the expense of the printer upkeep by collaborating with high school students who mentor her students in trade for use of the printer. She claims the MakerBot software makes it easy to use the 3D printer.  She recommends such a printer for special and hands-on learners. Hear Kelly Hines Talk 3D Printers and 5th Graders Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Internet Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers.  Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help listening to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet Explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. To get help use this tutorial. Question: Do you have a 3D Printer or know someone who does? You can leave a comment by clicking here. The post 3D Printers in the 5th Grade Classroom with Kelly Hines appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Twitter: Best Practices For Educators via @edudemic Vicki Davis’ Guest Post on Edudemic Blog June 11, 2014 Twitter is an incredible tool for any classroom, if you know how to use it. Teachers like Karen Lirenman and Kathy Cassidy show us how even very young children benefit greatly from the safe online connections through their teachers.  If you’re still not convinced read the  100 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom  on Edudemic. I wrote this guest post for Edudemic as part of the launch celebration for my new book Reinventing Writing. In the book, Chapter 8 is dedicated to Twitter and Blogging - Chapter 8 - Reinventing Journals and Reports: Blogging and Microblogging Best Practices for Twitter in the Classroom In my new book Reinventing Writing, I share many of the best practices for the effective classroom use of Twitter…. Read the rest of the article on Edudemic Did you know? When Writing Tweets, Use Adverbs and Verbs: Studies have shown that tweets with more adverbs and verbs are shared more often. (What a great way to teach parts of speech.) Learn Essential Twitter Best Practices including: The 2 Essential Apps for Twitter in the Classroom and How to Use Them 14 Ways to Increase Engagement on Your Tweets based on Science 3 Valuable Hashtags for Classrooms Read Twitter Best Practices by Vicki Davis on Edudemic Please enjoy and share. I love the Edudemic Blog and had a great time getting to know Jeff Dunn this past March at the Global Education & Skills Conference in Dubai. He led an incredible panel discussion about leveraging mobile technology throughout the world. (Watch it.) Add Edudemic to Your PLN @edudemic Blog: http://www.edudemic.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edudemic The post Twitter: Best Practices For Educators via @edudemic [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Classtools.net is a free site for teachers created by teacher Russel Tarr. This site has EVERYTHING including Fakebook, graphic organizers, and video game makers.  Russel teaches in Tolouse France, and decided to use his programming skills to make the graphic organizers he wished he could use on the web. (I talk about Classtools in the Prewriting Chapter 10 of my book Reinventing Writing.) If Facebook and Twitter are blocked for you, this is your ANSWER! (And yes, it is FREE.) Listen to Russel Tarr talk about his awesome site Classtools.net Show Notes: Russel Tarr ECM #63, Fake Applications for Real Life Lessons  On Classtools.net, Russel has created tools for students including FakeBook, timeline tools, diagram makers, hamburger paragraph makers, SMS generators, and a QR code treasure hunt. (Go to classtools.net to see them all.) He says he enjoyed programming and creating what other teachers and he needed for teaching students. FakeBook is very popular among history teachers. You can’t access Facebook in school. You can’t access Twitter in school. You can channel that interest into what they’re learning in school using Fake Twitter and Fakebook.— Russel TarrTeacher, Tolouse France and Creator of Classtools.net Russel especially likes the chemistry FakeBook pages for particular elements, and never dreamed the tool could be used in that way.  He has also created Twister, which is a fake tweet generator were students can create tweets in ‘character’ of historical figures. Russel never thought the site would be so popular, and continues to be amazed at the positive feedback he receives. Listen to Russel Tarr talk about his awesome site Classtools.net Add @russeltarr to your PLN @russeltarr http://www.classtools.net/ Creator of Fakebook Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Internet Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers.  Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator. Need help listening to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet Explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. I have a tutorial to help you Question: Do you have a favorite tool from Classtools.net? Please share. You can leave a comment by clicking here. The post Classtools.net Created by Russel Tarr a Teacher from France appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

The Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai this past March was a powerful conference connecting more than 850 education thought leaders from 59 countries around the world. Of the 7 billion people in the world, 6 billion now have access to a working mobile phone. This popularity, especially in areas facing the most urgent educational challenges, creates new opportunities for improving education access and quality. Similarly, the expansion of social media tools like Facebook and the development of social gaming platforms have radically changed the way people interact and communicate, with the potential to positively transform the learning experience and environment. This session will discuss how mobile technology and digital platforms can be leveraged to enrich education and extend its reach. It will showcase examples of how new technology and media have enhanced educational attainment for the most marginalized groups and look at ways to take proven good practice to scale.— GESF 2014 PanelLeveraging Mobile Technology GESF 2014 Mobile Technology Panel Participants: Moderated by Jeff Dunn (co-founder of edudemic.com) H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Aboelnasr (Minister of Education, Egypt), H.E. Mohammed Gheyath (Director General of Smart Learning Program, UAE), Benjamin Berte (CEO, Socrative, USA), Vicki Davis (Teacher, USA), Hayley McQuire (UN GEFI Youth Advocacy Group, Australia). We had a variety of perspectives on this panel including a lovely young lady from Australia working to help the indigenous people of Australia learn via radio. If you want to get a big picture of mobile learning, this is a great session to watch. Global Education and Skills Forum is a Powerful Conference for Connecting The conference was fantastic for connections and learning. For example, I met an intriguing writer for Forbes, Jordan Shapiro @jordosh, who shared his book Freeplay with me that is on my summer reading list.  He shared some very interesting take aways on his article "Now There’s a Davos of Education and a $1 Million ‘Nobel Prize’ For Teachers." Likewise, our edtech conversation in the U.S. often becomes a polarized discussion where old gets positioned in opposition to new. No doubt this is the fate of a culture that’s founded from revolution; innovation is always tantamount to conquer and rarely seen as iteration. Hence, we use words like ‘disruption’ rather than ‘supplementation.’ Consider our obsession with the notion that we need to throw out 20th Century instructional methods in favor of 21st Century ones. At the forum, I discovered a more thoughtful big picture attitude. Especially among the speakers from the United Arab Emirates, there was a smart attitude where the strengths of new technologies were blended with the traditional.— Jordan ShapiroForbes Online The speakers at the conference were strong albeit a bit more on the political side, but I expect that  teachers will be more included in the future, particularly with the $1 million dollar teacher’s prize to be awarded at next year’s conference. (This summer would be a great time to apply.) As you make your plans for 2015, keep an eye on the Global Education and Skills Forum Website. The conference was of the highest quality in every way. I learned so much. Question: What are the mobile learning technologies that are making a difference in your part of the world? You can leave a comment by clicking here. The post GESF 2014 Panel Discussion: Leveraging mobile technology [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.