For any teachers who are new to classroom technology, uncomfortable with tech in their classroom, or just don't have the time to sort through all the tech that's out there, I've started a monthly guide that will offer practical tips and suggestions for integrating technology into your classroom.  The first one is officially up and it discusses presentation tools!

Welcome back to the Ed Tech Roundup!  I hope everyone had an excellent weekend.  In case you missed it, on Saturday I posted a new monthly series that offers advice to teachers who are uncomfortable with, or new to using classroom technology.  This month's post focuses on presentation tools and I'll have a new guide out in the middle of every month.  In other news, the Mid-Coast Tech Fest podcast will be on Tuesday (tomorrow) this week instead of Wednesday.  So, tomorrow there won't be a regular Roundup, just the podcast (and we'll be having some very special guests!) And speaking of guides for teachers who are new to technology, Dawn Casey-Rowe at Edudemic has a great post entitled, "New to Technology? Check Out This Handy Guide."  In the article, Casey-Rowe outlines a few basic tech questions that all teachers should ask and provides some wonderful resources to help you get started in the classroom. Edudemic also shares a great summary and video on"What to Know About 21st Century Literacies:" Free Tech for Teachers has five new posts to check out: Learn Anatomy & Physiology with Study Jams Guide to Creating and Sharing Google Calendars 27 Topographic Maps Lessons Games About Mammals, Birds, and Dinosaurs The Week in Review! Jamie Forshey at EduTech for Teachers has a new post on how to "Create Fun Fiction with Scholastic's Story Starters." In the article, Forshey reviews Scholastic's new "Willy Wonka type machine that randomly generates writing prompts"  The site covers a ton of different genres and writing formats (notebooks, letters, postcards, etc.)  When students finish, they can print, email, or save their writing.  It's a great resource and you can check out the post for more info! John Hardison at Getting Smart (and blended learning specialist) has an excellent article on using Google Drive and voice recordings to improve student feedback.  The post, "36 Codes, an OWL, a Pitch Counter, and a Headset: Nontraditional Tools for Nontraditional Feedback" chronicles Haridon's journey to finding feedback methods that would truly be a learning experience for students.  It's a great post and worth checking out! Educational Technology has five new posts to check out: Get the Max out of Evernote with these Tutorials The 5 Minds of Learners 4 Tools to Create and Share Podcasts MOOCs Explained for Teachers 5 Twitter Cheat Sheets for Teachers & Students Learning Technologist, Dom Norrish has an excellent new post which answers, "What does iOS7 Mean for Schools Using iPads?"  If your school happens to have iPads available either through a BYOD, 1:1, or iPad cart program, this post is definitely worth reading (and the iOS7 update is definitely worth downloading!) The EdReach network has four new podcasts posted: Ladygeeks: Student Research Workflow Techlandia: The John Spencer Project ToolZeit - Game up - Simple Machines EdAdmin: Three Big Shifts That Make a Huge Impact Finally, India's Ed Tech Review has a new post entitled, "EdTech Insight: Real Innovation in Educational Technology."  The post, by Harry Keller, discusses the design process that should take place for educational technology projects to truly be innovative.  Keller walks us through the thought process of creating edtech with a purpose. The Lightning Round... Getting Smart shares their5 Teacher Take-Aways from the Maker Faire Teach Thought covers The 50 Best Education Apps for Android Edudemic discusses 4 Ways Podcasts are Valuable Learning Tools Emerging Ed Tech gives usThe 10 Most Important Emerging Educational Technologies And that's the Roundup!  Thanks for reading!  And if you want to catch our podcast live tomorrow night, tune in to my Google+ page at 7:30 central.  Last week we had 1 live viewer, this week, let's try to double it!  We'll end today with a new infographic from Edudemic and Online Schools on"Virtual Classrooms." See you tomorrow! Courtesy of: Online Schools

Welcome back!  In case you missed our podcast last night, you can check it out here!  We covered Biblionasium, Zaption, and a bunch of other edtech goodness.  Today, I want to start with an awesome new edtech digital magazine and site I found:Avatar Generation.  They have a wonderful magazine you can download for the iPad (it's $4.99) and a great website full of excellent ideas and content.  Definitely worth a look! Free Tech for Teachers has five new posts to check out: 123D Circuits: Collaborative Design Circuits Download Music to Legally Re-use from YouTube What Colors Communicate: A Visual Guide Enable or Disable Google+ Settings in Blogger 10 Educational Games from Taking IT Global The folks over at QuizBean have a new blog post entitled, "Is There Room for Pen and Paper in an Edtech World?"  The article discusses the everlasting necessity of these common classroom tools, despite the growing influence of edtech in the classroom.  And, if you haven't checked out QuizBeans quiz maker, it's a great resource [ Here's our review of the site ] Holly Clark at Edudemic has a great new post on "How To Redefine Your Classroom By Connecting Students."  Clark discusses using blogs, thinking outside your classroom, bringing in guests via Skype, collaborating with other schools and a ton of other awesome ideas.  And for you music teachers, Edudemic has a new post on EdTech in Music. Educational Technology has five new posts to check out: How to Use Google Hangout in Your Classroom 90 Twitter Tools Teachers should Know About Google now Features all Constitutions of the World Access 1000s of Public Domain Docs Visual Guide to Using Google Drive Offline Adam Renfro at Getting Smart has an excellent post on "Teching Out the Novice Writers."  In the article, he discusses some awesome apps that teachers can use with novice writers in the classroom.  Renfro covers tools for brainstorming and organizing ideas, researching and analyzing, stripping away the clutter, and checking content.  If you teach English or any kind of writing, you'll want to check out these tools! EdReach has five new podcasts for your listening pleasure: iDig Video: iPhones for Your Classroom Two Guys Show: Shannon McClintock Miller ToolZeit: Fall Changes Chalkstar to Rockstar: Cress, Little, & the Big Deal EdAdmin: Further Research Funded on ELL Supports Finally, we've talked about Edgenuity quite a few times on the Roundup, but essentially they are a digital provider of online blended learning content for K-12 classrooms.  Today they had a new press release about their holistic approach to providing blended learning.  If you're a user of their services, not only do you get their online content, but the help of a team of teachers and coaches to ensure your district, administrators, teachers and students have everything the need to be successful.   The Lightning Round... Edudemic shares 10 Powerful Screencasting Apps for Mobile Devices Edudemic also covers 5 Free Online Courses Designed for Teachers Teach Thought gives us 10 Apps for Multimedia Remixing from edshelf Teach Thought also shares 12 Roles for Google Drive in the Classroom And there you have it!  Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a great end to their week.  We'll be back tomorrow and let's end with a new infographic from Getting Smart and Digital Learning Now on "How to Implement Blended Learning Version 2.0"  See you tomorrow! Courtesy of: Digital Learning Now

Welcome back!  I hope everyone's week is winding down well!  Today we start with Marisa Kaplan at EdSurge and a new post on the Maker Faire NYC.  If you're not familiar with the Maker Movement, it's basically a grass-roots collection of innovators, teachers, hobbyists, students, and curious people who like building, tinkering and creating.  The "group" held it's annual Faire in NYC last weekend and it looks like it was a pretty amazing place to be! Next up, Education Week has a new post entitled, "Consumer Demand for Digital Learning Games, Simulations Growing Worldwide: But Level of Interest in K-12 Lags Behind."  The article discusses the growing market for game-based education and learning outside of the classroom as well as some of the companies that are behind the games.  The post also covers where K-12 education fits in with current market trends. Free Tech for Teachers has three new resources up:The Right to Food: Interactive Story About HungerVideo - Wikispaces Online WorkshopScience Take - Short Science Videos from the New York Times Next up, for all you science teachers out there, the site Bird Brain Science has just announced that they are out of beta testing and going public with their resources.  Bird Brain science provides common core aligned, accessible reading texts that are adjusted to students' reading levels. They also give quizzes after readings to determine the level of future readings.  It's definitely an awesome resource for differentiating instruction.  And if you sign up now you can pilot the program for free! Bryan Kitch at Edutopia has a new post on "HACKtivate ED: A Model for Collaborative Problem Solving."  The post covers the recent 24-hour Activate-Ed educational hackathon.  The event brought together "educational luminaries from the San Francisco Bay Area with tech sector developers to tackle key issues affecting K-12 students."  The group looked at 9 specific problems over the 24-hour period and some awesome results were achieved! Educational Technology has four new posts to check out:Important Google Drive Tips for Teachers3 Tools to Send Files to your DropboxApps and Tools to Flip your ClassYouTube Audio Library Features Free Music for Classroom Projects Finally, if you're in need an excellent tool for converting and downloading videos, Wondershare in in the middle of a three day giveaway of their Video Converter Pro.  All you have to do is share the giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn and the free copy is yours.  Plus, you'll get 50% off the Video Converter Ultimate if you really want to take your converting up a notch.  Check it out! And that's all we've got for today!  Tomorrow I'm off to celebrate my 30th birthday (wild!) and then we'll be back on Monday.  And, in case you missed our podcast this week, you can check it out here.  Have a wonderful weekend and see you next week!-Mike

Welcome back!  Hopefully everyone's week is starting off well! Tomorrow night will be our weekly podcast, so there won't be a regular Roundup.  You can watch it live at 7:30 Central on my Google+ page.  Today we'll begin at Ed Surge with a new post from Katrina Stevens entitled, "A Call to Educators & EdTech - Get Connected."  The article is all about the best ways to get educators and edtech builders to start connecting and sharing ideas! Next up, Matt Levinson at Mind/Shift has some excellent advice for schools with new iPads, "For Schools Implementing iPads, the Importance of Being Patience." As teacher in a school that just rolled out iPads for faculty, I found this article incredibly helpful (as did my colleagues . Levinson offers 10 great tips to help get teachers and students off on the write foot with their new tech tools. Free Tech for Teachers has five new resources to share:Email Alerts for Updates to Google FormsCompare Two or More Things in Wolfram AlphaDozens of Biology Videos and Lesson MaterialsUsing Google Image Search to Solve a MysteryAmerica's Credit History Story Katie Lepi at Edudemic has a new post on how to "Unlock a New Level of Critical Thinking with Citelighter's New 'Cognitive Prints.'"  Citelighter, a great web-app for handling web citations, just launched a new platform that is designed to help "teachers hone in on the cognitive processes of their students."  It's a pretty exciting tool and worth checking out. Vera Reed over at Emerging Ed Tech has a new article on "The Many Benefits of Using iBooks in Education."  If you're fortunate enough to have iPads available in your schools, iBooks is absolutely worth exploring (as is iAuthor).  In the article, Reed discusses the numerous features that iBooks can offer in the classroom. Educational Technology has five new posts from today:Facebook for Educators and Community Leaders8 Note Taking Apps for the iPad8 iPad Apps to Boost Student Learning6 Websites to Access Free Audio BooksAnimoby: Presentations with Voice, Text, and Images Teach Thought has a post on "How the iPad Can Promote the Development of Non-Cognitive Skills."  And wow, we've been a little iPad heavy today, but that seems to be the trend these days!  The article focuses on how the iPad can be used to help students build academic self-efficacy and resilience and goes on to cover several applications that are beneficial for working on these skills. Finally, EdReach has four new podcasts up:TheatreCast: Voice & The Young ActorLadyGeeks: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)ToolZeit: Sky Safari 3Techlandia: We Are the Normal The Lightning Round... Teach Thought covers 10 Geography Games for LearningEdudemic gives us 6 Innovative Ways Students are Using TechnologyAnd, If you missed the Education Bammy awards, here's a great Photo Gallery from the Event! And there you have it!  Thanks for tuning in!  We'll be back tomorrow for the podcast with special guest... Allison Dehaan, a middle school math teacher who works in an international school in Colombia, South America.  See you then!

Welcome back!  In case you missed Wednesday night's podcast on using technology in the math classroom, you can check it out here!  In the news for today, Arne Duncan has declared that October be named Connected Educator Month in an effort to get teachers online and sharing.   Lisa Nielsen at the Innovate Educator has a new post in support of this idea in which she outlines 6 reasons to connect!  Emma Kucelj at the Australian blog 2and2, has a new post entitled, "Engaging the Disengaged: Gamified Learning at its Best."  The post begins by discussing a new app for Chinese Language Education (CanUHanyu) and goes on to cover the overall benefits of game-based learning, especially for students along the autism spectrum.  It's an excellent article and if you're interested in game-based learning, especially for special needs students, check it out! Free Tech for Teachers have 5 new posts to enjoy:We Do Listen: Animated Online Stories for KidsCollaboratively Create Multimedia with LucidPressSpend Four Weeks in DC as a C-SPAN FellowMaths Frame - 170 Free Math GamesMobile Blogging with Edublogs Audrey Waters (of Hack Education) has a great new article in the Atlantic, "Students are 'Hacking' Their School-Issued iPads: Good for Them."  Waters discusses the recent actions of students in Indiana and California who, almost immediately, began bypassing and disabling iPad security limitations put in place by the school.  Waters argues there are incredibly educational benefits to behaviors like this that are often overlooked and frowned upon by school culture. If you're not familiar with Leap Motion, it's a pretty wonderful piece of new technology that allows for easy motion-based controls to be integrated into Windows and Mac computers. Edudemic has a new post on "How to Use Leap Motion In The Classroom."  The product costs around $80 and has some pretty incredible potential in the classroom. Educational Technology have five new posts to hit up:Interesting Resources for the Connected Educator32 Math Apps Aligned with Common CoreTips on How to Avoid BullyingTop 100 Tools for Learning 201312 EdTech Concepts Teachers Shuld Know Next up, Tom Vander Ark at Getting Smart has an excellent article on "Plugging Into Professional Learning Communities."  If you're not familiar with the term, PLCs are usually initiatives created by teachers to provide learning opportunities and professional development to other educators.  There are a ton of ways to get involved with PLCs and Vander Ark outlines 5 great ideas in the post.  It's time to get connected!In other news from Getting Smart, there are a few new edtech STEM products and programs that are about to be released from Change the Equation, a "nonprofit, nonpartisan, CEO-led initiative working to mobilze the business community to improve the quality of STEM learning."  Check out the full release! EdReach has five new podcasts to treat your ears to:ToolZeit - Newsela for Nonfiction LiteracyaRTs Roundtable: Procedures in the ArtsMission Monday: Coming Soon to EdReach!Ladygeeks: Next Gen Tools and the iPhone 5sThe Two Guys Show: Angela Maiers Finally, if you're a fan of supporting developers and new educational technology, check out this new KickStarter from Alok Ahuja entitled, "ReMarkable."  The app in development is being designed to streamline the process of grading/marking papers.  It has some great potential, and features that aren't available in any current grading apps.Here's the home site for more information! The Lightning Round... Mind/Shift has an excellent new guide for Teachers and TwitterGetting Smart covers 6 Tools for Connected EducatorsEdudemic offers 3 Quick Tips for Building Digital CitizenshipPlus, they share 5 Free EdTech Webinars for those looking to get connected!Finally, here are 10 Web Resources to Help Teach about Primary Sources And there you have it!  Consider yourself officially rounded-up!  We'll be back over the weekend with some new reviews and post.  Have a great Friday everyone and see you soon!-Mike

Welcome back!  And hopefully everyone had a great weekend!  Up first, Grant Wiggins at Teach Thought has an excellent article / reminder that "Curriculum is More Important Than Learning Technology."  As much as I love edtech, and the potential it has to help improve learning, there is nothing that can beat a well-crafted lesson in the hands of a master teacher.  It's a wonderful article and worth taking a few minutes to read! And in the same vein, Dom Norrish has a new post entitled, "Why Technology Will Never Replace Teachers."  As Norrish puts in "Great technology can help put learners in the position to achieve... but without the input of others... technology is an echoing void."  Edtech can help, but without a great classroom leader, what's the point? Free Tech for Teachers has five new posts to explore: How to Create & Edit Flexbooks Online Five Visual Dictionaries and Thesauri for Students Create Flashcards from Google Spreadsheets Bill of Rights in 30 Seconds & an Asssignment Hip Hughes Explains the Government Shutdown Jamie Forshey at EduTech for Teachers has her monthly "Geeky Girl's Greatest Hits Volume VIII."  In the post, she outlines her favorite apps, websites, and digital tools from the past month.  She talks about graphic organizers, Scholastic's Story Starters, new posters for digital citizenship and a whole lot more.  And, if you're not familiar with Thinglink, it's a great tool and what Forshey uses to build her monthly list. Next up, Beth Holland at Edutopia has a new post on some great ways to do "Note-Taking with iPads."  Holland discusses uses the iPad's camera, microphone, typing, and drawing to take digital notes.  She also discusses using apps like Evernote, AudioNote and SoundNote to support the note-taking process.  And if you're interested in visual note-taking on the iPad, here's another great presentation that's worth checking out! Visual Note-taking on the iPad from Rachel Smith Educational Technology has five posts to check out: Video Lessons on Art for Teachers & Students 7 Ways to Use Videos with Students in Class 10 Academic Twitter Hashtags for Teachers Good Web Tools to Create Classroom Posters Math Games for Teachers and Students And the EdReach Network has some great new podcasts: Google Educast: Folders? Who needs Folders? TheatreCast - Teaching Theatre at an IB School Mission Monday: Is Bullying for Real? ToolZeit - iMajicam Pro - Realtime Video Effects EdAdmin Minute: How is Your School's Parental Involvement The Lightning Round... Getting Smart shares 5 Great Apps for Future Scientists Edudemic covers 5 Battery Saving Tips for your Mobile Device Edudemic also gives us 10 Web Resources for Digital Field Trips to Museums Finally, a new infographic from Early Childhood Ed Degrees on What Tech Kids Should Know And.... done!  Thanks for joining us today!  The Roundup will be back tomorrow with a normal post and then a brand new podcast on Wednesday.  For the rest of the week, I've got a 4-day weekend for fall break (where were all these breaks when I was back in school?) so after Wednesday, I'll be on a short leave.  We'll end today with a new infographic on What Teachers Really Think about EdTech from Edudemic and We Are Teachers.  See you tomorrow! Courtesy of: We Are Teachers

Welcome back!  Tomorrow night we'll have our weekly podcast, so there won't be a regular Roundup.  Then I'm off for 4 days on fall break so there won't be any new posts until next Tuesday... In the meantime, let's start today with Teach Thought and an excellent and thought-provoking article, "13 Likely Realities for the Future of Learning."  The write-up covers technology, school-design, and a whole lot more. Next up, in case you're worried you missed any EdTech stories this summer, EdTech Magazine has you covered. Their new post, "5 EdTech Stories you Might Have Missed This Summer," is a collection of their biggest educational technology articles from the summer.  Topics include expanding BYOD policies, bringing real-world experiences to the classroom using technology, reimagining classrooms with personalized instruction, and more! Free Tech for Teachers has five new resources from today:Create & Locate Standards: Aligned Video PlaylistsAnimated Maps & Timelines of the U.S. Civil WarMapping the Bible in Google EarthA Lesson in Music and BaseballDisplay Your Instagram Account on Your Blog Holly Clark at Edudemic has a great new post on how to "Help Students with Comprehension Through Collaborative Reading."  Clark discusses using technology to help students while reading to organize their notes and highlights, get easy access to definitions, find help with pronunciation, use visual cues for comprehension, and a ton of other excellent ideas. Educational Technology has four new articles to check out:Top 100 Sites for Academics and Research Students3 Important Chrome Tips for TeachersApp to Track & Find your Lost iPadVisual Guide to Educational Twitter Chats Over at the Ed Tech Review, they raise the question, "Using Technology in Education: Does it Improve Anything?"  The article provides a short background on technology in education and goes on to outline some of the major tools, uses, and benefits that teachers are discovering for edtech.  The post covers flipping classes, digital teacher collaboration, online learning, and more! Finally, EdReach has three new podcasts from today:Flipped Learning: Learning EcosystemsStudent Reporting Labs: Consitutional Rights in SchoolsReading Room Strategies: Tools for Reading You Can Use Right Now And that's all the the Roundup today!  We'll end with a special offer from Learnpad (a classroom iPad alternative, it's a tablet designed specifically for classrooms).  If you request information from their site you'll be entered to win for a classroom starter set.  Pretty great deal.  We'll be back tomorrow with the Mid-Coast Tech Fest podcast, until then, thanks for reading and have a great evening!

Well, hello!  After a bit of a hiatus, I'm happy to announce the Roundup is back!  What was supposed to be a short fall break, turned into a 5-day bought with the Colombian flu, of which I have finally recovered!  My apologies for the lack of rounding and upping over the past few days, but let's get back into it!  But before we start, just a quick reminder that our podcast will also be back tomorrow night!  We'll have Taylor Dopuch as our guest, a high school English teacher who works with me at Colegio Parrish.  He'll be talking about some of the tech activities he's tried out in his English class.  And now... time for some roundupping! First up, the always enjoyable Dom Norrish has a great new article entitled, "Democratising Da Vinci (or Why Technology in Schools is a No-Brainer for the World)."  Norrish discusses one of the major benefits that technology provides education which is to allow the intersection of student opportunity and talent to occur more often.  It's an excellent post! Free Tech for Teachers has five new posts to check out:How to Embed Files from Box.com into Blogger PostsSeven Science Lessons to Utilize Google Earth5 Mathematics Glossaries for KidsAnimated Math Lessons for KidsJST Virtual Scinece Center - Online Science Lessons Next up, Susan Oxnevad at Getting Smart has a great new post on "Using Avatars to Teach Digital Citizenship."  The post discusses four different tools that teachers can use to help students virtually explore the ideas of internet safety and digital citizenship.  There are some excellent ideas here for computer teachers or any teacher that wants to emphasize the importance of digital citizenship.  Getting Smart also has a new collection of EdTech articles from October. Educational Technology has five new posts to check out:10 Good Search Engines for Teachers & StudentsGenerate Flashcards from Google SpreadsheetsWhat Teachers Need to Know About AirdropA Visual Guide to What Colors Communicate10 Handy New Apps for Teachers Kaitlin Louie at Emerging EdTech has a new post on "Interactive Textbooks Revolutionizing the Classroom Text."  The articles discusses how the interactive capabilities iBooks are beginning to change the way students interact with their texts.  With videos, hyperlinks, 3-D animations, and various other types of media, these new ebooks have some serious educational potential. EdReach has five new podcasts to peruse:LadyGeeks: Connecting ClassroomsPraise What They Do, Not What They HaveChalkles: The Question (more of a comic)ToolZeit - Pixlr Express PlusMacReach Show: SAMR and MAC Finally, we've spoken about Edgenuity a few times before on the Roundup (the "leading provider of online and blended learning solutions") and right now they've got they're Second Annual Video Contest going on.  Edgenuity is asking secondary teachers to submit video stories on how they use online and blended learning to improve academic outcomes. The winning prize?  A $5000 technology grant!  Pretty great! The Lightning Round... Edutopia shares 7 Apps for Teaching Children Coding SkillsTeach Thought covers 36 Core Teacher Apps for Inquiry Learning with iPadsTeach Thought also gives us 10 Steps to a Successful School iPad ProgramLisa Nielsen discusses 5 Ways to Open Up Learning & Engage StudentsEdudemic has 7 Signs Your School Needs a Technology MakeoverThey also cover 6 Reasons to Try Mobile Devices in the ClassroomFinally, Edudemic has a great post on 7 Ways to Sabotage Your Device Initiative And there you have it, another day, another roundup!  Thanks for reading and we'll see you tomorrow night for a brand new podcast!

Due to technical difficulties and some major internet frustration with this Colombian internet, the regularly scheduled Roundup will not be happening tonight.  My apologies.  We'll hopefully be back up over the weekend!  In the meantime, here's our new podcast from last night!

And we're back!  After successfully battling both the flu and sketchy internet connections, I'm happy to be back in the saddle and roundin' up some tech news.   Today marks the beginning of Digital Citizenship week and to celebrate, Jamie Forshey at EduTech for Teachers has an excellent post with ideas and resources for getting students involved. Regardless of your subject, why not spend a little time this week talking about the importance of digital citizenship! Next up, we've spent a lot of time here at the Roundup discussing the gamification of education and to that end, Edudemic has a new post entitled, "How to Gamify Your Classroom."  The article offers some great ideas on how to incorporate the components that make gaming so enjoyable into your classroom.   Free Tech for Teachers has five new posts to check out:7 Halloween Themed Educational Activities5 Free Apps for Creating Short AnimationsWebinar on Creating Your Own Science VideosCreate a Linked Series of YouTube VideosThe Week in Review Over at Edutopia Beth Holland has a new post on "Creating a 'Least Restrictive Environment' with Mobile Devices."  Holland discusses how, for some students, analog technology like papers and pencils can be limiting factors.  By offering these students mobile devices and new technology tools, we can begin to improve learning and lifting those restrictions.  It's an excellent article and definitely worth a read. Educational Technology has five new posts from today:3 Excellent iPad Workflow Sheets for TeachersHow to Increase Connectivity & Engagement in ClassUse the TPACK Model to Integrate Tech into Teaching Search Flickr for Free Images for Class4 Tools to Stop Digital Distraction Next up, Tom Vander Ark at Getting Smart has a new review of "Killer App: MasteryConnect Reinvents the Report Card." MasteryConnect is a new service that "uses simple visualizations to summarize what students know subject by subject."  It's a great way to get parents and students more involved in grades and assessment and it is currently being used in more than half of American school districts. EdReach has five new podcasts to give a listen to:EdGamer: For Youth Inquiry with Jacob & NikkiTheatreCast: Broadway Vets Share their new DVDMobile Reach: Accessibility & iOS 7ToolZeit: News-O-MaticLadyGeeks: New Teacher Tips & Lisa Dabbs Over at Two Guys and Some iPads Drew Minock has an excellent new post, "Why Use Augmented Reality."  If you have access to mobile devices of any kind at your school (or if your students can use them outside of the classroom) Minock has some wonderful ideas on how to incorporate augmented reality into your curriculum.  Got some news from Ed Resources (creators of the LearnPad tablet) as well.  First up, TeachThought has a great article comparing the LearnPad to the iPad.  And they've also just launched a student ready bundle and an elementary bundle to make it even easier to roll out their tablet in the classroom! Finally, for any EdTech startup companies who are looking for funding, you should check out the 2013 New England Venture Summit from YoungStartup.  They've added an EdTech track to this years summit and if you register before October 30th, you'll get 50% off the cost of the summit. The Lightning Round... EdTech Magazine Shares 5 Reasons Chromebooks Make Sense for SchoolsTeach Thought covers 10 Tools Students Can Use to Design Apps & Video GamesEdudemic has 10 Educational Web Resources Teachers Should SeeThey've also got 10 Time-Saving Videos All About iPads in the Classroom And that's all we've got for today!  Thanks for reading and, presuming this internet connection holds up for longer than a day this time around, we'll be back tomorrow with a new Roundup.  Also, we've got three new reviews up from the weekend, check them out if you're looking for some great new tech tools.  See you tomorrow!

Welcome back!  I hope everyone's week is off to a great start. Just a quick reminder, tomorrow night we'll have our weekly podcast so there won't be a Roundup.  Our special guest will be Ms. Marcie Dunham, an educator who currently teaches abroad in the Philippines!  Today, we begin with EdTech Magazine asking "Will Google Glass Usher Augmented Reality into the Classroom?"  You'll have to read the post to find out! Next up, the always wonderful Dr. Jackie Gerstein has a new article which asks, "Is It Project-Based Learning, Maker Education or Just Projects?"  The post discusses the difference between "hands-on" and "minds-on" learning in regards to PBL lessons and maker education.  Just because students are creating a project, does not mean they are actively engaged in the learning process.  It's an excellent read! Free Tech for Teachers has four new posts to check out: How to Overcome Stage Fright 5 Onlines Tools to Help Align Lessons to CCSS Colds, Flue, and the Immune System Discovery Education Presents Common Core Academies There's been a growing push over the past year to get students excited about coding, and it's been exciting to see. To that end, Emerging EdTech has a new post entitled,"Industry Players Collaborate to Take Teaching & Learning About Programming to the Next Level."  The article outlines Code.org's effort to get students interested in coding with their brand new "Hour of Code" program. Next up, EdTech powerhouses Getting Smart, EdReach, and Tom Vander Ark have launched a brand new podcast!  The weekly cast, entitled EduPreners, will be centered around Vander Ark interviewing different EdTech startup "edupreneurs" and talking about new education platforms and tools.  For the first episode, Vander Ark interview Trenton Goble, the co-founder of MasteryConnect. Educational Tech has five new resources to peruse: How to Create Mind Maps with Google Draw 7 iPad Apps for English Learners New Features in the Google Hangout App 12 Ways to Use Hashtags with Students Guide on Google Draw Tips and Basics Over at iLearn Technology with Kelly Tenkely, there's a new review of "Book Writer: Create Books on the iPad."  Tenkely discusses howBook Writer can be used to help students easily create ebooks with photos, video, audio, and links.  If you've got access to iPads, it's an excellent app and definitely worth checking out. Finally, Jason Orbaugh at EdSurge has a new article entitled, "Lessons from the Downfall of Interactive Whiteboards."  In the post, Orbaugh discusses how the interactive whiteboard (IWB), while appearing to be doing well in most education markets, might actually be on its way to losing its place in the classroom.  It's an interesting read and Orbaugh raises some thought-provoking ideas about edtech in general. The Lightning Round... Getting Smart shares 25 Smart #SocialMedia Tips for #EdLeaders The Ed Tech Review has a new review of KnowRe, the Online Math Learning Platform Teach Thought has a new infographic on Establishing a Twitter Routine in Your Classroom And that's all for the Roundup today!  Thanks for reading!  If you'd like to watch our podcast live tomorrow night, we'll be broadcasting around 6:00PM Central via my Google Hangouts account.  We'll end today with a new infographic on the benefits of coding from Kodable and Avatar Generation... Courtesy of: Kodable

Welcome back!  And, as always, happy Friday-eve!  In case you missed our podcast last night, you can check it out here. Our guest was Marcie Dunham and she raised some wonderful points on EdTech in ESOL education.  Today, we start at Teach Thought with a new post on "Making Twitter a Mainstream Tool for School Improvement."  If you're a big fan of Twitter in education (like me), give it a read! Free Tech for Teachers has four new posts to check out: A Search Engine for SMART Notebook Files A Fun Twist on Name Tags - Ice Breaker Tags Spach Math - Math Lessons from NASA Automatically Close Google Forms at Specified Times Next up, the always excellent Lisa Nielsen at The Innovative Educator shares some "Ideas for Supporting #TeacherEffectiveness with #EdTech - Domain 3."  The article is part three of her four part series on incorporating teacher evaluations based on the Danielson Framework.  I've included her Prezi below: Josh Ward at Emerging EdTech has a new post entitled, "A Further Look at the Emergence of Virtual High School." In the article, Ward discusses the growing variety of virtual high school options, how they work, and the audience they are best suited for.  Ward also discusses several specific virtual schools across the states. Educational Technology has five new posts up: How to Embed Facebook Posts into a Class Blog 90 Google+ Accounts for Teachers to Follow More Tips on How to Use Google Forms 8 iPad Twitter Apps you Never Heard of 8 Art Resources for Teahcers and Students And, since no Roundup would be complete without at least mentioning the Common Core Standards at least once, we've got a new post from EdTech Magazine,"Common Core Readiness Check: What Schools Have Done or Are Doing."  One of the big focuses of schools preparing for the Common Core?  Having enough computers to test their students.  For more, check out the article! The EdReach Network has five new podcasts to hit up: aRTs Roundtable: Out of Our Comfort Zone MacReach Show: It's All Covered Now Flipped Learning: AR with Drew Minock EdCeptional: 50, Finally! EdAdmin: Writing Across Content Areas The Lightning Round... Edutopia shares 6 Things We Know for Sure with iPads in School Edudemic has a new graphic on Effective Apps and Web Tools for BYOD Classrooms Getting Smart reviews LightSide Essay Scoring Engine Edudemic covers 4 Apps and Web Tools Perfect for Digital Art Class And there you have it, another day in EdTech!  Thanks for reading!  We'll end with a great presentation fromShelly Terrell (via Edudemic) entitled Survival Tips for Integrating Technology in Classes.  Have a great weekend and we'll be back on Monday! -Mike Survival Tips for Integrating Technology in Classes from Shelly Terrell

Welcome back!  I hope everyone's week is off to a great start. Today we begin at Edudemic with a new post on "Why You Should (And Shouldn't) Use Digital Textbooks."  The article covers the pros and cons of digital texts in the classroom and also gets into the general benefits of the completely digital educational environment. Next up, EdTech Magazine discusses "How Districts Are Feeding the Mobile App Beast."   Every day, dozens of new educational apps are released and finding the right ones for the classroom can be an immense challenge.  This post from Jennifer Zaino covers some of the ways districts are meeting the challenge.  Zaino closes with some great tips to help districts with the process. Free Tech for Teachers has five new posts from today:The Pit and the Pendulum RapEDPuzzle: Add Voice and Text Questions to VideosDo You Have a Google Jockey in Your Classroom?Form+ Adds Flexibility to Google FormsPackrati.us Lets you Tweet & Bookmark Simultaneously In case you missed digital citizenship week last week, fear not! Jamie Forshey at EduTech for Teachers has an excellent new post to share her, "Digital Citizenship Survival Kit."  As Forshey says, "With the plethora of resources available for teachers, there's no reason we have to stop promoting the importance of behaving safely!"  I couldn't agree more, and Forshey's ThingLink survival kit is a great place to start. Educational Technology has five new posts from today:Learn About Evernote with These Video TutorialsA Graphic on the 6 Stages of ProcrastinationTwo Distraction-Free Writing Platforms for StudentsNew Feature Lets You Use Handwriting in Google Docs5 Videos to Teach Digital Citizenship Up next, Tom Raymond at Emerging EdTech has a review of the flipped learning tool, Metta (Here's our review of the service as well).  The review, "Create Digital Learning Content by Easily Combining Parts of One or More Videos with Images, Text, and Audio" outlines the basic process of using the site and provides some classroom tips as well. Morgan Sims at Getting Smart has compiled an excellent collection of "Great Apps and Tech Tools for Education." Sims covers a huge variety of subjects, devices, and operating systems and offers tips and summaries for each item.  Plus, Tom Vander Ark has also collected "10 Strategies and Apps to Manage the iPad Classroom."  It's a great list of suggestions and apps to try out! Finally, the EdReach Network has five new podcasts:EduVue: How We Became Connected EducatorsFlipped Learning: Traveling HomeschoolToolZeit - Video StarQuarterbacks Might Not Make Good TeachersEdAdmin: Starting Older ELLs in Lower Grades The Lightning Round... Getting Smart gives us 50 Hashtags for Connected EducatorsEdTech Magazine has a new guide for E-Rate ApplicationsEdutopia shares 11 Virtual Tools for the Math ClassroomEdudemic discusses 3 Simple Ways to Start Using Smartphones in the ClassroomEdudemic also has a new graphic on Digital Learning LiteracyTeach Thought presents 13 Tools to Make Your Classroom More Fun From edshelfFinally, the Ed Tech Review describes the Best Ways to Connect with Teachers Globally And that's it for tonight!  If you're on Twitter, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is moderating the #EdTechChat tonight, which is starting right about... 10 minutes ago!  Get over there!  Thanks for reading and we'll see you tomorrow (hopefully) or on Wednesday night with a brand new podcast!

Welcome back!  We've got an abbreviated Roundup today, in honor of Halloween, and if you missed our podcast yesterday, you can check it out here!  We'll start with Lisa Nielsen and an excellent article entitled, "Stop Trying to Figure Out if Screentime is Good for Students."  This post is in response to the NYTimes' "No Child Left Untableted" article and it is a great read! Next up, Katrina Schwartz at Mind/Shift has a great report, "Let the Games Begin: Students and Teachers Dive into SimCityEDU."  Designed by the non-profit GlassLab, SimCity EDU is built around a similar structure as the traditional SimCity games.  The difference is, players must accomplish a variety of environment science missions that are based on the Common Core Standards. Free Tech for Teachers has five new posts to check out:A Short Guide to Using Google Books for ResearchHow to Create Google Scholar AlertsMentimeter Adds Open-Ended ResponsesCurriki Presents Six PBL Geometry ProjectsPopulr - A Tool for Building Simple Webpages Holly Clark at Edudemic has a new post discussing "How to Use Crowdsourcing in the Classroom."  If you're not familiar with crowdsourcing, it's basically using personal learning networks (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to get ideas and share thoughts.  In the article, Clark discusses how the principles of crowdsourcing can be applied in the classroom. Educational Technology has five new posts from today:3 New Math iPad Apps for your Students8 iPad Apps to Teach about Astronomy and SpaceAll Resources Teachers Need from Google in EdGoogle Forms for Beginners5 Apps to Render Your Google Drive more Powerful Anna Adam and Helen Mowers (from the Tech Chicks Podcast) at Edutopia have a new article which asks, "Should Coding be the 'New Foreign Language' Requirement?" In the post, they discuss the benefits that students can gain from learning coding and some great resources to help support coding instruction.  It's an excellent article and definitely worth considering. Finally, Teach Thought has five new posts to check out:24 Unique Maker Ed Resources for Teaching5 Levels of Tech Integration in the CurriculumQuest to Crowdsource a Low-Cost Logic Game9 Steps to Create Your Own BYOD PolicyThe Neuroscience of Learning And that's all for our Halloween edition!  Enjoy your tricks, enjoy your treats, and have a great night!  We'll be back on... Tuesday, because it's a three-day weekend here in Colombia.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back!  After a long weekend, thanks to Colombian holidays, the Roundup is back and ready to get blogging. First up, Katrina Schwartz at Mind/Shift as an excellent post on "Teaching Empathy Through Digital Game Play."  The article is about a new game from MIT's Education Arcade entitled Quandry.  The game was designed to teach ethics while aligning with Common Core Standards.   Next up, EdTech Magazine asks the question that every science-fiction fan has been waiting for, "Can Robots Teach Kids to Code?"  The article, by Corey Murray, covers the new tech company Play-i, a "well-funded startup that uses toy robots to teach children to code."  Founded by former Google exec Vikas Gupta, the company says the robots are designed to provide foundational skills that students will need to eventually master coding. Free Tech for Teachers has five new posts to check out:Planet Nutshell Presents Math ShortsHow to Privately Share Media via Google DriveThe Benefits of Subscribing to BlogsUsing Internet Explorer 9 and Google Apps?Edsavr - Collect, Save, and Share Dr. Jackie Gerstein at User Generated Education has a new article about a recent assignment she gave to her students at Boise State, "Personal Learning Environment Assignment and Reflections."  In the post she shares several examples of her students' personal learning environments and discusses the implications for social networks and professional development. Benjamin Stewart at Edudemic has a new post that offers some answers to the question, "How to Choose the Best Education Technology for your School."  In the article, Stewart outlines a minimalist approach to tech, BYOD policies, and 1:1 implementation.  Stewart closes with some important questions to consider when looking to adopt new technology. Educational Technology has five new posts up from today:Poster Featuring 11 Ways to Use Tech in the Classroom5 Good Health Apps for your iPadFacebook vs. Twitter - Interesting FactsInteractive Image on Digital CitizenshipWhat to Know About Flipped Classrooms Up next, Terry Heick at Teach Thought discusses how, "Technology in Education Can Only Do One Thing."  In the post, Heick reflects on the changes technology has affected in behavior and society, how technology has led to a more connected world, and that, in the end, "Technology in education, is useful only insofar as it extends our own humanity."  It's a thoughtful read and worth checking out. The EdReach Network has five new podcasts for your ears:EduWin: An #EduWin-ITChalkstar to Rockstar: Challenge for Ed ReformThe Two Guys Show: Brad GustafsonEdAdmin: Helping Boys SucceedFlipping Elementary with Todd Nesloney The Lightning Round... The Ed Tech Review covers 6 ways to Integrate Technology in the ClassroomTeach Thought discusses 5 Dead-Simple Ways Your Students Can Use Hashtags for LearningGetting Smart has an enjoyable list entitled, "You May Be a 21st Century Educator If..."Edutopia shares 3 Strategies to Improve Student Writing Instantly And that's all folks!  Thanks for reading!  No podcast this week, so we'll be back tomorrow with your regularly scheduled Roundup, have a great evening!

Hey everyone, you may have noticed that there have been a lack of "daily roundups" over the past several weeks.  I've been facing some serious time constraints and some super sketchy South American internet connects which have made it a bit of a challenge to keep up with my regular posting.  For now, I'm planning on changing the "Daily Roundup" to more of a "Biweekly/Weekly Roundup" and focus more on the biggest & best edtech news from the week.  Plus, I'll be writing more reviews/articles as well (which according to network traffic is what most people are interested in anyway).  So, if you find yourself super bummed out by this news, let me know, and I'll do my best to step up my game, otherwise, thanks for reading and stay tuned!  In the meantime, here's our new podcast from last night.  We cover the Maker movement, constructivism, and a whole lot more!

We. Are. Back.  After far too much delay, it's good to back blogging!  The big news this week, Google Play for Education (Google's answer to the iPad's classroom dominance) went live.  EdTech Magazine has a great article outlining the details, "Google Play for Ed & New Tablet Management Tools are Tailor-Made for K-12."  And I'd also recommend checking out Audrey Watters' post at Hack Education as well! Dr. Jackie Gerstein at User Generated Education as an excellent post about "Self-Directed Professional Development." Gerstein discusses the unfortunate current state of professional development in many districts and how social media and teacher-centered professional development are beginning to change the traditional PD model.  As always, it's worth reading. Free Tech for Teachers shares some excellent resources: Set Yourself Up for Classroom Blogging Success Canva - Create Beautiful Posters and Infographics Quiz Socket - Simple Feedback Tool Otter - Simple Assignment Distribution & Collection Knoema - World Data Finder & Fact-Checker Up next, Lisa Nielsen at The Innovative Educator has a new post about a free mLearning ebook that she and 34 other educators put together.  It's an excellent resources (embedded below) and offers tons of tips, strategies, and ideas for mobile learning in the classroom.  The book is great and the primary focus is on using tech to drive student-centered learning.  Mobile Education - Lessons from 35 Education Experts from Studio B Productions, Inc. India's Ed Tech Review has a new article which outlines the "Benefits of Being a Connected Educator."  With "Connected Education Month" only a few weeks past, this post is a great reminder of the benefits of online communication and collaboration between educators.  The article discusses the specific advantages of being a connected educator and goes on to provide some examples on how to get started. Educational Tech has five new resources to check out: 8 Must See TED Talks for Teachers 8 New Ed Web Tools Teachers Should Know About Two Web Tools to Create & Draw on Maps 2 Tools to Create 3D Drawings with Students 7 Effective Ways to Engage on Twitter Getting Smart has an excellent article from Kristen Hicks (which first appeared on edcetera a little while back) entitled, "Wikipedia Edit-a-Thons Give Students a More Active Role in the Research Process."  Hicks offers the idea of organizing an Edit-a-Thon in class to focus on ideas that are "somewhat out of the limelight."  Having students edit and add to Wikipedia articles gives them a sense of ownership and helps them to become better researchers in the process. Teach Thought has 5 new posts to check out: 2 Hands-On Games to Building Thinking Skills 100+ STEM iPad Apps for Learning Augmented Reality Painting: Innovative Apps 21 Literacy Resources for Digital Teachers 10 Characteristics of Effetive Learning Evironments For all you teachers in schools that are rolling out iPads, Sam Gliksman at Mind/Shift has an article you'll probably want to look over, "Checklist: Are You Ready for iPads In Your School?"  This is Glicksman's third post on the topic (all of which are exceprts from his book, iPad in Ed for Dummies). Glicksman discusses how to target 21st-century learning objectives and a whole lot more! EdReach has a ton of new podcasts, here's just a few: Chalkstar to Rockstar: Asking the Right Questions Teacher Tech Talk: Great Google Roundup Google Educast: Google Play Gets Educated Ladygeeks: Surprise Geek Part 5 Katie Lepi at Edudemic has a new article outlining a great project from educator Cheryl Uy who is teaching in China.  Uy is using art and iPads to help her students turn themselves into superheroes.   It's a wonderful project.  Lepi also has a repost of  Ed Tech Magazines best EdTech blogs (including the EdTech Roundup - thank you!) The Lightning Round... Getting Smart discusses 8 iPad Integration Ideas for 1:1 Classrooms Getting Smart also covers 10 Best Practices to Enrich the Blended Learning Environment Edudemic gives us 14 Web Tools for Teaching Without Student Logins And that's the Weekly Roundup!  In case you missed my post on Thursday, I'm going to be doing a weekly/biweekly roundup of the biggest and best EdTech news, rather than trying to do a daily roundup 4 or 5 times every week.  I might have more time next semester to switch back to more frequent posts, but for now, the Weekly Roundup begins!   Thanks for reading and we'll end with a preview of a new infographic from Educational Resources.  If you want to download the full PDF of the infographic, just click here.  Have a wonderful weekend and see you soon! -Mike

Welcome back to the Roundup!  I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving week ahead of them!  Today we begin at Getting Smart with a new post from Charles Reigeluth entitled, "Education 3.0: Helping All Children Reach their Potential."  In the post, Reigeluth covers a brief history of our evolving models of education and discusses how the current education paradigm is beginning to look (or at least what it should look like). Next up, Kelly Walsh at Emerging EdTech has a new article in which he shares some excellent video resources for helping teachers become familiar with iPads in the classroom.  The post,"More Great VIdeo Sessions from the Teaching & Learning with the iPad Conference" shows off some great learning resources for teachers with iPads. Here are a few of the great posts from FT4T for this week: Math@Work - Discover Math Where You Least Expect Paleontology 101 - Putting Together Dino Skeletons Practical EdTech Webinar - Blogging for Teachers 5 Fun Physics Games for Students The Most Popular Posts from the Week Jamie Forshey at EduTech for Teachers has a new post, "At-A-Glance Ed-Tech Tutorials" in which she shares some wonderful new Ed-Tech tutorial/posters from Gwyneth Jones (The Daring Librarian).  Jones is building a growing library of outstanding resources that are designed to easily help educators familiarize themselves with educational technology.  The collection is definitely worth a look! For those teachers who are new to the EdTech arena, you might have seen the term "Flipped Classroom" being thrown around a lot.  If you want to learn more about the practice, and what it looks like in the classroom, Katie Lepi at Edudemic has a wonderful new post, "What is a Flipped Classroom?" to introduce you to the basics. Educational Technology has some great posts from the week: 8 Excellent New iPad Apps for Teachers Top 10 iPad Apps to Create Mindmaps 5 Fantastic iPad Apps to Learn Phrasal Verbs Preparing Our Students for Web 3.0 30+ YouTube Channels for Teachers Lisa Nielsen at The Innovative Educator has a new post entitled, "How Social Reading Enhances the #CCSS" in which she discusses how the excellent online discussion platform ReadUps can be used in support of the Common Core Standards. Nielsen offers some great tips and ideas for utilizing the service within the classroom. Here are a few of TeachThought's posts from the week: 25 Recommended Ed Android Apps from EdShelf Teaching with Video Games is Not What you Think Changing Landscapes for Librarians in the Digital Age Why The Brain Benefits from Reflection in Learning Education and politics don't always get along.  However, as Drew Minock writes about in his new post, "The White House Got it Right!" occasionally things work out well between the two.  Minock discusses the White House's recent selection of 10 educators who were awarded the distinction of being "ConnectED Champions of Change."  I've included the video of President Obama's speech below. Here are a few of EdReach's podcasts from the week: Learning RedesignED: Gamify Your Classroom LadyGeeks: #NYSCATE13 Surprise Geek, Part 6 aRTs Roundtable: Troubleshooting in the Arts EdGamer: Play Historia EdAdmin: Is Google Play for Ed a Game Changer? Finally, Teachscape (education software and service designers) has announced a new social media contest.  The company is asking educators to discuss how they use videos for professional development.  The winner(s) will receive one Teachscape Peri Panoramic Camera Kit & one software license for Teachscape Learn.  If you're interested, you can find all the details here. The Lightning Round... Edudemic shares theTop 10 iPad Tips for Teachers Katie Lepi at Edudemic discusses 5 Great #EdTech Twitter Chats iLearn Technology has a new review of Tynker: Computer Programming for Kids Winifred Kehl at Getting Smart covers Teaching STEM with LEGO And that's it for the Roundup this week!  Thanks for reading!  We will be back on Wednesday with a brand new podcast (the top 10 edtech apps of the season!) but the next Roundup won't be for two weeks, due to Thanksgiving!  So, I hope everyone has a few wonderful days off and we'll see you soon! Today we'll close with a new infographic from Digital Learning Now (via Edudemic) that outlines the basics of blended learning in the classroom. Courtesy of: Digital Learning Now

Looks like it's time for the 2013 Edublog Award nominations!  For those unfamiliar with Edublog Awards, here's a little background: The Edublog Awards started in 2004 in response to community concerns relating to how schools, districts and educational institutions were blocking access of learner and teacher blog sites for educational purposes.  The purpose of the Edublog awards is promote and demonstrate the educational values of these social media.Best individual blogSo, without further ado, here are my nominations for this year!Best individual blog - User Generated EducationBest group blog - Two Guys and Some iPadsBest ed tech / resource sharing blog - Educational Technology & Mobile LearningBest teacher blog - EduTech for TeachersBest library / librarian blog - The Daring LibrarianBest administrator blog - Culture of Yes - Chris KennedyMost influential blog post of the year - The Myth and the Millennialism of "Disruptive Innovation"Best individual tweeter - Jerry Blumengarten (Cybrary Man)Best twitter hashtag - #EdTechBest free web tool - EduclipperBest educational use of audio / video / visual / podcast - EdReachBest educational wiki - ICT MagicBest open PD / unconference / webinar series - TechlandiaBest educational use of a social network - Susan OxnevadBest mobile app - Class DojoLifetime achievement - Free Technology for Teachers

We've got a special giveaway here at the Roundup!  If you've been a reader for a while, you're probably familiar with MobyMax.  If not, it's an online learning ecosystem, aligned to the common core standards, that helps teach students math, reading, writing, language, and vocabulary.  It's an absolutely wonderful learning resource and they're giving away one Pro Account ($79.00) here at the Roundup. If you're unfamiliar with MobyMax here's a video introduction to the site courtesy of the MM Team: You can also check out our review of the service for a complete rundown on how the site works.  In short, it's an excellent collection of targeted, online-learning modules that help students reach specific standards and learning goals in K-8 math, language, reading, writing, and vocabulary. To enter the competition, sign into the raffle below, and leave a comment on this blog post about how you would like to use MobyMax in the classroom.  Happy Raffling! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Welcome back!  And thanks for tuning in to the very last Weekly Roundup... Of 2013!  Tomorrow I'll be leaving Colombia for our school's winter vacation and I'll be off to explore Peru and Bolivia (on the off chance you're interested in the adventure, here's my travel blog).  So, it's been just over 6 months since the Roundup officially launched and I want to take this moment and give a GIANT thank you to everyone who has been reading, commenting, and enjoying the site.  I  greatly appreciate the support.  And to all of you, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and have a wonderful New Year! And, in other incredibly exciting news, the EdTech Roundup has been nominated for an EduBlog award in the "Best Resource Sharing Blog!"  If you've got a minute, vote us up!  And if you can't see the vote button in the graphic below, just head over to the EduBlog site.  Incredibly honored! See full list on Listly Up first today we've got a pair of posts from Getting Smart and Edudemic.  If you weren't aware, the first annual "Hour of Code" is coming to a close.  HOC is a campaign, hosted by code.org and others, to get students excited about coding and computer science.  If you missed it, no problem, there's still plenty of ways to get your students excited about coding!  To start, here are some ideas from Getting Smart and Edudemic. Next up, Aarti Shahani at Mind/Shift has an excellent new article which asks, "Should Schools Teach Social Media Skills?"  The post opens with a few of the many examples of students having issues and difficulties with their behavior on social media networks.  Shahani then goes on to discuss the possibility of teaching social media skills within the classroom. And speaking of social media, Ricky Ribeiro at EdTech Magazine has a new post which asks, "How Should Schools Navigate Student Privacy in a Social Media World?"  Ribeiro discusses the legal and practical issues involved with protecting student privacy while using social media networks within the classroom.  For any teacher using social media, this post is definitely worth considering. Here are a few of the excellent new resources from FT4T: Live Pics.io - Remotely Present Live Slideshows Seven Essentials of Good Infographic Design Classmint - Create Flashcards with Annotated Images Scrible's New Chrome Extension for Student Research The Most Popular Posts of Last Week Audrey Watters at Hack Education has been compiling her Top EdTech Trends of 2013, and most recently she discusses Hardware.  In the article, Watters covers how schools are beginning to move beyond the iPad, the growing influence of the Maker movement, the difficulties that surround tablets in education, and a whole lot more.  You can check out all of her Top EdTech Trends posts here. Up next, Lisa Nielsen at the Innovative Educator discusses "5 Reasons Cellphones Benefit a 1:1 Environment."  Oftentimes in education, even in districts that push for more tech use, cellphones get a bad rap.  In her new post, Nielsen outlines some of the ways that cellphones can actually be huge boon, especially in a 1:1 environment. Here are a few of the wonderful new podcasts from EdReach EdCeptional: Carrie is Awesome! Chalkstar to Rockstar: Metaphorically Speaking EdAdmin: A Video on PISA Misconceptions iDig Video: Cool Holiday Tech Gifts EdAdmin: Using Need Scenarios for Authentic Tasks Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies are all the rage these days, and Ilan Paretsky at Edudemic has a new post which will prove helpful for any classroom heading in that direction.  In "3 Keys to Making BYOD Work For Your Classroom" Paretsky outlines some basic tips and strategies to consider when implementing a BYOD policy. Educational Technology has some great new resources: 20 iPad Apps to Showcase Student Learning Cool Visual Featuring the Top 15 Online Distractors 7 Excellent Digital Tools to Try in Your Class 5 Guides for Teachers Using iPads with Students 14 Resources for Primary Source Documents We've talked a lot about LearnPad over here at the Roundup, but for those unfamiliar, the LearnPad is a tablet designed specifically for education.  And, the LearnPad team just received some exciting news: they have achieved the honor of being the "Most Awarded Global K12 Tablet Solution."  If you haven't had a chance to check out LearnPad, you can head over to their site for more information. Finally, USC Rossier Online has announced a new classroom supplies contest entitled, "The Classroom Project."  You could win up to $500 dollars in school supplies by writing a short blog post/essay and including a photo of your classroom.  Just in time for the holidays!  Check out their site for more information on thecontest. And that's all folks!  Again, thank you so much for reading, have a happy holiday season, and I'll be back in mid-January to continue the Roundup!  See you next year! -Mike

We. Are. Back!  Happy New Year to everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful break and/or holiday season!  I survived my time in the Andes and the Amazon and I'm excited to be back at the blog for a brand new year.  In case you missed it over the past week, I've added some new reviews and editorials to start getting back in the swing of things.  And for those of you missing the podcast, Saul and I will be back in the next week or two and we have some excellent guests lined up for season 2.  As always, thank you so much for reading and let's get started with some technology news! Let's start off at Edudemic with a straightforward post from Roman Sahakov on "2 Pros and 2 Cons to Education Technology."  Sahakov discusses how technology can be used as a teaching aid and to make information more easily accessible.  He then goes on to cover the cons: students can become distracted by the tech and it's easier to cheat.   Next up, Dom Norrish has a great post which asks, "Is There a Role for MOOCs in Secondary Education," an issue that I've been rolling around in my thoughts recently as well.  It's a well-thought-out article that covers the advantages and disadvantages of using MOOCs with secondary kids. Laura Fleming at Getting Smart has a new article entitled, "Technology as Learning Environment."  The post, which originally appeared of Worlds of Learning, discusses the Cloud, virtual learning environments, and how students are engaged and affected by digital life.  Fleming goes on to discuss a project of hers, ProtoSphere, which is a face-to-face interaction tool for virtual environments. Richard Byrne at Free Tech for Teachers has had around 1,000,003 great posts since I've been gone, but here's a few:The Week in Review (Best Posts of the Week)Find Vintage Public Domain Posters and AdsInteractive Timeline of Music Genre PopularitySlides from his Recent EdTech Presentation Next up, iLearn Technology has a new review of "Buncee: Digital Creation Tool."  Buncee can be used by students and teahcers to create interactive digital presentations and stories. Plus, you can sign up and use the service for free (there, of course, premium options available as well).  Here's a short video introduction to the service if you're interested! Educational Technology has some great new posts:10 iPad Apps to Facilitate Student CollaborationBest Educational Web Tools for this WeekPoster on How to Cite Info from the Internet5 Chrome Extensions for Every Teacher100s of Resources for Teaching with Technology Shawn McCusker at Mind/Shift has a new post to check out, "MacBook, Chromebook, iPads: Why Schools Should Think Beyond Platforms."  As the title suggests, McCusker discusses the importance of focusing on learning needs and flexibility, and not just the brand that the school is buying into.  It's an excellent read and definitely worth your time, especially if your district is considering a purchase soon. Finally, EdReach has some great new podcasts:Chalkstar to Rockstar: How we Teach TeachersMacReach: School SocializationEdCeptional: Appy JanuaryFlipped Learning: Teacher Collaboration The Lightning Round... The Daring Librarian has an excellent poster covering 4 Easy Steps to Embed a TweetEdudemic covers 30 Search Engines Perfect for Student ResearchersEdudemic also shares A Simple Way Teachers can Learn to Make AppsTeach Thoughts gives us a Primer on Using Games to TeachEdCetera a roundup of What's Happening in Ed Tech TodayAnd Getting Smart discusses how to Spice Up Lessons - Augmented Reality Defined And there you have it!  All Rounded up!  Thanks again for reading and we'll be back next weekend with a brand new Roundup!-Mike

Welcome back to the Roundup!  This past week, the annual BETT show (British Educational Training & Technology) was held in London.  In addition to all the great podcast content edreach put out over the week, they also have a nice write up from "The Floor of the BETT Show."  If you're interested, you can also visit the BETT site for more highlights from the conference. Most educators are familiar with the name Howard Gardner (the educational psychologist who developed the theory of Multiple Intelligences).  Gardner, along with Katie Davis, have recently published a new book entitled The App Generation which discusses the issue of identity in a digital world. Today, Mind/Shift shared an excellent excerpt from the book which is definitely worth a read. Free Tech for Teachers has some excellent new resources:A Great Message About Autism AwarenessListen to the Sounds of Nature All Over the WorldIn Praise of InstagramEasyclass - Free Online Course ManagementThe Most Popular Posts of the Week Audrey Watters at Hack Education has just announced the launch of a promising new educational technology site, Educating Modern Learners.  As she says, " far too often, ed-tech is positioned as a tool that will serve to merely enhance pre-existing classroom practices, to make these more efficient" instead of actually changing current practices.I'll be the first to admit, there are many times when my initial reaction to a new edtech tool is something along the lines of "Oh, this would be a great tool to help students pay more attention to a lecture," instead of, as Ms. Watters rightly suggests, using edtech to rethink and redesign our current educational paradigm.  It's definitely something that needs to change.  That being said, I'm excited  for her new site! Ray Mina at Getting Smart has an excellent new post outlining "Ways to Implement Safe Social Media for Schools."  Mina discusses how teaching students to blog, creating a class over social media, and having "virtual hallways," can help students become better digital citizens and more aware of how to safely manage their online behavior.  It's a great read and, for any school that doesn't address social media, worth considering. iLearn Technology has a new review of Timelapse, a visual timeline that is powered by Google.  Students have the option of exploring satellite imagery of cities all over the world, all the way back to 1984.  It's a great resource and check out iLearn technology for the full review. Our friends over at 2and2 have a new post entitled, "Why Educational Games and eLearning will Become Even More Prominent in 2014."  The article discusses the growing accessibility of mobile devices, the improvement of web literacy, and the ability of educational games to promote more active learning.  It's a great read with some really good, practical examples to check out. ED&ML has some excellent new resources from the week:A New Tool to Help Students Create ePortfoliosThe Comprehensive Google Drive Guide for Teachers20 Great Math Websites for Teachers & Students5 iPad Presentations Apps for Teachers & Students5 iPads for Taking Student on Virtual Field Trips And that's it for the Roundup this week!  Thanks for reading!  In closing, I'd like to leave you with two excellent timeline/infographics to choose from.  But choose wisely! The Past, Present, and Future of Education from Boundless via ET&MLSetting the Context: A Brief History of EdTech from EdElements vis Getting SmartWe've also got some new reviews up from this week, so be sure to check those out!  Thanks again and see you next week!-Mike