50 Excellent Chrome Extensions for Students June 11th, 2010 Whether you’re heading to class for the first time this fall or if you’re a returning student, finding tools that make your studies a little easier is always a good thing. Google’s web browser Chrome has grown steadily in popularity since its release, and now there are numerous extensions for the browser that let you customize it to your needs. Here are just a few of the add-ons available that will prove particularly useful to you as a student. Basics These extensions will help make Chrome more secure, allow you to change your tabs, or make it easier to browse. Educational Tools Try out these extensions to learn more and keep your information organized. Google Dictionary: Simply highlight any word on a website when you have this extension and you can get a definition right there. Web-Based Research Make finding the information you need on the web a snap with these great extensions. Productivity and Time Management These extensions will help ensure you’re using your time wisely.
7 Ways To Get More Out Of Twitter Twitter is one of the most powerful tools available to a modern educator, student, or administrator. It’s a free tool that connects you to some of the most innovative and useful ideas the world has to offer. You can communicate with just about anyone in brief messages. This is probably a good thing for the more verbose folks who need some guidance in keeping their messages under 140 characters. Twitter as a Curation Tool I have written and spoken extensively about the use of Twitter in education: In addition to the above mentioned uses of Twitter, I am increasingly becoming aware of the importance of Twitter as a CURATION tool for me. The term “curation” in itself has become quite popular recently. Mike Fisher has blogged about curation and what it means versus the concept of collection. Collecting is what kids do when asked to find resources for a particular topic. Mike created the following image to point out the continuum from collecting to curating The stages and progression of using Twitter as a mere consumption tool of collected information (by others) to curating information, adding value with additional perspectives, connections, resources or interpretation, the platform of Twitter as a potential tool for curation becomes evident. There are different sides to Twitter as a Curation tool: Download Twitter as a Curation Tool as a pdf file. Ex Follow #hashtags of topics or groups. Ex.
How to Find Anything Online: Become an Internet Research Expert Einstein once said, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” The same could be said of intelligence. What they don’t tell you is that the “smart” people of the world are, in most cases, just better at researching and learning things than everyone else. But researching is a learned skill, not something you’re born with. And while some people might be predisposed to learn things more easily than others, it’s generally not enough to make a measurable difference. By learning how to research, you can quickly and fairly easily become knowledgeable about just about anything. It’s all there, online, for free. Start with Wikipedia Whenever you try to learn something new on the Internet, start with Wikipedia. The main reason to start with Wikipedia is that it gives a good overview of most topics. Sure, any given page is bound to have some inaccuracies (as is the case on most user-generated websites), but most of the content is generally reliable. Move on to Google Go Multimedia
Twitter for Researchers guide At my institution we’re really stepping up our support for researchers, and I’ve been doing a lot of stuff around the Web 2.0 end of the spectrum. I’m running a suit of workshops called Becoming a Networked Researcher, and I’ve been into departments to give taster presentations like this one: We’ve also finally completed a guide to using Twitter for Researchers. It’s more a Twitter for Researchers actually, rather than the process of academic research itself (although that is possible). The guide took a surprisingly long time to do – the difference between knowing stuff and actually writing an ideal version of it down in a document never ceases to disappoint me… Adding examples took a while too. Anyhow, here it is – feel free to use stuff from it, with attribution:
Free Technology for Teachers How Twitter has made me a New Teacher « Dukelyer TwitterThe other day I managed to pass a couple of Twitter milestones, 500 followers and 3000 tweets, and I made me really stop and think about how this thing that many of us use named Twitter has affected my life and my passion for teaching . I teach at a steadily growing, but really still small, country school in the lower middle of the South Island of New Zealand. The closest town is 20 minutes away and has a standing population 4-5 thousand people year round. Then I grabbed an opportunity to travel to an EXPO in Dunedin where I met up with a teacher who I had met the past year and he was Tweeting. It lay dormant for a few months and it took me many tries to even remember the password and username, but after seeing two passionate, knowledgeable and enthusiastic teachers mention Twitter and a PLN as part of their success I new that I had to give it a go and have not looked back since. Thank you Twitter PN: 13 hours later I have to add one more photo. Like this: Like Loading...
On World Teachers’ Day, Google announces YouTube now has more than 1,000 educational channels Today is World Teachers’ Day and Google has some news to share. YouTube has hit a new milestone: the video sharing website now features more than 1,000 educational channels. In celebration of teachers everywhere, Google has put together some new resources to make YouTube even more useful for learning. First off, Google has created a YouTube EDU Creator Playbook Guide, which includes videos (of course!) Secondly, Google recently asked James Sanders, KIPP Bay Area Innovation manager, to create a presentation on 10 ways teachers can use YouTube to build a 21st century classroom. Last but not least, Google is pushing everyone to check out YouTube.com/Teachers, the main portal for teachers who use YouTube. For those who don’t know, World Teachers’ Day has been held annually on October 5 since 1994. See also: Google and Khan Academy launch contest to bring new forms of education to YouTube and This World Teachers’ Day, Google celebrates educators who make a difference Image credit: Ivan Prole
How to Use Twitter to Grow Your PLN For many people, Twitter conjures up the worst of the internet: disjointed, meaningless phrases, unrecognizable abbreviations, and endless drivel about where someone's getting their double mocha today. So, Why Tweet?!?! For the inquisitive educator, there are some jewels herein that can lead to stimulating discussions, new resources, and an ongoing supportive network. To that end, here is a list of educationally focused chats that we recommend (listed by day): Chat for educators teaching 4th grade #4thchat Mondays 8pm ET/5pm PT/7pm CT Chat for educators teaching social studies #sschat Mondays 7pm ET/4pm PT/6pm CT Chat for music educators #musedchat Mondays 8pm ET/5pm PT Chat for ELL educators #ellchat Mondays 9pm ET/6pm PT Kindergarten Chat #kinderchat Mondays 9pm ET/6pm PT General education chat #edchat Tuesdays 12 noon ET/ 9am PT 7pm ET/4pm PT Chat for science educators #scichat Tuesdays 9pm ET/6pm PT Chat for new and pre-service teachers #ntchat Wednesdays 8pm ET/5pm PT Set up an account
50 Powerful Ways To Use Skype In The Classroom Added by Katie Lepi on 2012-11-15 Collaborate! Meet with other classrooms : One of the most common projects educators utilize Skype for is setting up exchanges with classrooms around the world, usually for cultural exchange purposes or working together on a common assignment. The program’s official site provides some great opportunities to meet up with like-minded teachers and students sharing the same goals. Practice a foreign language : Connect with individual learners or classrooms hailing from a different native tongue can use a Skype collaboration to sharpen grammar and pronunciation skills through conversation. Peace One Day : Far beyond classroom collaborations, the Peace One Day initiative teamed up with Skype itself and educators across the globe to teach kids about the importance of ending violence, war, and other social ills. Communicate! Connect! Art crits : Schedule time with professional artists and receive thorough crits about how to improve a piece. Comments are closed.
Mom This is How Twitter Works Start Your Career in Mobility at AirWatch | AirWatch Why AirWatch Our belief is that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. That’s why we develop software that’s powerful, yet easy to use. The AirWatch platform was developed from the ground up to be multi-tenant, highly scalable, integrate with existing enterprise systems, and more, with the flexibility to be deployed on-premise or in the cloud. Why Mobility The consumerization of mobile devices and apps are changing the way companies do business from adapting to BYOD strategies to the proliferation of different mobile devices, tablets and apps. Our Culture At AirWatch, we provide an environment that empowers you to make things happen…fast. Twitter for Professional Development One of best and worst things about teaching today is the unbelievably unfathomable amount of online resources, tools, websites, lesson plans, and overall good stuff for teaching and learning. However, there are only so many hours and minutes in the day to spend researching and finding resources that are relevant to your life as a teacher. How do you keep up with it all? There is nothing better than having a good group of “goto” people that you can turn to with questions about resources, bounce ideas off of for lessons and projects, and collaborate with on a regular basis. Twitter to the rescue! In addition to just following educators and others with the same interests as you, there are several different hashtags that you can follow that revolve around the educational realm.