BBC Languages - a language resource not to be neglected

BBC Languages has courses for beginners on up in many different languages. There is even a neat section called "Quick Fix: Essential phrases in 40 languages" that was a fun basic resource. They even claim you can "Learn all the basics and get a certificate with the help of weekly e-mail tips." Available in French, Spanish, German and Italian. Check out BBC Languages here: bbc.co.uk/languages

Top iPad Apps for Education

This site ranks the most popular iPad apps educators are using. Click here for the top 200 apps.

"apptivities"

Want to know how people are using apps in the classroom? Here are lessons that involve apps.

They are models for successful instructional practices with mobile devices
It’s the application of apps for learning. Find out more at www.apptivities.org

WW II Real Time Tweets

A blast from the past and a unique way to use Twitter. Daily tweats with what's happening each day of World War II. Shared by Merry. Go here: twitter.com/realtimewwii

Instant feedback and brainstorming tool. All you need are computers and a url!

willyou.typewith.me is a web-based word processor designed for schools that allows pupils and teachers to work together in real-time. Just create a "pad", share the url and you're off and running brainstorming and collaborating in real time. Too simple, too cool, too effective! Go to willyou.typewith.me

Another awesome resource for iPads in the classroom!

Probably the most extensive iPad for the classroom site I've come across. Go here: https://sites.google.com/site/schrockipad/

Gamification Keynote Speaker, fantastic!

Games are good people. Find out why...

TIES Conference Favorites

Technology in Music Education: How to use iPhones, iPods, iPads, and other technology in music education. Go here: http://techinmusiced.wordpress.com

Weebly is a fantastic website creator. Easier and better than Google Sites. Go here: http://www.weebly.com/

Keynote Speaker Gabe Zichermann spoke on "gamification" and was very persuasive in arguing for including gaming in the learning process. Here he is at TED: http://youtu.be/O2N-5maKZ9Q

Coolest App was WordLens. It allows you to point you iPhone or iPad at another language and it translates it in real time. You have to see it to believe it. You can here: http://youtu.be/h2OfQdYrHRs 

More to come as I sort though my notes!

Even more iPad Resources - fantastic!

Click here for Garrison Sites iPad Resource. It will blow your iPad mind!

Creative ways to use the iPad in the classroom

Here is a link to 68 interesting ways to use iPads in the classroom. Click here.

Brilliant PBS resource to Hamlet and Macbeth. Includes full performances of both.

PBS Arts has a wonderful online exhibit on Shakespeare's Hamlet and Macbeth plays. Watch full productions of Hamlet and Macbeth. Then go behind-the-scenes with interviews with master actor Patrick Stewart and a peek at the making of a stage-to-television production. Fascinating and well done! Click on the following link to see the exhibit: www.pbs.org/arts/exhibit/shakespeare-three-tragedies

Encyclopedia Mythica

Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic and Native American myth resource you won't believe until you see it!

Check it out here: www.pantheon.org

Move over human! Computer solves Rubik's cube in 5 seconds...

Best 6 minute video on the future I have seen this year! (go full screen)

Search Shakespeare to your bards content!

Click here: shakespeare.yippy.com

23 incredible new technologies you’ll see by 2021

The paralyzed will walk
$100 DNA sequencing
Personal 3D printing
The return of the wooly mammoth
The average PC will have the power of the human brain
Fusion energy
Crash proof cars

And more. Just click here to read about this incredible future.

Brainpickings: A site for the curious...

Brainpickings digs for "nuggets of stuff that inspires, that gives you pause, that makes you connect dots you didn't realize were connectable." Super food for the brain!
Go to www.brainpickings.org

British National Library of Medicine: Original Manuscripts!

"Turning The Pages" allows visitors to touch and turn the pages of virtual books displayed on a touchscreen monitor in an intuitive manner. Takes virtual books to the next level. Check it out by clicking here.

Music: The National Jukebox

An absolutely extraordinary website resource of historical recordings put out by the Library of Congress. The Jukebox includes more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925. Includes classical, ethnic, popular and religious music as well as spoken word recordings. You can add songs to a "playlist" and then sit back, launch the Jukebox Player and enjoy. Click here and enjoy: www.loc.gov/jukebox

Escape your search engine filer bubble now!

Search engines like Google tailor your results based on who you are, your search history, your click history. This is called "living in a filter bubble. Want to break free? Look through this short explanation at http://dontbubble.us and then try a different way of searching...

Future Education Tech Keith heads to The Black Hills!

No, not for an education conference, but to my first marathon ever. I've got to keep in shape if I want this blog to be the best tech-education blog on the planet! With the help of my sponsor AdventureCORPS (organizer of the Furnace Creek 508 bike race and the Badwater Ultramarathon) I'll be tackling the Crazy Horse Marathon. If anyone out there is interested in marathons (or even better) ultra marathons AdventureCORPS is for you. I'll post some photos when I get back! Here's a link to the race: runcrazyhorse.com

Happy Trails!

Reminder that BrainPOP creates animated, curriculum-based content that kicks butt! Perfect for Primary Grades.

Best of all we have an account so just email me for username and password!
Here is the link to the website: http://www.brainpop.com

VOCRE: Real-time app for iPhone that translates your speech into 6 languages with the flick of your wrist!

Vocre turns your iPhone into a real-time translator. How awesome is that? Download the app to your iPhone or read more about it by clicking here...

The Future of Print Media?

I don't even know why I put a question mark in the title. This seems to be where we're all going. As eReaders rise and books become "collectibles" we will consume more and more of our media this way. See the future of print media with Sport's Illustrated's new Tablet Magazine App. I'd watch it full screen for full effect...

Turns out Minneapolis is hard to hack!

Turns out people in Minneapolis are pretty computer savvy compared to the rest of the nation. Read about it at City Pages here.

Incredible interative way to read!

A short video on the use of QR Codes and the ways in which you can interact with books in ways you might not know. Shared with me by my colleague Carrie Johnson...

South Korea Schools to be all digital by 2015

Read about how South Korea is going to replace all printed primary (elementary) education material with digital content. Bye bye books and backpacks. Click here for the article...

32 Ways to Use Google Apps in Classrooms and Schools

Check it out by clicking here...

e-books now outselling print books!

The sad (is it?) truth was revealed today when Amazon announced that it is now selling more eBooks than print. You can read the article by clicking here.

Quirky Ways to Teach Skakespeare

Check out the 7 videos that showcase 7 different and "quirky" ways Shakespeare is being taught around the country. Good material for the "bard" in you... Click on this link to see more.