Infographics

There are so many infographics out there, but how can we use them in teaching and learning?  Kathy Schrock did a great presentation and it was very simple.  I love the resources and links she provided.
https://sites.google.com/a/kathyschrock.net/infographics/

https://sites.google.com/a/kathyschrock.net/infographics/infographictopics


Can you think of ways to use infographics in teaching and learning?

Urtak is a free and simple polling service that can be used on any blog or website. The polls you create can have multiple questions, but they must be "yes or no" questions. But Urtak isn't that limited because visitors to your poll also have the option of writing in their own questions.

You can get started using Urtak in seconds by registering with your Twitter or Facebook account. You can also use your email address to create an account with Urtak. As you can see above, Urtak polls can be embedded into your blog or you can direct people to your poll by sharing the unique url Urtak assigns to your poll.

Should we use twitter?

We are using twitter, but many ask why, for what, and how are we using it?  This infographic provides a way for you to decide if twitter should be used or continue to be used for your business or organization.  Click on image to view larger version.

Shelfster

Shelfster is a new research and writing tool that I learned about from Vicki Davis earlier this week before trying it out myself this afternoon. The purpose of Shelfster is to help you bookmark and annotate websites and documents that you find while researching a topic. You can organize your findings into Shelfster projects. Within each of your projects you can create documents by dragging and dropping links and texts into your documents from your list of saved links. Of course, you can also type in your documents and edit things that you dragged from your project library to your documents. Documents can be saved in your online account, downloaded, and printed.

Shelfster offers an iPad and iPhone app for bookmarking and annotating items to save in your projects. Shelfster also has browser bookmarklets and browser extensions for bookmarking and annotating materials in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera (sorry Safari fans, it seems Shelfster doesn't support that yet). You can also use Shelfster as a desktop app on Mac and Windows computers.

Applications for Education
Shelfster has the potential to be a good service to help students organize the useful content they find on the Internet. I'm not sure that I'd have students write an entire research paper within Shelfster yet, but it could definitely be a good place to construct an outline of a research paper. Shelfster says that integration with Google Docs is coming in the future. When that happens then I might have students use Shelfster for writing an entire research paper that could be easily shared for peer editing.

Find that File

Find that file is an interesting source to find or locate different forms of file types for a specific subject or content piece. 

http://www.findthatfile.com/

What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media

Just finished reading this book by Chris Lehmann and Scott McLeod.  As technology reshapes teaching and learning in the twenty-first century, school leaders would do well take into consideration the insights and advice shared in this book. With dozens of concrete examples, it offers something for education leaders no matter their prior experience with technology tools and issues.  Digital technologies and social media continue to evolve and are transforming the way in which we communicate, teach, and learn. This is a must-have toolbox for educational leaders who choose to be agents of change.

If you have a chance, pick up a copy.  It is worth the investment, especially for school leaders.

Blogging, not just the numbers

 

Early in the video Godin notes that blogging is not about the number of readers, but about the other benefits gained by blogging. That is a great point for all bloggers, but especially new bloggers to remember. Focus on consistently (it doesn't have to be every day, some of my favorite bloggers write only twice a week) producing quality content that you find beneficial to yourself and a small group of peers or colleagues and eventually your audience will grow. I started this blog for the purpose of keeping a record of things that I found interesting and for keeping in touch with friends. If you're just starting out in the blogging community, remember that blogging is about learning, reflecting, and sharing.