Emerging EdTech

It seems that there is no end to the number of websites that are collecting free technology tools for educators!  Here is another great example of a site that is chocked full of great resources that teachers will definitely want to get their hands on.  The website link does lead directly to the Free Productivity Resources for Teachers page, but you will want to check out all of the other tabs across the top of the page for much more information.

In addition to regular blog postings, this author also provides a video discussion about the blog posting for those who would rather watch video than read the post - great for those who gravitate more toward visual learning (like me!).

Enjoy another wonderful collection of tools to help infuse your teaching world with technology!

Try Live Binders!

This is one of the best web-based tools I have found yet!  If you're into collecting information on a variety of topics then this tool is for you.  You can create virtual "binders" that can be on one single topic or many different topic areas.  Binders can be divided up by using tabs. These tabs serve as sub-topics for your information.  When you're surfing on the Internet you can automatically add an interesting site to any of your binders and keep track of all the cool information you find all in one convenient place!

This is a great tool for sharing collections of information you find on the Internet.  If you want to collect sites on a certain topic you are teaching then you can also embed your binder into a webpage or in your LMS course page for students to access.  You can really build an entire course resource area using a live binder by making new tabs for each module or subject you teach throughout the entire course!  Give Live Binders a try and see how many ways you can find to use this awesome tool!

Guide to Using Free Web 2.0 Tools

Starters Guide to Web 2.0 in the Classroom - 

Thanks to Brian Thomas, here's a great presentation that offers links to Web 2.0 tools. Not only does it showcase the tool itself, you are also given some really good ideas for actually using the tools in your classroom! If you click on the Download button at the top of the presentation, you can also have a local copy to save for future reference!

The Educator's PLN

PLN stands for Personal (or Professional) Learning Network.  In my opinion, every educator should belong to several PLNs. There are so many of these groups to be found on the Internet today that there really isn't a good reason not to take advantage of these resources.  This particular PLN page is yet another resource that holds a wide variety of tools, ideas and teaching strategies for using technology in the classroom.  The difference with this site is that all of the ideas are provided by hundreds of teachers who are active in teaching right now.  The list is constantly being updated.  There are discussion forums, video postings, tutorials, Twitter chats and so much more.  There are also at the time of this post,  89 sub-groups you can become a part of.

If you want to become part of an active Professional Learning Network for teachers, this is the place to hang out.