71 EdTech Resources You May Have Missed–Treasure Chest September 25, 2011

by Jeffrey Thomas on September 25, 2011

Welcome to this week’s edition of Treasure Chest—71 EdTech Resources You May Have Missed.

It’s really difficult to keep up with all that happens in educational technology. This is my attempt to make it just a little easier. I post a Treasure Chest every Sunday!

Featured

Facebook Introduces A Host Of New Features To Photos, News Feed, Messaging And More | Redmond Pie–Here it comes, folks – the battle we’ve all been waiting for! With Google only just removing the invite-only limitation to its Google+ social networking effort, Facebook is working tirelessly to bring in even more changes as it seeks to retain its supremacy amongst connected users far and wide.
Timeline: Say Hello to the New Facebook Profiles–Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled the company’s much-anticipated overhaul of profile pages, transforming the user profile into a virtual …
Facebook Changes Getting Out of Hand [COMIC]–Sometimes change is a great thing, and other times it seems like a lot of extra hoops to jump through with meager benefits.

George Lucas On The Best Fix For K-12 Education – Forbes–Hollywood director George Lucas, who says his own experience in public schools was “quite frustrating,” calls education the foundation of our democracy and says that as a father, “I’ve felt the imperative to transform schooling even more urgently.” So now the man best known for the Star War series is pushing innovation in the [...]
Do Principals Know Good Teaching When They See It? – Miller-McCune–Most principals can’t identify or explain what constitutes good teaching, much less help teachers improve, according to a new book.
New math equals trouble, education expert says – Canada – CBC News–The answer is simple: old math is greater than new math, according to the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
New Math equals trouble, education expert says–The CBC just ran an article on the problems in our current math system which was terribly one-sided and an example of the worst kind of fear-mongering journalism. They are quoting an article by Michael Zwaagstra, an “educational expert” writing on behalf of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
WEB 2.0 FOR SECONDARY TEACHERS – LiveBinder–free Web 2.0 tools for secondary teachers…divided by subjeect
Educational Technology Guy: NASA Kid’s Club – great resource!–NASA Kid’s Club is another great resource from NASA for educators. It has educational games, pictures, animations, activities and much more
YouTube Integrates Magisto’s “Magical Video Editing” Tool | TechCrunch–Beginning this evening, Magisto will be integrated into YouTube as part of their Create page. Youtube added their own fancy video editing tool to the site (with things like video rotation, stabilization, and brightness/color adjustment) just last week — and while this doesn’t replace that, it’s yet another option to help ensure that some percentage of the inimitable mountain of video uploaded to Youtube each day is that much less likely to be completely unedited garbage.
Positive Thinking is as Important as the Curriculum | Connected Principals–Today I was able to enjoy a very good special on the late Chicago Cubs legend Ron Santo during a rain delay earlier this baseball season. Santo was a great 3rd baseman in Chicago for 15 years and then was a Cubs broadcaster on the radio for over 20 years. Santo is highly respected as [...]
7 Ways to Get Started With Cloud Computing – ReadWriteCloud–If you are a cloud virgin, what is the best way to get started and learn more about what the cloud can offer? Here are several suggestions, from …
Twenty Everyday Ways to Model Technology Use for Students | Edutopia–In honor of Edutopia’s 20th anniversary, blogger Heather Wolpert-Gawron shares 20 ways to share technology with students. Please add your own!
No Defending Illiterate Educators « My Island View–Teach students what to look for, and what to value in content, so they can access it in whatever form it is being delivered. More importantly, allow students to use those tools of technology and information to create new content and share it with others.
Dispelling Myths About Blocked Websites in Schools | MindShift–Cator parsed the rules of the Childrens Internet Protection Act, and provided guidance for teachers on how to proceed when it comes to interpreting the rules. To that end, here are six surprising rules that educators, administrators, parents and students might not know about website filtering in schools.
No Child Left Behind? How Schools Neglect High Achievers – Education – GOOD–A new study shows that by focusing so much on bringing low achievers to proficiency, we’re stunting the potential of academically advanced kids.
YouTube Launches New Site for Teachers | The Whiteboard Blog–Teachers who love YouTube will be interested to know that today YouTube have launched a channel specifically aimed at teachers
YouTube Launches Site Specifically for Teachers | MindShift–Educators who’ve been wanting to use YouTube videos in class can now find an easy way in. Today, YouTube launched its own teacher’s channel: YouTube.com/Teachers, a guide to using videos in class.
Should Teachers Friend Their Students? | Powerful Learning Practice–One of our many jobs as teachers is to keep a professional separation between who we are and what we do.
5 Free Everyday Mathematics Apps–Is it that time of year again already? Why, yes it is! McGraw-Hill has once again made some of its Everyday Mathematics iPod/iPhone/iPad Apps free from September 24-26.
Educational Technology Guy: Wondering – why is it that education is suddenly “Failing”?–I keep wondering about this. Supposedly, public education in America is “failing”. I don’t understand how. We have changed how we do things in our classrooms and have all these online resources. Students can access information and help resources from their phones. So why are we “failing?”
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org: Is Facebook the new Study Hall?–This is an app my teenager can use when doing her Calculus homework (you won’t find me anywhere near that subject!). Anyone try Hoot.me on Facebook? Here’s what it does:

Tools

PixBuilder Studio, Free Photo Editing Software–All I personally need when it comes to photo editing software is a fast loading program that can resize images, make small adjustments like adding blur effects
Speccy: Check System Information In a Way That You Would Understand–How to Check System Information In a Way That You Would Understand With Speccy.
Compare 11 Online Backup Services Quickly – ReadWriteCloud–If you aren’t happy with your existing online backup provider and want to switch to one of the 11 different services that NextAdvisor has analyzed, then head on …
20 Useful Online File Converter Tools | blueblots.com–Browse this list of 20 Useful Online File Converter Tools so that you can also see which one suits your needs best. These tools all have unique amazing features so better check them out. Enjoy!
5 Tools To Permanently Delete Sensitive Data From Your Hard Drive [Windows]–In a recent article I explained why it is impossible to recover data from a hard drive after overwriting it. In that post I mentioned that simply deleting files or formatting your hard drive typically does not remove or overwrite files at all, meaning they can still be recovered. If this information made you a little nervous, let me connect the pieces for you.
7 Absolutely Helpful Tools For Your Macintosh | Free and Useful Online Resources for Designers and Developers–There are many mac osx apps available out there, but getting by free and good ones is not that easy. Today, we are sharing 7 Absolutely Helpful Tools For Your Macintosh. Read each entry in the list and see which mac osx tool suits your needs best.
Conceptboard for Chrome Adds Google+ Enabled Whiteboards–Chrome: Google just launched its new Google+ Hangout extensions in beta, including its drawing app, Sketchpad, but Conceptboard takes it a considerable step further and adds full whiteboarding support.
Five Unique Search Engines That Can Help You More Effectively–There are many websites and search engines out there, but getting by free and good ones is not that easy. Today, we are sharing Five Unique Search Engines That Can Help You More Effectively. Read each entry in the list and see which search engine suits your needs best.

How-To

The Teacher’s Guide To Using YouTube In The Classroom – Edudemic–Continuing with our look at how YouTube can aid teachers and students, it’s probably a good idea to actually outline exactly how the video service can help in the classroom.
How To Enable Facebook’s New “Timeline” Profile Right Now Before Anyone Else Gets It–Yesterday Facebook announced a host of new features in what was described by industry observers as the biggest shakeup in Facebook’s history. Most of these changes are obviously due to the emerging and growing threat from Google Plus, and one of the features that Mark Zuckerberg introduced was the radical redesign of the profile page. It’s called the timeline.
How To Remove The Facebook News Ticker & Fixed Header [Chrome]–As most of you are probably aware, Facebook has been undergoing a few changes lately. Okay, maybe more than a few, but at any rate, the platform is changing. I know there are a lot of you out there that can’t stand even the minor tweaks that have been made by Facebook. If you happen to be a Google Chrome user, I’m about to buy you a little time.
Enable and Disable Windows Features–No matter which version of Windows you use, there is a lot of features that are installed with the system by default, many of which you probably will never use. Disabling Windows features you don’t use can optimize your system, making it faster and saving precious hard disk space.
How to Create your own Crossword Puzzles–Crossword puzzles are fun to solve and can also be used as an educational tool. Learn how to create your own crossword puzzles.
Back up your Mac: the complete guide | News | TechRadar UK–Back up your Mac: the complete guide What you need to know about Mac backups : TechRadar UK
How to Collect Student Files with Dropbox | K-5 Computer Lab–Students can upload assignments and files to be collected by the teacher. Free.
Get Windows 7 Start Menu In Windows 8–If you feel you are more productive with the Windows 7 interface here is a registry hack to get Windows 7 Start Menu, Explorer and Task Manager in Windows 8.
7 Ways to Get Started With Cloud Computing – ReadWriteCloud–If you are a cloud virgin, what is the best way to get started and learn more about what the cloud can offer? Here are several suggestions, from …
A Simple Way to Understand Hue, Saturation and Luminosity (Brightness)–This video explains a simple way to help you quickly understand the concept of Hue, Saturation and Luminosity (Brightness) for colors.
How to Dual-Boot Windows 7 and Windows 8 On the Same PC – How-To Geek–If you want to try out the new Windows 8 but don’t have a CPU that supports virtualization, check out our guide on how to get all the goodness of Windows 8 along side Windows 7 by dual booting.
How To Do Everything On WordPress – Edudemic–Wordpress powers many of the world’s most popular websites (including Edudemic!). Many people without much technical expertise want to use WordPress to power their blog but are a bit nervous about learning the vocabulary or figuring out which plugin or theme is right for them.
Screencasting Tips and Best Practices–For the past three years, I have been doing custom-made video screencasts for private consulting clients. These are moving captures of the images on a PC screen with …
Publish Pictures on Flickr Using Windows Live Photo Gallery | Windows 7 Tutorials–This article will show how to integrate Windows Live Photo Gallery with Flickr and how to publish pictures on this website, directly from the comfort of this desktop application.
How to Download All Your Facebook Information to Your Computer–Learn How to Download All Your Facebook Information to Your Computer.

iOS

Papercut turns ebooks into multimedia experiences–New iPad app Papercut aims to enhance reading with audio, video, images and animations that complement help tell stories in new ways.
Pine Glen Library & Technology Center » Setting up a cartful or two of iPads–I made a few mistakes a long the way, but here’s the most efficient method that I’ve found for getting all the iPads up and running in a uniform manner, particularly if you already have a bunch of free apps and apps purchased from the Volume Purchase Program:
Burlington High School Principal’s Blog: The BHS iPad Rollout – Some Thoughts After Two Weeks–We have been in school 11 days so far and after reading an article in T.H.E Journal titled “Lessons from an iPad Rollout” I realized it was time to reflect and share some of what has happened her at BHS thus far.
The Top 10 iPad Tools for Information Management – iPads in Education–We all know the feeling. You begin and end every day with a flood of emails to answer, tasks to complete, meetings to attend, text messages that require a resp…
Infographics For The iPad And iPhone–Information graphics—popularly called, infographics—are the coolest and most eye-catching ways to present research studies and other statistical data. But if you are an avid infographics reader like I am, you may have found it difficult to view presentations on your computer screen. So I knew,eventually a smart developer would produce an app specifically designed for downloading and viewing them on a mobile device.
Video-Sharing iPhone App Limits Users to 1-Minute Clips–Klip lets users capture, share, discover and view mobile videos on iPhone.
10 Handy iPhone Apps for Home Improvement–These 10 mobile apps can help you plan, design and serve as inspiration for your next home decor project.
4+ More Websites To Find Free eBooks for iPad–A while back we wrote about the best places to find free iPad books. The article yielded many useful comments and suggestions from you, and made me want to explore the area even more. I’ve been using the iPad as a reading device more and more lately, and the quest for quality, free ebooks that I can read on the iPad is an ongoing challenge.
Brilliant Integration of the iPad | November Learning–This fall Mulgrave School in Vancouver, Canada, handed iPads to all the Grade 3 classes. Three weeks into the academic program and lead teachers on the project, Melanie Cannon and Shauna Ullman throw down one of the best uses of the iPad I’ve seen yet

Miscellaneous

Windows 8: Way Too Early for the Hype | PCWorld Business Center–Windows 8 is an impressive, bold move for Microsoft. But with its actual launch a year away, it’s too early to say awesome it will be or how badly it will fail.
How to Break the Cycle of Remedial College Classes – Education – GOOD–At least a third of college students start freshman year in remedial classes. A California project shows that it doesn’t have to be that way.
Facebook Recommends People to Subscribe (or Follow) to–Facebook now recommends you other public Facebook profiles to subscribe (or follow) to and these recommendations are based on your existing subscriptions.
5 Essential WordPress Plugins For Comments–One of the best things about using the self-hosted version of the WordPress platform (i.e. not WordPress.com) is the plugins. Sure you get great functionality
30 Days With Google Docs | PCWorld Business Center–Today, I am kicking off a new project. Each month I will take on a new technology or tool for 30 days, and I am starting ’30 Days With’ by tackling Google Docs.
NASA Offers Space Shuttle Artifacts to Schools – Education – GOOD–The last manned shuttle flew in July, but the space agency is keeping their galactic legacy alive.
Google Hangouts: Now with Google Docs Integration, Now Even Better for Edu | Hack Education–When Google launched its new social network, Google Plus earlier this summer, there was a flurry of stories about the site’s potential for education. I confess, I penned a few: …
Google+ Social Networking Now Open to Everyone, New Features Added | PCWorld–Google’s Facebook competitor comes out of field trials; offers new features, including group video chat for Android phone users, better search, and better text messaging
Google+ Hangouts Adds Screen Sharing, Google Docs Collaboration, and More–We’ve always been keen on Google+ Hangouts, but a recent update provided some extras that make the experience even better. Now you can share your screen, collaborate in Google Docs, and even draw together in SketchUp. Additionally, the Hangouts API provides developers with the ability to integrate Hangouts into their own web apps. This could become a very interesting way to not only collaborate on work, but also share media and play games with other people across the web.
INFOGRAPHIC : The Textbooks Of Tomorrow–As someone who has just bought an iPad, I can personally appreciate its potential to become the dominant force in the digital book wars. PDF and ePub files can be uploaded instantly, and then annotated with your stylus pen or finger. Let’s face it, if you were a student, what would you rather have? 10 heavy textbooks or a thin much lighter iPad?
5 Awesome Games Like Angry Birds When You Can’t Get Enough–Are your fingers itching to sling more items across a field to crush your enemies and get to the next level in a game? If you’ve been playing Angry Birds, I imagine you’re probably either satisfied with that one game (and aren’t looking to play any more), or you’re ready to move on and take on any other physics-based, catapulting games that come your way
Imagine What 100 Million iPads in Classrooms Would Do – Yahoo! News–Apple’s previously announced partnership with Teach for America is starting to surface in classrooms this week. Following the announcement of the iPad 2, Apple invited iPad users that were upgrading to give back their first generation devices at a retail store, and it would donate them to the poorly paid teachers in the program. In the past couple of weeks, Apple’s handed out over 9,000 iPads to Teach for America corps members in 38 states.
NASA Releases Historical Sound Bites As Ringtones | TechCrunch–Space buffs like me are sure to get a kick out of this one: NASA has released a score of historical sound bites from the space program for use as ringtones or system sounds.
Why do Facebook users hate change? | ZDNet–Facebook, as a social phenomenon, a greater oddity exists when the site changes its layout or features. Why do Facebook users hate change, or is it a …

Video/Slideshow

What It Feels Like to Fly Over Planet Earth | Open Culture–Here’s what a little time and creativity brings. James Drake, a professor of Physics at U. Maryland, downloaded 600 images from The Gateway to Astronaut