Twitter is undoubtedly a great tool for educators who wish to keep up with the most recent educational and edtech news. Even though Twitter is growing by leaps and bounds, there are still a lot of people who have know idea what Twitter is or how to use it.

Here is a nice infographic from Infographic Labs on the state of Twitter right now and a few projections for the future. (Click image to enlarge)

Twitter 2012: The Freshest Statistics on the King of Microblogging Services by Infographiclabs

Welcome to this week’s edition of Treasure Chest—86 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 Chestevery Sunday!

Featured

• A Tech-Happy Professor Reboots After Hearing His Teaching Advice Isn’t Working – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education–But now Mr. Wesch finds himself rethinking the fundamentals of teaching—and questioning his own advice.
• It Is Not About the Gadgets – Why Every Teacher Should Have to Integrate Tech Into Their Classroom–I once sat on an interview committee in which the candidate p[proudly proclaimed that to integrate technology her students would use word processors and publish their work in a monthly book.
• The Principal Difference: A School Leadership Blog by Mel Riddile: PISA: It's Poverty Not Stupid--For whatever reason, these so-called experts, many of whom have had little or no actual exposure to public schools, refuse to paint an accurate picture of the state of education.
• “Teaching Isn’t Really a Profession” « My Island View--The statement that sets me off is usually some variation of,”teaching isn’t really a profession”.

• Are Teacher Preparation Programs Dangerously Irrelevant? [guest post] | Dangerously Irrelevant–In my first year of teaching a veteran leaned over during a particularly dry workshop and said blandly …
• As teacher merit pay spreads, one noted voice cries, ‘It doesn’t work’ – The Washington Post–Dan Pink, author, former White House speechwriter, and influential voice on workplace motivations, has just one problem with teacher merit pay: “It doesn’t work.”
• How American Schools Compare To All Other Countries [Infographic] | Edudemic–From analyzing STEM to seeing what makes other schools successful… it’s all here. Enjoy!
• Eight brief points about “merit pay” for teachers | Daniel Pink–In today’s Washington Post is another story about “merit pay” for teachers. But this one, by national education correspondent Lyndsey Layton, spends some …
• Dark Side of the iPad ~ Collecting student projects is difficult! | John Larkin–Sharing iPad files is difficult. The simple task of collecting, assessing and returning multiple student works that were created is nigh on impossible with the iPad.
• EdTechSandyK: Supporting Teachers and Students in the Curation of Their Digital Footprint–Today I am presenting a breakout session on digital footprints at the 2012 TCEA Campus Leadership Academy. Below are the slides I’ll use during my discussion with the participants.
• Most Students Who Should Be Taking AP Exams Aren’t – Education – GOOD–More than 60 percent of students who qualify to take an AP exam never do. Guess who’s getting left behind?
• This Khan Academy History Video Is Just Awful | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…–As regular readers know, I’m not a fan of the Khan Academy (see The Best Posts About The Khan Academy).
• New App Tells Teachers When Students Are Confused–GoSoapBox uses a web app to create a classroom back-channel that gives teachers constant feedback.
• Are We Teaching To The Modern Definition of Literacy? | Connected Principals–Cross posted on Burlington High School Principal’s Blog Please take the 5:31 to watch the short clip above from a Will Richardson talk at Proctor Academy.  I think it is imperative that all school communities spend some significant time reflecting upon their purpose and whether or not the things they are doing in their classrooms are [...]
• The Power of Project-Based Writing in the Classroom | Edutopia–Blogger Heather Wolpert-Gawron explains how project-based writing prepares students for real-world writing.
• Using technology in the classroom requires experience and guidance, report finds – The Globe and Mail–Teaching how to use technology takes precedence over the key critical thinking and ethical skills that youth really need,’ lead author says
• Men Are from Google+, Women Are from Pinterest | Techland | TIME.com–Recent reports claim that 83% of Pinterest’s users are female while two-thirds of Google+ users are male.
• How Higher Education Is Going Digital [INFOGRAPHIC]–Etextbooks and online learning communities are just a few of the ways colleges and universities are dabbling in digital. This graphic breaks it down
• Students Have the Technology. It’s Time We Let Them Use It. | EdTech Magazine–Use these tips to bring student devices into the secure IT fold.
• 10 Inspiring Quotes From Our Favorite TEDTalks–A new service lets you share snippets of TEDTalks with your social circle. We’ve plucked out 10 of our favorites that relate to tech and digital culture.
• The Evolution of Mac OS, From 1984 to Mountain Lion–A look back at the history of Apple’s Mac OS, from System 1 in 1984 to OS X Mountain Lion in 2012.

Tools

• Web 2.0 Tools for Educators–Social media provides a variety of tools, commonly referred to as Web 2.0, that educators can use to engage students and enhance essential skills (communication, collaboration, creativity, media literacy, technological proficiency, global awareness. Other tools can be leveraged to become more efficient and effective at what we do in education.
• Download 128 Ready to Use Pre-Made Windows 7 Shortcuts for Your Computer – How-To Geek–Shortcuts can be very useful as a quick way to access Windows 7′s native programs and settings, but do take time to create individually for your desktop or app launchers. Rather than go through all that work and hassle …
• Top 3 Free Media Converters for Windows–There are a lot of media converters available, some are paid and some are free. But why spend money if you can get same features in a freeware. Here is a list of some fine free media converters for Windows.
• Ozge Karaoglu’s Blog – A to Z Web Tools:M–Ozge’s Best Web Tools starting with “M”
• 10 Apps for Finding Apps–Before you waste any more of your company’s time trolling through iTunes or the Android Marketplace (you know you do it), check these apps for finding apps first.
• Four Free Tools For Better Tweeting–Despite increasing sophistication of their competitors, some of the best analytics tools remain free for users, either on a trial or permanent basis. Here are four free tools to get you started in better understanding how and when to tweet….
• Create Custom Browsing Sessions In Google Chrome, Firefox – Save And Restore Browsing Sessions–Do you want to create custom browsing sessions in Google Chrome and Firefox? Do you need a simple session management tool which will allow you to save and restore older browsing sessions quickly? Here are some extensions and add-ons which helps you do just that.
• Download Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool: Analyze Outlook Problems–OCAT will provide a way for you to analyze your Microsoft Office Outlook profile for common configurations that may cause problems in Outlook.
• 15 Excellent Tools For Profiling Your Websites Speed | Free and Useful Online Resources for Designers and Developers–We hope that these tools will help you in building faster websites as well as will also assist you in identifying niggling website performance blockages
• 3 +1 Best Windows Explorer Add-ons For Windows 7–In two recent articles on Windows Explorer, I explained advanced settings and shared tips and tricks to improve your experience with the Windows file manager. To conclude this article trilogy, I will show you how you can add missing features using Windows Explorer add-ons, for example tabs, an enhanced copy process, and a tool to restore desktop icons.
• 3 Twitter Browser Extensions for Better Social Management | Social Media Examiner–Silver Bird, Tweetings and TweetBar: Learn how these free web browser extensions can help you to improve your Twitter marketing.
• Free Technology for Teachers: Context Menu Search – Right-Click to Search in Chrome–Context Menu Search is a Google Chrome extension that allows you to highlight words on a webpage then right-click to search for those words on more than three dozen popular search engines and reference sites.
• Is FreeFileSync Better Sync Software Than Microsoft SyncToy? [Windows]–Sync programs make local backups a snap by copying only changed files. Dropbox and other cloud storage systems are great, but they aren’t as fast as a USB flash drive or removable hard drive to back up a large amount of files. Microsoft SyncToy is one of the most popular, but FreeFileSync gives it a run for its money.

How-To

• How to Fine Tune Your Facebook News Feed Like a Boss–Do Facebook’s algorithms drive you nuts? Kick your news feed into shape with our handy how-to.
• Free Technology for Teachers: A Nice Primer on Google Apps for the iPad–The site addresses a lot of common questions about using Google Apps on iPads.
• The 10 most important things to teach your Outlook users | TechRepublic–Outlook is complex enough to confuse your users and create support headaches. These basic concepts will give them a better grasp of how things work.
• How to get started with Apple Mail | News | TechRadar–How to get started with Apple Mail A beginner’s guide to Lion’s email client : TechRadar
• The Best Articles for Learning How to Virtualize Operating Systems – How-To Geek–Have you always wanted to try Linux but don’t have a spare machine or don’t care to dual boot your main computer? Well, thanks to virtualization technology, you can easily install one operating system inside another on one machine.
• The Updated Twitteraholic’s Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter | The Edublogger–With Twitter recent redesign of its mobile apps and web interface I’ve decided it’s time to update my Twitteraholic’s Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter post since a lot has changed since I wrote the post in July, 2010.
• 13 Ways to Get More Pinterest Followers | Search Engine Journal–Pinterest – the web’s latest social media craze, is a great way to build awareness for your blog or website.  …
• 5 Tips For Using Pinterest In Your Classroom | Edudemic–This is a great social networking tool that you can use for educational purposes, whether you are a teacher or a student. This tool can make it possible to create boards for specific projects and to collect and share lesson resources.
• How to Automate CCleaner Clean Up Of Your Windows PC–Learn How to Automate CCleaner Clean Up Of Your Windows PC
• How to Optimize Firefox for Better Performance–Your web browser of choice is truly the gateway into accessing the global Internet. The web has been growing exponentially, and we have seen tremendous changes
• Angry Birds Finally Lands On Facebook, Here’s How To Get Started | Redmond Pie–Considering the fact that Angry Birds has nearly achieved world domination, it seemed rather bizarre that the world’s biggest and most successful mobile game hadn’t been released on the world’s largest and most successful social network. Not wanting to leave the world in a state of unbalance, Rovio have rectified that situation which means that those temperamental birds are now available to fling around as a native Facebook application.
• How to Edit Photos with Windows Live Photo Gallery | 7 Tutorials–While Windows Live Photo Gallery doesn’t have the sophisticated editing tools that some other programs do, it covers the basics well enough to meet most people’s needs.
• DOWNLOAD Using YouTube: From Consumption To Production–Do you want to get the most out of YouTube? If so, we’ve got just the guide for you, then – Using YouTube : From Consumption To Production, the latest free manual from MakeUseOf. By author Matt Smith, this guide goes over everything you need to know about YouTube, whether you’re an enthusiast or a budding director.
• Free Technology for Teachers: Video – How to Download Blogger and Edublogs Posts–If you and or your students have more than a handful of posts on a blog, you should be in the habit of periodically downloading copies of those posts to have in a portable offline file
• How to Solve Most Printer Issues in Windows 7 – LockerGnome–It’s it funny, though? You can sync your phone via Wi-Fi and chat with people all over the world in real-time, but for some reason printer drivers are still a problem for engineers
• How to Set Up Your Wireless Router for HD Video Streaming | PCMag.com–There are more ways than ever to get your video these days. Here’s how to set up your network to avoid slow, lagging video streams.
• Windows Live Mesh 2011: Getting Started–The most powerful free program included into Windows Live Essentials 2011 is Windows Live Mesh. This lets you easily sync your documents, photos, videos, music and other files with up to 30 computers – including Macs.
• How to Get Rid of Facebook Timeline, Bring Back a Simpler Profile View–Facebook’s new Timeline feature is rolling out to all users, and while we think it’s pretty awesome—not to mention ripe for customization—there are a lot of people who aren’t big fans. If you don’t really like the Timeline view, here’s how to get rid of it.
• How To Share Windows 7 System Folders Across The Network–Unlike previous versions of Windows, including Windows XP and Windows Vista, Windows 7 allows you to easily share files and folders over network without having…
• YouTube: Link to a Specific Spot in a Video–Here’s a little known but groovy trick that lets you send your friends a link to any specific spot in a YouTube video.
• 5 Simple Steps to Fight Spam–We all know how frustrating junk emails can get. They clog up our email inbox and make us waste precious time cleaning them up.
• How to Never Miss an Update From Your Favorite Facebook Page–A Quick and Awesome (and Often Overlooked) Way to Never Miss an Update From Your Favorite Facebook Page.
• How To Revert To The Old Version Of Tweetdeck If You Don’t Like The New Version–Capable of supporting multiple accounts, Tweetdeck was arguably the best Twitter app for Windows, but the new version has failed to live up to the legacy, largely due to problems signing in. As a result there are many users looking for alternatives – but fortunately it doesn’t take much effort to revert to the classic Tweetdeck and carry on using the software as before.

iOS

• NPR Launches An Answer To Spotify On The iPad With Streaming, Concerts, Offline Playlists | Fast Company–So much for relying on your FM dial and antenna’s reception. Today, NPR launched the NRP Music app for the iPad, a new platform that gives listeners access to streaming content, first-listen albums, and live concerts.
• The iPad 3 According to YouTube–Why should iPad 3 rumors be the sole provenance of established blogs and news outlets? It’s time we turned to the masses. And who better to shed light on Apple’s next device than YouTube’s best and brightest?
• Why iPad Textbooks Are Still Too Expensive for Schools [INFOGRAPHIC]–When Apple announced its initiative to bring iPads into schools, the reaction among many was enthusiastic. But there are major reasons why iPads are too expensive for schools.
• Open ZIP Files On iPhone/ iPad With The Official WinZip Client For iOS–The time when desktop computers will be completely replaceable by smartphones and tablets is fast approaching. Even now, there is not much that you can’t do
• Side by Side iPad App Splits Screen for Online Research, Note-Taking and More–Side by Side is a remarkable free app. With Side by Side, you can split the iPad screen into as many as four windows that can be positioned and sized as needed.
• Best iPhone apps for homework management – USATODAY.com–Use these iPhone apps to get you to the top of your class

Android

• 3 Android Apps To Automatically Silence Notifications On A Schedule–Have you ever been in a meeting or other place and forgot to silence your phone? Here are 3 apps for Android that allow you to schedule times where your Android phone will automatically silence or turn the notifications back on after the allotted time.
• News Your Way: 10 News Aggregation Apps for Android | PCWorld–These apps turn your phone into your own personalized news ticker.
• The Best Address Book App for Android–Oddly enough, there aren’t too many contact management tools for Android that aren’t also dialer replacements, or focused entirely on replacing whatever built-in tool you have on your device already. We have to agree with our iOS counterparts on this one—Smartr by Xobni is the best address book for Android, if you’re looking for a contact manager that actually makes it easier to find and interact with the people you need to talk to.
• How to Filter and Block Incoming Calls, Texts on Android Phone–Learn How to Filter and Block Incoming Calls, Texts on Your Android Phone.
• Have Fun with Photos on your Android Device–How about have more fun with your photos and give them an extra zing—like put your photos on a billboard, an art gallery, a stamp or even a magazine cover? PhotoFunia does this easily on your mobile device.
• Wirelessly Sync Your iTunes Library With Your Android Device Using Airbind – Download Now | Redmond Pie–Aside from being a great music player, iTunes is an integral part of an iPhone, iPad and iPod user’s digital life. This is all well and good if you’re on iOS of course, allowing the most harmonious of synchronization; and as of iOS 5 – wirelessly so – providing your iDevice is Wi-Fi compatible.
• 3 Best Methods For Turning Your Android Smartphone Into An iPhone | Redmond Pie–Turning an Android smartphone into something like an iPhone or a Windows Phone (or vice versa) is a very common type of customization that people like to do. It lets them enjoy the functionality of one mobile platform while having the looks of another. Although I am not at all a fan of such customization, if you’re the type who wishes to make their Android look like an iPhone, this post is for you.

Miscellaneous

• 65 Free Interactive Whiteboard Resources | TeachHUB–Interactive whiteboards are a great way for teachers to engage classrooms in learning. While many teachers are spending hours a day creating their own activities for their interactive whiteboards, there are tons of free sources to help teachers learn about and use IWBs with students.
• 7 Educational YouTube Channels – SimpleK12–Here are, in my opinion, some of the best YouTube channels where teachers can find good quality, relevant information to engage their students in the classroom.
• Twitter Is All in Good Fun, Until It Isn’t – NYTimes.com–Especially for companies that encourage its use, Twitter creates an ongoing tension between boss and employee as Roland Martin of CNN recently discovered.
• 7 Online Resources For Finding Grants For Educators | Emerging Education Technology–A selection of excellent sites to check out if you’re looking for education grants. Searching for grants can sometimes feel like a wild goose chase.
• INFOGRAPHIC : Happy 19th Birthday Text Messaging–It’s hard to believe but it has been just over 19 years since the first text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone, and 18 years since the first phones were produced that allowed people to send text messages to one another. These days, text messaging is so common and widespread (especially among the younger generation) that it is hard to think of a time when it did not exist.
• Pinterest: Everything You Wanted to Know About 2012′s Hottest Startup–How fast is Pinterest growing? How many people work there? This infographic lays it out.
• Apple’s Mountain Lion Makes the Mac More Like the iPad – NYTimes.com–Apple’s Mountain Lion operating system software for the Mac brings even more of the iPhone/iPad features to the Mac. The juiciest payoff here is the suite of Mac apps that now mimic what’s on the iPhone/iPad. Through your free iCloud account, all of these apps are synced instantly and smoothly across all your Apple gadgets
• 10 Things You Need to Know About Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion | PCMag.com–Mountain Lion isn’t about under-the-hood changes. It’s about making OS X easier to use and, not coincidentally, more like iOS.
• Shocker: Facebook Users Hate Surprise Photo Tagging | News & Opinion | PCMag.com–A new survey from computer security firm Sophos found that nearly all Facebook users think it?s rude when someone posts a photo or video of them without asking their permission first.
• Cloud Hosting: How Does it Really Work?–The Internet has expanded so quickly in just a couple of decades. This growth has also accompanied a tremendous uptick in technological advancement allowing
• Reviewing Pinterest, the Newest Social Media Site – NYTimes.com–Time to make time for another social network. Pinterest is a free Web pinboard for any photos that you want to share.
• The history of social media; how did we get here? (info graphic) – New Media – New Media | siliconrepublic.com – Irelan–Did you know that social media can trace its origins back to 1978 when two computer hobbyists invented the computerized bulletin board system? A new info graphic on Visual.ly carries an interesting timeline that goes back to 1978 and the pioneering work of Ward Christensen and Randy Suess to inform friends of upcoming events.
• How You Could Get Sued For Using Pinterest–The Boston Business Journal stopped using Pinterest one day after setting up its account after realizing it could be sued for images it uploaded to the site. Web editor Galen Moore started playing around with the rapidly-growing social network on Thursday as a possible way to share the visual images that the Boston Business Journal uses in its coverage of real estate development: things like blueprints, artists conceptions and photos. But by Friday afternoon he had pulled the content after taking a careful read of Pinterest’s user agreement and finding out the company reserves the right to sell images users..

Video/Slideshow

• How to Solve Your Facebook Frustrations – LockerGnome

ABCinema from Evan Seitz on Vimeo.

If you use Facebook as an educational tool then there is one thing you must know: Facebook doesn’t care one bit about your reputation!

How do I know this? Easy, let me give you a real-life example. My brother was recently named the interim director of the Porter County (IN) Animal Shelter. He is being considered for the permanent position and from all reports is doing a great job in his current capacity. Who knows if he will get the permanent position but unfortunately there are some people that have way too much time on their hands. They have a page called Porter County Animal Shelter Watchdogs that they use to “monitor” the shelter and make sure everything is running the way they want it to be run. Hey, I’ve got no problem with that–constructive criticism and suggestions, when used correctly, can definitely improve the quality of the lives of the animals in the shelter.

What’s My Problem?

The page recently posted pictures of court proceedings against a Jonathan J. Thomas in Lake County Indiana along with the text “Please take the time to view the 6 photographs that were just uploaded to this page. The current director, Jon Thomas, is a convicted felon in the State of Indiana.”

My brother’s name is Jonathan D. Thomas and has never lived in Lake County. He is not a convicted felon in the state of Indiana. I reported the page to Facebook as did many of my friends. Facebook says that after they have reviewed the page they will send an email detailing their decision. Well, two weeks have passed and still no information. In addition, after posting comments about their attack, I was removed from being able to comment any more on their page. Many other friends were also banned! So, I can report a page and hope Facebook does something, I can comment and get banned or I could do nothing. Nothing is not an option!

Where’s the Responsibility?

I believe Facebook pages should be held accountable. There is no way to tell who is the admin(s) for this page. Obviously, Facebook doesn’t care and I certainly don’t have the resources to take on Zuckerberg legally. I do have the resources to go after the publishers of this page but first I have to find out who they are! I have made some progress and will continue to track these people down. After looking into current defamation laws, I believe my brother has a great case for libel. Every criteria is met and if you’re interested in the definition and the difference between slander and libel, click here.

How Does This Relate to Education?

I will continue to use Facebook both personally and professionally. However, I believe it is important to know the pitfalls of using any tech tool. This is a great example that educators can use to warn students about what they should and should not post on Facebook. This is a bit extreme, but sometimes the most extreme examples get the attention of students.

The Porter County Animal Shelter has a great Facebook page that you can see here.

Related articles

• More Than 50 Dogs Seized From Hoarder, Officers Bitten (chicago.cbslocal.com)
• NW Ind. police remove 27 more dogs from rural home (mysanantonio.com)

Pinterest is the next big thing in social media – at least that’s what I have heard! I’ve got an account and must admit that I haven’t figured out what all the buzz is about but maybe that will change with this infographic from  Jack M. Block

I like most of the ideas in the infographic below but as an educator I think I’ll probably skip the “hot chicks” idea! lol

Take a look and see if any of these ideas meet your fancy!

Welcome to this week’s edition of Treasure Chest—86 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

• Engaging Learners through Digital Storytelling: 40+ Resources & Tips : Teacher Reboot Camp–There are 100s of free digital tools and websites to inspire your learners to create extremely imaginative stories and share them with a global audience. I hope the following tips and resources will help you along your journey towards integrating digital storytelling into your curriculum.
• Student Assessments Facing Stiff Backlash in Texas – NYTimes.com–Parents and educators are expressing strong concern about the central role of standardized testing in the assessment and overall education of their children and students.

• A GeekyMomma’s Blog: Why There Are No Teachers in Heaven Today–What are YOU doing to keep your teachers from feeling like they are in Hell during PD?
• I Hate Homework. I Assign It Anyway. – NYTimes.com–One teacher explains why students need homework, but only the right kind of homework.
• The Educator’s Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons | The Edublogger–With this post, we hope to dispel a few myths and pull together a complete list of resources for teachers and students to use when blogging and working with content online.
• Should Athletes Have Social Media Privacy? One Bill Says Yes–Should universities be allowed to force student-athletes to have their Facebook and Twitter accounts watched by coaches and administrators?
• Ozge Karaoglu’s Blog – A to Z Web Tool: L–Here is the new post for the A to Z web tools series with the new letter: L

• Moving at the Speed of Creativity – Don’t Blame School Officials if Your Child Chooses to Look at Porn on His Laptop–Life is about choices, and students face a multitude of digital choices when they get online or connected with any device including a laptop, a phone, or other communication tool.
• Successful Teaching: Don’t Blame Me–I wanted to jump up and cheer! Too much of society today wants to always blame someone else for a person’s behavior.
• Goal #4: Reveal Their Strengths #30goals : Teacher Reboot Camp–Goal 4 of The 30 Goals Challenge 2012! Click the link to find out more about the new changes to this year’s 30 Goals Challenge for Educators!
• 20 Must-Have Educational Resources For All Teachers | Edudemic–So, I’m going to give you MY top 20 list and ask you to agree or respectfully disagree and offer your own.
• Computer skills are the grammar of the 21st century, says Ed Vaizey | Education | guardian.co.uk–Conservative culture minister says knowing how a computer works ‘on a par with a knowledge of the arts and humanities’
• 5 things I have learned from students about education technology… « CLOUDUCATION–Sometimes as I write about what I am teaching my students in the high school, it probably makes it seem as if that is a one-way street.  The truth of the matter is that it is often a two-way conversation that is very healthy.  I thought I would write about a few of the things I have learned from the students I teach:
• 9 Ways Students Can Use Social Media to Boost Their Careers–Here are nine things students should consider when starting to use social media professionally.
• 30 Online Multimedia Resources for PBL and Flipped Classrooms | 21 st Century Educational Technology and Learning–In this post I will introduce you to some multimedia mega-sites found on the web that can be used in the PBL classroom.
• The 7 Golden Rules of Using Technology in Schools | MindShift–Sometimes teachers and administrators need a kick in the pants to see what they perceive as problems re-framed in a different way

Tools

• 5 Essential Classroom Management Tools for Teachers–These classroom management tools — from apps to videos — offer tips for both new teachers and vets alike.
• Free Audio Tools for Teachers ( Presentation )–Speaking from the” in the trenches ” perspective, I know exactly what kind of audio tools you are looking for as a teacher. You might be in need of a simple web application, easy to use and above all free . Well this presentation has 12 such tools.
• Top 10 Downloads That Enhance Windows’ Built-In Tools–Windows has a ton of great utilities, and while we can’t live without some of them, there’s a special place in our heart for programs that merely improve Windows, rather than adding new software. Here are our top 10 apps that take Windows’ built-in tools and make them better.
• 40+ Apps & Tools To Customize Your Facebook Pages–Facebook now has over 800 million active users around the world. If it were a country, it would be the third largest in the world (right behind China and
• 10 Free Web Conferencing Tools | Open Source Technology Blog–8 Free web conferencing tools that are equally packed with features like WebEx
• Easily Create Embeddable Map Overlays with UMapper–Do you want to plot out the service area for your business and post it in your website?  Or perhaps you just want an easy way to show a realtor which areas you’re willing to buy a home in.  UMapper is a free webapp that can handle that.
• Gesture Enabled Browsing on Your Android Device–Gesture Enabled Browsing on Your Android Device

• The PopSci Flash Arcade | Popular Science–Five web-based games—all playable right here—that are redefining the way we have fun with video games online
• Dashboard For Chrome: Take Notes & Perform Calculations via A Pop-up–Often, while we work online, we need to jot down important tasks, reminders, contacts or perform simple calculations. *Dashboard For Chrome* is a extension
• 3 Super Handy Page Highlight Tools For Annotating Online–Highlighters, sticky notes and a red pen have been the tools of choice with paper. But, what are the best page highlight tools online?

• 4 Free Apps To Download YouTube Videos [Mac]–If you want to download YouTube videos to your PC, the options are seemingly endless. There are a huge number of options available that are simple and effective, including not only standalone software but also browser extensions. Mac owners have fewer options to pick from – but that doesn’t mean we’re out of luck.
• Wolfram Alpha Launches Pro Version Of Its Knowledge Engine [News]–Starting today, the well-known research engine Wolfram Alpha will offer an enhanced version of its platform – Wolfram Alpha Pro
• Everstudent – A Student Planner Within Evernote–Everstudent – A Student Planner Within Evernote
• Review: 5 free Uninstallers for Windows 7–Remove and uninstall stubborn applications with these 5 best free uninstaller freeware for Windows
• LaunchBoard: iOS-Inspired Chrome App Launcher [Browser Extension]–LaunchBoard is a Chrome extension that is inspired by iPhone’s app launcher. This simple tool scans Chrome for all your installed Apps, and displays their

How-To

• How to create perfect iTunes playlists | News | TechRadar–How to create perfect iTunes playlists Organise your listening with iTunes Smart Playlists : TechRadar
• Easily Create A Facebook Timeline Cover From Your Android Phone–For those of you who use both Facebook and Android phone, Facebook Cover Art allows you to make new cover photos from pictures you take from your phone
• About Facebook’s New Photo Viewer & How to Go Back to Old One If You Want to–A Guide to Facebook’s New Photo Viewer and How to Go Back to the Old One If You Want to.
• 10 ways to get the most out of Evernote | TechRepublic–Evernote’s flexibility and convenience have millions of users hooked. Here are some of the best ways to put this note-taking tool to good use.
• Get Organized: Clean Up iTunes (Part 1) | PCMag.com–Duplicate tracks, unnamed albums, a disarray of miscellaneous songs and audio files–if those words describe your iTunes music library, take these three easy and accessible steps to clean it up.
• How to Embed Images and Logos in QR Codes–QR Codes are mostly black and white images but you make easily customize the look of QR codes with colored pictures and logos.
• How to Export all your Google Docs Files with a Click–See how easy it is to export all your Google Docs files as a zip file in a single click using the Google Takeout service
• School Systems Blog – Four Ways to Use Pinterest in Education–Pinterest is an electronic bulletin board where users can “pin” images from around the web. These images are then categorized into various boards on the users’ profile
• 14 Practical Ways to Use Evernote : The World :: American Express OPEN Forum–Here are fourteen uses of Evernote that can help you organize, archive, and share information.
• How To Share Your Printer With Anyone On The Internet–Windows 7’s Homegroup feature makes sharing printers on your local network easy, but what if you want to share a printer over the Internet? This has traditionally been very complicated, involving print drivers, firewall rules and IP addresses. Google Cloud Print, built into Google Chrome, simplifies online printer sharing.
• Turn Your School Staff Into A Powerful Twitter Team–With this is mind we have put together a Prezi you can use to turn those nay-sayers into converts.
• 37 Ways Teachers Should Use Pinterest – Best Colleges Online–One of the newest and best online tools for teachers is Pinterest.
• The dos and don’ts of Twitter hashtags–Inspired by recent hashtag fatigue, we’ve decided to help out our readers with this helpful guide on the proper use of hashtags…
• How to Hack Your Facebook Profile Photo with Timeline–We love Timeline for Facebook. Maybe you don’t. Doesn’t really matter since Facebook is forcing everyone to switch. So what to do? We say have some fun with it! Since Timeline adds a big, splashy picture to your profile page, you can easily hack that big picture with your original profile picture to give your Facebook page some character (and make all your friends Like you). Here’s how.
• How To Download & Back Up Your Gmail & Other Google Data–We’re storing more and more data in the cloud these days. Email, contacts, documents, photos, calendar entries – you name it, it’s on Google’s servers. But what happens when the services we rely on go down? When the US government seized Megaupload, many users lost data they were storing on Megaupload’s servers
• How To: Sync Android With Microsoft Outlook | PCMag.com–Syncing Exchange accounts with Android is a snap, but local sync with Microsoft Outlook and a USB cable is much tougher.
• iLibrarian » 5 More Ways to Use Pinterest in Your Library–This post is a follow-up to an earlier post titled 5 Ways to Use Pinterest in Your Library. Since it was so popular I decided to continue with 5 more suggestions for using this hot new social site for your library.

iOS

• APPitic – 1,300+ EDUapps–a directory of apps by education by Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs) to help you transform teaching and learning. (apps, education, educacion, primaria, preescolar, educativos. juegos, interactivos)
• The 40 Best iPad Apps for Young Learners | Classroom Talk–Here are 40 of the best apps for your young Einstein.
• Top 10 Tips To Improve iPhone’s Battery Life in iOS 5. | Jailbreak 5.0.1 – 5.1 – 5.0.2 UnTethered Absinthe Greenpois0n–Top 10 Tips To Improve iPhone’s Battery Life in iOS 5.
• How To Email Multiple Photos on an iPhone and iPad–Having trouble adding multiple photos to an email from your Apple iPhone or iPad? Turns out the trick is to think different.
• Camtasia Studio Video Tutorials Available on your iPad–The Fast Track app from TechSmith lets you master Screencasting with Camtasia Studio on your iPad. The video tutorials can also be watched offline.
• 20 Great iPad Apps for Primary Literacy | The Creative Education Blog–From initial charges that ‘it;s just an overgrown iPhone’ the iPad is now part of many teachers’ and schools’ essential kit. But it’s fair to say that …
• 30 best iPad games | iPad Atlas – CNET Reviews–Trying to figure out which iPad games to buy with your hard-earned dough? Here’s a look at our current top-30 favorites. Read this blog post by David Carnoy on iPad Atlas.
• Star Rover: Augmented Reality App For Star Gazing On Your iPad–There are some truly beautiful iPad apps on the iTunes App Store, which keep reminding you why you spent $500 on the tablet
• 20+ Enlightening Education Apps | iPad.AppStorm–Apple’s recent moves towards making the iPad an even better educational tool have highlighted again the incredible scope there is for developers in the education category of the App Store. The introduction of iBooks 2 and iBooks Author has shown just how committed Apple is to getting iPads into schools, the market for education apps is only going to grow!
• Hidden iPad Feature: Shake to Undo–Well, here is another one that I found by accident today – shake to undo.
• 10 Free iPhone Apps You’ll Use Every Day–We’ve compiled a list of free, everyday iPhone apps, whether to help you wake up in the morning, access the news or manage your to-do list.

Android

• Manage, Transfer Files From Android to PC ( No USB Cable Needed )–How to Manage and Transfer Photos/Files From Your Android Phone to PC Without Connecting USB Cable.
• 5 Free Motivational Android Apps You Can Carry Around With You Everyday–Mobile apps have ‘reformed’ us in more ways than we can imagine. Let’s think about our daily need to motivate and push ourselves into action
• yasp! For Android Is A Student Planner With A Backup Plan–In previously reviewed student planners such as Studious, My Class Schedule and Student Timetable, we have already seen some very handy timetable managing …

Miscellaneous

• A List of Free audio books for kids–I have compiled a list of links in a presentation that you can download and share with your students. I have reviewed all the links included and if you want to read the review just click on any title and you will be directed to the post.
• Collaborative Features in Google Docs – Google Docs–How have the collaborative features in Google Docs benefited you and/or your students? What would you say to teachers who are new to trying it out?
• Google Maps Mania: The History of Weather on Google Maps–Weather Underground’s WunderMap now allows the user to view historical weather records on a Google Map.
• 6 Sites To Get Kids Excited About Google Maps–Here are six brilliant sites that use Google Maps to make fascinating, interesting, fun and thought provoking things happen.
• Five Top-Secret Windows 7 Features–After taking a close look at the Windows 7 infrastructure, I’ve noticed a few features that make you wonder where they’ve been your whole life.
• 10 Websites Where Cool Computer Geeks Reside–Geeks were once ridiculed and reviled. Or perhaps that was just at my school. Either way, as first computers hit the mainstream, and then the Internet entered into our lives in a big way, geeks became the people to know. In fact, they started being considered cool. The Internet is now awash with places for these geeks to hang out, and they do so in increasing numbers.
• New Layout for Facebook Theater Mode Image Viewing–Here is a new layout for the Facebook Theater mode image viewing. With new features and editing options the layout is a welcome change for this author.
• Ten Websites for Science Teachers | Edutopia–Blogger Eric Brunsell takes us on a tour of his favorite online resources for science teachers.
• The Internet Imagined in 1969 | Open Culture–The gender stereotypes might be backward-looking (we’ll make up for it later in the day), but the technological vision is on the mark, right down to email …
• Create Photo Collages Using Pictures of your Facebook Friends–Create beautiful photo collages with your own Facebook photo albums or using pictures of your friends.
• 8 Inspirational Videos That Will Instantly Pump Up Your Motivation | MakeUseOf–How do you feel about motivational videos? You may think that they’re nothing more than glorified, digital pep rallies where overly optimistic people preach empty words of success, victory, and ultimately happiness. And to some extent, you may be right. Many motivational speakers give off a manipulative vibe, which often detracts from their message – and often times, motivational videos are no better.
• The State of Digital Education [INFOGRAPHIC] | kevin CORBETT–The Internet has dramatically changed the state of education over the past 20 years or so. It brings primary sources into every classroom and allows for more
• Education Nation 2011: Top 5 Websites for Teachers to Use in Their Classrooms–With thousands of cool sites to choose from, let’s take a look at five awesome sites for education.
• j2training’s LiveBinder Shelf–Create your own LiveBinder’s shelf.

Video/Slideshow

• Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen. – YouTube

• Animated History Of Aviation – YouTube

• A Day Made of Glass 2: Unpacked. The Story Behind Corning’s Vision. – YouTube

• 14 Years of US Weather – May 2, 1997 – Dec 31, 2011 – YouTube

• Old Technology – YouTube

• Alphabet Animals – Alphabetimals – The ABC Song – YouTube

Welcome to this week’s edition of Treasure Chest—83 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

• Are You Ready for Some Football? A Techie Guide to the Super Bowl. – Ina Fried – Media – AllThingsD–For those looking for a side of tech to go with their Super Bowl, Ina Fried offers a guide to all the apps, streaming and more, designed to make the most of NFL’s championship Sunday.
• What If Schools Created a Culture of “Do” INSTEAD of a Culture of “Know?” – The Tempered Radical–Here at Educon yesterday, I had the chance to learn a bit more about design thinking from David Jakes. David’s central point was that schools and teachers often get stuck in a “Yeah, but…” mindset when thinking about change. Instead…
• 10 vital questions to ask before investing in classroom technology | Informed Education–There are so many new technologies and devices appearing on the education market every day now that it can become very difficult to determine where to spend your money, if indeed you should spend it at all. Before you make your next investment, ask yourself the following questions:
• When Students “Fail” Should They be Allowed Do-overs? « Center for Teaching–First, he defined the terms or parameters for how teachers could go about incorporating test corrections into their teaching.  Here are examples he shared with us
• Educational Technology Guy: 10 Tech Skills Every Student Should Have–After reading a few articles about specific tech skills, I thought I write what I think are the 10 Important Tech Skills Students Need.
• 8 Things Teachers Do To Cause Boredom — Smart Classroom Management–When students get bored their minds drift. And while some settle on daydreaming, tile-counting, and general inattentiveness, other students are drawn to more…ahem…destructive pursuits. For where there is boredom, there is misbehavior percolating just under the surface, ready to pounce.
• What Can America Learn From the World’s Most Successful Education Systems? – Education – GOOD–School redesign expert Linda Darling-Hammond explains why we’ll be a prison nation if we don’t implement major reform …
• What Schools are Really Blocking When They Block Social Media | DMLcentral–In reality, the debate has been shaped by one key fact: the almost universal decision by school administrators to block social media.

• Facebook Files IPO: What It Means For You–Facebook shocked no one by filing an initial public offering of its shares today. The filing was the first glimpse into the company’s inner financial workings and, as expected, Facebook said it would try to raise $5 billion when the company’s shares begins trading – a number that could eventually be raised to $10 billion and would ultimately value the company between $75 billion and $100 billion. Today marks the day that Mark Zuckerberg goes from being the guy who makes world-changing technology to the guy who makes money. (He could be worth $20 billion when all is said and…
• Extra Credit For Charity « My Island View–I am anticipating that this post may be among the most unpopular posts I will write as a blogger.
• Everything You Thought You Knew About Learning Is Wrong | GeekDad | Wired.com–According to one expert, most common learning strategies are actually hurting our ability to acquire and retain long-term knowledge.
• The Truth About Tablets: Educators are getting iPads and ereaders into students’ hands—but it’s not easy — The Digital–While many schools and libraries have launched pilot programs to get ereaders and tablets into the hands of students or have allowed them to bring their own devices to class, it’s still early days.
• 15 things kids can do instead of homework–If you are a parent (or a teacher who wants to give a recommendation to an interested parent), and you believe the arguments against homework (see my previous post: 25 Myths of Homework) then you might be asking yourself now, okay so my kid isn’t doing homework: what else should they do instead?
• Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom: My Favorite @Livebinders–I want to highlight a few of my favorite binders to give you a taste of what you can do with them:
• Pinterest: Everything You Need To Know Is In This Massive Post — SocialMouths–Pinterest is growing at crazy rates on the social web. Here is everything you need to know to use Pinterest to promote yourself or your business.
• The Innovative Educator: Creating a plan with students to use cell phones for learning–Want to integrate cell phones into learning? You can involve your students with this planning lesson where students will focus on cell phones as learning tools
• Hating on the Ladies: The Real Backlash Against Pinterest – Lifestyle – GOOD–Social media criticism should focus on whether a service works, not the people who use it.
• 5th Grader Discovers New Molecule | The Mary Sue–Kenneth Boehr wasn’t expecting more than the usual from his ten-year-old students when he started a lesson on the Periodic table and handed out the molecule modeling kits.
• In Some Cash-Strapped Schools, Kids Bring Their Own Tech Devices | MindShift–At Mankato Public School System in Minnesota, students bring their homework, their lunches, and books to school like most students across the country. But they also bring whatever tech devices they own — and they don’t have to hide it or turn it off when they walk into class.
• The Must-Have Guide To Helping Technophobic Teachers | Edudemic–The blogosphere and the mainstream media is filled with success stories of technology’s successful adoption in education. However, many educators complain that when they try to introduce technological innovation on their campuses, they face obstacles.

Tools

Best Windows Downloads for Any New Computer ~ LockerGnome

• Yahoo! App Search–The search engine that helps you find exactly what you’re looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web.
• Free Technology for Teachers: Seven Alternatives to Picnik–The popular image editing tool Picnik was included in the list of services that they’re shutting down. I’ve had a few people ask me for recommendations for alternatives to Picnik, so here’s a short list of alternatives to explore.
• The 3 Best Alternatives To The Picnik Photo Editing Tools–We recently reported that Picnik will be closing on April 19th. The demise of the popular online photo-editing service has been met with scorn from fans, who are unhappy with Google’s decision to kill one of the web’s best free tools in the name of consolidation. There’s no need to panic, however. There are some solid alternatives available that are just as free
• Technology and Education | Box of Tricks–Latest update 10th October 2011 – These are some of the best free internet resources for education. This page is constantly updated; every time I come across
• CCleaner for Mac Comes Out of Beta, Adds New Browser and Disk Cleaning Features–Mac OS X: CCleaner for Mac has been in beta for awhile, but now Mac users can enjoy the final version of our favorite Windows utilities. If you’re a little starved for disk space or just want to engage in some early Spring cleaning on your Mac, CCleaner is now finished, stable, and ready to help you out.
• Best Security Suites: PC Bodyguards | PCWorld–These all-in-one defenders can block baddies, tackle Trojans, and drop-kick drive-by downloads. We test the top contenders.
• Five Great Video Editing Programs for Windows ~ LockerGnome

• Free Technology for Teachers: 29 Days of Android Apps for Teachers and Students–Today, because it is February 1st I decided to put together a list of 29 of my favorite apps that I think educators and students should try over the next month.
• 5 Excellent Open Source Content Management Systems To Start A Website–Every day, more and more people are building their own websites and leading their own communities. Soon, owning a website will be akin to owning a car or a house. If you’re looking to start a website of your very own but don’t have much technological knowledge or experience, your best bet would be to get familiar with content management systems, or CMS’s.
• Firefox 10: Add-on Compatibility, Full-Screen Web Apps & UI Tweaks [Download]–Firefox 10 is now available for download, with some major improvements and changes. The new version automatically hides the Forward button until you …
• Free and premium Video Hosting Platforms – Best Of–Video content has been growing in popularity and influence online for the past few years as more and more people worldwide gain access to broadband internet
• Firefox 10 Review & Rating | PCMag.com–Firefox remains a lean, fast, customizable browser that can hold its own against any competitor. This time better extension updating and new developer tools.
• Skip Ads on YouTube–YouTube was once a place where we could peacefully watch videos starring skateboarding cats and nasty honey badgers. We could bounce from video to video, never encountering any resistance other than the occasional slow Internet connection or rogue flaming comment from disgruntled video watchers.
• Educational Technology Guy: Differentiator – free web app to help teachers differentiate using Blooms Taxonomy–The Differentiator is a simple web app that helps you create objectives based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.
• 50 Web 2.0 Tools Your Students Want You to Use–Reviews by students of technology tools
• Top 10 Sites for Creating a Chart or Graph–Charts and graphs are effective tools to convey information in a simple and visual way. They’re also a great way to track trends and help explain complex datasets. Following are my top favorite sites for creating a chart or graph.
• Best file and folder synchronization freeware for Windows 7–List of free file sync or synchronization software for Windows 7 with review and download links.

How-To

• How To Write Your First Book In iBooks Author–Apple recently introduced iBooks Author in a live presentation at the Guggenheim in New York. The software is aimed at textbook writers and publishers, but it can just as well be used for producing cookbooks, picture books, interactive fiction novels, how-to books, and the like. iBooks Author looks to be the first consumer-based e-Pub software designed for multimedia books.
• How to Blog Every Day ~ LockerGnome

• Geocaching with Google Earth | Google Earth Blog–Amazing things about Google Earth – news, features, tips, technology, and applications
• How to See When Someone Unfriends You on Facebook–Would you like to know when someone “unfriends” you on Facebook? We’ve found a tool to help.
• Personal Learning Networks for Educators: 10 Tips | Getting Smart–I often begin my workshop on personal learning networks (PLN) for educators by asking these questions: Who is in your learning network? Who do you learn from on…
• 7 Twitter Photo Sharing Tips To Spread Your Photographic Masterpieces–In mid-2011, Twitter announced its photo sharing feature. It was major news because it put Twitter at loggerheads with the existing third-party Twitter photo sharing services like TwitPic , yfrog, and Instagram. But we users weren’t really bothered about the behind the scenes bad blood for it gave us a more convenient way of sharing photos from within Twitter itself.
• How To Quickly Check If Your Site Is Visible Behind The Great Firewall Of China–Do you have a website that you want the Chinese people to see? Here’s how to check if your site is visible behind the Great Firewall of China.
• Google Cloud Print: It’s Actually Awesome, and Here’s How to Set It Up–Google Cloud Print is an under-appreciated service that can send print jobs from virtually anywhere to a connected printer in any other location.
• 6 Ways to Unleash Creativity in the Workplace–The demand for creativity from employees is rising in this age of rapid technological advancement.
• Free Technology for Teachers: Webinar – 11 Ways to Use Evernote in Your Classroom–The webinar, conducted by Evernote staff, is a free event on February 15th at 10am PST.
• Web research on the iPad using Evernote and Skitch (how-to) | ZDNet–The iPad is a great tool for doing web research, especially when used with Evernote and Skitch. Here is how I do it on a daily basis.
• Upgrade and Speed Up Your Computer This Weekend–It’s a sad fact of life that over time, all of our computers get a little bit slower. Before you start shelling out for a new machine, take some time this weekend to perform some maintenance tasks, upgrade a single piece of hardware, or even overclock your machine for a little speed boost.

iOS

• iPads in the Classroom – Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything–This site will be both a support site for my presentations about iPad use for teaching and learning and also include links to other iPad information pages.
• 3 Free iPhone Apps for Creating Your Own Stop-Motion Videos–We have tried and tested three simple iPhone apps for stop-motion animation. Give them a go.
• Avid Studio rolls onto iPad, treads on iMovie’s toes (video) – Engadget–There may be a number of options for budding iPad Scorseses, now you can add Avid’s …
• iPad 3: Everything We Think We Know–It’s that magical time of year again, when everyone expects a new iPad to be right around the corner. Which in turn means an amassment of iPad 3 rumors clogging up our lives. Here’s a quick guide to making sense of them.

• The beginners guide to iMessage in iOS 5 | News | TechRadar–The beginners guide to iMessage in iOS 5 Send free messages from your iOS 5 iPhone, iPod or iPad : TechRadar
• Keeping Your Kids Safe on iOS Devices–Are you losing sense of how to keep your children safe while on an iOS device? Here are some apps to help you keep your child safe.
• 4 Dictionary Apps Every iPhone User Should Know About–If you are looking for a portable and an extensive dictionary, check out the following below four given dictionary apps for the iPhone, which all have two things in common – being free and having a large word bank.
• Norton Identity Safe: Secure Online Password Vault [PC, Android & iOS]–In an attempt to help you with managing and securing your personal online identities (user profiles and passwords), Symantec has released a brand new app
• Performing Search In iOS: What’s Your Alternatives?–With iOS, there are choices when using a search engine. You can either use it from within Safari or another browser, just like you would in Mac OS, or you can use a separate search engine app. Which option you choose depends much on personal preference.

Android

• Where To Go? Suggests POI, Provides Turn-By-Turn Navigation [Android]–Where To Go? is a location-based amenity and point of interest (POI) finder for Android and iOS-powered devices
• Dolphin Browser For Android Now Features Skitch & Evernote Add-Ons [News]–Dolphin has recently announced the release of two brand new add-ons for its popular Android browser. The Dolphin browser already features a number of useful add-ons such as Read It Later, Dolphin Translate, Dolphin.fm, and various tab management add-ons, and has now added the Skitch add-on and the Evernote add-on.
• Five Million Android Users Might Have Fallen Victim to Another Malware Attack–According to Symantec, 13 apps from three developers—many in the official Android Market—have been carrying malicious chunks of code called Android.Counterclank, and are suspected of running on as many as five million phones, stealing info and running ads against the will of the device’s owner.
• Likes! For Android: View Your Facebook Friends’ Likes In One Place–In a very short span of time, the social media giant Facebook has had an enormous impact on our daily lives. Not only does the world’s most feverishly …
• Google Docs for Android Gets Offline Access | PCWorld–Google Docs users can now get offline access to documents on their Android-based smartphones and tablets, Googlesaid in a blog post on Wednesday.

Miscellaneous

• Free Technology for Teachers: SOPA and PIPA Explained in an Infographic–SOPA and PIPA may have been tabled for now, but that doesn’t mean those bills won’t pop-up again in the future
• 21 Must-Follow Pinterest Users–Scoot through our gallery to discover some of the most popular curators on Pinterest, the hottest social circuit on the web today.
• This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…–Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a few and list them here with a minimal description.
• Who Gives a Tweet – Carnegie Mellon University–Twitter users say only a little more than a third of the tweets they receive are worthwhile. Other tweets are either so-so or, in one out of four cases, not worth reading at all.
• 3 Websites To Find Software Compatible With 64-Bit Operating Systems–Chances are, those of you who are buying a brand new computer in the next year will be getting your hands on something running a 64-bit operating system. x64 has its pros and cons, but it is the future. Not even the strongest personal complaint about software incompatibility is going to be enough to bring technology to a halt! Here are three solutions that ought to put you on to some brand new, 64-bit compatible goodies.
• Google Launches Redesigned Education Site | MindShift–Google has revamped its site for educators, creating a redesigned repository for all its educational tools and resources for teachers, schools, and students.
• Educational Technology Guy: Infographic on the digital divide – interesting data–The infographic has some interesting data on the digital divide including lack of computer and broadband access by poor students, by race and around the world.
• Amazing Optical Illusions On Web – Fun – TechMynd–Appearances can be deceiving. Here are some of the best illusions online. Crazy Almonds You would think that these almond are moving, but these …
• NASA – NASA Mission Returns First Video From Moon’s Far Side–A camera aboard one of NASA’s twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar spacecraft has returned its first unique view of the far side of the moon
• 10 Things High School Students Should Never Post on Facebook–Individuals searching for 10 Things High School Students Should Never Post on Facebook found the following resources, articles, links, and information helpful.
• Komando: Don’t let Timeline embarrass you – USATODAY.com–Time’s up. The new Facebook format known as Timeline is now moving from optional to mandatory
• 100+ Wallpaper Collections to Spice Up Your Desktop – How-To Geek–Are you bored with the wallpaper on your desktop PC? In the past we have posted links to over 100 different collections of wallpaper images. Download your favorites and switch them out from time to time to provide some variety
• Free Technology Tutorials » WordPress Termonology: What is a Ping and a Pingback?–Within the WordPress interface, “ping” is sometimes used to refer to Pingbacks and Trackbacks.
• Mobile Apps Review | Just another ERAC Commons Network site–ERAC teacher evaluators have reviewed almost 200 mobile apps focused for education and for various platforms.
• Dropbox offers an additional 5GB of cloud storage to beta users – TechSpot News–For users willing to be guinea pigs, Dropbox is offering an opportunity to score 5GB of free space through the popular cloud storage service. PCWorld is reporting the 5GB is actually in addition to the standard 2GB issued to free

Video/Slideshow

• Creative Commons Kiwi – YouTube

• QR Code Video – YouTube–Justin from the Glogster team shows you how to use the QR code to view your Glog on a phone. This is a really cool feature that is on all printed Glogs

I just learned today of a neat way to make a movie out of your Facebook Timeline. If you’re not familiar with Facebook’s new timeline feature you will be soon as the feature will be rolling out to all users shortly.

The Facebook Timeline replaces the wall and puts your whole “life” right in front of your eyes. But if you’re interested in a multimedia version of your timeline, then Timeline Movie Maker does the trick.

PC World Review and How To Use Timeline Movie Maker

Facebook’s Timeline Movie Maker Turns Users’ Lives into Film

One of the most disappointing features of an otherwise fantastic app is the inability to download, share, etc. your final movie. But, I figured there has to be a way! So after I “made” my movie, I used Camtasia to record the movie and then sent it to YouTube. Here is the end result:

I believe that making videos is a powerful way for students to express themselves and we all know how many kids are on Facebook. After seeing this video I started thinking of all the ways students could make similar videos on their own!

Go to Timeline Movie Maker

It’s hard to believe that anyone in the educational technology world is not aware of the proposed SOPA and PIPA laws. However, sometimes it is difficult to understand exactly what is going on.

Luminconsulting has put out a great infographic explaining the technical details in a way anyone can understand.

Related articles

• Get Educated About SOPA & PIPA (cc-chapman.com)

Welcome to this week’s edition of Treasure Chest—73 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

• National PBS Survey Finds Teachers Want More Access to Classroom Tech–PBS LearningMedia announced today findings from a national survey of teachers grades pre-K-12 that sheds light on the rising role of technology in America’s classrooms, as well as barriers teachers face to accessing the “right” digital resources
• Why OnLive’s Windows-on-iPad App is Revolutionary | PandoDaily–The app—a bare-bones, free version was released last week at CES—lets an iPad run Windows 7 in the cloud. It’s a bizarre, head-turning experience: You touch the app and suddenly Microsoft’s familiar interface is emblazoned on your Apple screen.
• Googling Towards ePortfolios- Educational Collaborators–Much has been written about ePortfolios, which combine curated archives of digitized student work, “rubrics” indicating the learning objectives the work responded to, and student-teacher commentary about how well the work met those objectives.
• The Landscape: My Top 25 Free Math Resources for Education–To be a well-informed citizen and a participant in the knowledge economy, Americans must be mathematically literate.
• Computational Thinking: A Digital Age Skill for Everyone – YouTube

• Are You Sick Of ‘Highly Paid’ Teachers? | Addicting Info–Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do – babysit!
• Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops | Privacy Inc. – CNET News–Colorado federal judge gives Ramona Fricosu until February 21 to decrypt her PGP Desktop-encrypted Toshiba laptop–or face the consequences. Read this blog post by Declan McCullagh on Privacy Inc..
• What NOT To Post On Facebook: 13 Things You Shouldn’t Tell Your Facebook Friends–According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s unofficial mission is to make “the world more open and connected.” But there are limits to how open you should be on Facebook and while you might enjoy sharing photos and status updates, there are some pieces of information you would do well never to share.
• How Poor Performance in College Sets Students Up for a Lifetime of Difficulty – Education – GOOD–College students not used to being asked to study are struggling in the real world.
• The True Cost of High School Dropouts – NYTimes.com–Proven educational strategies to increase high school completion provide returns to the taxpayer that are two to four times their cost.
• Thought SOPA Was Bad? 10 Reasons to Oppose ACTA–So, we’ve shot down SOPA and PIPA. Congratulations Internets for a job well done. Mission accomplished, right? Not so much. While that’s two bad pieces of legislation pushed …
• What You Should Know About ACTA and Your Rights–The most controversial measures of concern to Internet users in the final version of the international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) for most Internet users are …

Tools

• Top 13 Web 2.0 Tools for Classrooms « Ask a Tech Teacher–If a program survives the hands-on  grade-level labor of dozens of students, if they can get through the required steps to create a project that supports their learning in new creative ways and still have fun, I’ve found a good tool.
• Best 117 Free Windows Software–On this page you will find the best 117 free Windows programs for all your needs. We’ve taken the effort to categorize the apps and …
• 50 new tech tools you should know about – CNN.com–You may have dozens of apps on your phone and scores of websites bookmarked on your laptop, but that doesn’t mean you have all the latest tech tools at your fingertips.
• My 3 Favorite & Easiest Ways To Download Videos Off The Web–We’ve talked a lot on this subject in the past, but I’m confident that you’ll find my ways to be the easiest and most effective. Storing remote video content locally is a challenge no more.
• Educational Technology Guy: Soapbox – real time student feedback during class–Soapbox is a beta web service that allows presenters and educators to have students/audience provide input during the class/presentation.
• Five Best Online Meeting Services–Here are five of the best services to conduct productive online meetings, based on your nominations.
• Facebook Apps: Highlights of the 60 New Integrated Applications–If you enjoy using Spotify or Foursquare on Facebook, imagine having the same integration with a bevy of other Facebook apps.
• Five apps for crapware cleanup | TechRepublic–You don*t have to put up with the aggravation of crapware. Here are several effective tools for removing it from your Windows PC.
• Four Creative Commons Photo Sites You Should Know About « Ed Tech Ideas–Students need to be taught about copyright and how to find royalty-free images that are ok to use in projects. Below are four great sites that I use with my students.
• The Best Screencasting App for Mac OS X–Mac OS X is full of ways to record your screen, with a tool built-in to Quicktime Player and a vast number of third-party apps. Among the many tools, Screenflow is easily our top choice. It’s fast, feature-rich, handles everything about the screencasting process from start to finish, and doubles as possibly the best simple video editing application on the Mac.
• Heard Wonders About Camtasia But Can’t Afford It? Try ActivePresenter [Windows]–Camstudio is a simple open-source screen recorder that’s great for someone who’s starting out his or her YouTube show on software tips and how-to’s. If you’re looking for something that allows you to enhance your videos even more, check out what ActivePresenter offers. ActivePresenter is a screencasting software that you can use to author training tutorials and software walkthroughs.
• Best 60 Ubuntu Linux Applications For Year 2011 [Editor's Pick]–At the beginning of each year, we at AddictiveTips compile a list of the best applications from numerous platforms, to deliver a summary of the most useful
• The Best Tools to Check for Software Updates | 7 Tutorials–This article compares the best tools: Appudater, CNET TechTracker, FileHippo Update Checker, Secunia PSI, Software Informer Client and SUMO
• Aviary Comes To Facebook As An App [News]–Looking to edit images on Facebook? You now have one more option, and it’s a doozy. Aviary is now available on Facebook as an app.
• Moving at the Speed of Creativity – Calculate and Learn about Percentages with Percentage Calculator–Mateusz Mucha, a web developer in Krakow, Poland, has developed a free, online tool called “Percentage Calculator” you should show to your math students and use with them in class

How-To

• 26 Tips for Writing Great Blog Posts | Social Media Examiner–Want to get the most our ot your business blogging? Follow these 26 tips to create optimal blog posts every time you sit down to write.
• How to figure out the new iTunes U | iPhone Atlas – CNET Reviews–With the spotlight turned on education after Apple’s iBooks 2 media event, iTunes U has gotten a facelift as well as some important resource pages on Apple’s Web site. Read this blog post by Joe Aimonetti on iPhone Atlas.
• Networking Guide for Bloggers: Why It Is Important (Part 1)–In today’s blogosphere a lot of discussion is going on about various aspects of positioning and growing a blog. Even though the space gets more and more crowded
• Which Blogging Platform Should I Use?–Dear Lifehacker, I want to start a new blog, but I’m not sure which platform is best for me. Obviously WordPress is the most popular, and there are many more common choices, but I’m not sure what will fit my needs the best. Can you help?
• Quick Tip: How To Delete Your Google Chrome Browser Sync Data – How-To Geek–There are a number of reasons one might want to delete their Google Chrome Sync data. Regardless of the reason why, there’s one simple place to do it from, though it might not be obvious.
• How-To Decrypt DVDs with HandBrake (So You Can Rip Them) – How-To Geek–Ripping DVDs is a great way to keep a backup and stream videos over your network. The process typically takes 2-3 different programs to accomplish the task. Here’s how you can skip a step and decrypt DVDs using HandBrake.
• 5 Web Apps Which Show Us How To Make Use Of QR Codes Differently–You must have spotted at least one QR code by now. If not, then you are a certifiable alien from Mars. QR codes are quite the rage. We have them on everything from food labels to car bumpers. And yes, tattoos too! QR codes are definitely mainstream now, given a boost up the use of smartphones and intelligent scanning apps that reside in them. So, here are five more web apps which show us how QR codes have gone conventional.
• 30 Amazing Mobile Apps for Photographers–Mobile photography is becoming more and more popular with an ever expanding sea of apps available to aid anyone with a keen eye and a smartphone.
• 7 Splendid Techniques to Encourage Comments on Your Blog–One of the best ways to gauge the health of your blog readership is to check out how many comments you have for your posts. More comments mean that your readers
• 10 Photography Tips for Beginners | PCMag.com–You don’t have to buy a new camera to perfect your pictures. Follow these easy tips to improve the quality of your snapshots

iOS

• The top 50 iPad apps | Technology | The Observer–It’s the apps that bring the iPad to life. If you want to read a book, watch a movie, make a video call, paint a picture or just browse on the sofa, there’s an app for you
• Free iPad Notes – Handwriting, drawing, typing, audio recording and speech to text! | iGo With My iPad–The folks from Nuance Communications, the provider of Dragon voice recognition, have released their free iPad notes app – PaperPort Notes.
• 5 Free Awesome iPad Games You Simply Have To Try–If you own an iPad, you already know that games are its best feature by far. We’ve covered lots of free iPad games here at MakeUseOf, but free awesome games are a well which never dries. Here are 5 games that have survived the 10-minutes test, and are probably some of the best-value free games you can find.
• iTunes U 2.0: Not Perfect, Just Awesome–iTunes U has been around for a long time, but its expansion last week onto iPhones and iPads, as well as into new content like K-12 curriculum, has truly made this a 2.0 release
• iPad a solid education tool, study reports – CNN.com–Today another data point emerged, demonstrating that the iPad can be a valuable asset in education.
• TPACK iPads in Schools – Hello to my new iPad–If you are a new iPad user this blog will guide you through the basics and help you to get started.
• The Best Voice Recording App for iPhone–There are more voice recording apps for iPhone than you could ever hope to try, and most them don’t offer much more than the simple functionality you get with Apple’s built-in Voice Memo app. Audio Memos, on the other hand, earns our top choice because it offers tons of control over your recordings and makes them very easy to share.
• Blooms Taxonomy of Apps–iPad Apps separated by Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Apple iBooks in schools: Devil is in the hardware | From the Editors – CNET News–CNET Reviews Editor-in-Chief Lindsey Turrentine knows schools, and she’s sad to say that outfitting public classrooms with sophisticated hardware will cause more problems than schools are ready to face. Read this blog post by Lindsey Turrentine on From the Editors.
• Reviewing Apple’s iBooks Author–Apple recently announced the launch of its free iBooks Author desktop application, which – they claim – allows anyone to create beautiful Multi-Touch
• Secret iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch Keyboard Shortcut Tips–Did you know that Apple iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch devices have secret keyboard shortcuts you can access by pressing and holding a key on the keyboard? OK… perhaps not exactly secret however, Apple did a nice job of hiding this groovy feature on iOS devices and I’ll bet you’ve never heard of it before. This is a quick tip so grab your iDevice and keep reading.
• 20 Great Classroom iPad Apps to add to your Collection (1-5) | edte.ch–Over the last year and a half I have really enjoyed exploring the types of iPad apps that can be used in the classroom and so I thought I would begin to draw …
• Apps in Education: Dual Browsers for Real MultiTasking on iPad–Dual Browsing is about ease of use. It is not essential or even necessary – it is just convenient.
• Getting started with iPads and App sites for Teachers–Getting Started with iPads is my site, it contains apps by content area, articles, information, resources and about anything you want to know

Android

• 4 More Distraction Deterring Android Apps To Increase Your Productivity–While working on mobile, you need to be able to be efficient. Here are a few Android applications to help you manage your distractions and be more productive.
• 5 Free Android Math Apps || Free Software–Here are 5 free Android math apps which will help you to exercise and improve your mathematical skills. Download Free Android Maths Apps.
• 5 Reasons To Choose Android Over iPhone [Opinion]–If you’re looking at buying a smartphone, you’re probably going to buy an Android device or an iPhone (sorry, Microsoft). What’s the difference, and which should you choose? We recently gave the pro-iPhone side of the story, and now in the interests of balance, it’s time for to put forward the case for Android.
• AndroGET: Android Download Manager With Acceleration & Resume Support–The Android Market contains many third-party download managers and browsers that come packed with download managers of their own, each claiming to provide you …
• Decide.com For Android Is A Smart Virtual Shopping Assistant–Decide.com is a web-based shopping assistant that utilizes a comprehensive pricing history of various consumer electronic products from over 30 product
• 10 Best Arcade Games for Android–Need to sharpen your lightning-fast reflexes? These 10 Android games are the cream of the crop when it comes to arcade action.

Miscellaneous

• I Want to Teach Forever: 3 Fun Online Games For Reviewing Slope and Linear Equations–These three fun flash games were successful in keeping my students’ attention for a full 50 minute period, which doesn’t happen frequently.
• Free Technology for Teachers: Video Project Idea – Get to Know Your School–The idea is this, have students create “this is our school” videos that can be displayed on your school’s website.
• Timeline Apps | Facebook–Add apps to your timeline to share what you’re listening to, reading and more.
• Why Tablets Are So Important | Tim Bajarin | PCMag.com–Sure, tablets are great for media consumption, but the future of personal computing depends on their productivity.
• Things About Windows 7′s Calculator You Probably Didn’t Know–I love Windows 7′s calculator. Still, it wasn’t until today that I discovered that there are more functions in this little program than were present in its previous versions
• Angry Birds Coming to Facebook–Starting on Valentine’s Day, you won’t be able to focus on your work at all (if you could until now, that is). Why? Angry Birds is coming to..
• Google+ Welcomes Teens–Aiming to hit Facebook in a vulnerable spot, Google on Thursday opened Google+ to teens — and added security enhancements designed to help secure their privacy.
• QR Codes on the Rise in Print Magazines–Mobile UX designers and marketing and analytics firm Nellymoser released today a comprehensive study of print magazine action codes. They took the time to review every 2011 issue …
• Timehop Shows Your Activity on Social Sites Same Day a Year Ago–Timehop is a Service that Shows Your Activity on Social Sites the Same Day a Year Ago. Works with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare.
• 5 Amazing Things Internet May Have Ruined–Many of us are unable to survive without the internet because our modern society has grown to become so reliant on it. We go online everyday and has grown so …
• When’s the Best Time to Blog & Share?–Anyone who spends their day on the Internet inevitably wonders this question. Should I start publishing later in the day, to hit the after-work traffic? Should I publish earlier in the morning, to catch commuters while they’re on the way to work? Or is everything completely random, driven by the off-chance that a post will end up on StumbleUpon and enjoy a slightly longer tail? Social sharing widget Sharaholic looked at its 2011 data, breaking it down to the top 100 days and times for sharing. See the results in Eastern Standard Time….
• Bill Gates Sent A Letter To Steve Jobs Before His Death | Redmond Pie–There were undoubtedly good times and bad times shared between the two rivaling tech-gurus Steve Jobs and Bill Gates over the years.

Video/Slideshow

• Yosemite National Park in All of Its Time-Lapse Splendor | Open Culture

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

• Boy Lego vs. Girl Lego

• We Were Wanderers On A Prehistoric Earth on Vimeo

We Were Wanderers On A Prehistoric Earth from James W Griffiths on Vimeo.

Not too long ago I wrote a post titled “19 Great Online Graphing Calculators for Teachers and Students”  At that time I wrote this about one of them:

Desmos Graphing Calculator–Free Graphing Calculator, by Desmos.com. Desmos also has a Google Chrome app that you can install from the Google Web Store here. It is a flash app so it is not iPad compatible.

What has changed? They have converted the calculator from flash to HTML5! That means it now will run on the iPad!

However, having been burned by “things that run on the iPad” I had to check it out. It works great in desktop/laptop browsers but how would it run on the iPad?

The Answer

I am happy to report that it works just fine in the iPad!!!! Here are a couple of screenshots:

I found the site to be very responsive and had no problems with the touchscreen interface.

One impressive feature is that once you register (free), you can save/share your graphs:

I am very impressed with this online calculator. If you want to give it a test drive go here. Also, take a look in the upper right-hand corner of this post in the multimedia box for a quick introduction to the original Desmos calculator.

Appropriately, the site is www.abettercalculator.com! I agree totally!

This calculator is great for those times when you don’t have enough graphing calculators to go around in class or hear the dreaded “I left my calculator at home.” Even better, some students just can’t afford dedicated graphing calculators. This is their ticket!

What do you think of this online calculator?

Related articles

• Online Graphing Calculators Desmos Improves Again (freetech4teachers.com)
• A Better Calculator (thescamdog.wordpress.com)
• Desmos Graphing Calculator (colleenyoung.wordpress.com)
• Free Online Graphing Calculator (mrhonner.com)