Vicki A. Davis's Blog, page 169

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools

I’m rushing around right now after Spring Break and teaching 6 classes. Yep, I said 6. It is a struggle to keep things together, but I thought you might want to take a glance at 7 things that may interest you including national Poetry month, some Google Forms, and an interesting discussion on the privacy you can expect on open Wifi.

Today’s inspirational thought is that I hope you’ll be the rainbow in someone else’s cloud. As teachers, we impact so many students every day. We should be the kin...

How Can You Turn Adversaries Into Allies? with Bob Burg

Bob Burg @BobBurg has some fascinating advice for how to turn adversaries into allies with his new book Adversaries into Allies: Win People Over Without Manipulation or Coercion. As teachers, we never know when we’re going to have a tough situation walk through our door or barge into our inbox, so his advice is very helpful and timely for all of us – especially during high-stress times of the school year. (Like testing or the end of the year for those of us in the northern hemisphere.)

Who wil...

The Epic Ebook Guide

eBooks are around us. Do you know how to find them? What apps should you use? Do you know how to publish one? This epic eBook guide will help you understand how to download ebooks, use ebookstores, and how to find free and inexpensive ebooks and how to self publish. (If you’re not sure why you should be interested in ebooks, read11 reasons eBooks can improve your life.)

What Do I Get To Read Ebooks?

First, you need a reading device or app. An ebook reader is a device designed specifically for r...

29 Ways to Stay Creative [Video]

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

Do you want to stay creative or be creative today? This cool video is less than 2 minutes and will give you thoughts about what you can do to be more creative today. This would be a cool type of video to assign to students. via To-fu.tv

The post 29 Ways to Stay Creative [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Mailbox: Inbox Zero and email Productivity [An App of the Week Lesson Plan]

Email is a problem for so many of us. If I had been taught good habits early on, it could have avoided email overload and been more responsive many times when people needed a response. My students use gmail through our Google Apps for domains but often filters and other such things are a challenge for them. The Mailbox app is a great app for anyone who struggles with email. While all of my students don’t have an iOS device, the principles of inbox zero fit everyone and I make sure all student...

Join My Students in a Serious Games Smackdown

Serious games can help with serious learning and fun. Using a research based rubric developed by educators at the University of Alaska Southeast, my students and the teachers inDr.Lee Graham’s course evaluated games. There are34 completely finished and rankedand others who need teacher reviews.(You can join in and review, anything taggedteacher_revneeds a teacher review, and we have quite a few so we could calculate the final score. When you ask to join, just let me know who you are, where yo...

15 Best Google Drive Add-Ons for Education

Google Drive has enabled Google Add Ons and there are some that you and your students will want to enable right away. Others may appeal more to professional developers or those who work remotely .

How To Enable Add Ons for Google Drive

Here’s a tutorial on enabling add ons. Start with this and then look to see which ones will suit your needs.

And Some Suggested Add Ons From Google

Add-On #1:EasyBib

You can insert citations directly into Google Documents directly within the Document using EasyBib....

Gamification in Education [Link]

Gamification in Education














Edutopia

March 20, 2014

In the Gamifi-ed Project, my students and the other teachers have taught me so much about serious games in education and best practices for gamifying the classroom.

I’m so convinced that much of the education discussion on this topic is not centered around game theory best practices. I’m also convinced that so much of educational gaming discussion happening in gaming circles is NOT coming from educational best practices.

The merging of educa...

Join Global Education & Skills #GESF Live Stream as Education Leaders Around the World Talk about Using Technology and Creativity to Reach Every Child

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ve seen my posts with pics of gold plated bathrooms that juxtapose against the harsh reality of an Afgani woman who went to school on threat of death from the Taliban.

“Education is worth dying for,”

she said to a spellbound and quiet crowd who then went on to give a resounding standing ovation to her parents, the brave impetus to her secret work to become educated.

We’re in Dubai at the Global Education & Skills Forum with many world leaders (over 30...

11 Reasons eBooks Can Improve Your Life

If you peek in the pocketbooks and briefcases of many people, you may just see their personal library of Alexandria. Did you know that you can download the complete works of Mark Twain in less than 2 minutes after paying 99 cents. It almost feels wrong.

And yet, something truly epic and special has happened because these books are accessible. Many people still like paper and there are times I want paper too, but let’s talk about why so many people have begun to favor the ebook.

11 Reasons eBook...