20 Online Tools to Make Learning Fun

by Karen Schweitzer
Looking for a great way to engage and stimulate students in even the most tedious subjects? There are many online tools, games, activities, learning aids, and even web apps designed to make learning fun. Here is a list of 20 sites to try when the new school year begins:
Games and Activities
History Detective Kids [...]

21st Century Students need 21st Century Teachers

I’m recycling a couple of videos that I have posted in the past, mostly because I believe that they’re worth watching again.  These videos – the original higher ed version of “A Vision of Students Today” by Mike Wesch, the spin-off , called “A Vision of K-12 Students Today”, and “The Networked Student”, created by [...]

A Teacher’s Guide to Twitter

Twitter is apart of my life almost every day because:
-    It’s a great source of news.
-    There are rich conversations among educators and edtech people.
-    People post entertaining, interesting, and very useful links.
-    I enjoy the easy interaction with others from around the world.
Most people start off in a rocky relationship with Twitter.  It doesn’t [...]

Using Weebly to build your Classroom Website

Here’s a follow-up to an earlier Weebly post:
There have been increasing numbers of educators who find that a classroom website is a good way to stay organized.  Here are some basic, very useful functions:

Announcements
Class Calendar
Homework Assignments
Supply Lists
Pictures
Post Student Work
Parent Involvement/Volunteer Opportunities
Classroom Rules and Policies
Links
Your Bio and Contact Info

A website is more informative, while a blog, [...]

Bloom’s Taxonomy 2.0

Over the few months that I’ve been blogging, my post on Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy has been the biggest hit.  And, what interests my readers interests me.  Here’s more on the subject:
Probably every classroom teacher in this country has at least come across Bloom’s Taxonomy at some point.  Most of us can recite the ‘level’s by [...]

The Beauty of Personal Learning Networks

If you’re reading this, chances are that you’ve already begun building your personal learning network.
Here is a clever video called The Networked Student about how students are doing it these days, and how this new approach to learning will enhance their 21st century skills.  Highlights include using iPods to listen to college lectures posted on [...]

Bloom’s Taxonomy for the Digital Age – Integrating Technology

Integrating technology into curriculum has been a popular topic in the blogosphere for some time now.  I’m starting to find more and more concrete, applicable ideas that have the potential to be easily integrated – thank goodness for collaboration.  I feel like we’re getting somewhere.
Check this out -    Andrew Churches’  “Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy v.2.12“.

He brilliantly [...]

100 Things You Can do with RSS Feeds

Who knew that RSS feeds could do so much?!?

Books. Read books with DailyLit. They will send sections to you each day via RSS feed.
Word of the Day. Get a new vocabulary word sent to you every day with Dictionary.com.
World News. One of the top news agencies offering world news brings it to you via RSS [...]

Integrating Technology into the Curriculum – Web 2.0

There’s an older article on the Edutopia website called ‘Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many‘. I love this quote:
“Effective technology integration is achieved when the use of technology is routine and transparent and when technology supports curricular goals.”
The comments are much more useful than the article, itself, in terms [...]

Weebly Rocks! Build a classroom website, or one for each student!

While visiting San Francisco, I had the pleasure of attending a spontaneous party – we were celebrating Weebly’s 1,000,000th user!
Not only is this a quality website-building tool that everyone can enjoy but, specifically, many teachers have found that it offers a very easy and streamlined solution for organizing their classrooms. Here are some examples:
A [...]