EdTech

Editor's Note: Helen Mowers, co-creator of the Tech Chicks podcast, contributed to this post. It's hard to imagine a single career that doesn't have a need for someone who can code. Everything that "just works" has some type of code that makes it run. Coding (a.k.a. programming) is all around us.

Highlights from the opening keynote address by Marc Prensky and Will Richardson from the "Engaging 21st Century Minds" conference. Discussing how technology is changing learning and how schools need to adapt.
As per Prensky: "the role of the human teacher is now 'to give students what technology can't—motivation, respect, empathy, and passion.' ... [His] newest buzzword "futurecation," which he says involves preparing students to do things 'we could never do before.'"
As per Richardson: "teachers must be 'learners first, teachers second;' ... need to model the process of learning for students and show them what intrinsic motivation and curiosity and creativity look like."

I am an eye. I am a mechanical eye. I, a machine, am showing you a world, the likes of which only I can see. -- from Dziga Vertov's (1896 - 1954) "I Am Camera."

If you consider yourself a modern learner and take advantage of modern technology in order to improve yourself, then you probably have some or most of these characteristics. If you use technology to bolster your understanding of a particular topic, use critical thinking and problem-solving skills to tackle tough questions, or simply collaborate across networks (online and in-person), then you've got some of the skills of modern learners.

Do you ever wonder how schools, universities, colleges, and large groups in general should use social media? Students are often early adopters, frequent users, and overall lovers of technology and social media. Want to help? I'm always looking for fun, creative, and exciting writers to get featured.

Do you ever wonder how schools, universities, colleges, and large groups in general should use social media? Students are often early adopters, frequent users, and overall lovers of technology and social media. Want to help? I'm always looking for fun, creative, and exciting writers to get featured.

Every generation has its shiny new technology that's supposed to change education forever. In the 1920s it was radio books. In the 1930s it was television lectures. Here in the second decade of the 21st century, it seems the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) is the education tech of tomorrow.

The 3Doodler was the first handheld 3D printer to hit the market, but its use of heating elements and hot plastic meant that it couldn't be used by kids--arguably one of its main demographics--without parental supervision. So Hasbro's come up with a much safer alernative called the DohVinci that uses a new kind of Play-Doh that hardens overnight.

You've got every device under the sun in front of you. Now what apps are you going to use? Here are the apps or app categories that I recommend you test for your school. There are lots of apps, and these are just my opinion based on what I've used with my students or successfully tested.

Roundtable Our expert panelists weigh in on education technology to give us their verdict on which approaches to tech-enabled learning will have a major impact, which ones are stagnating and which ones might be better forgotten entirely.

Play Play Learn provides educational resources and consulting services to connect games and learning in libraries, schools, and homes for students of all ages.

Engage students in their world using the game-based instruction presented in this series that presents resources for teaching a variety of curriculum areas using play. These books align existing board games to the topics you teach to exercise students creative and strategic minds, not just their video game thumbs.

Twitter chat moderator is more easily done using this Google Sheets moderator template. The Q1 and hashtags are automatically added to the tweets.