Eclectic Technology

If you are considering flipping your classroom check out this resources from Edudemic. It provides links to many resources to make this journey easier. Resources include:
* An interview on how a flipped classroom works

* The ten best web tools for flipped classrooms

* Eight crucial resources for flipped classrooms

Many more resources are available in the post.

Today when you go into a school there may be computer labs or there may be laptop carts that stay within a classroom or are shared...but in either of these situation there is still a need for rules to help guide students. This infographic provides 10 rules, each with an image and limited text. Consider sharing it with your students digitally (or you may purchase one to hang up in the computer lab/classroom).

This infographic shares why games should become a part of your classroom. Sections include:
* The Creation Process requires that you define structional objectives/goals, brainstorm concepts, create a paper prototype, play test, evaluate, refine (and potentially repeat this process numerous times) before the final game.

* It Really Works - providing data from a number of studies that show significant increases in grades after using game based learning.

* 3 Great Reasons to Use Games (check out the reasons on the post!)

* But Why Do Games Work which looks at essential elements required for learning and shares how each of these elements may be matched in game based learning

* The Role of Game Playing

Unlike many infographics this one provides links to sources which are easy to read. Are you interested in learning more about game based learning? If so, check out this post.

Have you wondered why infographics have taken off over the years? This interactive infographic shares "13 reasons why your brain craves  infographics." It also provides links to 17 resources. Below are two reasons that are shared...click through to the interactive resource to learn the rest!

* Did you know that "people following directions with text and illustrations do 323% better than people following directions without labels." (The research was specific to labels on medicine and looked at comprehension rate of text only labels and labels with text and pictures."

* What helps us recall information. This infographic says that people remember "10% of what they HEAR, 20% of what they READ, 80% of what they SEE and  DO."

This infographic not only looks at the broader ideas of the Common Core it also provides a number of statistics, such as the number of students whom will take the Common Core test in the year 2014 to the number of students in the 2007 -2008 school year.

As well as the statistical information you will find a definition of the Common Core standards, how success will be evaluated, what every student needs to know, seven things students may do to get ready, what every teacher needs to know, seven things a teacher should do to get ready as well as a link to a website from McGraw Hill that provides additional resources.

As schools continue to discuss and learn more about the Common Core this infographic provides a nice visual that could be shared with faculty, students and parents.

Check out this new guide from Digital Learning on how to implement blended learning. The image above is an from an infographic, which explores the following areas (after discussing what blended learning is):

* The Process - This area has four sections, Create the conditions for success (what do you do before you launch), Plan (what are the key decisions that must be made), Implement (what are the keys to success) and Improve (what are the next steps).

* Top Features of a Blended Platform

* Steps in the Right Direction

* 10 Drivers of Blended Learning

* Get Blended

This link will take you to the page where you may access the five reports that have been published (at this time). This report is available as a full report, as an executive summary and as an infographic. 

Although this infographic was written with the parent in mind the ideas are applicable for teachers. Chances are you have at least a few students in your classroom whom may not be as engaged as you would like. Learn some of the tricks that you might try to help them become more engaged and consider sharing this with parents.

This indepth post explores inquiry-based learning. The four phases are:

1. Interaction - Big Idea: Dive into engaging, relevant, and credible media forms to identify a “need” or opportunity for inquiry

2. Clarification - Big Idea: Summarizing, paraphrasing, and categorizing learning with teacher or expert support

3. Questioning - Big Idea: Asking questions to drive continued, self-directed inquiry

4. Design - Big Idea: Designing an accessible, relevant, and curiosity-driven action or product to culminate and justify inquiry

Each of the four phases also includes information on tones, student indicators, teacher indicators, appropriate questions and apps.

There are also 4 questions for student-based reflection and ten adjustments you may make as a teacher to adjust to teaching inquiry-based learning.

There are many forms of teaching that incorporate inquiry-based learning including project-based learning, blended learning, and challenge-based learning. You may find your students more engaged in the learning process if you include some components of inquiry-based learning in your classroom.

This EdSurge Guide has 10 sections, with a "big question" for each of them and a number of resources for each. Check out the list of topics below and click through to learn more about any of the 10 areas.

* What are the influentical ideas behind "edtech"?

* How can you be part of the edtech community?
* How do you build an edtech company?

* Does the profit motive belong in education?

* How do you find and evaluate edtech products?

* Can technology help prepare better teachers?
* How can teachers help edtech entrepreneurs?

* Where does 'Making' or project-based learning fit into edtech?

* How should we measure student "success"?

* Who owns the data?

There are three to six excellent resources listed under each question. Many great resources will be found in this post!