Article: What Educators Need to Know About Technology Addiction

Common Sense Media recently published an article titled "What Educators Need to Know about Technology Addiction". It includes a summary of recent survey findings and some suggestions of what can be done. If you're for or against technology use in the classroom, you should take a look. This is a real problem.

Article: 4 Reasons That Technology Might Not Be Helping Them Learn

I will be the first to tell you that technology is not always the best tool for the job. This article, 4 Reasons That Technology Might Not Be Helping Them Learn hits the nail on the head. 

The reasons they list include:
1) You're using technology for technology's sake.
2) The technology distracts from understanding.
3) The teacher is still the audience.
4) You're neglecting authentic student voice & choice.

Read more...

When Tech Teaches, What Do Teachers Do?

With technology taking a more prominent role in the classroom, some people question why we need teachers. Lisa Nielson's article "When Tech Teaches, What Do Teachers Do?" addresses this issue with suggestions of what the teacher can be doing while students are learning from technology in class. It's short and worth a read. 

ConnectEd's Day in the Life series

ConnectEd's YouTube channel has a Day in the Life series that highlights several different careers. It's a great playlist to share with students!

https://youtu.be/u77a3RfJjBE?list=PLCB93A8CC51AF5312

Explore more career videos at http://connectedstudios.org/life_videos 

Find apps for your Chromebook

To help support your classroom use of Chromebooks, Google put together this list of "Find apps for your Chromebook". 

It’s a list of “If you want to… On a Chromebook, you could use…” and includes things like making a presentation, organizing notes, edit a video, create music and much more.

Let me know if you would like help exploring any of these!

Digital Bytes by Common Sense Media

Digital Bytes is a great resource for teaching digital awareness. 

Educators, start here. 

http://youtu.be/brvaP0tQ2hA

Current Résumés Tips

My sister-in-law works for a major international HR company and recently shared this article. It doesn’t fit what people used to recommend for résumés when I was younger but is updated for today’s world. She says it’s spot on.

I highly recommend you take a look, especially if you help guide students in résumé building.

http://mashable.com/2014/10/20/resume-first-glance/