List Updated Spring 2015

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Professional Development Opportunities

Join a Community - By joining a professional learning community, you can ask questions, share your knowledge, and stay on top of new advances. 

• ISTE Communities
• EdTech

Get Inspired - See what you collegues are doing all around the world in the Edutopia videos, as well as inspiring speeches at the TED conferences.

Continue Learning - The changes in technology never stop, and neither do our ideas for best practices with learning technologies.  Enroll in one of the many free courses and MOOCs or continue your learning in a university program.

Emerging Tech: Augmented Reality

You can read about augmented reality printer (also known as interactive print) in this article and see examples in education, but here are a few of the tools that will help you create on your own:

•  Augment
• Aurasma
• Blippar
• Daqri 
• Layar
  

Emerging Tech: Coding

There are many coding apps out there, but the quality varies greatly.  Here are a few apps that I have played and have been impressed by the learning design:

• Tynker
• Scratch JR
• My Robot
• The Foos

Notable Apps: Elementary School Focus

Students work independently with little instruction/ iPad as "tutor":  The benefits to this method is that the use of iPads can be motivating for students and they will get to practice basic technology skills. The major drawback is that this way is usually not any better for learning content than another teaching method without technology.

• 2, 5, and 10 (by onebillion)
  
• DragonBox
  
• MathDoodles
  
• Operation Math
  
• MyRobot
  
• MoveTheTurtle
  
• Daisy the Dinosaur
  
• BrainPop Jr.
  
• Meet the Insects
  
• Meet Science
  
• Ansel & Clair: Paul Revere's Ride
  
• Foldify
  
• Touch Physics
  
• Magazines (with subscription) National Geographic Magazine for kids, Time for kids, etc.
  

Students work independently or in small groups with some instruction: The benefits to this are that you can provide a worksheet and ask students targeted questions or ask them to complete specific tasks.  They can learn collaborative skills in groups. The drawback is that it does take some planning by the teacher.

• Star Walk Kids
  
• The Human Body by Tinybop
  
• My Incredible Body
  
• Foldify
  
• CyberChase Shape Quest (Augmented Reality)
  
• Storyline for Schools
  
• Toontastic
  
• Futaba
  
• Minecraft Pocket Edition
  
• Smash your Food
  

Students work in small groups or an entire class to create, design, or problem solve with technology: Students learn the most from this type of activity, but it also takes the most time to develop.  This is good to do as a team with other teachers or with extra hands in the classroom. The apps below can help in the creation of products or in the learning process.

• Note: This video shows an example of how this might work in Kindergarten: http://vimeo.com/30676458 
  
• iMovie
  
• Popplet
  
• iBooks Author
  
• Story Kit
  
• Subtext
  
• GoodReader
  
• Thinglink
  
• Chirbit
  
• Educreations
  
• Showme
  
• Explain Everything
  
• Primary Wall
  
• Snapguide
  
• Skype  (they have a great Skype classroom website for collaboration)
  
• Google+ (also a great Google+ Connected Classrooms website for forming collaborations)