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I am on a serious mission to push our library out onto the platforms my kiddos love most–their phones, and to a lesser extent, their tablets. I so want our library to be in the pockets. As I finished preparing our QR code handout, it occurred to me that most of the codes, in fact [...]
YALSA’s Teen Book Finder is one of my favorite apps. I recommend it to my high school students and I/we often take it to the shelves on our iPhones, iPods or iPads for inspiration connected to YALSA’s recommended titles. Good news. This week, YALSA launched an updated version of the free app that now includes titles [...]
One of my favorite discoveries at ISTE was Graphite. Launched by Common Sense Media, the nonprofit known by parents, teachers and librarians for its high quality, nonpartisan reviews and its popular Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum, Graphite promises to be the go-to platform for helping teachers make sense of an exponentially evolving number of digital [...]
A peek behind the scenes of Sesame Workshop, which is negotiating the digital shift with care. The venerable brand has conducted more than 76 tests over two and a half years to understand how children, ages three to five, adopt and adapt to touch devices in their learning.
Here in Chicago, AASL’s Best Websites for Teaching & Learning Committee just released its standards-aligned 2013 list. (Don’t miss AASL’s inaugural, Best Apps For Teaching and Learning list, also just released at ALA!) Sites and tools are selected because they engage users through innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. Honored websites, tools, and resources will provide exceptional value [...]
National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) is June 27th . First established in 2005 by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, NHTD seeks to bring attention to the importance of HIV testing, and through its website, make resources readily available to those who are looking for testing locations, disease facts, and more.
From the “fierce and fascinating beauty of our natural world” to a huge, Alaska-size, floating garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean,” this month’s featured apps draw attention to both the wondrous and fragile state of our planet.
Sticky Dot Comics Free Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Recommended for ages 8 and up. At the end of February, Viz announced that it was launching a free all-ages app aimed at kids and families. The promise was to create an app where parents would feel comfortable allowing their children download and [...]
From stardust to remote galaxies, this month’s app standouts look toward the heavens.
It’s just a little easier to find your apps these days and to discover and connect to new ones. On Friday Google announced a new feature in its Drive interface. The Create menu now expands to list a lovely variety of third-party Drive-connected apps. These apps may now be conveniently added to your Create menu [...]
Reviews in this column first appeared in SLJ’s column Touch and Go. Please note that later versions of some of these titles may now be available. Visit Touch and Go at slj.com under “Blogs & Columns” for additional reviews, commentary, and interviews with people in the field.
On Monday, December 3rd at 8PM Eastern, TLCafé hosts our 2nd annual Smackdown/Open Mic night. Please plan on visiting or participating!
You don’t have to be a librarian to play. We welcome classroom teachers, tech directors, administrators, enthusiastic partners of every persuasion!
I’ll be sharing my trend list and some of my favorite discoveries and so will [...]
On Monday, December 3rd at 8PM Eastern, TLCafé hosts our 2nd annual Smackdown/Open Mic night. Please plan on visiting or participating! You don’t have to be a librarian to play. We welcome classroom teachers, tech directors, administrators, enthusiastic partners of every persuasion! I’ll be sharing my trend list and some of my favorite discoveries and [...]
The Global Education Conference, held around the clock November 12–16, offered a wide range of sessions by and for educators. In particular, “Appls Galore” emphasized a variety of ways to use this technology with young students.
About 500 librarians gathered in St. Louis for YALSA’s Young Adult Literature Symposium to discuss social reading within Ereaders, apps such as Inkling, Kno, and Subtext, and which contemporary books teens will be reading in the 2057.
