Editing a Pathway in Google Earth - MLTI Minute

Right from the video blog of MLTI Minute.

I love Goole Earth.  I think it is an amazing application for the Science, Social Studies, History, Math, English, Art, etc classrooms.

If you have any questions or are interested in using Google Earth, please contact me.

Feedly Does More Than RSS

Since I moved my "stuff" from Google Reader to Feedly, I have been discovering more and more about some of the great features that Feedly offers, that Google Reader did not.  I had found in the past while using Google Reader that there were some sites offering updates and news that Google Reader could not recognize as appropriate RSS feed, and so did not display in my Reader.  So, I had to resort to accepting email notifications of any updates or news from those sites, which is not, I find, a very efficient way of managing content and data, especially with updates and news.

Here is an example if that sounds a bit confusing.  I like receiving notifications when ever there are new videos uploaded to certain YouTube channels I follow - like Edutopia, Geogebra, SMART Technologies, etc.  However, receiving notifications through email just becomes another task in order to keep my inbox clear; or the emails sit in a folder filling up my space.

Now, I send all of my YouTube feed updates to Feedly.  Feedly is much more friendly when collecting content from most websites.  Much more that Google Reader was.

Google Reader Shutting Down!

Big news yesterday for blogger, blog readers and Google.  Google announced yesterday that they will be shutting down their Google Reader product July 1st of this year.  If you are like me, that is heart-breaking news.  I subscribe to over 200 blogs; and though I do not visit and read every one of them, Google Reader has become a great resource for me and a great way to search.

Nevertheless, we move on.

Alex Kantrowitz from Forbes made some great points about how we do not own the products and services we use online:

"No matter how much work we put in to optimize our online presences, our tools and our experiences, we are still at the mercy of big companies controlling the platforms we operate on...they can make whatever call they want.  And Wednesday night, Google made theirs."  Read More

Drew Olanoff from TechCrunch made some great points and truths about RSS and blog readers:

"Google Reader was just a glorified email inbox." 

So, what do we do now?

There are still a good amount of products out there that do a decent job with collecting and aggregating RSS feeds from blogs.  Here are some articles I have found that give some great suggestions for a Google Reader alternative.

CNet has a great focus on readers that were available on the Web as well as iOS and Android (good thinkin')

Lifehacker gives some explanation of the whole RSS proces as well as how to deal with your current Google Reader subscriptions.

ComputerWorld showcases several articles that feature some great Google Reader alternatives.

My fave and why

After tossing up a couple of options, Feedly is my favorite.  Number one, I need something that I can access on the web as well as an iOS app for my iPad.  Secondly, I can send interesting articles and pages to Pocket; which is my "read later" application (I'll talk about that another time).  The other feature that sold me on this service was its user interface.  I love the flow and visual design of the site and the iOS app; easy to flow through and nice to look at when reading.  With these three major features, I find Feedly the best alternative to Google Reader.  Plus, Feedly just announced that they will offer seamless transitioning from Google Reader to Feedly.

Can't Beat That!

With this huge turn of events from such a giant at Google is, the big question is:

Is blogging heading to strictly micro-blogging on social networks?

Great Classroom Idea From Padlet

I received an email from Padlet (formally Wallwisher) advertising a great idea for the ELA classroom.  If you are not familiar with Padlet, please review my post on it.  Padlet has many options for working collaboratively with your students.  One way is you can create a wall to develop writing skills through poetry with your students.

Wings of Flight is a wall created by Padlet as a great example of students displaying short poems they have created.

Check out Padlet's Gallery of examples others have created to help create ideas of your own.

Palet is safe.  Students need NO account in order to participate.

Twitter Hashtag Feature: #tlchat

#tlchat, according to tagdef.com, "follows topics of interest to Teacher-Librarians, also known as School Librarians or School Library Media Specialists".  Below is a Twitter stream displaying a search on #tlchat.  Search for any hashtag in your Twitter account to view a live stream of content associated with that hashtag.

Tweets about "#tlchat"

Twitter Feature Follow

From education-based Tweeps I follow

Since we're on the topic of Richard Byrne, add him to your follow list.

Tweets by @rmbyrne

Best of the Web 2013 from Richard Byrne

Richard Byrne from Free Technology for Teachers always offer some great resources for teachers.  He will often put together a collective of educational products and services out there that he has found the best.

Below is a presentation of some of these resources.

Best of the Web 2013 from Richard Byrne

New Learner of The 21st Century - Dr. John Seely Brown

An oldie, but a goodie.  From PBS's documentary Digital Media - New Learner of The 21st Century back in 2011, Dr. John Seely Brown talks about what drives people to WANT to learn.  Some great thoughts and concepts on creativity, learning and driven passion.  I love his studies.  Oddly enough, as I was writing this post, Edutopia had just uploaded this video on their YouTube channel today.

"...tinkering brings thought and action together in some very powerful, magical ways"

Watch Extended Interview: Dr. John Seely Brown on PBS.

See more from Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century.