Monday, February 4, 2013

Share the Wealth


Many of the educators that write a blog or that are on Twitter often have several bloggers that they read and follow on a daily basis.  Whether they have them on a list in Twitter or have them in their Google Reader, they are often our favorites.  They generally share something that we see as a vital resource for others or a thought/experience that we often relate to or learn something from.  When we see something on these blogs that we really like we often tweet them to our followers or share on another social network.

One way to share our favorites automatically is to use a service called Twitterfeed.  To use this service, all you need to do is link your Twitter account and then if you have your own blog, provide the RSS feed.  The service will automatically post to Twitter the most recent blog post.  You can also add a "header" or "footer" to the tweets as well.  I use the service and often attach a hashtag like #edchat and #edtech or a mention of who the author is by using their Twitter username.

I also recommend that you use the service to share the wealth.  Take a blog or two that you really like and collect their RSS feeds.  Attach them to the Twitterfeed service so that they are automatically tweeted for/from you.  This way your twitter followers will get the opportunity to read your favorite blogs in case you forget to tweet them, you read them from your Google Reader, or you are away for some time.

If you have a class blog, this is a great way to tweet those as well.  You can also link it to a classroom Facebook page to have the link automatically posted to the wall.  If you have your students blogging, you might want to share this service with them as well as a way to share their blog posts to Twitter

Top Posts of January

Hard to believe that a month has already gone by.  Before we know it, spring break and summer will be here.  Lots on the agenda before those breaks get here.  In the mean time, lets look back at what was most popular last month.

Turn Your Phone into a Presentation Remote - Using Google Chrome and some other services, users can make a phone a presentation remote and also a remote for YouTube.

Wallwisher Got a Makeover - I am a big fan of Wallwisher.  It was the very first web 2.0 tool that I wrote about on this blog.  Over the past few months they have made some positive changes to their software and I think it is even better than before.

10 QR Code Ideas - These were ideas that I saw teachers using, read about, or just thought that would be a pertinent way to share information with students, parents, and the community.  QR Codes could be a game changer in education in the future.

Mind Mapping Tools for Teachers and Students - A good list of some mind mapping software that are available for teachers and students for free or for minimal cost.

10 Apps for Students to Take Notes - iPads, netbooks, and other tablet devices are invading the classroom and there are several web-based and mobile apps for students to use to take and organize notes.  Here is a good list of some to share with your students.

Turn Google into an App Search - I discovered recently that you can use a Google search for finding an app that meets your needs in that search.  I explain that discovery in this post.

And still popular from December is 10 Cell Phone Apps for Teachers.