Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 09/05/2012
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New Research Finds Most Top Torrents Are Monitored
Most torrent sites like Bit Torrent are logged and your ip address is being tracked.Best advice, don't try to download things for free that aren't supposed to be free. Be wary, wise, and share it with your students.
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September Lesson plans aligned with Common Core
Lesson planning sites are proliferating. Here's a set of 135 lessons all relating to events in September aligned with Common Core from Sharemylesson.com. Plan ahead. (You can also upload lessons - they are giving away a free ipad to those who upload the most quality lessons still.)
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Amazon's Dual Sided Tablet Idea Shows up at IFA Berlin - as a Smartphone - The Digital Reader
A dual sided tablet? Interesting idea. Here's an example of a dal sided smartphone prototype. You could use the lower power eink side when reading or extended periods and the lcd when you want brighter lights. Interesting. This is a new one on me, but one I'd like to think about.
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Inbox Pause Puts Your Email on Hold So You Can Actually Relax or Get Things Done
The productivity research I'm reading keeps stating that an open email box with notifications turned on is the nemesis of productivity - it takes a full 4 minutes to re-enter what you were doing and up to 20 minutes to reenter a flow state. This Chrome extension may make a happy medium and lets you pause your email if your company REQUIRES you to keep email open. I think that companies should rather encourage checking at certain times during the day. Often, email is a time waster and there are those who specialize in e-procrastination. Like those who wait to see you walk out the door before hitting send. ;-)
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Placing the Signature on Top of a Form Promotes Honesty
When you sign your name at the top of a document, you're more likely to be honest, according to a new research study. I guess putting student's names at the top of a paper is more than just convenient for the teacher. ;-)
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IFTTT Launches Channel Dedicated to Google Drive
If this then that helps you archive tweets, make copies of photos where you are tagged on Facebook and more. Now, in an amazing coup, they have added Google Drive as a channel. This means that some productivity nuts out there would have an alternative to dropbox or for those who have Google apps for domains and don't allow dropbox, you have a great place to archive and store. Definitely take a look at ifttt.com as a great timesaver if you use social media. (You could have ifttt.com archive all of your social media posts on Facebook for your school or any time you're tagged in a photo and more.)
