I’ve been watching a bunch of TED’s, and while the TEDxTeen talks are good, I am not sure they are right to show in class. However, I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites. I encourage you to go to YouTube and explore more.

Natalie Warne

Tavi Gevinson

Sujay Tyle

Zander Srodes

Sejal Hathi

P-Star

BTW you might want to check out the new TEDEducation site on YouTube. There are some cool videos there. Not all of them fit in the TED format, but still worth your time.

I accidentally came across a very nifty site that I think you will all like. I’m linking you to the English portion of the site, but there are many other sections I think you will find useful. Just click on the logo and you will be directed there.

Recently I’ve had a great many students ask me about using PowerPoint for their presentations. While PowerPoint (or something similar) is okay in a pinch, why not explore something new and a tad more interesting? Here are just a few things (I have loads more) you might want to look into.

Use Stupeflix to mix photos, video and music into your own creative video.

One True Media is similar to Stupeflix.

Prezi is an excellent alternative to a boring Powerpoint.

Want a really fun way to gather some information and opinions? Check out aMap.

One last tip that I know many of you already know about…

When you want to perform a search you don’t have to go to Google or Yahoo (or whatever search engine you have set as a default). Simple type your search query into the address bar of your browser. It works with all browsers and saves you a step or two.

Check-out more tools and tips in my

Diigo Cool Tools .

So many of my students are “plugged in” when it comes to smartphones and pads, yet I’ve noticed not many of you have the very best app around: Evernote.  Besides the Google suite this is my #1 go to app. The best part is the syncing ability which I think you will all appreciate. Check it out and download it on all your devices ASAP.

There are some great TED talks being posted from the current conference going on in Long Beach (BTW I now understand the purpose of the TEDx talks!). Because I know some of you are into the TEDs as much as I am I would ask you to not use any 2012 talks for blog posts. Let me sift through them and see what I want to show in class. Then you can use the others for your bi-weekly blog posts.