Some end of the year lists worth a look

At this time of year we are often thinking about lists of numbers so here are a couple of others to peruse:

5 Things We Know about College Students in 2014, published by The Chronicle of Higher Education which summarizes the findings of a recent survey:

• They love Apple
• Print is not dead to them
• They are not that into Twitter
• They think libraries and computer labs are swell
• They have not ditched scholarly works for Wikipedia

Of course, I particularly liked the positive comments about libraries and I found this pretty consistent  with observations of our own high school students and with scholarly studies such as those profiled by Emily Singley in How College Students *Really* Do Research. 

100 Top Tools for Learning 2014 – which includes results from the 8^th annual survey.  Based in the UK, this survey compiles results from learning professionals in 61 countries.  The top ten are shown nearby.  

School Library Journal also publishes several lists of top Apps, Books, Tech and More.

For more top 100’s see these Book lists:

• 100 Notable Books of 2014 from New York Times
• Amazon which includes picks from editors and customers
• Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners (2014) from YALSA
• Economist
• Good Reads for numerous categories, as voted by readers
• Slate Staff Recommendations

 Above image from SLJ's Best Adult Books 4 Teens 2014

Prefer a video instead? Here are the 10 Best TED Talks of 2014 for Educators.   And one personal suggestion that combines tech and art: Tim’s Vermeer is a fascinating movie about an attempt to replicate the work of Vermeer using lenses and innovative technology from the 17th century. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and highly recommend it.  And for fun - an absolute favorite created by students at Mount Desert Island High School in Maine:

There are many, many more lists … feel free to share your favorites in the comment space below.

TED Talks on Google Spreadsheet

This is a handy way to view what's available on TED Talks via a Google Spreadsheet though 5-11-09.

TEDTalks features the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). This site makes the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 400 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted online.

TED Talk by Evan Williams

In case you are new to Twitter, listen to Evan Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, who developed the addictive messaging service that connects the world 140 characters at a time. He also explains the use of the #hashtag which allows folks to share information on a singular topic.


Here's a link to 50 Useful Tools for Researchers and Writers using Twitter