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"Scott McLeod, in his blog, Dangerously Irrelevant, recently reminded us of a line from Mission Impossible, and we must apply that challenge to all of society. "Your assignment, should you choose to accept it" is to take education truly into the 21st century. It is not enough to say that we are already living there. Technically it is the 21st century, but our schools are not there, and our challenge now is to reinvent schools for the 21st century - for the sake of our children, our students and the welfare of our world. Making such a paradigm shift is not easy. After all, when any of us thinks of education, we usually think of what we knew as school - the way it has always been. That is how parents, policy makers, politicians and many students think of school. But we have to make the paradigm shift to 21st century education. So what is 21st century education? It is bold. It breaks the mold. It is flexible, creative, challenging, and complex. It addresses a rapidly changing world filled with fantastic new problems as well as exciting new possibilities. Fortunately, there is a growing body of research supporting an increasing number of 21st century schools. We have living proof, inspiring examples to follow, in schools across the United States. These schools vary, but are united in the fundamentals of 21st century education - see Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education and Multiple Literacies for the 21st Century. Scott McLeod has issued the challenge of creating a plan to get us from "here" to "there"."

"This must seem like a contradictory title and an odd one especially coming from me, as I am an educational technology consultant and writer, but to be honest I stand by this statement and I'd like to tell you why."

"Communication centers, computers, laptops, mobile phones and tablets have all been spoken about at one point or another as technologies with promising applications for education. But mobile phones stand apart in an important way. In United States high schools, 98% of students have access to some kind of smartphone, according to a report by Blackboard and Project Tomorrow. The United Nation's International Telecommunication Union estimated that there were 5.3 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide at the end of 2010 - and that a full 90% of the world population now has access to a mobile network. In contrast, only about 2 billion people have Internet access. Students around the world are increasingly bringing their own mini-computers (or some connected device) to class. Whether this creates a distraction or a boon to learning is debatable, but these four uses of mobile phones in education - and countless others - could one day help prove the latter."

With its open-ended nature and robust creation tools, Minecraft has been used to create some amazing things. And as one teacher learned, those very same elements that make the game so compelling also make it a great educational tool. Around two months ago, Joel Levin, a computer teacher at Manhattan's Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, decided to start using the game to teach an entire unit to his first- and second-grade students. The lessons took place almost entirely in the world of Minecraft. And it was a huge hit

"This Facebook Group is for educators who are interested in using social media for education. Here we can share our opinions, ideas, experiences and resources. "

"As connection speeds increase and the ubiquity of the Internet pervades, digital content reigns. And in this era, free education has never been so accessible. The Web gives lifelong learners the tools to become autodidacts, eschewing exorbitant tuition and joining the ranks of other self-taught great thinkers in history such as Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Paul Allen and Ernest Hemingway."

"[In part 1 of this topic, I gave a very brief overview of Minecraft in comparison to SecondLife, and ended by noting how the creativity, exploration and collaboration elements of the game were catching the attention of educators. This is the subject I address further here.]"

Filament Games is a game production studio that exclusively creates learning games. Our core competency is producing games that combine best practices in commercial game development with key concepts from the learning sciences. Accordingly, our senior staff is comprised of individuals who are equal parts game and instructional designers; a "dual literacy" that allows us to engineer authentic gameplay mechanics (rules and interactions that directly correlate with specific learning objectives). Filament Games was founded in 2005 by education technology expert Dan White, game designer Dan Norton, and software engineer Alex Stone. In the time since, Filament has developed over 30 educational games for clients ranging from National Geographic's JASON Science to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's iCivics Inc.

Schools are snooping on social networking sites, and googling potential candidates before appointing new staff, teachers have been warned. Skip related content RELATED PHOTOS / VIDEOS Social network warning for teachers Enlarge photo RELATED CONTENT Parents 'fail to support schools' Teachers to ballot for strike on pension reform  UK teachers to ballot for strike on pension reform Related Hot Topic: Education Have your say: Education Teachers should be wary of what they post online and check what information is available about them, a fringe meeting at the National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference in Harrogate heard.

"Welcome to the Assessment for Learning website. This site has been developed by Curriculum Corporation on behalf of the education departments of the States, Territories and Commonwealth of Australia." "There are 32 assessment tasks, covering the learning areas of English, Science, Studies of Society and Environment and Health and Physical Education, Languages Other Than English, Technology, The Arts and Mathematics - or their State and Territory equivalents.

Below is text from Rupert Murdoch's (Chairman and CEO of News Corporation) speech at the G8 Forum in Paris. Education: The Last Frontier

"Wasn't it just the other day that teachers confiscated cellphones and principals warned about oversharing on MySpace? Now, Erin Olson, an English teacher in Sioux Rapids, Iowa, is among a small but growing cadre of educators trying to exploit Twitter-like technology to enhance classroom discussion. Last Friday, as some of her 11th graders read aloud from a poem called "To the Lady," which ponders why bystanders do not intervene to stop injustice, others kept up a running commentary on their laptops. "

The Hexagon Challenge is an educational Alternate Reality Game (ARG) in which students will attempt to solve a mystery by infiltrating a secret society, answering initiation questions regarding history, science, mathematics, world languages, and the arts. They will contact and be contacted by various fictitious characters via email, telephone, and instant messenger who will provide clues that enable them to continue their quest to discover the truth about a mysterious artifact known only as the Hexagon. Up to six extra credit points will be awarded along the way, which can be applied to your course if you so choose.

"The reality is the power of social media is enormous. It's what students are using to make a difference, our president used to get elected, and what Egypt used to start a revolution. Educators must get over their fears lest they make themselves irrelevant and leave their students unprepared. As I shared in my post Being Safe Online Is Being Safe In Life, the lesson is this. It's not primarily having a social networking profile, or giving out personal information that puts kids at risk. What puts kids in danger is being willing to talk about sex online with strangers or having a pattern of multiple risky activities on the web like going to sex sites and chat rooms, meeting lots of people there, kind of behaving in what we call like an internet daredevil. As the post is titled, the rules for being safe online are really just the rules for being safe in life. "

The iPad is being trialled in a large number of schools and educational settings across Australia. This theme page provides links to school trials, app review sites, blogs by teachers using iPads and a range of other useful resources for iPads in and out of the classroom.

"One of the hardest thing with using the iPad in the classroom is finding the time to go through all of the apps in the iTunes Store listed under the education banner. We have started to list some of the apps we've found under each of the Key Learning Areas." The blog associated with this site is also a great read.

Classrooms have come a long way. There's been an exponential growth in educational technology advancement over the past few years. From overhead projectors to iPads, it's important to understand not only what's coming next but also where it all started. We've certainly come a long way but some things seem hauntingly similar to many years ago. For example, Thomas Edison said in 1925 that "books will soon be obsolete in schools. Scholars will soon be instructed through the eye." I'm pretty sure this is exactly what people are saying these days about the iPad.

The video is a great example of what kids are able to do with Minecraft and what educational value can be derived.  And kudos to Ethan's teacher for being open-minded enough to accept a Minecraft creation in lieu of a traditional history project.

"The last four months have been tumultuous ones for our university. With the end of educational discounts for our island in Second Life, we faced a tough decision. Second Life's steep learning curve and our local system of incentives and rewards for faculty had discouraged any use of virtual worlds in our curriculum."

Since the internet is now an integral part of teachers' lives, it's important that they are aware of the tools and resources available online that could help them impart education in an effective and efficient manner. The following lists mentions 20 such tools. If you are a teacher or an academician, do check them out.