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"Students only need a model and a push to do amazing things. Then a smart teacher gets out of the way and let's the magic happen. When I first became engulfed in the amazing world of Twitter, I couldn't imagine not sharing the experience with my students. What started as a little spark and a hot mess three years ago has turned into a full-on immersion of social media in my classes. Twitter has amplified the voices of my students well beyond the walls of our classroom and it's echoing through the global learning landscape. Now, social media is an integral part of the learning that transpires and I can't imagine why others aren't using it. Recently, I guest moderated an #edtechchat that highlighted the versatility of Twitter in the classroom. With the help of my students who participated at 8pm on a Monday night and amazing educators across the world, we discussed the vibrancy Twitter can add to student learning"

"In response to the need to connect maker educators with one another and with the experiences of colleagues in their field, Maker Ed contracted with SRI International (SRI) in early 2016 to conduct research aimed at better understanding educators engaged in maker-centered learning communities, and to provide insight into promising approaches for professional learning. This work aims to support the development of robust supports for both formal and informal educators working in maker-centered learning environments."

"As I continue my semester both as EAP teacher and MA student, I'm confronted with issues related to where learning occurs and how it is most facilitated. As a reflective practitioner, I notice the former evidenced differently among my students and have been trying to connect this to my own graduate experiences to come to some theories about the latter. Though my conclusions are not absolute, I keep questioning whether concrete learning outcomes provide the teacher/student with anything beyond disappointment and whether the teacher really teaches anything. "

"When teachers know their students well, they can build strong connections that lead to better learning. Knowing students' interests, strengths, and weaknesses help teachers tailor learning experiences for their students. Formative assessment is how teachers collect information about what students know, don't know, and want to learn. Formative assessment takes many forms, including exit tickets, discussions, games, and quizzes. These kinds of informal assessments can also help teachers get to know their students as learners and as people. There is a very wide variety of digital formative assessment tools that can be used for free (often charging for extra features). I've written a little about 15 of them below. Most of these tools work with any web browser, so they are great for laptops, computer labs, iPads, Chromebooks, tablets, and smartphones."

"When students use their bodies in the learning process, it can have a big effect, even if it seems silly or unconnected to the learning goal at hand. Researchers have found that when students use their bodies while doing mathematical storytelling (like with word problems, for example), it changes the way they think about math. "We understand language in a richer, fuller way if we can connect it to the actions we perform," said Sian Beilock, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago."

"The idea of connecting with other educators, school leaders, and parents online is a great one. But figuring out where to start can be a challenge. Currently, about 80% of U.S. teachers are on social media and using it to become better at their profession. In an effort to make sure these teachers are making the most of their time, we wanted to put together a handy visual guide that will help you grow your professional learning network (PLN) using social media. These tips and ideas are simple and there's a big reason for that. Instead of giving you 50-100 different ways to use the social networks, we wanted to start small. Teachers have basically no time to learn 100 different ways to use Twitter so why not instead offer our best tips in one simple-to-use visual."

Here's our new program page on Facebook.  I am updating this page regularly with information for anyone interested in e-learning and online teaching best practices.  You don't have to be a current or former student to take advantage of the information and connections found here.  I do ask you to 'Like' this page if you find it useful.   (Try it! You'll Like It!)

"Professional Development Model: Documenting4Learning March 23, 2015 - Documenting4Learning, Featured Carousel, Professional Development - no comments I just returned from a consulting/coaching visit to Mount Scopus Memorial College, a K-12 Jewish Day School, in Melbourne, Australia. It was a one day full faculty (K-6) keynote style workshop to set the tone for a four day intense follow up work with the upper primary school teachers and students. Together with Edna Sackson, the Teaching and Learning Co-ordinator of the school, we planned the overall theme, Documenting FOR Learning, of the intense week to connect with the whole school goal of using data to inform learning. "

"Almost overnight, remote work has become mainstream. Companies around the world are encouraging their employees to work from home to prioritize the health and safety of their workforce and communities amid coronavirus. Working through this rapid change can be hard and we're moving quickly to help members get information they can trust, stay connected to their community and learn now to be more productive and successful in their jobs. Since January 2020 "remote working" searches on LinkedIn Learning have tripled as both employees and managers increasingly look for advice on how to navigate the challenges of working remotely and managing a remote workforce.   We now have a free learning path with 16 online courses that can help. These courses feature top tips from remote work experts to figure out how to: "

Pedagogy and curriculum that engages students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds and is deemed personally relevant to the lives they live, are seen as important factors towards equality of outcome by Wrench, Hammond, McCallum and Price (2012). Their research involved designing a curriculum and pedagogy that would be highly engaging to students of low-socioeconomic status. 'The interventions involved curriculum redesigns that set meaningful, challenging learning task(s) (culminating in high quality learning products); strong connection to student life-worlds; and a performative expectation for student learning.' (Wrench et al 2012 p934)

"My journey into exploring the power of making continues for a 3rd year with two added goals. First,I plan to expand the depth of learning that goes with "making" by creating Maker Connection Logs where students write, take photos, and record short videos to show their thinking while making connections between curriculum areas and their creations. The goal of the "Maker Logs" is for students to be able to give me insight into their creative process, thinking and provide a way for reflecting with the hopes of improving the future process of "making." IMG_3496.JPG My second goal, which I recently accomplished, is to create an "Un-Maker Space." Simply put, a space where kids can take things apart. So many of the creative geniuses I met at the Bay Area Maker Faire two years ago spoke of taking things apart when they were kids. Watching my 3 year old son recently take apart his toy vacuum really solidified this idea for me. We all have this inner drive to create an understanding of the world around us. This is founded in the desire to answer all the "why" and "how" questions in our thoughts. Why did that little wheel spin when I pushed the play button on that cassette player? How did the electricity get from the cord into the monitor and then create a picture? How can I take this apart? So my students will have a space to dissect all the discarded and unwanted items and to ask those questions. In this un-maker space they'll have the chance to explore the possible answers."

"One of the challenges we face as educators is providing students with opportunities to engage in meaningful learning experiences that show them how they can connect the knowledge and skills learned in school to the real world. This is particularly true in the area of traditional math instruction if most of the time spent is focused on solving a set of problems in a textbook."

"Too many classes, all grade levels, begin the school year with getting down to academic business - starting to cover content, discussing expectations regarding academic requirements, giving tests, and other academic information provided by the teacher to the students in a mostly one-way communication.  The human or social element is often disregarded. I believe that all classes should begin with focusing on having the students make connections between themselves and the educator; and between one another.  I want students to learn about one another in a personal way.  I want to learn about my students so my instructional strategies can be more personalized and tailored to their needs and interests.  Beginning class with a focus on connections rather than content gives learners the following messages:"

"We have been doing a lot of learning this year that is different than I would have imagined if you would have asked me 17 months ago. My teaching colleague, Gallit Zvi and I embarked on our own journey of discovery to team teach 2 classes of grade 6/7 students. When we started we were nervous but excited to start. We didn't know where it was going to take us because we were constantly learning new things on twitter that we could adapt, collaborate on, and make our own. We did know that we both wanted to jump into a project based model for student learning because we knew we could model a collaborative environment necessary to make it successful for our students. However we didn't know where and how to start. We saw ourselves as guides through unique learning experiences that connect learning in the classroom to their lives outside of the classroom. We were just looking for that sign on which direction we should help guide them towards."

"We have recently started a class Twitter feed to extend our classroom beyond its walls and share our learning with the world. The students are so thrilled to upload their work samples for parents, teachers and other classes around the world to see. They excitedly wait to see whether we have any new followers or replies and my inbox is crowded with emails from my students sending me examples of their iPad work to post. They love to hear my laptop "ping", indicating a new email, and announce matter-of-factly to the class "That was me, just sending you my work for our Twitter". This latest technological venture for us has brought a new-found sense of enthusiasm to our learning environment. Last week as part of our History studies we connected with experts via Twitter to completely transform our History assessment. The existing assessment task required students to observe photos of old and new technology and pose and answer questions based on what they could see in the images. I immediately thought of Twitter and the possibility of engaging with experts to answer our questions, and provide us with new information that we could not gain ourselves by analyzing a photograph."

When schools communicate, and share strategies they are using to develop mindsets, dispositions and competencies with parents and when parents adopt these strategies and elements of a metalanguage for learning and thinking, our students are better able to integrate the desirable attributes. 

this is an excellent powerpoint, circa 2012, which highlights the changes afoot in learning and teaching facilitated by facility with digital tools. The table of 8 essential elements in the periodic table of digital literacies organizes the discussuion. All 8 elements begin with the letter C and include critical, communication, creative, confident, creative, civic, constructive and culture. I think I would add connective...but I digress.

"One of the best perks of supporting the Los Angeles Central Library is advanced notice of the readings and talks coming through town as part of their ALOUD program. A few months ago, when I noticed that danah boyd was going to be talking about her recent book, "It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens," with USC Professor and Connected Learning pioneer, Henry Jenkins, I snapped up a ticket. The talk took place at the end of July, and the ideas that these two scholars expressed about how young people are interacting with digital tools are still rattling around in my mind, inviting further exploration. "