Group items tagged

Threaded discussion is an old technology. It's inspiring to think of new ways we can talk together at a distance that allow integration of both synchronous and asynchronous technology. I often thing we'll look back on the course management systems we use today and think of them as something like a 300 baud modem. Eyes Front! What's over the horizon line?

"ISTE's Special Interest Group for Mobile Learning (SIGML) hosted a forum at ISTE 2012 to share educational apps vetted by actual educators. "We planned this event because educators do not have a clue how much these apps can do," said Robbie Melton from the Tennessee Board of Regents who led the SIGML forum. During the fast-paced session, panelist and attendees described their favorite apps in brief five-minute presentations. Here is a selection of the most innovative and useful tools from the SIGML forum:"

"Whether you currently own a fancy new tablet or you're looking to find some answers to certain questions before making an investment, forums can be a great resource and place to start."

"Make: held an education forum at the New York Hall of Science, which consisted of a series of five panels, plus a talk with Carmen Fariña, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. We can't tell you everything that the panels discussed, (though you can see it for yourself - on our YouTube stream of the event at the bottom of this post) but we picked a selection of quotable ideas that could help you educate someone close to you, whether you're a teacher, a parent, run a makerspace, or just like to tell you friends what to do. Come learn with us!"

In the online forums section of teachermagazine.org, we recently asked readers to describe how they would improve professional development in their schools. Here are some of the responses:

Members of an online community gain social capital by making thoughtful or helpful contributions. This can be made tangible by a rating system - some forums have thumbs up or down or voting systems for forum posts.

"If students want to run for office, run a business, or change how things are run where they live, work, or play, they need to be savvy users of social media. This starts with having a positive online reputation. I had the opportunity at Tech Forum New York to speak with four Innovative educators (see below for faces and end of article for names) from elementary, middle, and high school as well as a district administrator about how to best prepare students.   Below is their advice.  "

"The gap between the skills people learn and the skills people need is becoming more obvious, as traditional learning falls short of equipping students with the knowledge they need to thrive, according to the World Economic Forum report New Vision for Education: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning Through Technology. Today's job candidates must be able to collaborate, communicate and solve problems - skills developed mainly through social and emotional learning (SEL). Combined with traditional skills, this social and emotional proficiency will equip students to succeed in the evolving digital economy."

"When it comes to education, it seems no matter where in the world you are from, the same innovative practices bring us together. This week at Microsoft's Partners in Learning Global Forum hundreds of educators from more than 80 countries came together to showcase, learn, discuss and think about innovative teaching, learning, and leading practices. "

"In a relatively short time, Minecraft succeeded in marking a strong presence within the education sector  and became one of the leading educational learning platforms for students. As a culmination of its sweeping popularity among the educational community, Minecraft recently released  Minecraft for Education which is a website geared primarily towards providing teachers with a forum where they can share their ideas about how they use Minecraft in their teaching. Given this growing potential of Minecraft in education, we decided to compile the list  below featuring some of the best reads on Minecraft. These books will help you learn more about how educators are using Minecraft as a powerful instructional tool to engage students and teach different subjects. "

"In today's post, I am sharing with you six important tips you definitely need to be using with your Gmail. These tips will increase your productivity and save you so much time . For more tips and tutorials on how to use Gmail, I recommend that you check Gmail Help Forum."

"Traditional classrooms have fallen out of favor across America. Educators, students, parents, and administrators all know there is SOMETHING that must be done differently, but they are unsure of where to start & where to begin. We have to The #makered & maker education movement is an excellent place to start. There are many aspects to developing a Maker movement, whether that starts with your class, your students, or eventually your school. Incorporating the ideas of the Maker movement to a larger forum such as an entire school requires innovation on a wider-scale."

"Since its release in 2009, Minecraft has sold millions of copies worldwide revolutionizing thus the gaming industry and providing game players with an endless world of possibilities. As a sandbox construction game, Minecraft has successfully and distinctively set itself from the crowd by incorporating the ethos of 21st century learning that include: creativity, challenge, problem solving, and strategic thinking all of which are adeptly adapted to the player's little gaming world. Minecraft provided players with the tools and resources to construct their own gaming reality and test their creative possibilities. In a relatively short time, Minecraft succeeded in marking a strong presence within the education sector  and became one of the leading educational learning platforms for students. As a culmination of its sweeping popularity among the educational community, Minecraft recently released  Minecraft for Education which is a website geared primarily towards providing teachers with a forum where they can share their ideas about how they use Minecraft in their teaching. Given this growing potential of Minecraft in education, we decided to compile the list  below featuring some of the best reads on Minecraft. These books will help you learn more about how educators are using Minecraft as a powerful instructional tool to engage students and teach different subjects."

""If I have to sit through YET ANOTHER freaking 'professional development' session based on these cockamamie theories, I am going to pluck my eyeballs out and throw them at whatever charlatan the administration hired to conduct said session."- professor on an online academic forum discussing learning myths, including the pyramid. Some educational myths just can't be killed. Case in point: the learning pyramid."

CoFFEE - the new groupware application for digital discussions in a live classroom situation. CoFFEE offers customisable tools, such as a threaded discussion forum, graphical concept mapping, voting and more. CoFFEE is open-source and free! Available in: English, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch.

"Your Gravatar is an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post on a blog. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums." Gravatar will identify you on postings and can be integrated with Twitter, Wordpress, and FB.