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Now think about the possibility of peering inside another teacher’s classroom to see what wonderful projects and activities were happening.  Could you take an idea or two back to your room?  Absolutely!  That’s the power of following educational blogs.

Morphie’s GREAT WATER RIDE Adventure Meet Morphie, a raindrop who travels, magically changes shape and form (hence his name), and shows us how many things water can do as he “rides” the water cycle. Use the story of Morphie’s adventures as: • A downloadable, read-aloud poem, to make young children aware of the wonders of water in our lives • An illustrated, interactive on-line water adventure for classroom computer use Morphie’s rhyming story is a complement to science learning, and an invitation to investigate more about the properties, uses, vocabulary and responsible care of fresh water. Ways to use Morphie’s Great Water Ride Adventure as a teaching aid: • As a whole narrative, to introduce and/or sum up water concepts presented in Grade 2 science • In parts, to illustrate the many different aspects of water in our lives and in the natural environment (through science, art, language) • On a computer for children (in the classroom, or at home to read with parents) • As a theme for related cross-curricular activities, demonstrations and extensions (see below)

Clickers, or student response systems, are a technology used to promote active learning. Most research on the benefits of using clickers in the classroom has shown that students become engaged and enjoy using them.

For this reason, I conducted a study that compared learning outcomes resulting from the use of clickers versus another active learning method—class discussion. Even though both techniques employ active learning, would using clickers increase learning outcomes more than another active learning approach? Two key features distinguish clicker use: Clickers provide a mechanism for students to participate anonymously. Clickers integrate a "game approach" that may engage students more than traditional class discussion. The study also investigated students' perceptions of their learning using clickers versus classroom discussion

Her response blew me away. "I ask my readers," she said. I doubt anyone in the room could have guessed that answer. But if you look at the Clustrmap on Laura's blog, Twenty Five Days to Make a Difference, you'll see that Laura's readers -- each represented by a little red dot -- come from all over the world. She has a network of connections, people from almost every continent and country, who share their own stories of service or volunteer to assist Laura in her work. She's sharing and learning and collaborating in ways that were unheard of just a few years ago.

Welcome to the Collaboration Age, where even the youngest among us are on the Web, tapping into what are without question some of the most transformative connecting technologies the world has ever seen.

The Collaboration Age is about learning with a decidedly different group of "others," people whom we may not know and may never meet, but who share our passions and interests and are willing to invest in exploring them together. It's about being able to form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations, trust and be trusted in the process, and contribute to the conversations and co-creations that grow from them. It's about working together to create our own curricula, texts, and classrooms built around deep inquiry into the defining questions of the group. It's about solving problems together and sharing the knowledge we've gained with wide audiences.

The back channel isn’t just a social space. I noted three distinct, valuable uses of back channels at WebWise:To communicate socially in an environment that does not permit open dialogue. This is the "note passing" or flirting use case.To share your onsite experience with a network of people who are not co-located with you. Where the first use case serves co-located people, this use case focuses on broadcasting the highlights of your experience to friends elsewhere.To investigate a content experience more deeply using a different set of tools than those used to convey the content. For example, you may listen to a speaker and check out related links from his work as he talks.