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Steve Wheeler: 10 top uses of Twitter for education:

So with the caveat that I am only halfway through Mark Bauerline's book The Dumbest Generation, I have some early impressions to throw out there. While I think there is some merit to this side of the debate (much like Keen's Cult of the Amateur) what really bothers me about this book so far is, as the title suggests, this sense that our kids are at fault. Let me put it plainly: our kids are not "dumb" nor is this generation "dumb" simply because they spend a lot of time in front of television screens and computers or because they haven't worked out for themselves how to get smarter using the Read/Write Web.

Many of today's students are most comfortable using laptops, instant messaging, chat rooms, and cell phones to connect to friends, family, and persons with knowledge or content they desire in local communities and around the globe. Given the speed at which change is occurring, we must listen to our students and act to meet them where they want to learn. By The Way, they do want us to listen. Watch and see….

Via the Gov't of Western Australia

"I liked News360 when a reviewed it last April. It uses several sources for stories, and it was interesting to see the different takes on any single event. Of course News360 was also an excellent news discovery tool, scanning thousands of news sources to keep me up to date. One of the issues with News360 is you had no control over the sources. The app was basically static, and you got what you got. That's all changed in version 2 of this free app, released today."

"Here's an interesting concept for a case meant to make the iPad usable for blind and visually impaired customers. The Omnifer almost covers the iPad completely, save for a small portion of the screen, and adds raised Braille buttons. What's really cool is that the Omnifer is more than Braille buttons slapped onto a case. Instead, gas stored inside the case raises and lowers the Braille characters, making different ones available, depending on what's on the iPad's screen. The gas pockets are filled with a chemical that expands when exposed to light. The portion of the screen beneath the buttons will light up as needed to raise the proper characters. In this way, a user could "stream" text for reading via Braille."

"There's a quote by Nolan Bushnell I love that says, "Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference." Most people reading this have probably had an idea for an iPhone app, but after reading Connor Zamary's story, you might feel a little more pressure to dry off and do something about it."