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A nice self-directed course to become more proficient at Google searching and understanding related concepts.

Great video to watch and think about what learning should look like

Survey finds over half of teachers have no plans to use social media with students/in classroom... largely because they don't understand it/don't know how to leverage it.

If you want to understand teens and their new social spaces and all of the implications that come along with that, Danah Boyd's new book, It's Complicated: The social lives of networked teens is a must-read. This interview is on the topic of this research and her book.

Asked to assess their students' performance on nine specific writing skills, teachers tended to rate their students "good" or "fair" as opposed to "excellent" or "very good." Students received the best ratings on their ability to "effectively organize and structure writing assignments" and their ability to "understand and consider multiple viewpoints on a particular topic or issue." Teachers gave students the lowest ratings when it comes to "navigating issues of fair use and copyright in composition" and "reading and digesting long or complicated texts."

Seems more reactionary and controlling. Stronger vision, leadership, and willingness to model social media use and engage students in these spaces likely would help a gread deal here. Conversation leads to learning/understanding. Harsh discipline simply leads to compliance much of the time.

Don't let the media co-opt the conversation and simply present the surface results without understanding the complexity of issues beneath them.

Many who have not yet experienced and come to understand the power of connected learning see it as trivial and a waste of time. Much work is yet to be done in this regard.

How many are afraid because they really don't understand/have not used social media in powerful and professional ways? "You don't need to be afraid if you are doing the right thing."

It's not really about how old you are, but more about what you understand and how you behave.

An interesting "converter" to simplify reading level of a passage that is pasted in to the text box. It doesn't always do an accurate job of simplifying, but it could still be a useful tool for those who may need such an accommodation.

How does your district make IT/learning decisions?

How does your district approach technology adoption decisions? Are they largely imposed upon teachers?