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"Keep that status update to yourself. That's the advice teachers are being given as the education system grapples with the expanding use of social media by students. Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation has been conducting workshops with high school teachers in Algoma in recent months after the Ontario College of Teachers issued an advisory that teachers should keep their distance from students when it comes to Facebook, Twitter and other electronic communication."

With twitter it would be worth encouraging teachers wanting to use it with students to keep one that is private/professional pln related and create different accounts for their classrooms using alternative emails.

google notes...

"Vicki Davis 06 Dec 12 07:40:01 One of my students turned up this information that Facebook is working on controls to help kids under 13 use the service. It is no surprise that 7.5 million Facebook users are under the age of 13 and that 5 million of THOSE are 10 years old or younger. COPPA, while set up to protect children, is actually keeping them from participating in society as they want to. This infographic and information is worth sharing as you educate your students. If you want until they are 13 to talk safety online, that is too late. "Last June, Consumer Reports magazine said they had unearthed "several disturbing findings" about children and Facebook, including: 20 million minors had used Facebook within the year prior to their study. 7.5 million of those users were under the age of 13 and not permitted to use the site. 5 million of those were 10 years old or younger. 1 million children had been harassed, threatened, or subjected to other forms of cyberbullying in the year prior." "

" Windows "Own Your Space--Keep Yourself and Your Stuff Safe Online" Digital Book for Teens by Linda McCarthy"

"A student-run Web site at Stanford University seeks to convince students to input their class assignments to keep themselves-and their classmates-more organized. It could, founders hope, grow into a student-run course-management system."

"Start small, make training personally relevant, pair staff with knowledgeable co-workers-and keep it fun, readers recommend"

Today's post, however, is about a great work that has been done by our colleague Tom Barret. He has created awesome example forms for different topics. He has also , thankfully , made all these forms availabe for us to download and use with our students. I have checked all his forms and I was really amazed by the great efforts he has put into them. You can use these forms with your students for sure but remember to keep in mind the great things you can do with Google Forms if you give it a little time. Check out this list of forms below and click on any title to access its corresponding form. The pictures you see below are only  half snapshots of each form:

It is important to keep this in mind.

"ClockingIT is a free hosted application, keeping track of all your tasks and the time you spend on them. Extensive features Project Management, Collaboration and Time Tracking "

"Top five reasons why teachers love to rrripple 1 Makes connecting with students, parents, and other educators easy, meaningful, and secure. You can create groups comprised of people you know; no one can solicit membership, which makes sharing very secure. Moreover, teachers can moderate the groups to ensure appropriate online behavior. 2 Promotes creativity, collaboration and community by offering a fun and engaging digital platform. The media-rich interface makes viewing, uploading and downloading all sorts of media a fun experience. 3 Allows teachers and students away from the classroom to keep up-to-date and in-touch with classes, and to monitor progress on assignments. Even after you leave the school campus, or if a student is out of school sick, you and the student can access any of the media shared using various mobile devices. 4 Assists students with accessing, organizing and tracking materials and deadlines. The timeline interface helps students review lessons and assignments on their own terms, in their own way, at their own pace. 5 Provides web-savvy teachers the latest tools and technology to make class life more informative, fun, and exciting. Students have an insatiable desire to create digital content and to share it with others, yet public social networks are not safe venues for sharing and rrripple is ideal."

" Conduct free and unlimited web conferences. Keep your conference private or share it with the world. Welcome to the Social Conferencing Network. "

Instant comment bank! Brilliant!

If you still believe that professional development is what happens on those two or three days each year when you sit in a classroom and have some expert "deliver" it to you, I have bad news. That model is no longer sustainable and the days of PD as something that is done "to you" by "experts" a couple of times a year are over.