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Mandatory: an iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad (I would argue a tablet in general). "It's getting to the point where there are a number of professions students are going into where knowing how to use technology is required." The article notes "many technology trends become mandatory over time. Today's college students are expected to participate in online forums, e-mail professors and submit papers electronically."

This oped piece suggest that as educators," we are called upon to challenge the way students already think and guide them into new patterns or ways of thinking as required, in order for them to grasp central concepts and applications of learning. Collaborative technologies, while not central to the process, can help facilitate this core function of education."

Interesting article on Google Sidewiki

Social network for learning - Xplana kicks off next week.  Integration of popular social network apps into one!

I want one :)

interesting blog post by a teacher who integrates cell phones and iPods into the curriculum. From her vantage point, benefits outweigh distractions

SOPHIE is an open source tool maintained by USC that allows for creating and reading rich media documents in a networked environment. Sophie authors can easily combine a variety of media - text, images, video and audio into a sophisticated multimedia work.

how to export Delicious bookmarks before they close down

Article describes a classroom broken down into stations, each one designed to teach specific skills in different ways. A kid who needs to learn how to calculate the area of a circle could be taught in a group with a teacher, with a virtual tutor, or with a computer program.

"Students moving into a newly renovated dormitory at the University of Kentucky signed up for a hyperwired college experience: Each one was given an iPad and required to take a series of tech-themed courses."

Clarify is an OS X app (a Windows version is promised, currently in a free beta period, that allows you to take multiple screenshots, annotate them, and combine them into a single document. This creates an easy-to-follow set of instructions for just about any task.

Encalc is a nice free scientific calculator. Not only can user see the results and graph, but they can embed the calculator into a site/blog.

The StudentAdvisor.com research team continuously collects information on how active and effective each school is at engaging their audiences on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media tools, such as iTunes and podcasts. The ranking methodology also takes into account the size of each school's population, as well as other metrics, to gauge overall reach and effectiveness. The team then produces a strictly quantitative score for each school based on this information, and updates the findings regularly.

This article makes a good point that I think I have missed sometimes in working with faculty. Before we encourage faculty new to Instructional Technology to use 21st Century technology as part of their curriculum we should encourage them to be participants in the technology. We should encourage them to subscribe to a blog/wiki/Podcast and be a participant so that they can better understand the tools usefulness in learning before they integrate it into their curriculum.

Some good steps. I think she missed the first step which is to define the need for the technology in the first place - what are the teaching/learning goals that will be satisfied/transformed through the integration of technology. Too often we start with the technology and forget the fundamentals of pedagogy.