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This is higher education levels, not K-12. They interviewed chief academic officers for this info. The report shows more students taking online courses, a higher percentage of courses being online, faculty acceptance of online courses, what training faculty receive, and compares student outcomes to face-to-face.

Focuses on a variety of issues related to teaching in higher education, including technology.

I found this by chance just exploring around. If you check the SUPPORT section on the VoiceThread site, you will find a list of publications. They posted a collection of abstracts with links of scholarly articles written about using VoiceThread for language learning, K-12, higher education and professional development. I just skimmed through the lists, and some of the articles are accessible, while some are behind a password.

An article about how some of the academics manage both personal and professional accounts on Twitter, FB etc.

Ms. Johnson's survey findings has made me think on my own personal rule of keeping school and personal separate in cyberspace. Question still remains is: at what age is it appropriate for teachers to mix school and personal...middle school, high school, college?

From the website:  (and there is a companion website, see below) In spite of the proliferation of online learning in higher education, creating online courses can still evoke a good deal of frustration, negativity, and wariness in those who need to create them. Essentials of Online Course Design takes a fresh, thoughtfully designed, step-by-step approach to online course development. At its core is a set of standards that are based on best practices in the field of online learning and teaching. Pedagogical, organizational and visual design principles are presented and modeled throughout the book and users will quickly learn from the guide's hands-on approach. The course design process begins with the elements of a classroom syllabus which, after a series of guided steps, easily evolve into an online course outline. The guide's key features include: a practical approach informed by theory clean interior design that offers straightforward guidance from page one clear and jargon-free language examples, screen shots, and illustrations to clarify and support the text a Companion Website with examples, adaptable templates, interactive learning features, and online resources a checklist of online course design standards that readers can use to self-evaluate. Essentials of Online Course Design serves as a best-practice model for designing online courses. After reading this book, readers will find that preparing for online teaching is, contrary to popular belief, a satisfying and engaging experience. The core issue is simply good design: pedagogical, organizational, and visual. Companion website:  http://www.marjorievai.com/WEBSITE-CONTENTS.html

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the use of Facebook (FB) as a social networking tool in an intermediate French class. After reviewing the available studies on FB in language instruction, we analyze surveys that were administered to students as well as student FB posts. We look at the potential benefits of social media, specifically FB, and discuss its impact on foreign language learning. We aim to address how FB is being used in the language classroom, how students respond to the integration of this social networking site in courses, the attitudes of higher education foreign language learners towards FB, as well as the role of FB in new learning spaces and with today's learners. An analysis of survey data suggests that students respond in a positive manner toward the use of FB in education and highlights some differences in the way FB is used in both personal and academic settings.

This article gives a brief overview about why Google+ is useful to educators, and has some links to related articles at the bottom with more information on how educators can and should be using G+ in their classrooms.

Here is an article that describes boomwriter, a technology tool that allows students do collaborative writing. Activities may have to be simplified for beginning level students, but I can see how this might work well with higher level students as well as with native speakers.

Students (and sons and daughters) of college officials talk about Facebook and college computer policies, in hopes of finding some common ground. 

Food for thought - brings up the Bloom's Taxonomy and higher thinking skills as the purpose for using tools, not teaching tools.

I love this site because it comes complete with lesson plans that focus on reading, writing, listening and speaking. AND...they are always focused on higher order thinking skills.

Always focuses on the 4 language modalities (reading, writing,listening and speaking)

Unfortunately, unless you are a subscriber to the journal, you can't access this article, but if anybody is interested just let me know!

ProfHacker is the Chronicle of Higher Education's tech blog. Probably my favourite source for news in educational technology.

Three basic tips - what other tips do you have for teaching online?

"Abstract Currently, language educators experience difficulties in facilitating oral practice effectively in the foreign language classroom. Regularly, they face introverted and passive learners who fail to embrace speaking opportunities (Poza, 2011), or simply do not find the time to promote speaking practice in the classroom (Meddings & Thornbury, 2009). In this light, many asynchronous computer mediated communication (ACMC) technologies have emerged to confront this situation. However, central research studies do not seem to acknowledge ACMC as viable in accommodating oral development but, rather, frequently attribute this merit to synchronous CMC (Levy & Stockwell, 2006; Kervin & Derewianka, 2011). By employing a mixed-methods approach, this small-scale case study examines, firstly, the extent to which ACMC speaking practices are suitable for language learners' speaking development. Secondly, and by extension, it investigates the salient characteristics of the ACMC tool myBrainshark, that makes it appropriate for fostering linguistic growth. The data is obtained from post-beginner Spanish language learners by means of an online questionnaire and an online structured stimulated recall. The findings show, on the one hand, that ACMC oral practices can be beneficial in developing speaking aspects in lower-proficiency language learners and, on the other hand, that myBrainshark has characteristics that can potentially promote linguistic development. Finally, this paper calls for experimental research on the improvement of oral competency in post-beginner and higher-proficiency learners."