Technologies available in
classrooms today range from simple tool-based applications (such as word
processors) to online repositories of scientific data and primary historical
documents, to handheld computers, closed-circuit television channels, and
two-way distance learning classrooms. Even the cell phones that many students
now carry with them can be used to learn (Prensky, 2005).
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Critical Issue: Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement - 0 views
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Bruce and Levin (1997), for example, look at ways in which the tools, techniques, and applications of technology can support integrated, inquiry-based learning to "engage children in exploring, thinking, reading, writing, researching, inventing, problem-solving, and experiencing the world." They developed the idea of technology as media with four different focuses: media for inquiry (such as data modeling, spreadsheets, access to online databases, access to online observatories and microscopes, and hypertext), media for communication (such as word processing, e-mail, synchronous conferencing, graphics software, simulations, and tutorials), media for construction (such as robotics, computer-aided design, and control systems), and media for expression (such as interactive video, animation software, and music composition). In a review of existing evidence of technology's impact on learning, Marshall (2002) found strong evidence that educational technology "complements what a great teacher does naturally," extending their reach and broadening their students' experience beyond the classroom. "With ever-expanding content and technology choices, from video to multimedia to the Internet," Marshall suggests "there's an unprecedented need to understand the recipe for success, which involves the learner, the teacher, the content, and the environment in which technology is used."
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In examining large-scale state and national studies, as well as some innovative smaller studies on newer educational technologies, Schacter (1999) found that students with access to any of a number of technologies (such as computer assisted instruction, integrated learning systems, simulations and software that teaches higher order thinking, collaborative networked technologies, or design and programming technologies) show positive gains in achievement on researcher constructed tests, standardized tests, and national tests.
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Boster, Meyer, Roberto, & Inge (2002) examined the integration of standards-based video clips into lessons developed by classroom teachers and found increases student achievement. The study of more than 1,400 elementary and middle school students in three Virginia school districts showed an average increase in learning for students exposed to the video clip application compared to students who received traditional instruction alone.
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Wenglinsky (1998) noted that for fourth- and eighth-graders technology has "positive benefits" on achievement as measured in NAEP's mathematics test. Interestingly, Wenglinsky found that using computers to teach low order thinking skills, such as drill and practice, had a negative impact on academic achievement, while using computers to solve simulations saw their students' math scores increase significantly. Hiebert (1999) raised a similar point. When students over-practice procedures before they understand them, they have more difficulty making sense of them later; however, they can learn new concepts and skills while they are solving problems. In a study that examined relationship between computer use and students' science achievement based on data from a standardized assessment, Papanastasiou, Zemblyas, & Vrasidas (2003) found it is not the computer use itself that has a positive or negative effect on achievement of students, but the way in which computers are used.
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Another factor influencing the impact of technology on student achievement is that changes in classroom technologies correlate to changes in other educational factors as well. Originally the determination of student achievement was based on traditional methods of social scientific investigation: it asked whether there was a specific, causal relationship between one thing—technology—and another—student achievement. Because schools are complex social environments, however, it is impossible to change just one thing at a time (Glennan & Melmed, 1996; Hawkins, Panush, & Spielvogel, 1996; Newman, 1990). If a new technology is introduced into a classroom, other things also change. For example, teachers' perceptions of their students' capabilities can shift dramatically when technology is integrated into the classroom (Honey, Chang, Light, Moeller, in press). Also, teachers frequently find themselves acting more as coaches and less as lecturers (Henriquez & Riconscente, 1998). Another example is that use of technology tends to foster collaboration among students, which in turn may have a positive effect on student achievement (Tinzmann, 1998). Because the technology becomes part of a complex network of changes, its impact cannot be reduced to a simple cause-and-effect model that would provide a definitive answer to how it has improved student achievement.
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When new technologies are adopted, learning how to use the technology may take precedence over learning through the technology. "The technology learning curve tends to eclipse content learning temporarily; both kids and teachers seem to orient to technology until they become comfortable," note Goldman, Cole, and Syer (1999). Effective content integration takes time, and new technologies may have glitches. As a result, "teachers' first technology projects generate excitement but often little content learning. Often it takes a few years until teachers can use technology effectively in core subject areas" (Goldman, Cole, & Syer, 1999). Educators may find impediments to evaluating the impact of technology. Such impediments include lack of measures to assess higher-order thinking skills, difficulty in separating technology from the entire instructional process, and the outdating of technologies used by the school. To address these impediments, educators may need to develop new strategies for student assessment, ensure that all aspects of the instructional process—including technology, instructional design, content, teaching strategies, and classroom environment—are conducive to student learning, and conduct ongoing evaluation studies to determine the effectiveness of learning with technology (Kosakowski, 1998).
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ed4wb » Blog Archive » The New Bottom-up Authority - 0 views
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It appears that most teachers today underestimate the amount of learning that is happening among youth outside of schools. Since this informal learning sometimes dubbed “hanging out”, “messing around” or “geeking out” happens outside of the classroom and doesn’t look like traditional learning, it’s easy for educators to miss. The quality and quantity of learning, the process by which it occurs, and the way authority is established in these informal environments, should be something that teachers become familiar with. Will Richardson, who writes extensively on these matters, believes that, “One of the biggest challenges educators face right now is figuring out how to help students create, navigate, and grow the powerful, individualized networks of learning that bloom on the Web and helping them do this effectively, ethically, and safely.” (see article)
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It appears that most teachers today underestimate the amount of learning that is happening among youth outside of schools. Since this informal learning sometimes dubbed “hanging out”, “messing around” or “geeking out” happens outside of the classroom and doesn’t look like traditional learning, it’s easy for educators to miss. The quality and quantity of learning, the process by which it occurs, and the way authority is established in these informal environments, should be something that teachers become familiar with. Will Richardson, who writes extensively on these matters, believes that, “One of the biggest challenges educators face right now is figuring out how to help students create, navigate, and grow the powerful, individualized networks of learning that bloom on the Web and helping them do this effectively, ethically, and safely.” (see article)
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It appears that most teachers today underestimate the amount of learning that is happening among youth outside of schools. Since this informal learning sometimes dubbed “hanging out”, “messing around” or “geeking out” happens outside of the classroom and doesn’t look like traditional learning, it’s easy for educators to miss. The quality and quantity of learning, the process by which it occurs, and the way authority is established in these informal environments, should be something that teachers become familiar with. Will Richardson, who writes extensively on these matters, believes that, “One of the biggest challenges educators face right now is figuring out how to help students create, navigate, and grow the powerful, individualized networks of learning that bloom on the Web and helping them do this effectively, ethically, and safely.” (see article)
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Schools, in general, are not taking advantage of the power of peer-based learning or the benefits of a more decentralized type of expertise which lies outside of its ivory walls.
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The same study later describes a writer’s heightened sense of authenticity that comes from peer feedback as opposed to school evaluations: “It’s something I can do in my spare time, be creative and write and not have to be graded,” because, “you know how in school you’re creative, but you’re doing it for a grade so it doesn’t really count?”
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The top-down, authoritarian model found in most classrooms today looks very different from the model many students experience when they learn online. The classroom's hierarchical approach, with the sage on the stage, requires, (and, ultimately demands) passivity and deference on the part of the learner. Informal, interest-driven networked learning, with its access to large stores of information and variety of opinion, on the other hand, takes a much different view of authority. It's usually peer based, largely democratic, meritocratic, often creates dissonance due to variety and demands evaluation. Knowing what we do about active learning, one would seem clearly superior to the other.
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shared by Paul Beaufait on 16 Sep 12
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What research really says on teacher evaluation - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post - 11 views
www.washingtonpost.com/...e1-8adc-499661afe377_blog.html
education experts evaluations research Rothstein Richard standardized tests teacher effectiveness teacher evaluation teaching Washington Post
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"... Here is a new important look by an education expert, Richard Rothstein." (Valerie Strauss, intro. ¶1) Rothstein is a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit organization created to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers. ..." (Valerie Strauss, intro. ¶2) Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for pointing this out via Google+
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shared by David L. Brooks on 21 Sep 09
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ComicLife in Education - 2 views
www.comiclife.com/education
comiclife comic.life web2.0 Tech Learn e-learning digital media webtools plasq skitch net apps netapps
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The Benefits of Comic Life in Education Making comics is fun for everyone, and Comic Life makes it easy. Teachers and students will find Comic Life a very useful software tool, and now it's available for both Mac and Windows platforms. Technology not only changes how we write, but it also changes what writing is. Education will need to re-evaluate which writing skills teachers should pass to their students. Digital graphic writing is one genre students need to be fluent. Comic Life is the "word processor" of digital graphic writing. Easy to Learn Students and teachers need only a short time to learn the basics of Comic Life. It's easy to add images from digital cameras, computer web-cameras, clip art from CD's and the web, stills from QuickTime movies, scanned photos and drawings -- just about any on-screen image can be used in Comic Life. Adding captions and word balloons is as easy as drag and drop.
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The Essential Role of Information Fluency in E-Learning and Online Teaching | The Sloan... - 0 views
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Curiously, most educators think they are competent searchers and evaluators, when they are really just beginners. Their disposition is to ask for help rather than search for answers. With simple instruction many radically improve their ability to search, and evaluate. This is empowering and greatly increases learner satisfaction. Instruction in copyright and fair use is also part of the program.
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As online teachers and learners we work in a computer where information is just a few keystrokes away.
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I've been researching and writing about Information Fluency since the turn of the century. My work is published on the 21st Century Information Fluency Portal: http://21cif.imsa.edu You'll find modular online learning content including games, micromodules and assessments on the portal. (Free for all educators.) I include information fluency training in all of my online classes. I introduce power searching and website investigation to the graduate students studying in the E-Learning and Online Teaching Certificate Program at UW-Stout ( http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/elearningcertificate.html ) because I believe that Information Fluency is a foundation skill for all online teachers and learners.
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I've been researching and writing about Information Fluency since the turn of the century. My work is published on the 21st Century Information Fluency Portal: http://21cif.imsa.edu You'll find modular online learning content including games, micromodules and assessments on the portal. (Free for all educators.) I include information fluency training in all of my online classes. I introduce power searching and website investigation to the graduate students studying in the E-Learning and Online Teaching Certificate Program at UW-Stout ( http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/elearningcertificate.html ) because I believe that Information Fluency is a foundation skill for all online teachers and learners.
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shared by Melissa Seifman on 18 Apr 09
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Education Outrage: Why do we still have schools? - 1 views
educationoutrage.blogspot.com/...-do-we-still-have-schools.html
education school learning competition stress right answers bullying curiosity classroom grades certification practical skills learning by doing Plato Dewey
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Adults earn about things they want to learn about. Before the age of 6, prior to school, one kid becomes a dinosaur specialist while another knows all about dog breeds. Outside of school people drive their own learning. Schools eliminate this natural behavior.
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Classrooms make no sense as a venue for learning unless of course you want to save money and have 30 (or worse hundreds of) students be handled by one teacher.
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Grades: Any professor can tell you that students are pretty much concerned with whether what you are telling them will be on the test and what they might do for extra credit.
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Parents do not give grades to children and employers do not give grades to employees. They judge their work and progress for sure, but not by assigning numbers to a report card.
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Certification: We all know why people attend college. They do primarily to say they are college graduates so they can get a job or go on to a professional school.
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Of course in school, sitting still is the norm. So we have come up with this wonderful idea of ADD, i.e. drug those who won’t sit still into submission. Is the system sick or what?
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Those who are good at these subjects go on to be professors. So those are certainly the smartest people we have in our society.
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But, I can tell you from personal experience that our society doesn’t respect professors all that much, so something is wrong here.
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Practical skills not valued: When I was young there were academic high schools and trade high schools. Trade high schools were for dumb kids. Academic high schools were for smart kids.
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The need to please teachers: People who succeed at school are invariably people who are good out at figuring what the teacher wants and giving it to them.
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Politicians in charge: Politicians demand reform but they wouldn’t know reform if it hit them over the head.
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Major learning by doing mechanism ignored: And last but not least, scholars from Plato to Dewey have pointed that people learn by doing. That is how we learn. Doing. Got it? Apparently not. Very little doing in schools. Unless you count filling in circles with number 2 pencils as doing.
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Government use of education for repression: As long as there have been governments there have been governments who wanted people to think that the governments (and the country) is very good.
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Discovery not valued: The most important things we learn we teach ourselves.
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This kind of learning is not valued in school because it might lead to, heaven forbid, failure, and failure is a really bad word in school. Except failure is how we learn, which is pretty much why school doesn’t work.
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Boredom ignored: Boredom is a bad thing. We drug bored kids with Ritalin so they will stop being bored.
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Not accepting students with straight A's only shows your own prejudices. Students can be good at a range of subjects, without being passionately interested in all of them. Lots of people are self motivated, without being teacher pleasers, they just wish to do their best in everything for their own satisfaction.
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Why do we have schools? Instead of answering this question by listing all the good things that schools provide, which anyone can do, I will turn the question around: What is bad about having schools?
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Why do we have schools? Instead of answering this question by listing all the good things that schools provide, which anyone can do, I will turn the question around: What is bad about having schools?
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Easiest way to evaluate Candidates : Zoho Challenge - 15 views
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"Zoho Challenge is a powerful, feature-rich software that automates and streamlines online test creation, distribution and evaluation/scoring process. Zoho Challenge is ideal for Schools, Teachers, Coaching Centers and Organizations to quickly and efficiently administer tests for students, employees and candidates."
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TeachMoore: Mixed Messages on Teacher Quality - 0 views
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shared by Tero Toivanen on 04 Apr 12
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The corridor of uncertainty: Why aren't open educational resources being used? - 33 views
acreelman.blogspot.se/...pen-educational-resources.html
OER Open Educational Resources tradition openness approval trust comfort education learning teaching resources
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Newman Lanier liked it
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Tradition. My course, my class, my classroom, my way. Teachers are proudly independent and proud of their courses and teaching methods.
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Concern about openness. Many are worried about digital rights and have been brought up to believe that you must protect your own work from theft.
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Lack of official approval. Even if many teachers are highly self-sufficient there is still a great respect for authorities.
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Trust. Linked to all the above but many teachers are uneasy about the trustworthiness of material found on the net. There's a perception that anything that's free on the net can't be very valuable and that printed material with a price tag is automatically more credible. We need quality assurance and some kind of faculty peer review to build trust.
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Comfort: Textbooks are designed a certain way to offer a bundle of curriculum bliss, topped with slides and quizzes. OER need to be found, sequenced, and often require to fill in the gaps. That's scary work for some faculty.
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1. Help each other to find what we believe is good OER in "our" subject areas.2. Create a system and agree on how to (meta)tag OER we found in a similar way (with subject area, level, learning outcomes, language,type of media etc.) and make everyone use this. 3. Make it possible for users (teachers & students) to evaluate(rate)and review OER in a similar way that we today rate books,hotels ( like at Amazone.com, Hotels.com etc). 4. Create a way to show all this in one place on Internet
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e-competencies - 1 views
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• Interestingly, teachers in countries like Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands etc. do not belong to the (very) intensive ICT users in class. Only around 10% or less of the teachers in these countries use computers in more than 50% of their lessons. One can only speculate about the reasons for this. It seems that in these countries the use of computers and the internet has become the norm for most of the teachers and pupils in all aspects of life and that there no longer is the need to put a special emphasis on this in the teaching processes at school. However, most European countries still seem to be in the phase of increasing the frequency and intensity of ICT usage for education in class”.
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• “Students who use computers least frequently at home also performed below average in PISA 2003. However, students using computers most frequently at school do not in all countries perform better than others.
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the highest performances in PISA 2003 were seen among those students with a medium level of computer use rather than among those using computers the most”. [p.52] “
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The more clear-cut effect appears with home use: in every country, students reporting rare or no use of computers at home (on average 18% of students) score much lower than their counterparts”.
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One of ICT’s main strengths is its capacity to support informal learning. Self-learning and informal peer-learning are by far the two most important mechanisms for obtaining skills and competences;
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This possibility would be consistent with the observation that the amount of usage most commonly associated with the best performance is “moderate” – between once a week and once a month.
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• “The PISA evidence confirms previous studies showing the particularly strong association of performance with home access and usage“.
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If high amounts of computer usage at school are not associated with the better performing students, teachers may need to look more closely at the manner of this usage. Stronger supervision and structured lessons, involving the setting of concrete tasks to be achieved using computers, may improve their impact on performance”.[p.64]
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Digital competences go beyond e-skills and consist of the ability to access digital media and ICT, to understand and critically evaluate different aspects of digital media and media contents and to communicate effectively in a variety of contexts. It involves the confident and critical use of ICT for employment, learning, self-development and participation in society. Digital competences are one of the eight key competences identified and defined by the EU
Teachers Easy Guide on How to Evaluate Web content for Classroom In clusion - 0 views
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DigiTales - The Art of Telling Digital Stories - 23 views
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shared by Paul Beaufait on 11 Dec 10
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TESOL Connections: A Sequence of Critical Thinking Task - 31 views
www.tesol.org/...tc
Bloom's taxonomy critical thinking TESOL Connections education resources tasks teaching
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Scriven and Paul begin to define critical thinking as ‘‘the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action’’ (quoted in Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2009, para. 2).
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Bloom (1956) offered one of the first comprehensive elaborations of these important skills. Since the conception of Bloom’s Taxonomy, his colleagues (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) have carried on his work and developed a two-dimensional taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing student learning outcomes. The Knowledge Dimension identifies four types of knowledge: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive. The second aspect of Bloom’s Taxonomy, the Cognitive Process Dimension, outlines six ways of thinking (remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create) and their many subprocesses.
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For the purposes of this article, critical thinking is defined as the practice and development of an active, conscious, purposeful awareness of what one encounters both in the classroom and in the outside world. It is a kind of thinking and learning that demands an investment in personal and communal learning on the part of the student and teacher. Critical thinking does not discount the emotional or gut responses that everyone has. Rather, it complements and enters into dialogue with them so that reasoned judgments are possible.
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Observing is the basic starting point of the sequence—so basic, in fact, that some teachers may not immediately consider it to be critical thinking at all. However, observing is critical thinking because it involves a fundamental level of analysis.
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Dulcinea Media, Inc. -- Uncluttering the Web - 18 views
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cannot effectively conduct research on the Internet. These are the products we have developed thus far in pursuit of that mission. Our Web Sites: SweetSearch, a Search Engine for Students, searches only 35,000 Web sites that have been approved by our staff. SweetSearch allows students to choose the most relevant result from a list of credible results, without the distraction of unreliable sites. SweetSearch Web Links To help educators introduce students to great Web resources, we have published model Web Links pages. All links have been evaluated and approved by Dulcinea Medias expert Internet researchers and librarian and teacher consultants. Web Links pages are free, intuitively organized, and accessible. FindingDulcinea, the Librarian of the Internet, guides students to credible and complete information online for thousands of subjects. We find the best links, organize them, and provide context, insight and research strategies. Follow findingDulcinea: EncontrandoDulcinea, a Bridge for Spanish Speakers, is our Web site for bilingual Spanish-speaking Internet users. Content from findingDulcinea has been translated into Spanish, providing Spanish language guidance to the best English and Spanish language Web links by topic. FindingEducation, a Community Tool for Educators, is a free tool that helps educators find the best online education resources, to manage, organize and share links with students and other educators, and to create Web-based assignments. Follow findingEducation: © 2009 Dulcinea Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Diigo Web Highlighter (1.5.1) Highlight B
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Technology Integration Matrix - 84 views
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This page provides a breakdown of videos within the Technology Integration Matrix by grade level. Although you may be primarily interested in a particular level, we encourage you to view the ways in which technology is used in other grade levels. For example, you will find videos of high school classrooms in which the technology tools could be used in the same way with middle school or elementary level students. Some videos involve students from both middle and high school grades and some involve students from both middle and elementary grades. These videos appear in both lists below.
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The Florida Tech Integration Matrix is fantastic and the AZ K12 Center has also created a tech matrix modeled after it that incorporates AZ tech standards. Do you happen to know where we might find any of the teacher evaluation rubrics or tools for the Florida Tech Integration Matrix? Even self-evaluation, reflection rubrics for teachers to use would be incredibly valuable. If you haven't seen the AZ Tech Matrix you can check it out here: http://azk12.org/tim/
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Welcome to my website thi truong bat dong san DAT BINH DUONG you'll have new look into Vietnamese real estate. Dat Binh Duong | Mua Ban Nha Dat | Dong Do Dai Pho | Can Ho Anh Tuan
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The Trouble With Online Education - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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Internet learning promises to make intellectual life more sterile and abstract than it already is — and also, for teachers and for students alike, far more lonely
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The Internet teacher, even one who responds to students via e-mail, can never have the immediacy of contact that the teacher on the scene can, with his sensitivity to unspoken moods and enthusiasms.
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I think that the best of those lecturers are highly adept at reading their audiences. They use practical means to do this — tests and quizzes, papers and evaluations. But they also deploy something tantamount to artistry. They are superb at sensing the mood of a room. They have a sort of pedagogical sixth sense. They feel it when the class is engaged and when it slips off. And they do something about it.
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With every class we teach, we need to learn who the people in front of us are. We need to know where they are intellectually, who they are as people and what we can do to help them grow. Teaching, even when you have a group of a hundred students on hand, is a matter of dialogue.
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AJET 26(3) Drexler (2010) - The networked student model for construction of personal le... - 17 views
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Table 2: Personal learning environment toolset Web application (networked student component) Tool used in test case Student activity level of structure Social bookmarking (RSS) Delicious http://delicious.com/ Set up the account Subscribe to each others accounts Bookmark and read 10 reliable websites that reflect the content of chosen topic Add and read at least 3 additional sites each week. News and blog alert (RSS) Google Alert http://www.google.com/alerts Create a Google Alert of keywords associated with selected topic Read news and blogs on that topic that are delivered via email daily Subscribe to appropriate blogs in reader News and blog reader (RSS) Google Reader http://reader.google.com Search for blogs devoted to chosen topic Subscribe to blogs to keep track of updates Personal blog (RSS) Blogger http://www.blogger.com Create a personal blog Post a personal reflection each day of the content found and experiences related to the use of personal learning environment Students subscribe to each others blogs in reader Internet search (information management, contacts, and synchronous communication) Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com/ Conduct searches in Google Scholar and library databases for scholarly works. Bookmark appropriate sites Consider making contact with expert for video conference Podcasts (RSS) iTunesU http://www.apple.com/itunes/ whatson/itunesu.html Search iTunesU for podcasts related to topic Subscribe to at least 2 podcasts if possible Video conferencing (contacts and synchronous communication) Skype http://www.skype.com Identify at least one subject matter expert to invite to Skype with the class. Content gathering/ digital notebook Evernote http://evernote.com/ Set up account Use Evernote to take notes on all content collected via other tools Content synthesis Wikispaces http://www.wikispaces.com Post final project on personal page of class wiki The process and tools are overwhelming to students if presented all at once. As with any instructional design, the teacher determines the pace at which the students best assimilate each new learning tool. For this particular project, a new tool was introduced each day over two weeks. Once the construction process was complete, there were a number of personal web page aggregators that could have been selected to bring everything together in one place. Options at the time included iGoogle, PageFlakes, NetVibes, and Symbaloo. These sites offer a means to compile or pull together content from a variety of web applications. A web widget or gadget is a bit of code that is executed within the personal web page to pull up external content from other sites. The students in this case designed the personal web page using the gadgets needed in the format that best met their learning goals. Figure 3 is an instructor example of a personal webpage that includes the reader, email, personal blog, note taking program, and social bookmarks on one page.
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The personal learning environment can take the place of a traditional textbook, though does not preclude the student from using a textbook or accessing one or more numerous open source texts that may be available for the research topic. The goal is to access content from many sources to effectively meet the learning objectives. The next challenge is to determine whether those objectives have been met.
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AssessmentThere were four components of the assessment process for this test case of the Networked Student Model: (1) Ongoing performance assessment in the form of weekly assignments to facilitate the construction and maintenance of the personal learning environment, (2) rubric-based assessment of the personal learning environment at the end of the project, (3) written essay, and (4) multimedia synthesis of topic content. Points were earned for meeting the following requirements: Identify ten reliable resources and post to social bookmarking account. At least three new resources should be added each week. Subscribe and respond to at least 3 new blogs each week. Follow these blogs and news alerts using the reader. Subscribe to and listen to at least two podcasts (if available). Respectfully contact and request a video conference from a subject matter expert recognised in the field. Maintain daily notes and highlight resources as needed in digital notebook. Post at least a one-paragraph reflection in personal blog each day. At the end of the project, the personal learning environment was assessed with a rubric that encompassed each of the items listed above. The student's ability to synthesise the research was further evaluated with a reflective essay. Writing shapes thinking (Langer & Applebee, 1987), and the essay requirement was one more avenue through which the students demonstrated higher order learning. The personal blog provided an opportunity for regular reflection during the course of the project. The essay was the culmination of the reflections along with a thoughtful synthesis of the learning experience. Students were instructed to articulate what was learned about the selected topic and why others should care or be concerned. The essay provided an overview of everything learned about the contemporary issue. It was well organised, detailed, and long enough to serve as a resource for others who wished to learn from the work. As part of a final exam, the students were required to access the final projects of their classmates and reflect on what they learned from this exposure. The purpose of this activity was to give the students an additional opportunity to share and learn from each other. Creativity is considered a key 21st century skill (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009). A number of emerging web applications support the academic creative process. Students in this project used web tools to combine text, video, audio, and photographs to teach the research topics to others. The final multimedia project was posted or embedded on the student's personal wiki page. Analysis and assessment of student work was facilitated by the very technologies in use by the students. In order to follow their progress, the teacher simply subscribed to student social bookmarking accounts, readers, and blogs. Clicking through daily contributions was relatively quick and efficient.