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"We have to link real learning to real lives," Johanna Riddle writes in the Introduction to her book. "If we genuinely want to reach our students where they are, show them how to apply technology meaningfully and substantively, and encourage independent, criticial, and creative thinking, we must be prepared to help them navigate life in the twenty-first century."

Learning in immersive virtual worlds (simulations and virtual worlds such as Second Life) could become a central learning approach in many curricula, ...

key findings on the survey of experts by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that asked respondents to assess predictions about technology and its roles in the year 2020

Dennis is a former English teacher and administrator in urban and suburban schools for many years. Dennis has always gravitated toward K12 leadership, learning and technology topics. He has graduate degrees from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English and Harvard University's School of Education. In addition to blogging about K12 learning, leading and web 2.0 tools/pedagogies at innovation3.edublogs.org, he is president of the Massachusetts affiliate of ASCD, a member of the Leadership Council for ASCD; a member of the Massachusetts Working Group for Educator Quality; Co-Facilitator of the Massachusetts High School Redesign Task Force; and a member of Massachusetts STEM Summit V Planning Committee. The web 2.0 conversation is not about technology tools; it is about student learning. Dennis subscribes to the definition of Professional Learning Communities that Rick and Becky DuFour and many other leaders of education have espoused. In simple terms, * learning (for us and for students) is our purpose, * we can improve student learning if we learn together collaboratively, and * monitoring student learning is the only way to know: 1. what students are learning, 2. how we are teaching and 3. how we get better at it. A former English teacher and administrator in urban and suburban schools for many years, he has always gravitated toward K12 leadership, learning and technology topics. He has graduate degrees from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English and Harvard University's School of Education. He is married with three children and four grandchildren. Among other things, he loves running, cycling, kayaking, contemporary poetry, photography and the outdoors. In the summer of 2007 his professional life changed when he attended the Building Learning Communities Conference 2007 and in three days experienced, for the first time, the power of Web 2.0 tools and their potential for transforming schools and learning. That experience

"One of the most demanded features for Twitter has been the ability to create groups, allowing members to focus on different sets of people they're following. For example, you could create groups for all of your fantasy league friends, colleagues at work, friends in real life, family members, and so on."

We also need to recognise that, largely, those teachers who use technology the most effectively and lead the way with its use are also, by and large, excellent teachers with or without the technology. This helps us see what many of us appreciate already: the one biggest element of improving education, making learning more creatively inclined and entrepreneurial, is the teacher. It's not curriculum, class sizes (though smaller class sizes make the teacher's life easier) or even assessment. This is something I've been reporting back from research for two years (and which I've been blown out on more times than I can count). It's not about letting students lead the way with technology and "show us teachers" how it's done. Students are generally quite narrow in their knowledge of how to harness technology or creative venture. No, it's how teachers and parents teach that is important. It is, to use a piece of edu-jargon, pedagogy, both at school and at home.

About the show: Learning in a Participatory Culture New Media Literacies is a research initiative within MIT's Comparative Media Studies program. According to a 2007 study from the Pew Center for Internet & American Life, more than half of all teens

over 35 tools that can help you do more with social media in less time.

As part of the education track of the Second Life Community Convention (SLEDcc 2008), we'd like to showcase great educational machinima. Work will be featured at a Machinima Festival that spans the three-day,

Engage your students with a totally visual computer simulation that lets them learn and practice all the key personal financial skills they'll need to succeed in life. Virtual Business - Personal Finance will present your students with challenges around bank accounts, credit and debit cards, bills, credit scores, taxes, insurance, investing, and more.

Also includes virtual business, sports, marketing and other..

Eduverse website for Flat Classrooms session in Second Life coming April 21, 2009 where Vcki Davis and Julie Lindsay will be interviewed!

Senior learning leaders live a precarious life these days. As a result of our tumultuous global economy, we're witnessing massive change in the world of business and within learning organizations. The role that learning plays within the larger context of business is evolving too. We hope you enjoy the opportunity to get into the minds of these learning leaders and look forward to your feedback on The Learning Leader Fieldbook. I believe you'll find that learning from these leaders' successes and mistakes will prove invaluable as you continue your own learning career.

Over the Top is an interactive adventure game that allows YOU to experience life in the trenches during the First World War. As a young Canadian soldier stationed somewhere along the Western Front in the late Fall of 1916, you will live through some of the excitement, despair, brutality and sheer horror of trench warfare.

1) Phone is unusually warm even though you haven't been using it-- could indicate unauthorized transmissions. 2) Battery life drops dramatically, for no reason-- could indicate surreptitious communication. 3) Screen flashes on and off, without cause-- could indicate an incoming spy call. 4) Monthly bill shows an unwarranted spike in SMS or data transmission activity-- could indicate your phone is being accessed without your knowledge.

,Virtual Macbeth was designed to demonstrate how we might best use the affordances of virtual environments for Education. Shakespeare’s Macbeth reimagined in Second Life provides an adaptive bridge between classic texts and new media technology.

SLOODLE is an Open Source project which integrates the multi-user virtual environment of Second Life® with the Moodle® learning-management system.

Life magazine on the web