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Your own personal journal and online diary. Don't want to share everything with the world?Easily keep your personal thoughts, memories,and ideas safe and secure in the cloud!

Another nice description of how to think about blogging in the classroom and how to kick up the rigor of the process. I do like the description of different purposes from Will Richardson's book.  Always looking for ways to bring this conversation to the forefront again and again.... One of the highlights of the conversation centered around a section (on p. 32) of Will Richardson's Blogs, Wikis, Podcast and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom that articulates so perfectly the different levels of blogging: Posting assignments (Not blogging) Journaling, i.e. "this is what I did today." (Not blogging) Posting links. (Not blogging) Links with descriptive annotation, i.e., "This site is about…" (Not really blogging either, but getting close depending on the depth of the description). Links with analysis that gets into the meaning of the content being linked. (A simple form of blogging). Reflective, metacognitive writing on practice without links. (Complex writing, but simple blogging, I think. Commenting would probably fall in here somewhere). Links with analysis and synthesis that articulate a deeper understanding or relationship to the content being linked and written with potential audience in mind. (Real blogging). Extended analysis and synthesis over a longer period of time that builds on previous posts, links, and comments. (Complex blogging).

OK, I'm not an artist but I SEE this as a tool for writing to learn and writing to publish. I think it would allow students to express their understandings in different ways and then be able to share to a wide audience. If you have a pentab computer this would be an awesome tool to use with kids, because it's easier to export than microsoft journal drawings.

The Wall Street Journal have created an impressive site that maps the New York, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago marathon routes. Each route includes Street View and elevation charts. It looks like it uses the everytrail api as a backbone. It's very cool. 

Quora is an interesting tool and it looks like it is getting some attention from the journalism community. On Quora, people ask and answer questions, harnessing the power of the internet and scale. 

"Stacey Roshan is using an approach dubbed by her students as the "backwards classroom."... The students watch pre-recorded lectures the night before the class, when homework problems are traditionally done, then spend the time in class getting answers to questions, working on additional problems with partners, and getting one-on-one assistance from the teacher. No more lectures in class." from The Backwards Class, by Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal, 02/02/11

Continuing discussion of two issues that are at the forefront of our work. 

"That's why we're here," she said. "So I can show you not only what's out there but also how other educators are using these resources to teach their students right now." That quote from the post says it all. It's not about technology but about how teachers and students are using it to enhance learning.

For all the teachers wanting to do a skype with an author. Here is a list of authors willing to do it for free.

Thanks Roland. I shared this article with my SR coaches. Many of them made plans to have their students use the video conferencing equipment to chat with an author. Skype provides them a free option they can begin utilizing while they are waiting for the IVC equipment to arrive and be installed. Also nice to have that quick list of authors for them to consider inviting into their classrooms. Thanks :)

Nice article discussing the use of flip videos as a learning/meaning creating tool.

Great site for videos of topical scientific information. 

5 Trends in Education Technology Leadership SETDA's "National Educational Technology Trends Report" spotlights state efforts to boost learning through the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology program. By David Nagel04/23/10

http://inderscience.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&eissn=1746-7268&volume=1&issue=2&spage=159 The purpose of this study is to identify the benefits that mobile technology can provide in education. From a review of the literature and interviews with individuals in the field of education, we developed an activitybased model to associate the uses of mobile technology with their benefits. The model first identifies the general uses of mobile technology in education and the specific activities that they encompass. Then, the benefits from their uses are identified with overarching themes emerging as follows: greater efficiencies and effectiveness in learning, increased individual support and opportunities for personal development, better methods of collaborating and communicating and greater exposure to technology.

The typical student at the Newcomer Center, an alternative school in Township High School District 214 in Arlington Heights, IL, is a recent immigrant with little or no English skills. The school is a temporary stopover for these students--they stay at the center for about a year, building up their English-language skills, and are then transferred to an ESL program at their home school in the district.

Plato Learning has released the Beyond High School Library, a suite of online courses designed to prepare students for college entrance and placement exams and career certification and work skills exams.

Use of the iPad may have data that indicates it improves student reading and writing. 

Links between math and art, current research, worth reading.

Even as it "disruptively" transforms American education, blended learning is itself being slowly reshaped into new and distinctive forms. A report released this week identified six emerging models for blended learning in K-12, ranging from guided online instruction in the classroom to "self-blended" models where students take courses a la carte.