This is from BBC news this morning on the education technology trade show, BETT, in London.

The progress and the thinkings of SocialLearn project by Open University.

Wikipedia launched a "please save our website" fund drive campaign on or about Christmas Eve. At that point, they had raised $3.8 million dollars of their $6 million goal. In just five days, as of January 1, 2009, they had surpassed the $6 million goal by raising an additional $2.3 million. They now have on hand $6,150,647 (as of 12:15am CST). The people's message: We love Wikipedia!

This article talks about ways to use Twitter in teaching and learning. Some of these ideas are general, and some are more specific. The author said it was one of the better things he did for the class for reasons he explained in the article.

This book offers exciting new research about the mind and the brain that provides answers to a number of compelling questions. When do infants begin to learn? How do experts learn and how is this different from non-experts? What can teachers and schools do-with curricula, classroom settings, and teaching methods--to help children learn most effectively? New evidence from many branches of science has significantly added to our understanding of what it means to know, from the neural processes that occur during learning to the influence of culture on what people see and absorb. You can read the entire book online for free.

In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant-better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.