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Flat Connections teacher Toni Olivieri-Barton shares her blog posts to do with mystery Skype - lots of great resources!

"These days whenever things go wrong - or even right - it's search engines we turn to for answers and affirmation. So how did the internet become our best friend, confidant, oracle - and what do the questions we ask reveal about our lives? Kate Bussmann investigates."

"Facebook has been analysing our relationships all along, to the point where they are able to make predictions about our behaviour. Most interestingly, Facebook monitors the quantity of wall-posting interactions between potential suitors to determine what phase of the relationship they are in. 100 days prior to becoming 'Facebook official' and updating their relationship status, Facebook observes a steady increase in the number of interactions between suitors. Is social media that engrained that we are conducting courtship on Facebook instead of real life?"

Excellent blog post sharing ideas to do with cultural and global awareness objectives for students while using digital technologies.

"This paper deploys notions of emergence, connections, and designs for learning to conceptualize high school students' interactions when using online social media as a learning environment. It makes links to chaos and complexity theories and to fractal patterns as it reports on a part of the first author's action research study, conducted while she was a teacher working in an Australian public high school and completing her PhD. The study investigates the use of a Ning online social network as a learning environment shared by seven classes, and it examines students' reactions and online activity while using a range of social media and Web 2.0 tools. The authors use Graham Nuthall's (2007) "lens on learning" to explore the social processes and culture of this shared online classroom. The paper uses his extensive body of research and analyses of classroom learning processes to conceptualize and analyze data throughout the action research cycle. It discusses the pedagogical implications that arise from the use of social media and, in so doing, challenges traditional models of teaching and learning."

Friedman identified a problem that education systems are only now beginning to wrestle with. Life is largely lived online, and schools do not prepare children for it. It's not just about keeping them safe from predators, cyberbullies, porn and identity theft: it's also about having an ethical framework, and the skills to assess the reliability of information.

"While students and teachers alike are anxious to integrate new learning tools into the classroom, we must err on the side of caution. It is our responsibility to empower our students by giving them the fundamental lessons in digital citizenship. Like basketball, students must enter the world of social media and digital media with a good defense. They must understand the repercussions of irresponsibly using social and digital media and what affects it may have on their future."

I am excited to be sharing global pedagogy in the world language classroom with educators from NJAIS (New Jersey Association of Independent Schools). How do we make world language teaching more relevant for our students in the US? How do we move, as Jason Cummings pointed out, towards oral fluency and interpersonal communication through global connections?

This site, designed by Fuel Industries, includes three main components that are meant to be explored together. Videos: Each location -- Home, School, Mall -- includes several video shorts about a modern family's experience online. You determine which path the family members take at the critical decision point. Do you text that to your boyfriend? Do you purchase that ukulele? These shorts are just snapshots of more complicated issues. But, they all attempt to address a fundamental message of taking a moment to think before acting. Interactive Objects: As you view each video, you can collect interactive objects! An object opens up a quick game about the subject of the video. Once you collect the object, you can access it at anytime during your session. Messages: When you scroll down the site, you will find complementary messages targeted for each audience -- Students, Parents, Educators. These messages intend to strike a quick educational point. If you want to find out more about the subject, just click the link below the message. This will open up a pop-up with tips, advice, and links to partner resources. Make sure to check out the resources as linked in the educators' and parents' sections of the site! These resources point to curriculum and advice provided by Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, and National Consumers League.

ThinkB4U is a "choose your own adventure" style interactive learning site designed to get everyone -- from parents to students to teachers -- thinking about how to use the Internet safely and responsibly.

Smokescreen is a game about life online. Promo: We all use Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and MSN to keep up with our mates - and we've all heard the stories about parties on Facebook being mobbed, or people getting stalked on MSN. The question is, what would you do if it happened to you? Over 13 missions, Smokescreen follows the story of Max Winston and Cal Godfrey, two mates who've set up an exclusive social network called White Smoke. After Cal's involved in a car accident and falls into a coma, White Smoke becomes huge - and starts attracting huge problems. Each mission explores the world of White Smoke, and players find out who they can trust - and who they can't.

Google touts its new social network as having better privacy controls than others, yet as Audrey Watters reports, they could be doing more. 

"Respect each other online You can use phones, tablets and computers to do awesome stuff. But things can turn nasty if you use them to disrespect each other. Treat each other with respect and Keep It Tame." This site has links to a range of support services and comes from http://www.youngandwellcrc.org.au/ 

"Despite the fact that I know many teachers who would rank Twitter as the most valuable and powerful networking tool they have access to, there are still many more who simply don't "get" the value of Twitter. I've been to lots of conferences over the last few years where the enormous value of belonging to a Personal Learning Network was being touted, and Twitter is nearly always being suggested as the ideal tool for building that network. At one recent conference I asked for a show of hands for who was not yet on Twitter, and many hands went up... my response was "Why not? What are you waiting for? How many times do you need to hear people say that Twitter is the most valuable tool they have, before you actually try it for yourself?""

100 ideas from around the world to do with information literacy

"Teacher librarians are trained to quickly and effectively critically analyse and evaluate learning materials in a way that teachers may not. That being the case, it is more vital than ever before to assist them to navigate the tsunami of information flooding every communication channel by creating curated content."

Hi Kate. I can't believe I finally remembered to pin something to diigo....look at you go though. You are even commenting! I thought this article from SCIS was perfectly timed. I only work part-time but I have spent days and days curating resources for teachers since lockdown went into action. They have been so thankful not to have to trawl through a million items to find something they will actually use with their students. Most helpful at the moment has been a libguide created to share all of the online read alouds so generously being offered by authors and illustrators.

"We often hear complaints about what students say and do online, but we often neglect to look into educators helping them manage their online reputation. This infographic is geared toward adults, but it can serve as a great starting point for conversations and activities that educators can engage in with students to help them to establish an active digital footprint that represents who they want to be perceived as online."

"How would you define your digital life? Are you out there, sharing everything with the world? Or do you set rules for yourself about the type of information you make public? How careful are you in choosing who you speak to online? Remembering these key tips will help you keep control online, both now and into the future."

Thought provoking blog post by #ETL523 student https://twitter.com/hbailie How we approach the use of mobile and wireless learning in schools is a digital/global citizen piece.

"Digital Intelligence (DQ) is the sum of social, emotional, and cognitive abilities essential to digital life. It is having the necessary knowledge, skills and ability to adapt one's emotions and adjust one's behaviour to deal with the challenges and demands of the digital era. Beyond knowledge, these abilities must be rooted in human values of integrity, respect, empathy and prudence. These values enable the wise and responsible use of technology - an attribute which will mark the leaders of tomorrow."

Do you think this will replace digital natives and digital immigrants? That we all just need digital intelligence? Marc Prensky is now focusing on Digital Wisdom - similar thing but all good, methinks.

"In today's world of near-ubiquitous connectivity, in which ordinary people have almost instantaneous access to unlimited stores of information and the ability to interact with anyone, anywhere, anytime, what does it mean to be an effective citizen? What skills and knowledge do our students need to participate fully in a world transformed by technology? What role should our schools play in developing effective digital citizens? "

Turn students into question marks!