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An AWESOME video on child exploitation/social media dangers. I think everyone should watch this and maybe try to incorporate it into class or suggest to your administration to use it at an assembly or a similar venue.

Asa Spencer of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute writes in the Education Gadfly Weekly: "Traditionalists cringe, tech buffs rejoice: This latest NAEP writing assessment for grades eight and twelve marks the first computer-based appraisal (by the "nation's report card") of student proficiency in this subject. It evaluates students' writing skills (what NAEP calls both academic and workplace writing) based on three criteria: idea development, organization, and language facility and conventions. Results were predictably bad: Just twenty-four percent of eighth graders and 27 percent of twelfth graders scored proficient or above. Boys performed particularly poorly; half as many eighth-grade males reached proficiency as their female counterparts. The use of computers adds a level of complexity to these analyses: The software allows those being tested to use a thesaurus (which 29 percent of eighth graders exploited), text-to-speech software (71 percent of eighth graders used), spell check (three-quarters of twelfth graders), and kindred functions. It is unclear whether use of these crutches affected a student's "language facility" scores, though it sure seems likely. While this new mechanism for assessing kids' writing prowess makes it impossible to track trend data, one can make (disheartening) comparisons across subjects. About a third of eighth graders hit the NAEP proficiency benchmark in the latest science, math, and reading assessments, compared to a quarter for writing. So where to go from here? The report also notes that twelfth-grade students who write four to five pages a week score ten points higher than those who write just one page a week. Encouraging students to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is a start."

The ICAC Task Force program, in conjunction with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the NetSmartz program, has developed a down-loadable training presentation on Internet safety for children and families.

Steve Wheeler's blog. He gives a list of ideas for effective Twitter use in the classroom. 

From Steve Wheeler: Ever since I first began to use Twitter I have been thinking about how to harness the potential of microblogging for the benefits of my own students, and have tried out several ideas to exploit it already. Below are my 10 top uses of Twitter for education

from 3/4/2011 cyber-bullying presentation; lessons, videos, and other resources for teachers, parents, and students about responsible and safe online use, from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

"Examiners will struggle because the HSC exams have a degree of predictability. They are based on known content and skills. They use the same, known format. If the exam drifts too far from past norms people scream and the media vent complaints of unfairness. The consequence is that parts of exams are readily exploited by prepared answers."

Intersting implications when we rely on state wide examinations to assess students.

But how can we identify a potentially good teacher? How can average teachers become better teachers? The secretary's special funding could make a crucial difference by financing a national program exploiting the electronic miracles of the Internet and video. We could escape geography by using the technology to have the best teachers appear in hundreds of thousands of disparate classrooms. This is a force multiplier. The classrooms would be equipped with a large, flat-screen monitor with whiteboards on either side; the monitor would be connected to a school server that contains virtually all of the lessons for every subject taught in the school, from kindergarten through 12th grade. The contents would use animation, video, dramatization, and presentation options to deliver complete lessons, to convey ideas in unique ways that are now unavailable in conventional classrooms. The classroom teachers would play the role of enhancers, answering questions and helping students better understand the material covered electronically; they'd pause the presentation to ask questions and to prompt critical thinking. The whiteboard would be the platform for student involvement.

"There are heaps of great flash sites on the web but this is the one that's devoted to using Flash in P-12 classrooms. Our goal is to provide educators and students with the support, resouces and inspiration they need to exploit the full potential of Flash in the classroom."

Online safety must be relevant to youth, or we're talking to ourselves. It must accommodate the growing body of research on youth risk and what kids themselves say about how they use digital media, and it must be respectful-of both young people and the new media conditions they're ably exploiting.

Parents of reluctant readers complain that boys are forced to stick to stuffy required school lists that exclude nonfiction or silly subjects, or have teachers who cater to higher achievers and girls. They're hoping books that exploit boys' love of bodily functions and gross-out humor can close the gap.

"Barnardo's has launched free lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) resources to help teachers better educate children about same sex relationships and gender and sexual identities. The free LGBTQ resources aimed at primary and secondary schools have been launched by children's charity Barnardo's to sit alongside their existing Real Love Rocks resources, which teach children and young people about healthy relationships and awareness of child sexual exploitation."

"Daniel Pinkwater on Pineapple Exam: 'Nonsense on Top of Nonsense'"

On Tuesday 28th August, Coomera Anglican College will be hosting the ACMA CyberSmart Outreach and a representative from Task Force Argos, the branch of the QLD Police Service responsible for the investigation of on-line child exploitation and abuse. Parents and teachers from around the Coomera District are invited to attend this free event.

Explains how Japan has responded to the breaking of their real estate market bubble and the effect it has had on Japan's economy

The Concord Consortium is a nonprofit educational research and development organization based in Concord, Massachusetts. We create interactive materials that exploit the power of information technologies.

Excellent opinion piece articulating the implications of the loss of privacy for individuals who put their personal data out into world in particular the surrendering of their sense of offline individuality to being a small part of a larger online community of people whereby their personal identity is reflected in their standing as part of an online network.

Excellent opinion piece articulating the implications of the loss of privacy for individuals who put their personal data out into world in particular the surrendering of their sense of offline individuality to being a small part of a larger online community of people whereby their personal identity is reflected in their standing as part of an online network.

Good place to look for guidelines about use of media