I have used diigo in both my college setting and for professional use. It is excellent when doing research and when you want to save sites for a professional group it is the best. I love the comment section, helps out a lot.
PaperRater.com is a free resource, developed and maintained by linguistics professionals and graduate students. PaperRater.com is used by schools and universities in over 46 countries to help students improve their writing.
From the site:
"This website was conceived at the 2007 Flugsaurier pterosaur research meeting in Munich when we, a collection of pterosaur researchers and artists directly working with us realised that there was no comprehensive, high quality website dedicated to this popular group of prehistoric animals. This acts in stark contrast to a number of excellent dinosaur-based websites and, frankly, we couldn't quite figure out why when pterosaurs are equally famous, popular and, in some respects, better known than their dinosaur cousins. With this in mind, we set out to create a pterosaur based website that:
figure
* Presents up-to-date information on pterosaurs in an accessible fashion
* Sources information from the primary scientific literature
* Is written by qualified, experienced pterosaur researchers
* Can reflect the active research occuring in pterosaur science
* Provides professionally produced pterosaur art and photographs of pterosaur specimens"
But most importantly we are interesed in e-portfolios because there is emerging, often powerful evidence from practitioners and learners of how e-portfolios can promote more profound forms of learning, as well their further potential in supporting for example transition between institutions and stages of education, and in supporting professional development and applications for professional accreditation.
An e-portfolio is a purposeful aggregation of digital items - ideas, evidence, reflections, feedback etc. which 'presents' a selected audience with evidence of a person's learning and/or ability
Behind any product, or presentation, lie rich and complex processes of planning, synthesising, sharing, discussing, reflecting, giving, receifing and responding to feedback.
Descriptions of e-portfolio processes also tend to include the concepts of learners drawing from both informal and and formal learning activities to create their e-portfolios
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. It is updated often to include the best sites for teaching and learning. (Very comprehensive!)
The Google Teacher Academy is a FREE professional development experience designed to help primary and secondary educators from around the globe get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other primary and secondary educators in their local region.
TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format.
This is a great resource full of ideas, content, professional development and more. You can sign up for newsletters. Each week something new is highlighted.
This is a great resource full of ideas, content, professional development and more. You can sign up for newsletters. Each week something new is highlighted.
TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format.
Siemens STEM Academy--lots of teacher resources, webinars, professional development resources, etc. Teachers can also upload and share resources. STEM (science, engineering, technology, math)
This qualitative study explores a cohort professional development experience that brought new teachers together every few weeks from across an urban school district. Observation data were analyzed through Wenger's (1998) Communities of Practice social learning framework. The purpose was to examine how a cohort can be a valuable resource of new teacher support, particularly in areas where novices, who are being prepared largely through alternative routes, start their careers in some of the most challenging teaching assignments. Key theoretical insights resulting from the analysis include (a) the importance of interactivity of the Wenger elements, (b) the centrality of the community component, and (c) the implications of what legitimate peripheral participation looks like for a solely novice community of practice. Implications of these theoretical considerations are discussed and then linked to possibilities for practice and research to supplement current, traditional induction and mentoring practices.
'Blowing the whistle' on wrongdoing, misconduct or incompetence is usually considered heroic. There have been some celebrated cases in the last couple of years of people who have done it , with mixed success. Nurses and teachers for example, have found themselves in front of disciplinary panels of their professional bodies for taking hidden cameras in to their workplace and secretly filming their clients - the patients and students they believed were getting a poor deal.
On a blog, the main author is on a pedestal, and blogs tend to favor posts which
reflect the self-importance of the blogger or comments which tend toward
extremism
What makes social networking for professional development so powerfu
not geographically or physically bounded
takes place 24X7
llows for asynchronous contribution
contribution by those who would never previously have written an article for a
journal or made a formal presentation
Comments on the founding of Classroom 2.0 and how teachers who were not previously participating in online social networking were more comfortable using the Classroom 2.0 site than maintaining and otherwise participating in blogs
NSDL recently underwent a reorganization into discipline subsections with intense work by degree candidates. One of them from WCU was denied credit for work and publication because there were no page numbers. The head of the project called her advisor and fixed the problem, but they rethought the model and added separate online journals for contributors. At this point, the chemistry portal is a model of how the whole thing should turn out. http://chemdl.org
It has moodle modules, a textbook, lessons, virtual labs. I will link to a google spreadsheet with all URIs in a few days. Right now my kids are putting it together. ;-) Bob
AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a college readiness system for elementary through higher education that is designed to increase schoolwide learning and performance. The AVID College Readiness System (ACRS) accelerates student learning, uses research based methods of effective instruction, provides meaningful and motivational professional learning, and acts as a catalyst for systemic reform and change.