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"At times, students' viewpoints need to be treated with caution.  In Do Learners Really Know Best? urban legends about Learners as 'digital natives' and 'self-educators' are exploded, whilst Kirschner et al. argue, that students do not always prefer the most effective form of instruction.  Despite this, what struck me when reading the Sutton Trust's What Makes Great Teaching was the correlation to student's voice I had done with Year 10 students on their views of effective teaching."

With good reason, much is made of learner agency but the concept of teacher agency is important too. If we hope to build a profession in which we are all self-navigating life-long learners, we must acknowledge the role that teacher agency plays. 

"BadgeStack is an innovative system with a game-like approach that assesses skills, recognizes learner achievement, sparks community, and excites learners of all ages."

"As teachers, one of the biggest challenges that we face in the classroom is students who give up. 'I can't do it', 'It's too hard', 'I dunno'. We spend hours planning a lesson that could stretch and challenge our students, only to find that they don't want to be stretched and challenged because it's too much like hard work. Where do we go from here? How do we make sure that we are molding our learners to be Hobnobs rather than Rich Teas?"

"The Stripling Inquiry Model has six phases; however, it's not a linear process but rather a recursive one in which the learner might revisit a previous stage to ask additional questions or organize information, as the need arises. Each phase involves critical thinking skills that empower young people to learn on their own and develop the thinking skills to be independent, lifelong learners. The phases are as follows: Connect: observe, experience, connect a subject to self and previous knowledge Wonder: predict, develop questions and hypotheses Investigate: find and evaluate information to answer questions, test hypotheses Construct: draw conclusions, arrive at new understandings Express: apply understandings to a new context, share learning with others Reflect: examine one's own learning and ask new questions (Stripling 2003, 8). Technology and, in particular, Web 2.0 tools and services can be used throughout the inquiry process to support the appropriate thinking skills. The key is to focus on student learning, not the Web 2.0 technology. The focus is on the phase(s) of inquiry at which students are concentrating and deciding which technology tool can best support the thinking processes and instructional strategies of that phase of inquiry. This increases the effectiveness of both the learning experience and the use of technology. An outline of the inquiry phases aligned with Web 2.0 technology tools and instructional strategies can be seen in Figure 2."

Behind the rhetoric and politics, education is about the outcomes it achieves for its learners. More than being about the nuances of technology, learning space design, curriculum structures and pedagogical practices schools should have effective answers to questions that focus on what they hope to achieve for their learners. How we answer this question should then dictate the measures we utilise to achieve these goals and it is to these ends that we must apply our efforts.

This resource is good to help learners understand the properties of different shapes and to use the appropriate vocabulary to describe them. It can be a very good activity if learners work in small groups or in pairs to discuss their ideas.

Great insight and reflection on how we learn and how we expect our students to learn.

Main points are in a slideshow here: http://www.slideshare.net/sdimbert/relearn

"Alliance for Excellent Education's report on Culture Shift provides facts that point to learner-centered instruction and the use of technology to "guide students toward greater ownership of their learning." "

An interesting remapping of of the teacher and learner roles, from hierarchical and 'wirearchical' viewpoints

Some critics of distance learning say face-to-face classes give students a better learning environment, but a recent Indiana University study found that online learners reported deeper approaches to learning than classroom-based learners.

"A new study from the University of Western Ontario identifies six types of IT learners. Richard Ivey professor and co-author of the study Deborah Compeau reveals some surprises about how people learn technology in organizations. "

Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners

A great list of free web apps and why they're useful.

This site is designed especially with the young learner in mind with its age-appropriate content and emphasis on visual and auditory learning. Glossopedia is the kind of site that you can leave open for students to explore and find a fast fact of the day, find their favorite image, or video Glossopedia Categories Geography and Places Nature and the Environment Technology Animals Earth and Space People and Cultures Human Body Chemistry Natural Forces This site is simple and visually pleasing. The font size is great for young learners. Words are hyperlinked to an audio pronunciation that is a real person, speaking really slowly at first then more quickly, and finally the written meaning of the word. Images and photos have a print button prominently displayed.

Reingold talks about the way to build a community of learners...co-learners and how to help that spirit grow amongst the participants.

Great ideas... We are preparing our children for a future of frightening uncertainty, but astounding opportunity, and to prosper within that future, our children must become skilled, resourceful, and habitual learners - not just lifelong learners but adopting a learning lifestyle.

"Teachers need to know how to facilitate a different kind of learning environment that is flexible, personal, and creative. Personalized learning means that learners own and drive their learning not the technology using algorithms based on performance that controls learning. learners need to learn how to think on their own. This will not happen if adaptive learning systems control how and what they learn."