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he job of teaching * Join in the discussion reddit this Comments (1) Wendy Berliner Guardian Professional, Monday 3 October 2011 18.30 BST Article history Teacher Daniel Hartley from Chulmleigh Community College, Devon. Photograph: Apex Back in the summer we decided here at GTN HQ that, with our membership rocketing, it was the right time to mark our first six months in operation with a survey to find out what members thought about teaching today. There were questions across a wide spectrum of topics and, at the end, we left a free text box for teachers to add any comments they wanted to share. It was the dying days of the summer holiday - August 25 - when it went out just after lunch. We knew the survey would take ten or 15 minutes to complete so we weren't quite expecting what happened next, but within those first few hours after its release, we realised you had started something big. By 10.30pm that night we'd had several hundred questionnaires back, which in itself was impressive with many teachers perhaps still away on holiday or back but busy preparing for the new term. The most impressive thing of all was the content of those text boxes. There was just so much of it. Some people wrote several hundred words at a time, speaking clearly from the heart and arguing cogently against the things they felt were going wrong in education. A love of teaching and vocational pleasure felt working with children and young people emerged but it was emerging from a fog caused by far less pleasant aspects of the job - disrespect from society and governments, bullying by senior management, other teachers, parents and students, despair at the parenting skills of some homes and despair with government targets and league tables that were funnelling education into an ever thinner tube feeding stuff that improved Sats and exam results rather than nourishing a lifelong love of learning. One former solicitor questioning the sense of the switch into teaching said: " M

As digital transactions become the definitive method of purchasing goods and services, leading eCommerce firms are exploring how AI can enhance brand competitiveness and customer loyalty. Artificial Intelligence is set to be a game-changer to shape the next stage of the e-commerce evolution. Artificial intelligence provides passel of opportunities to the e-commerce industry where retailers compete to provide the maximum customer convenience, by providing the ultimate shopping experience. With continuous advances in digital voice technology, AI tools such as Alexa, Cortana, and Watson, are gracing headlines almost daily, hinting at the wide scope of opportunities it has to revolutionize eCommerce stores. Here we show 6 amazing applications to use Artificial Intelligence in eCommerce. * Create customer-centric search- By implementing Artificial intelligence in Magento creates purchase assistants that target the right users, with the right messages at the right time.AI programs can rely on self-learning algorithms to deconstruct Bigdata of thousands of customers and create targeted user experiences, hence ruling out any human-bias or error. * Context-based search- Product Search functionality is an integral part of a Magento store as the shopping process begins with the search for relevant products. If Magento individualizes some impressive extensions, they might be nothing as compared to the effectiveness of AI-powered searches. Here usual searches rely on the Keywords entered by the user and only when there is a correct match, your searches will dish out the right search results. But AI-powered product searches will look for the context of the search, utilize the capability of Natural Language Process to generate context-based search terms rather than typical keywords. * Facilitate Purchase Decisions- Purchase Assistants are something that is still not fully released. Using the concept of virtual Purchase assistant we can cut down the time spent by shoppers

Awesome blog post on Movie making and literacy skills. Some great pedagogy happening with this group of students. I really like Kynan's philosophy of letting the students learn rather than intervening with teacher direction. Final cut express is a rather complicated piece of software but it looks like these kids have eaten it for breakfast

"A chart comparing Personalization vs Individualization vs Differentiation and a report that explained the difference between these three terms including teacher-centered vs. learner-centered approaches." (via @NancyW)

Personal computer systems are most productively used when they become an extension of the user. C Paul Newhouse - An evaluation of the past 20 years covering access, reluctance, issues and options.

The list of interesting ways you can use pinterest in the classroom and/or for personal learning is growing. There are some great ideas here and most are very easy to implement.

"LIKE many privacy-minded parents of elementary students, Tony Porterfield tries to keep close tabs on the personal information collected about his two sons. So when he heard that their school district in Los Altos, Calif., had adopted Edmodo, an online learning network connecting more than 20 million teachers and students around the world, he decided to check out the program."

Updated Cell Phone Agreement--Celly Friendly and Safe for Educators Updating the cell phone agreement for nonteaching school personnel as found on page 122 of "Teaching Generation Text: Using Cell Phones to Enhance Learning" is a joy due to the use of Celly.  When using Celly there is no exchange of personal phone numbers.  All of the texts go through the Celly site and are documented, which adds a further safety net for educators concerned about texting with students. 

when it comes to preparing students for success in the 21st century you not only have to think outside the ban, sometimes you have to dive in head first and break it. The following is a collection of ideas each teacher implemented to successfully break and/or work within the ban where they teach in an effort to empower students with the freedom to use their cell phones as personal learning devices.

I created this a year ago, but it has proven to be a fantastic resource for teachers interested in, or starting out building their Personal Learning Networks

"FAILURE:LAB is a raw and intimate evening showcasing personal stories of failure. With a refreshing vibe of openness, it helps pave the way for change by crushing the isolation and stigma around failure. FAILURE:LAB empowers audience members to persevere by exploring the space between people who fail and quit, and those who get back up again. By talking about failure, the audience can begin a dialogue about how the local community can help foster success. Failure then takes its rightful place as the crucial first step to the next big thing. Embrace it, learn from it, build on it."

"With the massive uptake of social networking sites, social media has become part and parcel of our digital life.Your daily dose of social media depends on how much time you have to spend on such virtual networks. It also depends on the purpose behind you joining them, if you are using them solely for personal and socializing goals then you might find yourself running the risk of addiction to these platforms."

A free PDF download ebook about balancing client, SME, production, and personal/professional values to produce elearning lessons in a university.

A free PDF download ebook about balancing client, SME, production, and personal/professional values to produce elearning lessons in a university.

"Today's education system is evolving to take full advantage of the potential of mobile technology devices to inspire learning and create independent, critical thinkers. However, with tight budgets, many schools are hoping to bring technology into the classroom without the costly burden of purchasing a device for each student. One potential solution that is being explored is BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device. This allows students to bring their personal laptops, tablets, and smartphones from home and use them for educational applications in the classroom. At a time when budgets are shrinking, school districts are considering BYOD programs to integrate cost-effective technology into their educational programs. It's a promising idea, especially for schools that lack sufficient technology budgets. BYOD takes advantage of the technology that students already own and are familiar with. However, BYOD programs have been met with some criticism from staff and administrators who believe the challenges outweigh the perceived benefits. Continue reading..."

"A collection of images visualizing Personal Learning Environments/Networks started by Scott Leslie and continued by the community at large since 2008."

I'm a big, big fan of Diigo. I appreciate that I can save and share bookmarks, highlight and leave comments on webpages, annotate resources, host and participate in groups and forums on particular topics, message and interact with friends and colleagues, and much more. It's a very big component of my personal learning network (PLN). I'm also impressed and pleased that the Diigo founders and employees listened to its community of teacher-users and developed Diigo for Educators (More fondly referred to as EduDiigo). Here are some thoughts about about why teachers and learners might use Diigo.

What is remarkable in listening to Dr. Skinner is how familiar these promises seem. Here we have the promise that students can work at their own pace, through curriculum presented in a coherent order. The student interacts constantly with the author of the program, and the result is that learning proceeds twice as fast. The word "personalized" is the only thing missing - but the idea is there for sure.