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"f the promise of mobile technology in classrooms has been to equalize opportunities for all students through access to the internet, that potential has yet to be realized. The reality is that while some teachers have found powerful ways to use mobile devices - both those owned by students and those purchased by the school - teachers at schools in very low-income areas are often battling a persistent student culture of disengagement. Many students have learning gaps that make it hard for them to stay interested in grade level materials and little desire to be in school at all. "

"Parents have taken over Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter. This has sent device-laden students flocking to social media apps such as Instagram, SnapChat and Yik Yak, and the shift has created new challenges for administrators trying to root out cyberbullying and threats of violence. Garnering the most concern in many districts is Yik Yak, a free app created in 2013 that connects users within a 10-mile radius to a message board, and allows anyone to read and post anonymously. The app, meant for college students, is blocked on most K12 campuses thanks to technology called geofencing."

Their Youtube channel has some excellent videos *especially* the RSA Animate ones - incredible! "The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress. Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action."

A cyberbullying 'epidemic' has hit our shores and threatens to contaminate our children through emails, chatrooms, blogs, mobile phones and social networking sites. The Bullies are nasty, highly contagious viruses that lurk in cyberspace, infecting young cyber citizens with unacceptable online behaviours. And unfortunately, something seemingly innocent such as forwarding an unpleasant email to someone can cause instant contamination. But help is at hand. SchoolAid, in partnership with the Vodafone Foundation, has launched a national campaign that identifies and personifies the different types of cyberbullying behaviours, and in particular, bystander behaviour, to raise awareness of this crucial issue, while encouraging open discussion among children and adults alike.

"Nope, it's not a Facebook "phone," but it's probably the closest you're gonna get to one right now. Skype has just unleashed the no-longer-in-beta version of its 5.0 Windows software, and not only has it drastically tided up the interface, but just like the rumor said, it's taken advantage of Facebook Connect in a big way."

Every Year 8 student at Warwick Senior High School has been given an iPod to use during class and school hours to research, access school-created information and download relevant applications. Assignments and homework can also be completed online. A huge array of applications has been made available to download, enabling students to create practice tests, learn about percentages and translate voice recordings.

Martin Dougiamas (@moodler) and Tomaz Lasic (@lasic) hosted a quick demo and call to action for the Mt. Orange School demo site right before Christmas.  As a follow up Tomaz has provided the presentation recording in Elluminate, his slide notes and the full presentation from that day http://www.twitlonger.com/show/7m04ig. The presentation focused on providing an overview of what was currently possible with the Mt. Orange School, Moodle's new demonstration site where you can get a feel for what's possible with Moodle 2.0 and well trained teaching staff.  In additional Tomaz explained that the school site in its entirety is available for download so that users can dive in deeper and play with the settings and features without affecting the live site or causing undue administration. The presentation recording is about 1 hour and the Google Docs presentation has a wealth of information included in it's speakers notes.  Be sure to check out both if you're considering Moodle 2.0 this year.

"As people share more information about themselves online, the internet, in effect, has created a public transcript of consciousness -- storing our thoughts, locations, social lives and memories in data warehouses all over the world. This has enabled technological advances and shaped our social interactions. It's also really freaked some people out. "

"A feature that has long been request by educators has finally arrived in iPad 2: video mirroring. Video mirroring shows exactly what's on your device's screen on a second display, like a projector, television, or monitor. We're used to video mirroring with laptops--many teachers do this everyday. iPad 2 requires either the Apple VGA Adapter or Apple Digital AV Adapter. The VGA adapter connects to most projectors while the digital adapter connects to HDMI, which is common on newer televisions. Apple Digital AV Adapter also outputs sound while the VGA adapter outputs only video to the display."

Our society has been irreversibly affected by a new phenomenon in InfoWhelm - an unparalleled access to a wealth of online information, never before seen or heard of. Learning has truly become a lifelong pursuit, and it can happen anytime and anywhere in our Information age. But how do we determine good from the bad, interpret right from wrong, and distinguish complete, accurate, and usable data from a sea of irrelevance and digital inundation? The skills to help us best understand and make use of the wealth of knowledge at our fingertips is essential to life and success both in the classrooms and workforces of the 21st century.

"This site has been created to support the Virtual History Centre - a 3D virtual world for Victorian Students which is designed to support immersive learning. It has been developed by the History Teachers' Association of Victoria, the Public Record Office of Victoria and the State Library of Victoria and was funded by the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development's Fuse Project. "

But after a change to a conservative government that has a very poor track record when it comes to supporting public education, Victorian teachers are slowly awakening to a very different landscape. Perhaps the most rude awakening has occurred by way of the latest notebook lease offer from DEECD.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) will discontinue both its MSN Encarta reference Web sites as well as its Encarta software, which have both been surpassed by rising competitors, like Wikipedia. In a message posted on the MSN Encarta Web site, Microsoft says, "Encarta has been a popular product around the world for many years. However, the category of traditional encyclopedias and reference material has changed. People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past."

" It's with much regret that we're announcing the end of the "Ad Free for Education Sites" program here at Wetpaint. While the program has been a tremendous success and has been used by educators around the world, it comes at a high cost to Wetpaint. With the company's resources stretched thin, we can no longer effectively support the program going forward."

"Collaborative schooling is a model where the school collaborates with, and provides direction and support for its homes and community. It recognizes the profound impact the home has upon education and that in most of the students' homes and communities there is a vast, largely untapped 'teaching' capacity. It therefore seeks to integrate the efforts of the home and the school. The school has already recognized the opportunities the network and digital technologies provide for the school to network and work collaboratively with their homes and desired parts of their school community. This is seen in the following:"

"The biggest downside to Windows 7 on tablets is that Microsoft has failed to offer a specialised tablet user-interface. This is a huge oversight as Microsoft was first to push tablets over a decade ago but has completely failed to make an impact on the new generation tablet market pioneered by Apple and Google."

"Alan November is recognized internationally as a leader in education technology. He began his career as an oceanography teacher and dorm counselor at an island reform school for boys in Boston Harbor. He has been a director of an alternative high school, computer coordinator, technology consultant, and university lecturer. As practitioner, designer, and author, Alan has guided schools, government organizations and industry leaders as they plan to improve quality with technology." This is his address to TEDxNYed.

"It is a common view that "if only someone could break this down and explain it clearly enough, more students would understand." Khan Academy is a great example of this approach with its clear, concise videos on science. However it is debatable whether they really work. Research has shown that these types of videos may be positively received by students. They feel like they are learning and become more confident in their answers, but tests reveal they haven't learned anything. The apparent reason for the discrepancy is misconceptions. Students have existing ideas about scientific phenomena before viewing a video. If the video presents scientific concepts in a clear, well illustrated way, students believe they are learning but they do not engage with the media on a deep enough level to realize that what was is presented differs from their prior knowledge. There is hope, however. Presenting students' common misconceptions in a video alongside the scientific concepts has been shown to increase learning by increasing the amount of mental effort students expend while watching it."

"There has been a lot of talk about iBeacons since they launched with iOS 7 last fall, but much of the focus has been on how they benefit retailers and add to the in-store shopping experience. They have a much broader range of potential use, however, and part of that is consumer-focused, too. Placed is a new app that shows you how iBeacons might benefit anyone at home, by tying iBeacons to specific apps and offering quick-launch capabilities."