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Access to over 2,500 collections of content-rich, kid-safe online resources sorted according to themes. (Listed alphabetically and by grade level.)

Diigo has clear advantages to the individual that needs to store and recall important information. But how can it be used in the classroom? This blog post shares a few options for using Diigo in the classroom. One common problem of student computer use in schools is access to student work from home. Using Diigo, students can bookmark important websites and access them from school, home, the library or any internet-connected computer. Students will always have access to this data. Teachers and students can use the group and list features of Diigo to organize bookmarks on themes or topics. Classes can also collaborate and discuss information within Diigo.

This is a blog that highlights innovative ideas. This page emphasizes digital storytelling projects they had students create to promote how amazing the books were that they read. They present their digital analysis of the book in VoiceThread so that other students can make comments and discuss the themes, characters, plots, or whatever they want to share about the book.

"By setting a limited word count with a focused theme and a guaranteed audience beyond the class teacher, children have far greater motivation for writing. Those who are reluctant writers feel safe with only 100 words to write, whilst those more advanced writers can really extend themselves with the word restriction."

"For the first time ever, ALA hosted a Banned Books Week machinima contest in Second Life. Machinima is filmmaking within a real-time, 3-D virtual environment like Second Life. The entries were inspired by this year's theme: "Think for Yourself and Let Others Do the Same." We are pleased to announce that Clark Abismo in SL (Miguel Mimoso Correia in RL) is our grand prize winner!

Wow! The Power of Visual Media! Even if you aren't in Second Life, this is a must see for the potential in education and the message.

This article contains useful and interesting tips from presentation experts. It contains tips on images, fonts, themes, and structure.

This blog by Tom Spiglanin discusses what a Personal Learning Network is and how his was constructed. He discusses specific characteristics that he believes makes his PLN valuable and describes it as a hardware store, rather than a tool in his toolbox.

When I designed my creative expression on PLNs, I thought of keywords that were consistent in my research such as share, network, connections, etc. In this article, I found it interesting that the author described his experience as "on-fire learning." I found other keywords and phrases in this article that I can add to my list, such as global sounding board, camaraderie and support. When reflecting on this topic, it makes me realize what strength PLNs provide individuals and groups.

This discusses the importance of connected learning and all the ways one uses a PLN. It also talks about how the definition of a PLN has changed over time and how many of the original ideas are now obsolete but that the idea behind it all is still that it is about being connected and learning from others, and also helping others learn.

The Spanish section of this language-learning site organizes a wide variety of authentic materials and activities (many interactive). Resources can be sorted by grammar or vocabulary themes: reportajes del telediario de TVE fragmentos de vídeos culturales trailers de película canciones anuncios y mensajes de campañas de información

This paper, by Ana Maria Marhan examines connectivism and social media. The author points out that because today's learning is a "messy, nebulous, informal, chaotic process, we need to rethink how we design our instruction. This hit home because I just moved to a new state and a new district, and they are very strict with, well, just about everything on the computer! I teach at a Title 1 high school, and these kids would truly benefit from instruction that wasn't so linear. These learners (like all learners) form their own pathways of knowledge, and I believe I could make a stronger impact on them if I could use more tools.

Marhan, A. M. (2006). Connectivism: Concepts and Principles for emerging Learning Networks. In The 1 st Conference on Virtual Learning. In this article author, Ana-Maria Marhan does a good job exploring the principals pushing forward Connectivism as a pedagogical helper. This becomes apparent right from her abstract "Connectivism views learning as a network creation process, and looks at how we might provide 'learning ecologies' to meet the learners' needs.". In her first section, she defines learning as "a persisting change in human performance or performance potential which must come about as a result of the learner's experience and interaction with the world." As soon as I read the last few words "interaction with the world", I began to connect the dots (no pun intended) to what I've read thus far about communities of practice. She spreads out on a handful of relevant and interesting subtopics to the overall theme of Connectivism. After she describes more about the new connected and growing world we live in she tackles the basics of Connectivism as a theory of learning and the principals behind it. Again like other articles she echoes many of the same sentiments George Siemens made when he originally proposed the learning theory. After the background on Siemens theory, she begins to draw everything together. One statement that I enjoyed was "Individual is the starting point of Connectivism: personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into communities, organizations or institutions, which in turn feed back into the network and then continue to provide learning to individual". She does a great job of supporting the use of technology not as the new power of learning but as a tool to unlock that power. "When knowledge, however, is needed but not known, the ability to plug into sources to meet the requirements becomes a vital skill".

I also appreciate how Marhan suggests that connected learning is cyclical: "Individual is the starting point of Connectivism: personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into communities, organizations or institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual."

These interactive web modules include media, vocabulary, games, and "ask a scientist" links for each science theme

National Gallery of Art's interactive art activities to explore art concepts, skills, and themes

The first I have heard of the concept of "navigationism" instead of connectivism. The article seems to negate the existence of the theory of connectivism, while elevating the concept of constructivism.

Interesting read. Similar themes to A Challenge to Connectivism (http://learningevolves.wikispaces.com/kerr), but in a more academic and non-contrary tone. Argues that connectivism is a subset of navigationism, but doesn't force a separation of navigationism and costructivism. The charts on 13-14 were useful.

The article discussed "connected learning communities" and how it is relevant in the digital age. There are three components (professional learning communities (PLCs), personal learning network (PLNs), and communities of practice (CoPs)) with these communities and different theories, experience and knowledge, effectiveness, anticipates growth or decline, challenges and dilemmas, and use of technology within each component.

The PLP (Powerful Learning Practice) model looked at three different learning connected learning communities to discuss what each one is, the effects on teacher professional development, challenges and use of technology to name a few. Personal learning communities, personal learning networks, and communities of practice were the three that were discussed. I like how in this article, Connectivism is tied into PLN's which demonstrates how these concepts of PLN's, CoP's, and Connectivism are interrelated. Within PLN's and CoP's, members are concerned about the content and "what they do" as well as interact amongst the group to achieve a higher purpose.

This article is fantastic as it encompasses all that we are studying right now! Each aspect was broken down very well and explained completely. I also appreciated that the authors talked about the anticipated growth, use of technology and value of a PLN, for instance. This is a great reference to refer back to later.

With PowerPoint Online you create presentations right in your internet browser. They live in your OneDrive or Dropbox space, and you can edit and share them online without any other software or installations. Let's walk through the steps for creating a basic presentation: PowerPoint comes with "themes," sets of professionally designed colors and layouts.

This site has a Power Point for every subject at all levels which can be downloaded and used free.

Content Theme: Multimedia Artwork

Includes lessons aligned to ISTE standards