This is an interesting student post about balancing technology in our lives.

"The Age of Connection now takes its place alongside these earlier epochs in humanity's story.  We are being retribalized, in the midst of rising urbanization.  The dynamic individuality of the city confronts the static conformity of the tribe.  This basic tension forms the fuel of 21st century culture, and will continue to generate both heat and light for at least the next generation.  Human behavior, human beliefs and human relations are all reorganizing themselves around connectivity.  It is here, therefore, that we must begin our analysis of the toolkit."  I haven't had time to read the entire piece, but I can see it makes some important points about human society and connectivity. It's pretty deep, so I want to read it when I've got time to let it sink in.

Precisely how we communicate in these moments of historic crisis and transformation is important. The medium that carries the message shapes and defines as well as the message itself. The instantaneous nature of how social media communicate self-broadcast ideas, unlimited by publication deadlines and broadcast news slots, explains in part the speed at which these revolutions have unravelled, their almost viral spread across a region. It explains, too, the often loose and non-hierarchical organisation of the protest movements unconsciously modelled on the networks of the web.

"Google Body is a detailed 3D model of the human body. You can peel back anatomical layers,zoom in, click to identify anatomy, or search for muscles, organs, bones and more. You can alsoshare the exact scene you are viewing by copying and pasting the URL."

I'm not a big fan of the awards, but this is a good place to start looking at education blogs by category.  Check out the nominees, as well as the winners for the categories that interest you.  Voting can become a popularity contest, so  I wouldn't suggest the winners are necessarily the best.

This is a powerful post. I'll let you read it and see what you think.

I just discovered this. It might be an interesting community to join. "Welcome to the reborn home of the former DigitalDivide@ listserv - the new Digital Inclusion Network. Join over 350 members from dozens of countries exchanging knowledge on digital inclusion and strategies to close the many digital divides. This network is hosted as part of E-Democracy.org's Ford Foundation-funded "Participation 3.0" and will be used to gather input for our Inclusive Social Media initiative. This is a hybrid e-mail list and web forum with access via Facebook and Twitter. "

"For years, in our schools, teachers have told students that school is preparation for real life - a statement that divorced the meaning of school from the lives kids led in that moment. With the research, creation and networking tools at our disposal, we have the ability to help students see that the lives they lead now have meaning and value, and that school can be a vital and vibrant part of that meaning. We can help students to see the powerful humanity that exists both within them and all around them. And technology can be an essential piece of how we teach and learn about that. "

Interesting article about maintaining your online presence.

"Free Resources and Lesson Plans for Teaching with Technology" You might find some useful activities and tools on this site.

I've been asked to join the conversation on this podcast on Friday. It's unscripted and I have no idea what they'll be asking me, but thought I'd share the link for anyone interested.

"SCoPE brings together individuals who share an interest in educational research and practice"

I shared Ann's Google Doc (without asking first, shame on me!) with others, and some folks from the VLC research lab thought it was cool and asked if they could share it with the team. They're looking for the same kind of info Ann's seeking in her document.

"Charting the Course of Teaching and Learning in a Networked World" I don't know anything about this community, but I saw it today and thought it might be interesting. Tonight they have a session - "John Seely Brown on The New Culture of Learning."

"While no list of apps can ever be complete, these are the apps that were demoed at OETC's ITSC conference in Portland, Oregon in February of 2011."

I'm currently crashing this conference. Shhhhh! Hopefully I'll learn lots of things to share.

"Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories you make to share, read, and print."

I thought you might like to review this, based on our topic this past week. I don't think this document gets as much attention as it should. I like that this is posted as a "right" - "Students shall be protected from academic evaluation which is arbitrary, prejudiced or capricious, but are responsible for meeting the standards of academic performance established by each of their instructors."

1. For point number 1, what kind of planning do you think needs to go into considering flexibility for course size, and other challenges? Do you think it's possible for the same course design to work for a 5 person course, as for a 100 person course? How about other challenges, such as variations in literacy and technology skills?

2. That's a great point about your students learning to game the system. I've got a cohort in MEDIT now, that we moved from a system with quizzes and short answer problems one quarter, to a social space the next, where they were expected to expand on their ideas and think more critically. There was huge pushback at the beginning of this quarter.

The interesting thing, is that this class is not very active, and it's very small. Whether or not a community forms within an LMS, or an outside space, it's not unusual to expect 100 + posts a week, for an average size class that's engaged with the material. One of the things to think about with assessment, is how you weight community participation in the grading. There will always be people who prefer to learn alone. How do we engage them, without making them feel uncomfortable? Or, is discomfort a positive thing for learning?

Bruce, that's an important point. What can we actually accomplish within the boundaries of a "course?" There's a bit of a movement going on to redefine course, or at least explore how boundaries limit learning. That's one of the reasons I try to place such a strong emphasis at the beginning on digging up prior learning, and at the end on helping students discover how they can continue to apply what they've learned. I also think it's critical to try and encourage students to think outside the class, involving their family and friends, where they're already learning. But is all this really possible? It's a nice dream, but I don't know how much of it can be accomplished. I worry about instructors requiring a separate blog or community for their course, and not valuing the important learning spaces that already exist for students. I can allow flexibility for this, but there will always be students who don't work well with that flexibility, and want to be told exactly what to do. It's definitely not easy to balance.

I haven't watched the entire thing yet. This was shared on the EDUCAUSE CIO listserv and many people are thanking the person who shared it. The title sounded like something that would be appropriate for out class, and understanding the challenges faced by eLearning and eLearners and balancing participation.