This is my favorite site to learn about powerful presentation techniques.

I want it too, and the more you keep saying it, the more I want it! I want mine with bacon and spicy mustard! You may just have to take a diet break, while we develop a collaborative potato salad recipe. P.S. Will you hate me if I post the site I used when I learned to make croissants from scratch?

My philosophy is that I'm happier when I'm chubby and doing things I want, then (than?) I would be if I were torturing myself and trying to resist temptation. It's a balance thing. Do I beat myself up more for breaking a goal, or for having to haul my bigger clothes out of the basement. (Just did that.) This isn't an intellectual track of study. It's play. People learn by playing. In fact, I'm going to inject some more fun in this course. (If I ever catch up on the grading.)

Jonah Lehrer provides another perspective on the Terkle book. It's a brief review and seems truncated, but his main point is at the very end. "We are so eager to take sides on technology, to describe the Web in utopian or dystopian terms, but maybe that's the problem. In the end, it's just another tool, an accessory that allows us to do what we've always done: interact with one other. The form of these interactions is always changing. But the conversation remains. "

This one's for Helen. I thought you might like to see what they're doing for online art courses.

"The 21st century is a world in constant change. In A New Culture of Learning, Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown pursue an understanding of how the forces of change, and emerging waves of interest associated with these forces, inspire and invite us to imagine a future of learning that is as powerful as it is optimistic."

Helen, I hadn't thought that far ahead! I'll see if the bookstore can order things at a discount. I usually put things on reserve at my local library. If they don't have them, there's a form to order them. When I buy books, I always end up giving them away.

You might not get this while it's still streaming, but I thought I'd add it anyway. I'm watching the live feed with the First Lady surprising the visitors on the White House tour.

"Professor Daniel Willingham describes research showing that learning styles are a myth." Interested in your thoughts on this...

"The authors' goal in this paper is to initiate a dialogue among educators who continue to make assertions about the usefulness of identifying students' learning styles with little or no research support. They discuss the status of learning style instruction and the unsubstantiated claims made by authors of learning style instruments and by instructors. They explore a number of key questions: (1) Are learning style instruments valid and reliable?; (2) Do students benefit when the type of instruction matches their preferred learning style?; and (3) More specifically, is there evidence that understanding one's learning style improves concentration, memory, self-confidence, and reduces anxiety, and leads to better grades? They conclude that learning style instruments have not been shown to be valid and reliable, there is no benefit to matching instruction to preferred learning style, and there is no evidence that understanding one's learning style improves learning and its related outcomes. They urge instructors to reconsider their instructional practices, especially the advice they give students about learning styles, and base their practices on sound research."

Wow, Bruce ! I just asked you to think about it :) What a great way to synthesize your thoughts. Would you mind if I share this with others. I really appreciate the effort you put into this. What tools did you use, besides Jing?

"Video has become relatively inexpensive to produce, and because we all have a lifetime of experience with watching video, it's easy to believe that we understand how to communicate reasonably well using video as a medium."

What do you think about this?

Lawrence Lessig EDUCAUSE09 keynote, November 5, 2009, Denver, a remix building upon lecture at Tokyo University. While we're finding our role in teaching and learning, I think it's important to recognize some of the cultural movements that will influence our professional practice.

If you're interested in corporate eLearning, and informal learning, Jay Cross is an interesting person to follow. I really appreciate the way he's brought attention to informal learning. I used to have his poster on my office door http://www.scribd.com/doc/2243876/Informal-Learning-Poster

We worry that IM, texting, Facebook are spoiling human intimacy, but Stefana Broadbent's research shows how communication tech is capable of cultivating deeper relationships, bringing love across barriers like distance and workplace rules.

In her important, controversial new book, Sherry Turkle reads our leap into digital technology not as the unfettering of a deep, human urge to connect, but as a dire symptom to be understood within an older framework: psychoanalysis. Whether you find this book's analysis convincing depends on how you read the Rorschach test that is the Internet.

Bruce, CaringBridge has been a great support for so many people. I originally discovered the site while I was following the story of Baby Allie http://www.scotthousehold.com/allie.htm whose mom documented her short life battling with AML. A huge community grew around her little life, and I discovered many CaringBridge sites. Jenny went on to start the Heroes for Children foundation, raising more than $3 million for families in TX with children undergoing treatment. My own early blogging experiences were around my own grief and loss http://momrealityblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/it-began-with-tragic-ending.html I had previously been involved in several online parenting communities. They were a huge support to me during that time. We have the potential to do a lot of good online and off. I think we just need to be cognizant of how our messages are amplified, and how we amplify the messages of others.

Joy, I am so sorry for your loss. I think grief is different for everyone, and the internet is a place we can find other people who share similar methods of grieving, so we don't feel so alone. In our own families, it's hard to support each other through periods of loss. I've discovered a lot of online communities, some healthy, and some not, where people feel comfortable expressing their feelings about loss. I think the most important thing I learned online during that time, was "be gentle with yourself."

Dan Meyer's interesting process for math assessment.

Dan Meyer teaches high school math outside of Santa Cruz, CA, and explores the intersection of math instruction, multimedia, and inquiry-based learning. He received his Masters of Arts from the University of California at Davis in 2005 and Cable in the Classroom's Leader in Learning award in 2008. He currently works for Google as a curriculum fellow and lives with his wife in Santa Cruz, CA.

Matthew Taylor explores the meaning of 21st century enlightenment, how the idea might help us meet the challenges we face today, and the role that can be played by organisations such as the RSA.

Ann, it's important that you feel empowered to have that kind of control over your participation online. I hope we'll start to see more of that. I love to introduce people to new technologies, and share how they affect me, but everyone has a different experience, and it's so important that we respect the way others choose to engage.

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award. For more information on Sir Ken's work visit: http://www.sirkenrobinson.com

Ann, it is completely engaging. I recognize your concerns about sources. When they create the RSA Animates, they do take the talk out of the original context, and also add creative interpretation. It's interesting to see how those things can be mixed together for such a powerful effect. I've never taken the time to dig too deeply into them to find the original context and determine whether there's a publication with sources.

Helen, I like Sir Ken Robinson's stuff, but I do take it with a grain of salt as well. Like Gladwell, he's a good storyteller and can inspire, but everything's got to be taken in context. I love that you ask your students to follow their train of thought. I do that with my kids, and find I often have to explain my own train of thought to others. I like the way you are in tune with the benefits and risks of reflective practice. It can get messy, and it isn't always the best thing for every student. It sounds like you take extra steps to make sure they understand the value of it.

Alec Couros started this collaborative document today, and in no time people were filling it with prompts. Feel free to add yours, or borrow from it for inspiration.

Here's a bit more about how they put it together. I'm sure there will be hundreds of collaborators, like he's had on other documents. http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/1956 He just posted the link on Twitter and people jumped in.

This is an interesting interactive workshop on teaching metaphors. You can view metaphors, add your own, or discuss them.