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Sixth- through 12th-graders listed features they would like to see in their ultimate digital textbook, such as having the ability to personalize their book with electronic highlights and notes and being able to tap into the expertise of an online tutor whenever necessary.

Student respondents also offered ideas for an ultimate digital textbook. The survey showed students are interested in leveraging a wide range of capabilities to produce a new kind of textbook. "For many students, the idea of using a hard-copy textbook that is out of date as soon as it is printed is as archaic in today’s world as the abacus in a math class," the report states.

Students currently use eMail, instant messaging, and text-messaging tools for communications, with nearly one-half of students in sixth through 12th grade using the tools regularly, according to the report. Students also heavily use social networking, online games, blogging, and virtual-reality environments. Evans said schools and districts should find ways to create instruction that runs parallel to how students are using collaborative tools and Web 2.0 technologies outside the classroom.

You send “tweets” of interesting articles, websites and the like, and you receive similar tweets from the people you follow

You can also send out your tweets. If people like your tweets, they will begin to “retweet” them to their own followers, some of whom will choose to follow you, too. In a very short time, you can build up an amazing network of people involved in your area. A tweet I did last week was retweeted by four people (there is software that helps you track your retweets). The total number of followers came to more than 5,000. So my one tweet went out to more than 5,000 people around the world, most of them interested in the same area as me.

I'm in contact more with researchers and practitioners via Twitter because I also know about their cats' states of health (and they mine) than I ever have been with people I met at conferences. If you only talk about serious stuff, you soon get bored. The trivia opens up the possibilities. Ban the trivia and you ban the social. Ban the social and you have no network.

What is needs analysis? How is it completed? Why is it important? In simplest terms, a needs analysis includes all the activities used to collect information about your students' learning needs, wants, wishes, desires, etc…

A needs analysis can be very formal, extensive and time consuming, or it can be informal, narrowly focused and quick. Some of resources for conducting a needs analysis may include surveys and questionnaires, test scores, and interviews.