I quite like the questions suggested in this post about being critically literate by Lisa Durff. I agree with her when she says that critical literacy should be extended to all media, not just books. Like her, I have always encouraged my students to question everything (which took a humorous -- and welcome -- turn when they started to question ME!).\n\nRead and bookmark and share this post.

Notre Dame High School in Sheffield, UK, is planning to allow students to bring their phones and other mobile devices into the classroom. I was pleased to see in this article that Mick Brooks, of the NAHT, is taking a non-Luddite stance on this. Unsuprising: he was one of the panel at the recent launch of the Cambridge Review of the Primary Curriculum, which I wrote about recently (http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2009/10/22/what-young-people-can-do-and-7-implications-of-that.html).\nPaul Haigh, the Deputy Head mentioned in the article, and I exchanged messages just after the Handheld Learning Conference, and it's good to see his work being picked up by a national newspaper.

Interesting embeddable widget I discovered on Wesley Fryer's blog, http://www.speedofcreativity.org/. It shows how many blog posts etc there have been since you loaded the widget, in real time. I'm not actually sure how valuable or even valid such information is. There is no doubt, however, that using it in a presentation, as Fryer intended to do, would be a good way of grabbing people's attention right from the start. Perhaps it would work well in a classroom setting too, as a starting point for a discussion about what such statistics mean, in a 'real' sense.

An interesting-looking blog, which I came across courtesy of Julie Lindsay's blog at htp://123elearning.blogspot.com. It's about the use of computer games, but specifically in the contexty of English as a Foreign/Second Language. Looks potentially useful, and I will be xploring it for possible inclusion the Games issue of the Computers in Classrooms newsletter.

At first glane, this wiki-based video repository seems quite comprehensive. Given that it can be edited by anyone, I'm slightly concerned that 'rogue' videos may find their place on to the site. Also, will stuff be moved about making it hard to find again? Still, there is a search facility. I will be exploring this and reporting on it in due course. Thanks to coolcatteacher.blogspot.com for blogging about it, which is how I heard about it.

Useful starting point for discussion with students

"the Three Laws of Robotics"

I will be referring to this and other recently-bookmarked items in an article about science fiction and ICT

A summary document containing highlighted trend, and headline statistics from BESA's ICT in UK State Schools

BESA publishes its annual survey of ICT in UK State Schools....

Interesting article about building a bogging community AND having a life

Interesting article about building a bogging community AND having a life

Educational Technology, educational ICT,ICT in Education, information technology, information and communication technology, practical advice, leaders, managers,Terry Freedman,spreadsheet,modelling,sequencing,spreadsheets,modeling

A good place to start a discussion on the 'efficiency' of technology.

Good for exploring the ethical use of science & technology

Web 2.0 Projects Book Deadline Extended. Includes a couple of examples of submissions received so far

robot receptionist