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"If we change the vocabulary and consider schools as learning environments, however, it makes no sense to talk about them being broken because environments don't break." Of course we currently aren't using technology to create learning environments at best we're embedding them into our current system.

Series of lessons that help create an online blogging community for students. PLN in a sense. Helps to give students more of an audience.

"Bell, F 2010, Network theories for technology-enabled learning and social change: Connectivism and actor network theory , in: Networked Learning Conference 2010: Seventh International Conference on Networked Learning, 3-4 May 2010, Aalborg, Denmark. PDF - Published Version Download (236Kb) http://usir.salford.ac.uk/9270/1/Bell.pdf Official URL: http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/ Abstract Learning never was confined to classrooms. We all learn in, out of, before, during and after episodes of formal education. The changing sociotechnical context offers a promise of new opportunities, and the sense that somehow things may be different. Use of the Internet and other emerging technologies is spreading in frequency, time and space. People and organizations wish to use technology to support learning seek theories to frame their understanding and their innovations. In this article we explore Connectivism, that is positioned as a theory for the digital age, in use on a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Connectivism and Connective Knowledge, in 2008. We then compare Connectivism with another network theory, Actor Network Theory, to explore possible synergies. We found that Connectivism enables educators and learners to legitimise their use of technology to support teaching and learning. Connectivism, a relatively new theory, can benefit from a richer empirical base as it develops. Since the scope of educational change can vary from a specific learning setting through organisational and societal settings, we can develop theories through empirical exploration of cases across the range of settings to support our understanding and actions."

Might help create a blended classroom, even when you have to share the blender.  Common sense advise for the real world of underequipped classrooms and stretched thin teachers.

Some common sense advice lurking here....

Who would have thought??? ;-) The brain can still learn new concepts after various ages, and that every student can be taught many different ways. In a sense, the brain can be rewired.

Great article about the partnership between University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and our latest Flat Classroom Project, NetGenEd. This sort of arrangement in which preservice teachers served as expert advisors and judges for the project provided real, authentic learning experiences for both students and participants. We skyped into Eric's classroom a few times to talk to his students about pedagogy and they did a great job providing feedback and input on the project. It would make sense that many more preservice programs are going to want to put in authentic distance learning experiences for their preservice teachers and there are many teachers who need high quality feedback and educator review and interaction for their projects.

High stakes testing could have pushed some schools in Georgia to high stakes cheating. There are more than these 4 that many are calling suspicious with meteoric rises in scores from some schools that I and others personally know are not getting the job done with the content they are teaching for students. Warning to parents: Beware of test scores - they can be manipulated. Look at your child and use your common sense as to whether they are receiving a good education.

A new poll conducted by the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media suggests that students are using cell phones and the internet to cheat on school exams. What's surprising, however, is not just the alarming number of students who say they cheat, but also the number of students who think it's OK to do so.

@4:16 - Great definition of education wherein Robinson says, "What it is, is a process of helping people to engage with the world around them and make more sense of themselves in the process."

Though the economy may be on the road to recovery, public school funding is not. Across the nation, schools are being asked to make do with less money in an effort to control school district debt caused by funding cuts at both the state and national levels. School funding and its issues have been heard at the polls as voters must decide whether or not to approve tax increases or changes in distribution of tax revenues in order to help stem the tide of massive budget cuts. In Ohio this past spring nearly 44% of the tax issues on the ballots were for schools. School funding issues are a major concern for administrators and educators.

Glenn Kantz, a librarian in a Swiss Boarding school wrote an article on "patron drive acquisitions" that I find boh fascinating and really something that libraries should consider. In the past, it has often been librarian driven. But if the libraries have books that patrons want, will the libraries be more populated? Now that ebooks and overdrive solutions are coming, doesn't it make sense to take a patron driven model? Should people be able to "vote up" the next acquisition? Fascinating thoughts and I look forward to reading more on this.

A great Android app which shows you the many readouts of the sensors on your device. Use them in science, geography and more.

While gmail has added some encryption features, it isn't really enough of anything. ProtonMail was recommended by a recent Forbes article for having the highest level of security of any email service. If you need to send bank draft information, w-9's or other information, it makes sense to have one of these accounts. They simply charge for extra storage.

I shudder, thinking back to my differentiation for EAL students at the start. I Google translated the whole PowerPoint, brimming with pride at my achievement. It was sadly, as the kids would say, an epic fail. It didn't make sense. The students were…

"Across very different cultures - Ghana and the United States - when parents acknowledge the perspectives of their adolescent children and encourage them to express themselves, the youths have a stronger sense of self-worth, intrinsic motivation, and engagement, and also have less depression. Yet having the latitude to make decisions appears to function differently in the two cultures, with positive outcomes for youths in the United States but not in Ghana."

"You are obsessed with stories. I am obsessed with stories. We are obsessed with stories. Even when you go to sleep at night, your mind stays awake telling itself stories in your dreams.  It's predicted that modern humans began to speak language around 100,000 years ago. It's no great leap of the imagination to assume they started telling stories not long after.  We're obsessed with stories. But why? It's how we make sense of the world. We have a deep neurological compulsion to find patterns. "

"Imagine lying on the floor of a Tudor hall and gazing up at the expressions of art all around you, listening to the sound of melodies Henry VIII  would have heard, or breathing in the scent of seasonal herbs that have graced a kitchen garden for three hundred years. These wonderful experiences would be a treat to the senses for any of us, but for our students who are working towards or at Entry Level 1, multi-sensory learning is an essential part of engaging with the world around them."

"When I look at my timetable for the week, it isn't the recorder practice which happens next door first thing every Monday morning which fills me full of dread, nor the infamous Friday afternoon slot which brings about a sense of foreboding. My true timetable terror occurs shortly after school on a Wednesday afternoon. The (unrelenting) weekly staff meeting should be a time to coordinate with colleagues, create inspirational ideas for the way ahead, and take key decisions for the future of the school. A chance to bring clarity to the chaos, and move the things forward."