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What are the mindful habits of successful learners and how can an understanding of these habits help us better achieve our learning goals? This is the question Art Costa Bena Kallick set out to answer with their study of the Habits of Mind. In 'Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind' Costa and Kallick identify sixteen habits which when utilised promote deeper understanding, unlock creativity, encourage reflective thinking and scaffold problem solving for individuals and groups. 

Earlier this year a group of teachers I work with explored the 'Eight Cultural Forces' identified by Ron Ritchhart of Harvard's Project Zero. In doing so we decided to focus on our use of the term learning instead of the word work. Our goal was to bring our language choices into the spotlight and explore how a more deliberate focus on learning might alter the culture of our classrooms. Two terms later this focus persists and it is worth reflecting on the effect that this has had.

Yay, another new year! Where does the time go? Being a teacher is a stressful job, but one of the most rewarding vocations available. Sometimes, it is possible to lose sight of the important things in life, as the stress of the job takes over your life. We all make resolutions with good intentions, but reducing work stress is critical for ensuring that the job doesn't absorb every waking moment in your life. Below are 12 suggestions on how teachers (and school leaders) can reduce stress, for themselves, for colleagues, and for pupils. Some of the suggestions might seem obvious, but it's nice to be reminded, and to allow you to reflect on opportunities you have to reduce some of the stress in your life.

Sydney has become a beacon that brings people together and sparks conversations. Most recently the conversation centred on the topic of girls in tech and what might be done to re-dress the gender balance in STEAM subjects and related career pathways. Sponsored by INTEL this Vivid Ideas event drew a mix of entrepreneurs, educators and tech luminaries to the Museum of Contemporary Art on a Saturday afternoon to share their ideas on what might be done.

If you want to discover the power of Curation, Follow https://twitter.com/#!/web20education

The NWP Digital Is website is a collection of ideas, reflections, and stories about what it means to teach writing in our digital, interconnected world.

There is an inherent tension between the rhetoric of Web 2.0 and current educational practices. For example, today's digital environment is characterised by speed and immediacy; the ability to access a vast amount of information at the click of a mouse, coupled with multiple communication channels and social networks. This seems contradictory to traditional notions of education; the need to reflect, to build cumulatively on existing knowledge and develop individual understanding over time.

I've been reflecting lately on the claims of Bauerlein in The dumbest generation. Completing his book has come parallel with exposure to some additional materials:

Behaviorism, 4cognitivism, and constructivism are the three broad learning 1theories most often utilized in the creation of instructional environments. These theories, however, were developed in a time when learning was not impacted through technology. Over the last twenty years, technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn. 1Learning needs and theories that describe learning principles and processes, should be reflective of underlying social environments. Vaill emphasizes that "learning must be a way of being - an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to try to keep abreast o the surprising, novel, messy, obtrusive, recurring events…" (1996, p.42).

Find list of Top 47 eLearning & Workplace Learning Blogs (in alphabetical order) that Upside Learning team follows. 1. Adventures in Corporate Education 2. Bersin & Associates : Blogs 3. Big Dog, Little Dog 4. Blogger in Middle-earth 5. Bozarthzone 6. Clark Aldrich On Simulations and Serious Games 7. Clive on Learning 8. Connectivism 9. Daretoshare 10. Dave's Whiteboard 11. Donald Clark Plan B 12. eLearning Blog // Don't Waste Your Time… 13. e-Clippings (Learning As Art) 14. E-Learning Curve Blog 15. eLearning in the Corporate Sector 16. eLearning Technology 17. eLearning Weekly 18. elearningpost 19. elearnspace 20. Engaged Learning 21. Experiencing E-Learning 22. Harold Jarche 23. ID and Other Reflections 24. In the Middle of the Curve 25. Informal Learning Blog 26. Internet Time Blog 27. Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day 28. Kapp Notes 29. Learn and Lead 30. Learning Conversations 31. Learning TRENDS 32. Learning Visions 33. Learnlets 34. Making Change - Ideas for Lively eLearning 35. Mobile Learning 36. Nigel Paine 37. Stephen's Web 38. T+D Blog 39. Take An E-Learning Break 40. The Bamboo Project Blog 41. The eLearning Coach 42. The Learning Circuits Blog 43. The Rapid eLearning Blog 44. The Upside Learning Solutions Blog 45. TogetherLearn 46. Will at Work Learning 47. Workplace Learning Today

Highlighted in HBR "Must-Read" strategy articles, this online simulator is a gret reflection on considerable research, teacher of what is most effective in execution, and sanity check of your own assumptions on strategy and execution.

In this article, Michelle Everson summarized her attempt to use small-group discussion assignments in an online introductory statistics course. She have found that these assignments can be successful, and they can lead to opportunities for students to reason more about statistical concepts and help each other learn important course material. When using such assignments, we would encourage instructors to (1) create assignments that do not have just one "right" answer so that students have ample opportunities to discuss different ideas and respond to what their group members post, (2) allow several days for students to work on the assignment, (3) provide students with clear guidelines for every assignment so they know exactly what they need to do as a group, (4) provide incentives for students to post not only their own thoughts, but respond to what their group members have said, and (5) provide students with examples of what it means to reflectively respond to their peers. Most of all, we would encourage instructors to make their presence known to the discussion group during every discussion. Assure students that you will be there in order to make sure everyone is on the right track, and take whatever opportunity you can to cheer the group on, highlight important ideas that different members of the group have posted, and question the group in order to get them to think more critically about the material.

Finland recently made the news for its decision to shift away from a focus on handwriting. Beginning in 2016 students will not be required tl learn cursive handwriting and instead will be taught typing skills. If this was anywhere other tan Finland the decision might be ignored or ridiculed but the Finnish Education systems reputation for producing quality learning backed by innovative practice makes this hard to ignore.

Rangoli based symmetry exercise - An activity based on Rangoli Patterns to provide opportunities for illustrating reflective and rotational symmetry of order 4.

Trump's Twitterbot creates Tweets one letter at a time, essentially learning through an underlying structure from all the data it gets, and then comes up with different combinations of the data that reflect the structure.

Rather than expecting to be immersed in learning that shines a light on the path forward the notion of searching for driftwood that suits the learner's needs is very empowering. It requires an imagining of learning as a very active process where the learner is aware of their context, their current understanding and what they might need to move forward. It demands a conscious practice of reflection and a disposition towards taking charge of one's learning. It is a very agentic view where learning is something that you do, not something that happens to you. 

Teaching is undoubtedly a busy profession and one where the end of the to do list seems to be forever located in a galaxy far far away. There is always more to be done and as each item on the list is ticked off, three, four or more seem to have appeared. If we ever do get close to the end, we find ourselves reflecting on what we have achieved and the many ways in which it might be improved. 

Last week I spent three days thinking about curriculum and all that it means to teaching and learning thanks to the Australian Curriculum Studies Association's biannual conference. It was three days of deeply thoughtful conversation and learning with just the right mix of academic research and ideas for grounded practice straight out of innovative classrooms and schools. With keynotes by Alan Reid, Dan Haesler, Bob Lingard, Robert Randall and Jan Owen combined with Masterclasses from some of Australia's leading educators there was much on offer. The biggest challenge was deciding which workshop you would attend when every session offered such outstanding opportunities.

"As a technology teacher, I always keep looking for new tools to excite my students. During parent-teacher conferences, when a parent comes and asks me how's their child doing at my subject I almost always say, "Everyone is good at technology" or "All of them love ICT lessons". But when I'm alone, I reflect on these statements many times. If everyone already loves technology and is good at it, then what am I here for? What's my role? This is a generation of digital natives. You show a two-year-old how to scroll through the camera roll of your phone once and they won't ask you again. This makes me question my validity again and again."

"End of lesson task to allow pupils to reflect on how the lesson went via the medium of Emoji."