This is a brief, interesting article that highlights some of the components we have been learning in EME5050.  The author discusses and evaluates the increasing openness of education, particularly through online environments.  

This website is a great internet safety resource for students, parents and educators.  There are videos and lesson ideas available.  There is also information about cyberbullying.  This website is a great classroom tool because it offers engaging activities for students, including virtual games, to teach them about internet safety.

This is the Teaching Channel's website filled with educator resources.  I have found several Science lab ideas from this site.  Many resources are standards based and grounded in STEM research, but there are resources for all subject areas.  There are also videos available that show lessons in practice.  

This research article provides an overview of how transformative learning experiences can be created through instructional design.  The aim is to use instruction to make learning more experiential, personally relevant and transformative to students.  The authors explain a framework for providing transformative learning experiences, including several indicators that fall into the categories of developing personal meaning, competence with the subject and relationships.  The authors also present guidelines for designing these experiences, including applying design fundamentals, crafting the learning experience and teaching and facilitating to inspire learning. A quick, but worth while read! Wilson, B. G., & Parrish, P. (2011). Transformative learning experience: Aim higher, gain more. Educational Technology, 51 (2), 10-15.

This is the website I use for my class blog.  It is quick for you and your students to register, it is safe for students to use and the format is simple, yet effective.  I have already witnessed some amazing learning and sharing on this site.

This is a link to the full-text research article authored by Glenda A. Gunter, Robert F. Kenny and Erik H. Vick. The title is "Taking educational games seriously: using the RETAIN model to design endogenous fantasy into standalone educational games". The authors argue that for educational games to be effective, a new design paradigm needs to be utilized. They recommend the RETAIN design and evaluation model. The article is published in Education Tech Research Dev (2008) 56:511-537 and the DOI is 10.1007/s11423-007-9073-2.

This website provides digital resources for schools in Florida.

The Florida Center for Instructional Technology is located at USF and is funded by the Florida Department of Education.  It provides links to numerous educational technology resources.

The website for my middle school's media center has a few excellent links.  We have links to eLibrary access, World Book Online, The Library of Congress, Teaching Books for Students, EBSCOhost, ThomsonGale database, Tumblebooks, the Lexile Framework for Reading, the ERIC online library, and the Florida Information Resource Network.

The Florida Humanities Council "Teaching Florida" website contains lesson plans and resources tied to Florida History and Humanities standards.  They also provide summer workshops for teachers to expand their knowledge about Florida humanities.

The Florida Department of Education website provides information and resources for students, parents, educators, administrators and the community.  This site is a great resource for FCAT and teacher certification information.

This blog chronicles my journey towards integrating more innovative technology in my classroom to enhance student engagement, enjoyment and achievement. I would love your feedback!