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Stephen Downes was asked (along with Dave Cormier and George Siemens): "How might it be possible to show that cMOOCs are effective for learning, in the sense of providing evidence that institutions might accept so as to support opening up more courses to outside participants (a la ds106, Alec Couros' EC&I 831, etc.)? Or, more generally, providing evidence that participation in and facilitating cMOOCs is worthy of support by institutions... What I'm looking for are criteria one might use to say that a cMOOC is successful. What should participants be getting out of cMOOCs?"

"Finland's Pasi Sahlberg is one of the world's leading experts on school reform and the author of the best-selling "Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland?" In this piece he writes about whether the emphasis that American school reformers put on "teacher effectiveness" is really the best approach to improving student achievement." This article brings forth some challenges to some of the things we assume in the U.S. that make for success in our schools. With the CCSS, this discussion becomes even more relevant.

How is it this video (or others) went "viral". Turns out it may be profit driven more than "outrage" at education and a demonstration of poor digital citizenship. Audrey Watters will give you a perspective that is informative and eye-opening. It will help you to better understand, as well, the power of social media in the construction of "truth". 

"Taxonomy based on pedagogy ... it is important to define a taxonomy of MOOCs not from the institutional but the pedagogic perspective, by their learning functionality, not by their origins." via Donald Clark Plan B

"Can computers really grade essay tests? The National Council of Teachers of English say "no," even if there is new software that says "yes."" Read the pros and cons in this article and judge for yourself. Can software do an ADEQUATE job of grading essays?

"Rational ritual" and shared knowledge in the age of online social networks. Public ritual is about transmission of meaning and the co-creation of a common knowledge. Does common knowledge = literacy?

"Having started a half dozen MOOC's in the recent months, I have found most of them tend to share a common trait. Many MOOC's currently represent a sort of parody of higher education's worst practices, its most spectacular delusions about itself. "

...scholars of international education have always warned against "a one-way transfer of educational materials from the rich north to the poor south will amount to a wave of 'intellectual neo-colonialism.'" But, again, because the MOOC movement is dominated by providers eyeing the world "market" for education, whatever they proclaim to be their motive, their attempts to make MOOCs "accessible" to international learners goes to show that they are either ignorant or unwilling to acknowledge geopolitical dynamics that shape learning experience on a global scale.

"From One Second to the Next," the rather unlikely film below, came together when AT&T approached the legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog and asked if he would direct a series of short films warning people about the dangers of texting while driving. The result is four stories. This film might be one to open the eyes of young people in our high schools.

Catlin Tucker, Honors English teacher, shares: "The SAMR model (substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition) explores the impact of integrating technology on both teaching and learning. It attempts to outline a progression that educators follow in their journey towards redefining teaching and learning with technology. I've used this model as a guide to identify where a particular lesson or activity falls on the spectrum of technology integration, but it does not  reflect the teacher's evolution." Read the rest of her post.

"ames are infiltrating every aspect of daily life - and everyone's now a gamer, in one form or another. Early-on "gamification" involved adding simple game mechanics like points, badges and leaderboards to websites and apps. But that's not what makes games truly compelling. Good games take players on a journey, giving them something to learn, master and share. Gamification 2.0 is about creating game-like digital services that shape real-world behavior and deliver deep value to players, -- using a blend of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. In this talk, we'll do a teardown of the biggest and most influential social gaming services, and distill those lessons into these Seven Core Concepts for Smart Gamification. "

Aimed at high school and college students, "Operation ARIES! is an intelligent tutoring system that using principles from the science of learning and serious learning games. " The game covers 21 scientific concepts shared among psychology, sociology, biology, and chemistry. The storyline of Operation ARIES! involves an epic story of love, revenge, uncertainty, spies, aliens, political intrigue, suspense, surprises, and saving the world. The story elements are presented across the game to maintain engagement. Watch the introduction on the homepage to get a feel for it!

Kyle Pace, Google Certified Teacher and Instructional Tech. Specialist shares his insights into creating workflows in Google Drive with students. The most common methods used are #2 and #3 (Doctopus is another popular script that I like). However, another teacher shared another on you can view here ( http://goo.gl/Kuy3b9 ) that utilizes the idea of a digital portfolio. Using one of these methods is KEY to helping you and your students more effectively leverage Google Drive...and keep your Inbox a bit leaner from all of those file sharing notifications.

Excellent introduction to the practice of Curation for Professional Learning. Engage in curation by using the steps of aggregation, evaluation, and organization. Use these resources to support all aspects of your teaching practice.

Joann Fox (AppEducation.com), a member of my PLN, shares how she's made Twitter her top Personal Learning activity and how you can, too. Oh, yeah, she's a CA teacher like you, except she does 4th grade...and is a blogger, San Diego Co. Teacher of Year, CA , co-founder of #CAedchat, #EdCampSD organizer, and Google Certified Teacher. She's a connected teacher.

"It seems like just yesterday that I was a disconnected nomad working hard to maintain the status quo and conform to a rigid system commonly known as education. You see, prior to 2009 I was adamantly opposed to even the thought of using social media for both personal and professional reasons. As a building level leader burdened by endless responsibilities, I could not fathom wasting even a precious minute in what I saw as a perpetual time sap. " Read the rest of this post to see how Eric discovered being connected on social media and engaging in conversations with passionate educators has transformed his work in education.

"I've had the pleasure to deliver and be part of countless sessions and workshops, and I can tell you from first-hand experience that there is nothing worse than a presenter who doesn't know his or her audience. Adult learners carry with them a very diverse set of skills and needs. To prepare a one-size-fits-all (or most) session does everyone a disservice. Whether you work in a district as an instructional support staff or you provide ancillary development as a contractor, the three tools and tactics featured in this post will provide an effective means to gauge the needs of your audience and chart your course to effectively support them."

"Poetica is a neat new service for collaborative editing of documents. The best feature of Poetica is its similarity to writing on a paper document. While reading a document you can click on any word or space between words to insert a line drawn to the margin where you write your comment. Clicking on a word or space also allows you to simply insert a suggested word above the line. If you want to suggest a change for an entire sentence you can highlight it and insert a drawn line to the margins where you can write your suggestions. Your suggestions are written in blue while your corrections are written in red." Supports imports of .docs, .pdfs, .rtf files.- definitely want to use this as a tool with Chromebooks

"Use "Fakebook" to chart the plot of a book, the development of a character, a series of historical events, the debates and relationships between people, and so on!" Students and teachers create imaginary profile pages.

An Summary of critiques of mitra's 'hole in the wall' experiment giving kids computers, and his conclusion that we no longer need schools.