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Paper suggests that "the "revolution" of social media merely parallels other cultural reversals, all of which seek to return humans to the center of the universe." Interesting social perspective...

"This is our second Sputnik moment. At a time when women hold only 24 percent of STEM jobs and blacks and Hispanics also fare poorly in these fields, we better get this argument about diversity of talent right or else it's going to be a very expensive moment, indeed."

I like the ethic and attiude that this article promotes. I have seen this gap for a long time and I have heard the meritocracy argument as well. The fact is that people who benefit from a system want to believe that they inherently earned their spot due to superior intellect, personality, etc. It is difficult to believe that you are a member of an organization because others feel you belong there and your presence reinforces the establishd culture of power.

"I dig science" " virtual fossil dig environment that teaches science in the context of being immersed in a location that takes into account social and cultural factors...

Here is a highly populated list of open course offerings at various universities on the internet. This is certainly going to be disruptive to the pay-for-learning model of higher education. Some issues: does it make sense to attach some sort of certification of completion? Is it feasible or desirable to offer complete open courses, or would it be better to make the offerings more granular in nature? Should users be able to remix offerings from various courses to create custom courses?

This is fantastic! Thank, Steve.

Perspectives on Common Core, Nationalization of Education, Data, FERPA and kids.

"Is Google Making Us Stupid" going into three anthologies

This is a very salient issue in modern education and the results of the Google Books issue will have a great impact on academia.

This is an article by professor of Law at Duke. His argument focuses around Google's Book search service and the recent litigation surrounding it. He criticizes both sides and recommends that we collectively rethink the ideas behind copyright.

A TV/Web report on the digital revolution and how it's changing our lives, with video stories, interviews, and user-generated video on relationships, information overload, education, the military, parenting, brain development, and more.

Curious what math teachers in our class think about this. Anyone worked with these methods?

I was talking with Arene about this. He has taught math in middle school and high school in Singapore. When I asked if teaching this in the US would be effective he had some interesting points. You should talk with him to get an accurate account, but one of the questions he raised in our conversation was the following: Does this pedagogy that works in the cultural context of Singapore transfer to the United States?

Wikipedia event at Berkman Center

Here is an online learning module about innovation. I have not run through the course, but I might do it just to get an online learning experience

access to information leads to greater economic opportunities. I am sure there are several explanations but.. I post this article, because it got me thinking about a concept from a paper on universal design for learning : access to information is not the same as access to learning. As more and more people have increasing access to large amounts of information , progress for all will depend on making it easily accessible How can we do that online ? I am not sure where I am going with this thread, but it all seems interesting to me.... any thoughts ?

Well, I guess if we equate the spread of the printing press to creating a new market (i.e. purchasing printed materials) then this is how economic opportunities increased. But those printed materials spread more quickly when the readers received content that was designed by the people similar to themselves. Likewise, the spread of online learning environments must also connect to greater usage in general; however, learning may be limited for the user with sites that are designed by an alternative culture that does not represent the user's. What do you think?

Clive Thompson on Twitter and teaching collaboration. "[Twitter]  It's practically collectivist - you're creating a shared understanding larger than yourself."

Culture is more important than genes in developing potentially self-harming altruistic behavior.. But wait - this paper says the opposite (and throws religiousness in for good measure). Let the academic debate continue! http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070405170133.htm

While not an emerging tehnology per se, social networks can serve as indicators of how, why and who is using and CREATING web content. I think the creation part of this exchange is key in that it ishere that the disruptive element of the technology comes into play. In my studies of Podcasts for the wiki assignment I found that many first time podcasters subscribers experimented with recording their own Podcast before becoming regular consumers. How does this relate to the facebook vs. myspace arguement, you ask? SImple, myspace is a more customizable portal/page that allows users to express and communicate their own, often marginalized socio-cultural identity. Facebook on the other hand asks users to define their online persona via 'freinds', shared photos, profile text fields, etc. For many recent immigrant and children, the formation and identification of an imagined community is an attractive thing. Somalian wallpaper, Manga flash videos embedded, Dominican Republic Flag .gifs waving all over..and MUSIC.

Here's a brief article with statistics on online social networking divide. What does your online social networking preference reveal about your social class?

Will online social networking create or perpetuate a "caste system" within online communities?