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My first thought is "why would you want to be friends with your students on facebook?" It depends on the reasons people have a facebook page. If it is, indeed, going to be used as a tool to extend "learning" outside of the classroom, then I believe there are other platforms outside of Facebook. If teachers still want to use this for class, perhaps a better option is having a twitter account for school only where they can update students. I worked for two districts-one told us we were not allowed to be friends with our students and the other just warned against it. Most teachers I know do not add their students because it is a place for their friends where they do not see themselves as some child's teacher, but someone's friend. I know a high school chorus teacher who friends her students, and I think its inappropriate. She posts things about her personal life and they frequently chime in. However, discusses her personal life in class so it may not be that much of a difference than posting it online. I would take action as a teacher if I were disciplined for a facebook post. Ultimately people need to check their privacy settings if they can. There are even issues with friending other teachers. I refused to do this with other teachers, unless we were friends outside of school. I knew of teachers who would tell our principal what was posted on other teachers' pages.

Now Facebook has "Friends" pages, where you can see all the interactions between your friends.

How the web is changing the lives of people after they die. This is not depressing! I actually think it's quite interesting, and certainly now a part of "life after death." A friend of mine with over 2000 FB friends passed away last summer and I still see his page ranked highly on mine almost daily. Admittedly, it's odd, but it's also a nice reminder of him.

Inkling makes interactive textbooks and are really trying to raise the bar in this area. I'm interested in the  "Social Learning Network" inside the Inkling textbooks. In other words, you and your friends can highlight/annotate and collaborate inside the textbook much like you would, for example, on a google doc. 

Anything that involves 'instant' such as twitter, texting, and youtube, hurt your 'working memory' and thus make you dumber. Facebook, on the other hand, expands your working memory as you seek to keep in touch with all your 'friends'. Really?

But what if the people finding me on Facebook were better left fogotten.

Use Facebook Places to see exactly where your Facebook friends are.

just as I was wondering how I could improve "keeping track of friends in a crowd"

The best way to study languages, vocabulary, or almost anything P.S. It's fun, it's free, and you can share with friends!

#HGSET561 A great way to study languages, vocubulary, or almost anything. Attended the founder speak at MIT Bootcamp. http://quizlet.com/

My Wife's friend is a principal in this district. I am still incredulous at the fact that schools can require students to use electronic textbooks without providing laptops or e-readers to each student. But then again, where would the money come from? On a related note, the federal government seems to be sinking an awful lot of money into solar energy, despite the fact that a lot of these companies are folding. Wouldn't education be a better investment?

Stephen, In my opinion, the government is not sinking enough money into renewable energy. I am sure we have 'sunk' much more money into education over the last few decades and continue to do so. I don't think it is an either/ or.

If only educational games were engaging enough for students to want to pay to play...

"unfriend" has been chosen to be the word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. unfriend = remove someone from your friend list on a social networking site.

This is what some very talented current students at HGSE are working on. It's a solid plan, with a talented and diverse team of educators and media producers. And it's taking off! So heads up everyone. This is part of the next phase of your plan too ;-) Just look at the production value!

oh, and give them money. lots of money. and tell your friends to give them money. 'cuz they're actually doing this. http://www.indiegogo.com/drmadd plus this is a great promo video anyway

TEP11 grad here. Now a math teacher in a Title 1 school. Interested. I follow this Diigo feed (since when I took this useful class) so saw the video just now ... edutainment.com not working yet :-( I wanted to see more. Fyi, here's a rare example of a math video my students "tolerated" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7MxGyEaN64

"Language online is now a zero sum game."

True. But japanese expansion was maybe not too much due o the power of internet as much as english. Curious about Chinese given there are already so many dialects.

This is an interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. I was speaking with some friends from Germany and Spain, who explained that English has become much more motivating due to its pervasive existence online. However, mandarin is preferential to higher SES families who want their children to excel in business.

This is the initiative with which I am interning. I used to work at Friends Academy and with Katherine Gaudet and she has organized a robust initiative. It should be very interesting to see how this develops over the next two years.

"The Flat Stanley Project, one of the world's longest-running global education and literacy projects, has launched a new chapter. There's a brand-new website with increased interactivity and even a mobile app to track the globe-trotting adventures of Stanley Lambchop and his flat friends."

This is great! I remember doing the Flat Stanley project when I was a kid. It's cool to see it progress with the technology.

Like most Facebook users, many educators use Facebook to connect with friends new and old, but the Internet's most popular site can also be a great learning (and teaching) tool. There are many Facebook pages that have been created as a resource to collect, share, and disseminate information about education and education technologies.

10 Beneficial Facebook Pages For Educators To Check Out

Interesting article about a multimedia tool for teachers with the main goal of implementing best methodologies in the classroom. Teachers can share students' performance via text, photo, audio or video.

Here's an example of one person who excelled in a MOOC. While everyone may not have the drive of this student, this is a good example of how an online technology facilitated a social learning group. Also - yet another example of how online resources can benefit people across the country who do not otherwise have access.

A friend just sent me this same article, Molly! However, my takeaway was much different. Whenever I read articles about young people doing extraordinary things with limited resources and technology, my first thought is always "how is this possible??" The article addresses my question directly: "The answer has to do with Battushig's extraordinary abilities, of course, but also with the ambitions of his high-school principal." The principal, also a graduate of MIT, was focused on developing more skilled engineers in Mongolia, and made it his mission to bring science and tech labs to his students; while MOOCs, the government's heavy investment in IT infrastructure, and the ubiquity of a 3G network made it possible to extend and enhance learning opportunities, the students may have never been exposed to engineering were it not for the encouragement of the principal. This human component, combined with technology, was what nurtured Battushig's drive and talent. This path will not work for just any student. If most homes in Mongolia have an Internet connection and even nomads cell phones, why have more people not found success with MOOCs? The author of the article summed it up best when she said, "Battushig's success also showed that schools could use MOOCs to find exceptional students all over the globe." Battushig is exceptional, just as elevated learning through MOOCs is still the "exception" and not the rule. MOOCs still lack a certain (perhaps human?) element that can move them from producing the anomaly of one "boy genius" to a more widespread level of learning.

Hi Laura - That's a good point about the principal. The principal and the student were both exceptional. While I do not think that MOOCs, as they are right now, can work for everyone, I do think that this example of educating an exceptional student is heartening. Maybe this exceptional student can learn a lot and then in turn, help others in his community. As undemocratic as it is, many advances in society are made by individuals or small groups of people. Overall though, I agree that MOOCs lack, as you said maybe a human element, to promote widespread education.