A new social network for colleges and universities called "GoingOn." Maybe the new Edmodo for higher ed? This article is a Q&A with the designer. Something interesting to keep your eyes on...

Interesting program to look into called "Kids College." A video game laced with reading/math assessments.

"FORTUNE -- How do you go about teaching teachers how to teach? David K. Cohen's Teaching and Its Predicaments takes on that paradox. While the book's prescriptions are often too general -- teachers must show empathy and resolve, and communities should provide backup -- its descriptions of the task facing teachers are superb."

The Education Program for Gifted Youth is now Stanford Online High School. Raises some interesting questions about online education, access and cost, and scalability.

GO SEE THIS FILM! Documentary about Kevin Clash, the man beyond Elmo and other muppets at Sesame Workshop, that is sure to make you fall in love with Elmo all over again :-)

Technology isn't explicit in this article, but it is ever-present in regards to this author's re-thinking of the classic book report. Instead of "same old, same old", this article suggests that students should be remixing the information they gather from books and recreating it in different ways - 21st century skills!!! "Below, we present some alternatives to that classic classroom assignment, the book report. All of our ideas are inspired by The New York Times in some way, either because we've adapted an interesting format, or because we were inspired by an article, review, essay, interview or multimedia feature."

This article shares some statistics from the NPD group's research regarding children under 17 and gaming. The percentage of under 17 year olds who video games has risen from 82% in 2009 to 91% in 2011. Mobile gaming is up from 8% in 2009 to 38% in 2011.

This article discusses the future of gaming and how companies are approaching gaming as platforms develop and evolve. "You have different visions of the future. Some companies think it's primarily browser-based and mobile is kind of an afterthought. Then you have other companies that are more in the social/mobile space and they say mobile is the future. From my point of view, I think Funzio has placed the bet correctly in that they are focusing on a cross-platform approach."

"Idaho is set to become first state in the nation to require high school students to take at least two credits online to graduate." Has anyone seen this yet? Comments/thoughts? I think the main motivator for this initiative is to lower costs...I fear that if finance is the driving force, it won't be implemented as effectively as possible....

Article about Virginia's DOE Apple iPad initiative. Lots of things to say about this but those who are interested in what schools might do with iPads should take a look about what Virginia is talking about...

Company called "Knewton" making software similar to what we discussed with School of One - ongoing assessments (short quizzes), online tutoring, etc.

how one school is creating digital culture - cool 4 min video

Article about a district's efforts to alleviate anxiety and stress on student performance. Interesting when we discussing assessment...

Interesting, real-time, questions about the topics we are covering in T561. Illuminates some of the key pieces (and challenges there within) of the scaling process... "Wissahickon School District (WSD) board members are divided on how to meet educational technology goals that bridge the "digital divide" and foster 21st Century Learning skills for students. A "1:1" plan presented to board members calls for giving every secondary student a computer to bridge the digital divide for students who do not have a computer, and enhance learning for all."

Interesting study for how students use facebook, and how that might affect academic performance. Those who used facebook to post statuses did worse academically then those who used it to share links/comment on others' links etc. Obviously, self-reporting of facebook use is limiting, as well as the myriad of other factors that influence academic performance. Still, something to look for when it gets published in the journal of Computers in Human Behavior. "How does Facebook activity affect a student's grades? Reynol Junco, a professor at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, recently set out to determine exactly that. Mr. Junco assembled a sample of nearly 2,000 college students who self-reported details of their Facebook use: not just total time spent on the social networking site, but specific actions taken such as commenting, chatting, uploading photos or seeing what others are doing - "lurking," as Mr. Junco calls it."

Another example of a one-to-one laptop program in schools. Interesting to think of this from the standpoints of the various stakeholders, and how awesome is it that we have so many representatives in our classroom alone - teachers, parents, siblings, caregivers, researchers, and of course, publishers :-) Sally Ryan for The New York Times MUNSTER, Ind. - Laura Norman used to ask her seventh-grade scientists to take out their and flip to Page Such-and-Such. Now, she tells them to take out their laptops.

For those of you in Professor Wiske's class, this makes our course work all the more relevant. For the purposes of this class, what technologies are effective in providing the tools for teachers and students to engage in quality online education? Certainly a question that, based on these numbers, is only going to grow more complex with time...