Article about using games in the classroom to teach.

Very nice article about using Games in the Classroom from Todd Bryant. (Hat tip to Jo McLeay's plurk about this one.)

Observations by Alan Levine about the use of Ning for collaboration, specifically based upon Flat Classroom and Horizon.

Interesting observations from Alan Levine about those of us who use Nings for our projects. It truly becomes "the" ning.

Wow! This student says so much very eloquently about Don Tapscott's keynote: My tenth grader says in this blog post: "A teacher should, as Don Tapscott said, no longer be a transmitter of information, but a regulator of educational settings. Our teacher Mrs. Vicki could stand in from of the class room all day and lecture us on exactly what to do and how to do it. We would ace tests and learn a lot . . . for a while… However by next year about 65% of what we learned will be irrelevant due to technology changes and development. Instead, she gives us projects to complete that pose challenges to us that can repeat themselves. Such as giving us a project to make a video by using a program we are unfamiliar with. Though we may not ever make another video, it is inevitable that we face the challenge of having to use an unfamiliar program, ergo, we will be prepared to deal with this for the rest of our lives. So in conclusion, the role of a teacher is now: to regulate the educational environment; to introduce students to the realm of ambiguities; and to no longer evaluate our overall knowledge, but our constructive, creative, and adaptive capabilities." Wow! I am humbled and impressed at what students have to say when asked and challenged!

A student's rumination on teacher roles in the classroom.

A very nice video done by a student about connecting people via the network.

I enjoyed this video a lot from Ren at Goodland High School. I particularly liked the contrast of the computers at the beginning of the video. I think he did a nice job.

the 31 day comment challenge is a program to promote effective, meaningful comments run by several amazing edubloggers -- this is an example of something that those interested in facilitating effective communications should discuss and participate in.

Business people and management should read this article about the transformation of business by using workplace communities. "Workplace communities are designed to solve workplace-related challenges" -- they focus on tasks. I would find it interesting to see a business REALLY use technology to change things. Having the business in a business network (OK a NING) and let people tag their posts with the business related PROBLEMS they are having and blog, video, or photograph it-- the tag cloud would tell the business IMMEDIATELY what the problems are in the company. The problem with this model is that there are few corporate executives who REALLY want to know the problems within their organizations. They don't want to be problem solvers, just opportunity creators. However, when managers open their eyes (and I'm a former General Manager myself) and see that two things give business opportunity: problem solving and innovation. And they are directly related. True innovation solves problems. Read this article and think about how you may solve problems using the networks you may now create. If you don't want everyone to know, keep it private and only allow people in your company in.

Important article about why businesses need to change.

How twitter was used to backchannel a conference.

Excellent overview from Jeremiah about the use of twiter to backchannel at a conference. Backchanneling is something I think that is very important, but there is very definitely a best practice. Here were my comments to Jeremiah: "I am a classroom teacher and LOVE the backchannel (they are great for test reviews -- like group notes and more) and won't do a conference presentation without one, that being said, I wouldn't use twitter for it. Like you said, many people don't use twitter or get it. I like to create a "backchannel room" so that it is archived and recruit ahead of time at least two people: 1) A backchannel "moderator" - they answer questions and I call on them several times to ask for their summary of what is going on in the backchannel (this is when I'm the main presenter) 2) A google jockey -- they drop the links I'm talking about in the backchannel chat. I also like to ask the people in the backchannel to share best practice and what they are doing. I've had people comment that the one hour with a backchannel and me presenting was more meaningful than a whole day at a conference. (More compliments to the backchannel, I'm sure.) I've seen backchannels handled very poorly and it was TERRIBLE. It was chaos. And actually downright rude to the speaker. (More like backstabbing than backchanneling.) I've also seen it used well and it was incredible! The archiving of the backchannel gave me rich links as a presenter and participant AND also feedback on the session which I referred to later as the presenter. The backchannel is great -- I just like to use a backchannel ROOM especially for the session (inviting "friends" from around the world who are also watching on ustream) -- and then creating an archived copy of it. I think backchannels are very important and you've hit on the core of what is happening in the evolution of professional development and conferences. "

This is a website where tv enthusiasts are sharing videos and collaborating. This is an example of how television and all of our entertainment is evolving to become more customized. In addition to creating personal learning networks, we will also be creating personal entertainment networks (PEN's) -- all via this amazing thing we call RSS. Understanding RSS is not only important for learning but just living your life. User created content is here to stay.

This is a website that people are using for TV enthusiasts and they are collaborating and sharing videos.

Intel Mashmaker is a tool that you download and "mashup" sites together. It is supposed to allow average everyday people to be able to mashup google sites, flickr, almost anything with what programmers call an api.

An excellent project for 4th - 6th grade sudents from Jennifer Wagner called the Prince Caspian project which will allow teachers to collaborate with other teachers around the world about the book and the upcoming movie "Prince caspian."

This project will allow students in grades 4-6 to collaborate to talk about Prince Caspian.

Confiscating and looking at information on cell phones by school officials is still not clear. This is a very interesting case study for those working with digital citizenship issues at their school.

A court case about illegal search and siezure of a cell phone in Michigan, USA.

Flickr users are angry about the addition of video. If you search "video" on flickr, you'll see many such responses. This is important to highlight in the horizon project.

Response of many flickr users to the addition of video to flickr. This is going to be a very interesting thing to watch. Should a company focus, or should it be everything to everyone? I think that somehow flickr may miss the point... there are subgroups of people who want to use technologies in a focused way without everyone else. IN some ways, self selection makes the product more usable to a niche. Now, photobugs may have to go somewhere else or tolerate the "moving pictures" that they so hate.

This is an excellent article that has been reposted. It includes a lot of the information that outlines WHAT web 2.0 is. This includes videos and many important hyperlinks. Excellent article for newcomers to web 2.0 to pick up on.

Excellent article outlining what is happening in Web 2.0 and education. This includes many important videos as well.

Looking at the safety aspect of humans with machines is important.

Responsible use of electronic devices is going to become increasingly important because today cell phone is a distraction --- tomorrow it will be in car movies or gps devices. It is the behavior that is the problem and proper focus on real life has to be something we emphasize as we discuss the proper relationship of humans with "gadgets."

Information summarizing an article on online safety -- something important for education subgroups to cover.

I'm reading some great posts from students about the keynote. This one in particular was very captivating. In the digital age, we do not have to strike in front of the White House. We effect change by telling the world the truth from the comfort of our own homes using the Internet with facebook, myspace, blogger, and so much more."

This short insightful article from Alan Levine with the new media consortium explains wikis beautifully. I love it!

This view on wikis is very accurate. Alan Levine is the VP of the new media consortium that wrote the horizon report.

Great website using Geocaching and ARG's.

We talked about Alternate Reality and a wealth of gaming tonight on Wow2 (a show the gaming as pedagogical platform group is going to need to listen to.) This is an online ARG (alternate reality game) for educators and uses Geocaching -- we're planning an upcoming show on geocaching on Wow2 -- if you know of any educators doing great work, let me know.

Fascinating article about cross-disciplinary collaboration. This is becoming something that is possible through new means of using the Internet.

Opensource web meeting software. Interesting.

This new platform for allowing people to meet using the internet with free open source software is very exciting!