Group items tagged

"# More than 50% of U.S. online consumers check their e-mail before visiting other websites when they start the day.\n# Facebook is the first destination for 11% of U.S. online consumers.\n# Of daily Facebook users, 69% "Like" at least one company or brand.\n# 68% of daily Twitter users follow at least one brand on the service.\n# 43% of all American Internet users are either fans or followers of at least one brand on Twitter or Facebook."

"How to Teach a Remix Generation" is a presentation by Janni Black, Alison Saylor and Dan Watkins, whose presentation I had the pleasure of viewing at Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation on 2/20/2009.

Note** Would be interesting for school districts to analyze their percentage of boomers (older and younger) and corresponds their technology training to these new demographics/usage. A new report from Forrester Research revealed some surprising information: apparently Baby Boomers aren't exactly the technology Luddites that people think they are. In fact, more than 60 percent of those in this generational group actively consume socially created content like blogs, videos, podcasts, and forums. What's more, the percentage of those participating is on the rise.

A very enlightening video on our current state of broadband penetration in the US. Though the election is over, the issue remains on our plate.

Given that the happiness and feelings of his friends are Pooh's chief concern (other than hunny, that is), he'd likely build a strong community as a blogger. Here are six social media lessons we can all learn from the lovable bear who's stuffed with fluff.

Barack Obama has only four years to save the world. That is the stark assessment of Nasa scientist and leading climate expert Jim Hansen who last week warned only urgent action by the new president could halt the devastating climate change that now threatens Earth. Crucially, that action will have to be taken within Obama's first administration, he added. Soaring carbon emissions are already causing ice-cap melting and threaten to trigger global flooding, widespread species loss and major disruptions of weather patterns in the near future. "We cannot afford to put off change any longer," said Hansen. "We have to get on a new path within this new administration. We have only four years left for Obama to set an example to the rest of the world. America must take the lead.

JeopardyLabs allows you to create a customized jeopardy template without PowerPoint. The games you make can be played online from anywhere in the world. Building your own jeopardy template is a piece of cake. Just use our simple editor to get your game up and running.

Google just announced that it will gradually phase out Google Notebook and many people are looking for alternatives. Here is a brief side-by-side comparison of Google Notebook and Diigo:

Anchors Away is a place where educators can add educational games and activies that students with laptops can do when they have finished their regular classroom assignments. Feel free to request membership to the space and add your own resources. Give this page to your students!

Very clever vocab builder that is flash based. I only wish that it would have a built-in audio file for each word (I don't think I saw one -- could have missed it).

Great site!! Fantastic list of engaging activities using Web 2.0 tools. Also love the fact that all of this is tied to the book Working on the Work.

Until recently classes were sent to the library to check out pre-selected books that would have some information about their topic. Allowing students to search for their information on the web makes teachers often uncomfortable. * They can't control the content, students encounter * Overwhelming number of search results * Inappropriate sites * Inaccurate information * Citation All the above mentioned reasons are valid points, but can't be used as a reason to "stick to the book" when allowing younger students to research. We do have to prepare them for research in media that is current for our times and one they most likely will use as as their primary source for gathering information as they grow.

Ed Shepherd, a middle school administrator in Virginia and valuable member of my personal learning network, recently posted a call for definitions of collaboration. In this case, I decided to forget my affinity for 140 characters and bring it to my blog. So, what is collaboration?

ELIZABETH KNITTLE, technology integration specialist for the Barnstable Public School District in Massachusetts, took her first tentative steps in the 3D online virtual world known as Second Life about two years ago. She wasn't impressed. "I looked around and I thought, this is crazy," Knittle recalls. "I just couldn't see the value of it, so I left. But then people starting blogging about it-- a lot of people-- so I had to reconsider. I decided that if I was going to understand this thing and be able to answer questions about it intelligently, I really just had to suck it up and get in there and participate. Once I connected with people inworld, it made all the difference." That early buzz among K-12 educators centered on Second Life's potential as a learning platform. And in the last few years, many colleges, universities, and libraries have established resources in what has become the preeminent multiuser virtual environment (MUVE). Today, more than 100 Second Life "regions" are used for educational purposes.

The Collins Writing Program utilizes a "five types of writing" approach and is backed by several studies for its effectiveness.

Talks Evan Williams: How Twitter's spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses

Podstock 2009!\nSubmitted by johnessdack on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 12:51\n\nPodstock is a brand new conference designed to bring podcast creators and those who see the real value of podcasting as creators and consumers together. We'll have breakout sessions on podcasting for beginners, as well as sessions for and by seasoned pros. We'll explore podcasting as well as many other web 2.0 tools that can exhance learning and communication in your world. We invite you to join this site and add your thinking to the initial planning for this event. The conference will be held in Old Town Wichita, located in Wichita, Kansas and host participants from all over the country. It will be 2 days of education, learning & fun, so we hope you won't miss it!

So, educators, I am interested to know how you have used Wordle in your classrooms or as part of your work. I must favour visual learning, as I find visualisation tools such as Wordle, as well as SearchMe, Search Cube, Tag Galaxy and Many Eyes very useful. If they suit me as a learner, they must suit some of my students as well. I'll acknowledge the flipside of my argument and point you to Dy/Dan's post on Wordle as nothing more than eye-candy and time-filler. Maybe it is no more than engagement-on-the-cheap, but if it works, why discount it? You can decide for yourself. Here are some ways that I have utilised Wordle:

Directory - list yourself, your class, or your school alphabetically by state. Want Ads - Have a project your class is working on and need some outside support via Skype? Post an advertisement for a class or school interested in a particular Skype sess