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"Simply put, the academy don't like being told what to do and many will passively resist in reaction. This includes being told that they must use the institution LMS as part of a MOPP."

Yesterday, I received an email notice saying that a few of my Flickr photos had been favorited. These particular photos were of my children, mostly of my daughter. Every time this happens, I go to see who the Flickr user is, and most of the time, it is a family member, a close friend, or someone I know through Twitter (or other social network). I did not recognize the user in this particular case, and when I went to see their photos, the Flickr message alerted me that none of the user's photos were available. Seeing as my photos had been favorited, I went to see what other photos had been marked as favorites by this user.

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.

While providing great content is critical if you want to establish a loyal audience, it is only one of a variety of ingredients. Other factors come into play; most importantly, your visitors need to see that you've made every effort to accommodate their needs; that you've put much thought into their experience on your site. To create a blog that stands out from the others, use this list of useful WordPress plugins to show your readers that you have made the effort, and you'll be rewarded with return visitors and growth. So what do your visitors really want?

Quick: what was the most widely-used form of media in 2008? If you guessed Internet news sites, blogs, or social networks, you'd be way off. Network TV news (NBC, CBS, ABC) is still used by the highest percentage of adult Internet users, with local newspapers and local TV news occupying the 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively, in a recently released survey from Ketchum. While old media is still on top, the trends in the survey, which has been conducted each of the last three years, point to a familiar story: media consumption habits are quickly changing. That said, some forms of new media are performing much better than others. For example: - Blogs are now used by 24% of Internet users, up from 13% in 2006 - Social networks are now used by 26% of Internet users, up from 17% in 2006 - Videocasts are now used by 11% of Internet users, up from 6% in 2006 Slower growers include: - RSS feeds: growing from 5 to 7 percent - Podcasts: growing from 5 to 7 percent - Business news sites: flat at 8 percent

The top-down, authoritarian model found in most classrooms today looks very different from the model many students experience when they learn online. The classroom's hierarchical approach, with the sage on the stage, requires, (and, ultimately demands) passivity and deference on the part of the learner. Informal, interest-driven networked learning, with its access to large stores of information and variety of opinion, on the other hand, takes a much different view of authority. It's usually peer based, largely democratic, meritocratic, often creates dissonance due to variety and demands evaluation. Knowing what we do about active learning, one would seem clearly superior to the other.

With all the buzz about Amazon's new Kindle 2, you'd think this revamped e-book reader was the most advanced piece of technology this side of designer babies. After all, for $359, you get a color screen, Wi-Fi and Web browsing, video playback, 60GB of storage, and a reasonably usable keyboard. Oh wait, you don't get any of that stuff. No, that's what $350 can get you if invested in even a low-end Netbook, such as the new 10-inch Acer Aspire One. Not only is there a wide range of PC software available for buying and displaying e-books (and tons of free content as well), when you're done with all that highbrow readin', pop open a Web browser and rot your brain with some Hulu videos.

A Google jockey is a participant in a presentation or class who surfs the Internet for terms, ideas, Web sites, or resources mentioned by the presenter or related to the topic. The jockey's searches are displayed simultaneously with the presentation, helping to clarify the main topic and extend learning opportunities. The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning practices and technologies. Each brief focuses on a single practice or technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues. In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About…" briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

What a great idea! Collaborative novels, 140 characters at a time... this Plurk thing has potential.

This is an example of a Shelfari page that I created for my students who were working on independent author studies. After students wrote book reviews on their blogs, I added their titles to the shelf. by embedding the widget onto my blog, everyone could immediately see what others were reading.

Free industry quality movies are pretty scarce but free music can be found in many places. So, enter what in my opinion are the best sites to download free music. Not the torrent or limewire kind; the I-take-it-without-paying-so-it's free, but music relea

What are the characteristics we would expect to see in a successful 21st century educator? Well, we know they are student-centric, holistic, and they're teaching about how to learn as much as teaching about the subject area. We know, too, that they must b

When people are unenthusiastic about social media and other Web 2.0 stuff it is tempting to be a bit sneery and say they don't "get it". Who can fail to see the benefits of publishing without publishers, and organising without organisations? The tools may take a little getting used to, but surely they are worth trying in pursuit of a better world? Maybe for you, but not necessarily for them. It could be people do get it and don't like what they see, because your world view isn't theirs. If they say We can't do that - and they mustn't do it either, it may be a reflection of organisational culture - or something deeper about the way thing work.

ipadio allows you to broadcast from any phone to the Internet live. Phone blog, collect audio data, record and update the world, or simply let your mates know what you're doing - ipadio is integrated with Social Media & Blogging platforms. (pat pend GB0820862.1)

Tip #1: Your assignment should match your course goals/objectives. Don't "do" writing just to say you've done it. Make sure it's going to help you with your bigger objectives in the course. Tip #2: You don't need to be an expert yourself. No one expects you to be a grammarian. (In fact, plenty of English teachers are stumped by our language at times.) If you need an expert, see tip #6, but really, just concentrate on what you need from the paper. Give kids guidelines for the format, but don't make it your primary focus.

The purpose of this course is to provide "Just in Time" training through an online interface for K-12 educators based on the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). These standards are the basic technology skills every educator should possess. In the process, educators will develop their own skills and discover what students need in order to meet the NETS for Students, as well as the new MMC Online Experience requirement. Participants who fulfill all of the requirements have the opportunity to earn SBCEU's. To learn more about the session, look under the tab "The 21 Things". We hope you take advantage of this unique opportunity.

Following is from Webware.com (overview of service) "National Novel Writing Month National Novel Writing Month is a really neat service. For 11 months out of the year, it's a place where aspiring writers can congregate, discuss books they love, and talk about what kinds of books they plan to write. But in November, it's home to a flurry of activity. During National Novel Writing Month, users write 50,000-word novels. As they hit different milestones, they update their profiles with information on how far along they are. When the story is complete, each qualifying manuscript idea will be added to the site's Winner's page. Winning authors receive a certificate and a Web badge. If they're lucky, an agent or publisher might like their idea, request to read the manuscript, and publish the book in hardcover."