Group items tagged

"Are teenagers losing their social skills? Parents and pundits seem to think so. Teens spend so much time online, we're told, that they're no longer able to handle the messy, intimate task of hanging out face-to-face. "After school, my son is on Facebook with his friends. If it isn't online, it isn't real to him," one mother recently told me in a panic. "Everything is virtual!""

WikiBrains is a growing community of creative people from all walks of life who embrace associative thinking to get inspired and out of the box. You may associate "Freud" to "Psychology", then someone across the globe links it to "Libido", another one to "Subconscious", and another one to "Dreams" and so on ad infinitum with ever-expanding branches and related content. It is a social, fun and smart space where ideas roam free and multiply. Welcome to WikiBrains: The Worlds Largest Brainstorm.

"Kik describes itself as, 'the fastest, simplest, most personal smartphone messenger out there.' It is an app that can be downloaded onto a smart phone, an iPod, or iPad and users can text others for free. This is one of its allures! At the time of writing 19 million had joined Kik Messenger. It is fun, effective, cheap so what are the dangers?"

"Distraction is the dominant currency in our digitally focused culture. I personally find it hard to concentrate when being plugged on particularly when the task I am working on is so important that it requires a high degree of mindful consciousness like for instance scribbling few pages  on my thesis, writing a journal article, doing a literature review...etc. Anytime I embark on one of these tasks I always make sure to turn off WiFi and put my phone on flight mode. My brain can't handle the distraction coming off these devices."

"You are never alone when teaching online. As a writer and teacher, I'm here to share my experiences and insights so that you will not hit the ground. We all know there are a lot of great articles out there on the web that talk about what you should do when you teach online. But sometimes what a new online teacher really needs is a list of what NOT to do when teaching online."

"So the following infographic from Mentoring Minds is immediately relevant to all educators, and students as well. It's a bit of a mash of Habits of Mind, various 21st century learning frameworks, and the aforementioned learning taxonomies, promoting collaboration, problem-solving, and real-world connections (standard "critical thinking fare" with Habits of Mind-sounding phrases such as "Open-Mindedness.""

"My goal in this article is to help you understand the available Evernote search tools, so that you will find it even easier and more enjoyable to use, than it already is. And if you're not a current Evernote user, to encourage you to take a look (or another look) at it. Note that these methods can be used in both desktop and web versions."

"What business today does not want to be more innovative? In business parlance, "innovation" has reached a glorified position-like "customer centricity," it is deemed to be a strategic necessity. But it is hard to define.  It means different things to different people."