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A growing chorus of voices argue that the internet is making us dumber. Web-connected laptops, smartphones and videogame consoles have all been cast as distracting brain mushers. But there's reason to believe some of the newest devices might not erode our minds. In fact, some scientists think they could even make us smarter. Could the cleaner and more modern interfaces that we see on iPads, iPhones and Android smartphones better suit the way our minds were meant to work?

"My children (16, 18, 20) are writing more and more. Their friends do too… Probably not in the way some of you can imagine… nor think of as writing…but nonetheless they are writing. They are texting… 8000 texts (per month) sent and received… Can you imagine probably 5-10 words on average per text…40,000 -80,000 words per month: A collaborative monthly story of their lives in WRITING!"

Pre-task thinking: Let's say you want to send clients an assessment test for them to do from home, and all the data should be evaluated instantly, without you having to correct it. You would like to have all of the data neatly in one table, easily available. This could be for a general assessement test that you use again and again. I've got a very short test on Making appointments on the phone just to show what the front end of such a self-grading test could look like to the client:

If America wants to continue to be a world-leader, we can do it with a technology advantage - but only if we actually know how to leverage that technology to continue to be more productive. So, I began to write out a list of the tech skills that I think students should learn before they leave college. Ideally, these are skills that would be integrated throughout K-12 and college curricula.

For the past month, I've been babbling about interesting web sites for kids and teachers at Vocalo.org (http://vocalo.org/), Chicago's first user-generated content radio station. It's an initiative of our local NPR affiliate and it broadcasts on the internet and at 89.5 if you're in the Chicago/Northern Indiana area. The station is a really interesting concept and I think a sign of the ways things will go with radio. Anyway, I thought I'd share 5 of my favorites from this series with you today. Enjoy!

Great video, it will make you think.

Technology Proficiency License: Do you think all schools should have teachers licensed to meet teacher technology competency standards? It would require them to complete coursework and pass a test. I know 21 schools in the states already do this.

"If you think that iPods are used just for listening to music, you obviously haven't been keeping up with the latest technology. The Apple-developed music player now features all kinds of accessories to help you study better, and now other companies are in a rush to get their designs in sync with the iPod. Pre-teens, college kids and even adults are taking advantage of the educational benefits an iPod affords them. From downloadable podcasts to just-for-iPod study guides and applications, learning on the go has never been easier. To find out about the many different ways you can transform your iPod into a learning device, check out our list below."

"If the message in this video resonates with you feel free to send it to any teachers, principals, professors, university presidents, boards of regents, boards of education, etc. you think should see it."

HTML Gear makes it easy to add and manage multiple widgets, including guestbooks, polls, feedback forms and more. Best of all it's FREE! Guest Gear Get comments from your visitors with our highly customizable guest book. Poll Gear Find out what your visitors think! Create colorful polls on the topics of your choice. Link Gear Manage links, count clicks, and let your visitors recommend sites. Feedback Gear Get feedback from your visitors without having to reveal your e-mail address. Event Gear Share dates and coordinate group events. Text Gear Put different words of wisdom, tips, factoids, or quotes on your page each time your page loads. Headline Gear Place current headlines from a variety of hot news categories on your site.

The motivation behind Math Mov!es At 13, Ngoc moved to Australia and experienced a different education system, in which people are afraid of mathematics, in contrast to her class in Vietnam, where people love mathematics! After Ngoc graduated from university as a mathematician, Ngoc decided to demystify mathematics. Why are people so afraid of mathematics? How can we apply mathematics thinking to everyday life? Is mathematics really that important and useful? Those are some questions we seek to answer with this website. How the crew was formed Ngoc dragged her computer science friend, Viet Anh, to join the team as the animation expert. Viet Anh called on Son, a student in New York, to split the work, since movie making sure requires a lot of animations! Through Krithika, a friend and relative of one of our coaches, we found Punit, our HTML designer, and Krishna, our graphics designer. And thanks to facebook, Ngoc and Viet Anh found another graphic producer, Linh. So the team was completed! As for the coaches, we can't remember how Salwa and Nagi were drawn into the team. it feels like they have always been with us since day one. Where the Mov!es idea came from First we intended it to be a conventional website, but our coaches require very high standard, pushing our imagination to the max. How can we be different? A team discussion was conducted. Websites so far have been mimicking the tabloid / newspaper format, emphasizing on texts as the main content, but why plain text? Why not use another media, such as pictures and animations? Moving pictures? Movies... Movies!!! There we go! From then on, we became the official movie crew.

What do you think you should be learning about using technology in teaching? This was the question I opened with in a class I'm currently co-teaching with my colleague ........

"This presentation is about what we (as web designers) could learn from print designers. This presentation covers; typography, white space, composition, thinking bigger & visual language. "

"Ever wonder what it would be like if we let our students pick the tools we use in class? This collection of web 2.0 tools is just that- a list of tools and ideas for what students see as being useful for their learning in and out of school. To begin the project, 8th grade students were engaged in a conversation about what school would look like if all of the rules we currently had were disbanded. They were no longer bound by walls, schedules, age restrictions or standardized tests. No technology was outlawed. It was a bit of a hurdle for them...after eight years of the current school arrangement, it was difficult for them to imagine anything else. With a little encouragement and a push they rose to the occasion, and here are the tools they think we ought to consider using. As this is a dynamic site, there may be some entries in need of editing. We will get to them! We left the duplicates in for emphasis as well as different points of view. Enjoy!"

"26 Learning Games to Change the World by Jeff Cobb darfur-is-dyingThe 5th annual Games for Change Festival is coming up soon, and while I don't think it is in the Mission to Learn budget for me to attend, it seems like a good time to poke around and see what sorts of games might be out there that are geared towards teaching people something that will make a difference in the world. Fair warning, you could easily eat up a big chunk of your day following the links in this post. Buy hey, you'll be helping out the world a bit in the process. Here's what I found :"