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Technological networks have transformed prominent businesses sectors: music, television, financial, manufacturing. Social networks, driven by technological networks, have similarly transformed communication, news, and personal interactions. Education sits at the social/technological nexus of change – primed for dramatic transformative change. In recent posts, I’ve argued for needed systemic innovation. I’d like focus more specifically on how teaching is impacted by social and technological networks.

social and technological networks subvert the classroom-based role of the teacher. Networks thin classroom walls. Experts are no longer “out there” or “over there”. Skype brings anyone, from anywhere, into a classroom. Students are not confined to interacting with only the ideas of a researcher or theorist. Instead, a student can interact directly with researchers through Twitter, blogs, Facebook, and listservs. The largely unitary voice of the traditional teacher is fragmented by the limitless conversation opportunities available in networks. When learners have control of the tools of conversation, they also control the conversations in which they choose to engage.

Course content is similarly fragmented. The textbook is now augmented with YouTube videos, online articles, simulations, Second Life builds, virtual museums, Diigo content trails, StumpleUpon reflections, and so on.

The statutory division in the Act cannot be deviated from. None of your friends or other relatives could benefit from your estate, nor would it be possible for any of your estate to be bequeathed to charities. You have no choice regarding who administers the estate. The Administrator will be appointed by court order. While anyone can apply to do this, preference goes to next of kin (usually the spouse, then children, then parents). If no one applies to do so, the Official Administrator for British Columbia will perform the task. This often prolongs the process. Court ordered appointment of an Administrator usually increases the legal costs to your estate. If you have outstanding debts when you die, your creditors will have to agree to the appointment of your Administrator without bond. If any of them don't agree to this, the court may require your Administrator to post a bond to protect the estate's assets. If you don't have a will, you cannot designate guardians for your children who are under the age of 19. If you have children younger than 19 when you die, their share of your estate will be paid to the Public Guardian and Trustee. It will be administered by this office until they reach the age of 19. You won't have any control over how the monies are paid out for the benefit of your children. Requests can be made for funds before they reach 19, but it's up to the discretion of the Public Guardian. Typically all assets must be converted to cash. Family heirlooms may not stay within your family. These heirlooms will be sold, and the proceeds distributed rather than passing down to your family members. The estate cannot be distributed until one year after your death. Some of your beneficiaries may experience financial hardship in the meantime, especially after payment of funeral expenses. You'll lose the opportunity to take advantage of any legal, tax or estate planning techniques that would have sped up the distribution of assets to your beneficiaries.

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The ocean may look calm and serene, but beneath the surface is a different story. Around the world, our oceans are in crisis. Decades of industrial fishing have taken a massive toll on marine ecosystems, yet our appetite for seafood has never been so great. Even the deep and remote areas that once served as refuges from fishing are no longer safe havens; today the fish have no place to hide.

A recent National School Boards Association survey (2007) announced that upward of 80 percent of young people who are online are networking and that 70 percent of them are regularly discussing education-related topics.

these shifts demand that we move our concept of learning from a "supply-push" model of "building up an inventory of knowledge in the students' heads" (p. 30) to a "demand-pull" approach that requires students to own their learning processes and pursue learning, based on their needs of the moment, in social and possibly global communities of practice.

Last December, in an effort to honor the memory of her grandfather who had died the year before, Laura decided to do one good deed each day in the run-up to Christmas. She decided, with her mother's approval, to share her work with the world.Laura's blog, "Twenty-Five Days to Make a Difference" (http://twentyfivedays.wordpress.com), quickly caught the eye of some other philanthropic bloggers.