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The dire need for repairs still remains, despite a broad range of approaches designed to fix public education. The pendulum swings to and fro. This year, the highly politicized strategy is to increase the stringency of standardized tests (often without warning) and then to blame the teachers for the widespread failures of their students to meet those standards.

You cannot repair a system when its foundation has been destroyed. I think most students want to take control of their learning. The use of Web 2.0 tools can move this process alone and the teacher's role must change from a 'sage on state' to a social media coach.

"How To Use Evernote, The Missing Manual is a free 34 page guide to using Evernote. The guide will help you use Evernote in your web browser, on your iPad, on your Android tablet, on your phone, and on your desktop. The guide is available to download as a PDF or EPub."

"This post briefly introduces instructional video accessibility and some tools to make videos more accessible."

"This post is for teachers and students who want to learn more, get going, and start using OER this year."

"Dropbox is an awesome service. You can back your files up to the cloud, sync them between computers, and share them with your friends. That's not all it can do, though. Here are our top 10 favorite clever uses for our favorite file syncing program."

"As your company searches for new ways to boost productivity and increase sales, it's important to be aware of the ways your plans can be thwarted. Turns out, your everyday work habits may actually be standing in the way of your success. Want to know how to kill your productivity? Do these seven things."

"If there's a reason you haven't killed yourself by now, it's probably because you recently saw an animated GIF. But where do they come from? Where do they go? Can you make your own?"

"Google Docs is an online suite of digital tools that provides teachers with some powerful features to help students develop 21st century writing skills. Since Docs are collaborative and available 24/7, the tool is well-suited for facilitating digital writing workshops that combine peer editing with cooperative grouping and small group fine-tuned writing instruction."

"This summer Sylvia wrote a number of excellent blog posts containing sound information for anyone that has questions about using social media in elementary school classrooms."

"The important thing is to manage the flow of information in your life. Information is power, and you can't do without it. Managing the flow is the key."

"Now I have over a thousand unread messages in one email account, and I'm tempted to declare email bankruptcy. Since then, I've been focusing on one email account that I check consistently and keep organized. I've found that it's more efficient for me personally to manage one inbox than it is to jump around checking multiple accounts. Here are several strategies for staying on top of email:"

"Anyone who works with children with autism knows the difficulties in regulating emotions.  Within an hour, a child can go from 'sleepy' to 'boiling' and not have strategies to get to the 'green' area."

Imodesty thrives on Facebook and Twitter because they enable what social scientists call self-enhancement - the human tendency to oversell ourselves.

elegantly organized set of infographics detailing the step-by-step process of using Twitter and making it work for you. Here are some of the key questions answered in the set of graphics by Cheryl Lawson below. Some tips are geared towards businesses but I know that many of them will benefit the Edudemic audience too!

"Having started a half dozen MOOC's in the recent months, I have found most of them tend to share a common trait. Many MOOC's currently represent a sort of parody of higher education's worst practices, its most spectacular delusions about itself."

Social media is now an active reality for marketers. No longer something to consider as an option, marketers are rapidly increasing their budgets in this space and trying to leverage social media to best connect with consumers. Many marketers believe social media is a low risk, high reward channel. However, these 5 pitfalls will increase your risk and lower the reward, leading you down the path to social mediocrity.

An important thing to remember is that networks are about people, and making connections with people. If cultivate my PLN to support gaps in my formal education - I connect with people who can help me learn. I have a local PLN with professors and physicians that support my formal education, but I also have a connected network of academics and professionals around the world who share interests or are experts in areas where I need someone else's opinion. But for a PLN to truly work, there needs to be a give and take. You cannot expect to just cultivate information from others without giving something back - you need to share your expertise as well.

"The starting line. Square one. The basics. First step. When it comes to planning an effective social media presence, most minds drift to the tool box. Should we be on Facebook? What about Twitter? Do we need a profile on LinkedIn? What about video? These are all great questions. But, they can't be answered effectively until you've gone through the process of figuring out what social media can do for you. You could skip the primer and just dive in, learn from your mistakes and successes. But your presence on social media will be more profitable in a shorter period of time if you just begin at the beginning."

Snapguide is the easiest way to make and share great looking guides. Browse the site for great guides or get the free Snapguide App to Create your own guide.

"If you're a social media novice, hashtags - those short links preceded by the pound sign (#) - may seem confusing and unnecessary. But they are integral to the way we communicate online, and it's important to know how to use them"