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In this article, Justin Reich, a Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Technology, Innovation, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, argues that LMS are "homogenized, transient and disempowering" and that they serve "the needs of institutions, not individual students." The author describes teaching a course in a large-scale environment where "the specific goal is for students to learn to build networks of learning resources- people, readings, websites and communities- that can help them continue learning in a domain long after a course ends." His course, built on Connectivist principles, asks students to move beyond the course LMS and "curate links and connections and share their evolving ideas." Students used websites, blogs, Twitter and other Web spaces to share and store their ideas. The author discusses several advantages of moving beyond the LMS. Justin, R. (2015, February 13). Techniques for Unleashing Student Work from Learning Management Systems. Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/02/techniques-for-unleashing-student-work-from-learning-management-systems/

Website with a good blog with strategies for teachers to make learning fun and for teaching creative and critical thinking skills. "While that is still an important piece, it has blossomed into so much more. At this point, about 3/4 of the posts here are written by guest bloggers in the field of education. This has resulted in Minds in Bloom becoming an amazing resource for teachers, tutors, and homeschoolers, as well as counselors, and other professionals who work with children. In addition to posts about teaching strategies and classroom management, you will also find plenty of freebies and an occasional giveaway."

I have found a number of interesting and useful articles on the blog at Minds in Bloom. In particular, the guest posts by occupational therapist Loren Shlaes offer ideas about things I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. How children sit, affects their brains and abilities to focus. Asking kids to sit still harms, rather than helps learning!

Digital literacy blog about using google advanced search as a way to teach kids to use the basic google search tool. A valuable brief for anyone who uses the internet.

For our Principles of Education course, we were given a reading on digital literacy by Alan November. In it, this blog is referenced. The reading and this blog really opened my eyes to the way that search engines work. I realized that in order to teach students to be digitally literate, I need to become much more digitally literate myself. A very insightful read.

I thought this was a really cool set of resources directly from NASA. Most of it is aimed at educators from a K-12 level. There is some really interesting stuff here, especially for educators in the science and technology fields. It even breaks down what audiences resources are appropriate for. I think the fact that NASA is involved could be a built-in way to grad student attention, right off the bat (I would love to check out a NASA webinar as a secondary student)

You must check out this blog. It presents ideas for efficient and effective tech integration. One tab focuses on professional development options for 21st century educators, each topic relating to using technology in the classroom. There is a page on Digital Literacy Badges, Google Docs; the list goes on as some of the pages have multiple tabs to take you to even more information. I could spend hours exploring. It is amazing the number of different online sites available for teachers to host content and for students to present their understanding. The host of this blog Sue Oxenvad also offers online professional development, which you can register for on the blog.

This site has some great resources to help organize your digital workflow. The resources have been nicely organized and categorized into the following areas: Within a Learning Management System; On a Webpage, Wiki or Blog; Using a Web Tool both Teachers and Students can curate content; Using Open Educational Resources; Using Primary Source Material ... and more.

For those of us who are unsure of the benefits of blogging, here are some good reasons. Another good article on the same website is "The Internet and the Future of Education."

Quotation from email sent by the company Layouts give your page more structure, if and when you need it. In a Stream, all posts are arranged one below the other in chronological order. Here are some cool ways of using Streams: Writing long form text, like a blog. Group discussions, where order is important. Presentations.

I know you folks have used (Walwisher) Padlet. I thought you might be interested in the new features. Avi

Dave Cormier's blog post about the motives of different vested interests and their relationship to MOOCs

Google is amazing...instead of a virtual get-together on Skype, try Google Hangouts and for teachers, you could "hold virtual meetings, hosting guest speakers, or creating a video podcast." Also--it is a free service!