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"The digital tools offer students new opportunities, no doubt, but they still need to be intentional in the way that they craft their pieces of digital writing."  This quote sums this article well.  Despite the new technology, teachers and students must be intentional in the ways they approach writing.  The article discusses Troy Hick's book Crafting Digital Writing.  The book looks very interesting.  Part of the article also discusses some of the arguments against digital writing with Tony's counter arguments.  There are also some great links within the article to various writing resources.

This is a brief article that expresses the importance and convenience of communicating with technology in education.

In this article, "Role of Information & Communication Technology in Education", the author briefly discusses the benefits of technology in education. Because of the brevity of the article, most of the advantages were only skimmed over. However, the author does mention a point that resonates with me as I attempt to integrate technology into my classroom: "The ability to digitally record any data, from tests to transcripts, is a feature of information technology that has long-term potential to save money on both paper and ink as well as make organization and management simpler for administrators and teachers" (Page). The ability to streamline classrooms and to reduce the need for paper intrigues me. Also, her point about technology making "organization and management simpler" is key to sustainable implementation of technology in my future classroom.

In this article, "Role of Information & Communication Technology in Education", the author briefly discusses the benefits of technology in education. Because of the brevity of the article, most of the advantages were only skimmed over. However, the author does mention a point that resonates with me as I attempt to integrate technology into my classroom: "The ability to digitally record any data, from tests to transcripts, is a feature of information technology that has long-term potential to save money on both paper and ink as well as make organization and management simpler for administrators and teachers" (Page). The ability to streamline classrooms and to reduce the need for paper intrigues me. Also, her point about technology making "organization and management simpler" is key to sustainable implementation of technology in my future classroom.

This article points out the significance and the approach to the digital writing in a dialogue style with Troy Hicks, an associate professor of English at Central Michigan University. He uses 'MAPS' heuristic -- mode (genre), media, audience, purpose, situation -- to help writers "intentionally" and "deliberately" think through composing digital texts. He also suggests teachers give themselves and students the opportunities and permission to play (and possibly fail) with the tools, as this can serve as a model of overcoming learning curves and digital writing process. This reminds me of the idea, 'dabble' with the tools, brought up by Jeff Utecht(2013).

How schools and families can partner to set boundaries with digital communication and make children conscience of how they use technology. 

Interesting view that schools have a powerful role to play..."Schools have taken on a more significant, all-consuming role in helping parents find the right language to communicate with children, especially in the digital realm." It is easy to forget that parents are looking for guidance about their children and effective technology use.

Technical.ly Philly reporters Juliana Reyes and Thomas Creedon contributed to this report. The lines between digital literacy and adult education are blurring. Today at Congreso , the well-regarded North Philadelphia nonprofit that has served its Latino community for 40 years, digital literacy is part of just about every adult education course.

I'm not sure whether Steve wanted an article on information/media literacy in the sense of evaluating news content, but I've interpreted it here as multimedia literacy, or digital literacy in the information age. This article is just another example of the reason I wanted to take this course in the first place: these days, digital literacy is essential.

This article offers interesting ideas on how to integrate social media into the classroom as a device for communication. Although the article focuses on MLK Day, it can be used for other lessons. It explains a variety of social media that can be used as resources and even offers ideas of how they can be used. They even go into the use of hashtags and liking Facebook pages. That will keep lessons current and motivating for students and teachers.

This article discusses a report published by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and the Meteiri Group entitled "enGauge 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age" . The brief outlines the skills needed to be successful in the 21st century, but also reinforces the fact that Digital Age literacy is grounded in the traditional 3R's.

This site looks at information literacy and looks at the 5 different "minds". They relate them to ethical, disciplined, synthesizing, creative and respectful minds when talking about students using web 2.0 applications.

Interesting article that discusses how our brains change when using Web technologies. The term "partial attention" is explained as "a state of constantly scanning for information." Insightful description of how our world has changed significantly now that technology is here to stay.

This article from eLearn Magazine discusses how neuropsyhcologists are studying the effects of using new media and Web 2.0 tools on our brains. Their results show both positive and negative findings. Some of the benefits include certain areas of the brain being worked harder and making strong neural connections allowing us to process and evaluate large amounts of information quickly. A downside is that we are not retaining information for extended periods of time and we are losing the ability to communicate with feeling because we are not always in face-to-face contact with others. The article also discusses Psychologist Howard Gardner's "Five Minds of 2.0 Learners." These are higher order thinking skills he believes individuals need in order to be successful in the digital world. These include disciplined, synthesizing, creating, respectful, and ethical minds. This is an interesting read and could start a great classroom discussion about technology use with your students.

10 Ways Digital Slowpokes Can Catch Up! By Ann Handley Even though this article was written for owners of small businesses, I think it is worth reading to stay up on what is happening out there in the "real world" of marketing and persuading people to choose their business *(using all those wonderful persuasive writing skills learned in school!) It also addresses anxieties of people all over who are overwhelmed with how fast technology is moving and encourages them to just "do something now."

Good article on teaching students how to be decent digital citizens. Emphasis on parental involvement too. I found this interesting as we struggle with the admin's decision to ban mobile devices in the middle school. This article gives helpful advice on communicating with students on how to monitor and use the devices appropriately and safely.

One of a series of posts on different types of internet based tools and their use in education; backchannels engage students who otherwise might not contribute, evens the playing field; students ask questions on the fly without interrupting; gives teacher feedback on the level of understanding or confusion in the class; does not recommend twitter for classroom alternative backchannels teacher can manage ; It will improve writing and a student's ability to articulate themselves quickly using text. Students must have Effective Digital Communication Skills in order to be successful in the 21st century. One digital communication skill that is needed is to have the ability to articulate quickly and succinctly using text.

The Dublin City University of Ireland site popped out at me. As I got into exploring the site, it reminded me of all the things we have discussed on "communication" and online education. The President of the university, Professor Brian MacCraith said of the learning experience at DCU "Online platforms are changing the traditional teaching and learning paradigms. Technology is providing an enhancement of choices and flexibility. Learning happens any time, any place." The website also displayed specific and detailed regulations for students to be good digital citizens! Along with lots of other great stuff!

This post highlights the effects of digital technologies on student research habits. It is a good article to debate whether continuing new technologies and media are adding to the quality of student education.

The days of the traditional cover letters and resumes sent through the mail are over. Today, people/students find jobs through social media sites -- Linkedin, FB, even Twitter. As we talk about digital communication, this is a "real world" application in how students need to know these tools as well as how to present themselves in a digital forum. This is the type of situation where all the writing skills and presentation skills taught in high school count, and we need to be sure our students can do this in a virtual environment.

This is a useful article! Gone are the hard copy resumes printed on nice, heavy weight paper with matching envelopes. Thanks, Christine.

Ironies and contradictions within the educational system are highlighted in this presentation by Adam S. Bellow. He has advice to school administrators about the use of digital communication tools in the classroom. He states that "We're doing kids a major disservice if we don't teach them good digital citizenship." He discusses 7 rules that should be allowed in school, but are problems.

"This site is for teachers and educators of all grade levels and subject areas. It hosts short tutorial videos on many of the best digital tools to use with students. Its also a growing community of ideas submitted by teachers for classroom use." This should be a great resource!

This article explores the idea that it is more important to teach the thinking behind technology than it is to simply use expensive technology in the classroom. The article supports the idea that technology can be used to get kids communicating in creative ways, and it can help to get them actively engaged in lessons.

Because today's students use so many digital devices that use up bandwidth that colleges have had to block students from using online services like Naptser, Netflix and Youtube during severe storms when students are forced to stay indoors for days at a time.