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This article by Melissa Venable deals with the skills one needs to effectively communicate in an online class. Whether it is between the teacher and the student or student to student communication. This is a skill that needs to be developed especially for the online teacher. The 7 C's are - Clarity, Completeness, Conciseness, Concreteness, Correctness, Courtesy, and Consideration. She further points out that there may even be more C's that need to be part of this equation - Confident, Conversational, Coherent, Creative, Convincing and Check. Her basic message is "More effective communication practices lead to a more effective learning process."

While the Cs in the article are associated with online courses, they can also be applied to face-to-face instruction, as well as written and oral communication. In all forms of communication, it is worth striving for these Cs.

While online courses bring concerns for underdeveloped face to face skills, these courses help students develop a more effective communication. In this platform students are more aware of what they are saying. Students must present their thoughts in clear, concise, correct sentences. They must also take care to be considerate of their audience. That the written word doesn't allow for tone of voice or body language to help get their ideas across. Students must really think before the "speak."

This article about Blended Learning where some of the course is taken face-to-face and other parts strictly in an online environment - this is a new wave in teaching and another option for increasing information literacy for students at all levels of education from Elementary School to College!

This article suggests that blended learning is better than either on-line learning or face-to-face learning. It further suggests that more research is needed to determine what type of learning is best for what type of student.

Sarah D. Sparks in her article above, suggests that recent research indicates that 'video-chat or avatar environments' actually can lead to natural engagements between students. To View the complete article you can either subscribe or sign up for a two week free trial.

This article supports the argument that no one education method is the best on its own. The blend of social media, technology and face-2-face interactions help students to effectively communicate and form bonds with their classmates.

A scientific study of the educational practicality of online education versus conventional face-to-face, brick and mortar environments. Issues of retention as well as escalated drop-out rates for online education are evaluated.

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.

Maryellen Weimer, in her article sets out clear reasons why collaborative work, enhances creativity '. Students can see how different perspectives, constructive deliberation, questioning, and critical analysis can result in better solutions and performance.' Working effectively in groups demands students to think outside the box, and use multiple creative skills.

It was many years ago that I attended a seminar at the former GE Plastics headquarters here (now Sabic) outlining what for years has been obvious. Two key points included: 1) the need to adjust the school calendar, both in number of days and hours per day from the agrarian-based schedule which so many districts and schools still follow; 2) the need to include more group work in syllabi and lesson plans. The presenter emphasized that companies do not want to hire a person who is intelligent if that person cannot work well in a collaborative group situation. Opportunities abound to prepare our students for higher education and careers through group work in face-to-face instruction, the flipped classroom concept and the design of VHS courses.

Tips on how to avoid scams on facebook - written by Richard Byrne

This article talks about how companies use Web 2.0 media as an advertising agent, and how some of these are scams. Furthermore it suggests he Better Business Bureau as a tool to identify these scams. It relates to IML as students need to have the technological literacy to determine which posts are frauds and which are legitimate. Furthermore, the need to have the awareness and ability to check these scams out on a legitimate source

Great article providing a Better Business Bureau list of scam alerts which I found interesting. The article mentions Facebook in particular but I have faced these scams and schemes in emails and on other game sites. I don't trust these surveys either that are sent through emails where they promise you to enter you into a prize drawing etc. So many scams- its good to know there's someone trying to do something about it by making the public aware of these scams. Also teachings students how to use the Internet safely should be part of the curriculum and also digital citizenship. We need to make our students responsible internet users and contributors.

The author of this article compares reading on eReaders to a nostalgic paper novel. I share many of her sentiments, but she is optimistic about how reading textbooks on an eReader totally changes how students read for information. Joann Vidall-Cox explains that reading on an eReader allows you to jump to other sources for supplements and explanations for what you are reading. In a way, readers are no longer help hostage by the bookcovers because the eReader allows you to transition to new pages of information. Maybe novels will soon be written with hyperlinks as well!

Nice explanation of the difference between paper and eReaders. I like the hestitation of the author, and the clarification she uses as to the difference with notations in a certain location. It's great if you like a screen in your face prior to night time reading. It is interesting how students gravitate to the new and then often revert to the old, tried and true formats.

"Technology has changed the face of the earth, how we think, how we relate to each other, and even what we think about.""Technology enables us to not only do things differently, but to do things we couldn't even conceive of."

This article is about the continually evolving face of online education. The students that choose online educations are usually "non-traditional" students... so online schools need to be non-traditional also!

This is a very interesting post in regards to why Finland's students do so well. There teacher's are greatly respected. There is no testing of students or teachers. The country has no economical differences or disparities. The country believes in professionals. This article hit home with me with what we are currently facing as educators in the nation. We are not playing on the same field as Finland teachers.