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Like blogging, Adapt Courseware is a social learning space that allows the student to create a profile to get to know his/her peers. Allows the students to participate in discussion groups and to seek help or support from study groups. It also allows the student to create a post that they are interested in or to comment on posts from others.

Gregory Ferenstein posts in Tech Crunch: http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/11/a-huge-month-online-education-is-replacing-physical-colleges-at-a-crazy-fast-pace/ GREGORY FERENSTEIN Monday, February 11th, 2013 The rate at which online education is becoming part of the fabric of higher education is experiencing exponential growth. Over 1800 accredited Universities including M.I.T, Duke, UPenn, University of Wisconsin are actively embracing the new technologies. Many of the new courses are rigorous science based courses now being offered at vey low tuition rates. Studies are showing that test scores are rising in an online environment. A word of caution must be added. Initial experiments in education usually recruit the best and brightest on both sides of the equation. As these programs expand, close attention should be paid to the results.

About half of K-8 teachers say digital games have become a regular and beneficial part of today's classroom, according to a survey by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, a nonprofit research organization that studies children's learning through digital media.

This article is available to subscribers only. I only could read a paragraph.

A timeglider is a web-based timeline software for creating and sharing history and project planning. Our computer apps students learn about the history of computers and technology. The timeglider I looked at could incorporate video sound and images. I also think the timeglider would be fantastic in a history class. It could make the lesson so much more interactive and engaging, rather than just listening to a teacher lecture.

Schools are giving students access to technology, such as Study Island, via their home internet connections. Students are able to keep up on skills, review, and continue working with education resources even when school is not in session.

This article describes the use of social media for communication following the east Japan earthquake. In a social studies classroom this could prompt a number of discussions about the usefulness of social media in terms of news or communication during emergencies. After all, many students learn about news from social media rather than traditional news reports or newspapers. It could also prompt some interesting comparisons between communication in earlier times and in our own...and the impact instant news or communication has on society.

Student debate has the capacity to both deeply engage the students in relevant learning, and to encourage students to be deep thinkers. Debate is more than simply arguing. It has structure and rules that are designed to keep both sides calm.

This article highlights the academic and intellectual benefits of student debate activities. According to the article, students who study and practice debate are able to think more deeply and critically and defend their opinions with evidence--definitely elements of HOTS.

This article uses well researched data to support the use of interactive white boards such as Promethean or Mimio. It concludes that use by experienced teachers can increase student achievement by allowing teachers to better chunk and scaffold information and better monitor student progress.

A study showing the positive effect of online discussion in tandem with traditional coursework models.

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.