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you are presented with a very simple text editor perfect for student journals. Each note can include images, links and attachments as well as tags to help with searching. For example, journal entries for a history unit might be tagged, "WWII". In addition, multiple notebooks can be created with one account. NotePub, like many online writing tools, works great for role playing assignments. Have your students assume the role of a person they are studying or character from literature. Then, your students write a daily journal entry. Completed entries can be shared in several ways including email.

helps you remember what's happened in your life. Once signed up, you receive an email every day asking to reply with your thoughts. This works great for longer curricular units. For example, if you are studying the 1920's, have students post to OhLife as a person living during those times: The only way to publish content is via email.

My favorite URL shorteners. These are used to take those long annoying URLs and shrink them down to a managable size. This tutorial will demonstrate the difference between Google URL shortener, CiteBite, and TinyURl. These all have their unique uses for the educator. Click the link to learn more.

Socrative is an awesome tool used in Education to gain a better understanding of what our students have learned or are learning during a lesson by getting. In this post about socrative we see how it can be used assess writing in the classroom.

Four years ago we toured the Portland HS. They were all warm and fuzzy about their new 1:1 student laptops. We asked about blocking sites and they stated they were teaching responsible use over locking everything down. We must teach responsible use but everyone needs to realize that the lure of wasting time on connected devices is too much for many of them.

/we began our 1:1 initiative 5 years ago and each year we have a different image for the students. We have several eBooks and programs which are used for curriculum. Deep freeze was installed to prevent "distractions" and DyKnow is used by teachers to keep students on track. The district filters based on the State guidelines. Teaching guidelines really doesn't work, neither does locking the system--it prevents so much education using Web 2.0 tools. I'm not sure there is a happy balance unless the students are mature enough or afraid of consequences. Taking the tablet away hasn't helped either.

This article, written by EDUDEMIC author, Jeff Dunn, offers 5 distinct reasons why schools need to move toward Digital Textbooks/ebooks as opposed to traditional paper books/texts. He begins by adding support to his stance by citing Ed Secretary, Arne Duncan's call to make "textbooks obsolete". Among Dunn's reasons and pertinent to our Media/Inform Literacy discussion are these ideas: Using digital texbooks or ebooks on line, allows for students to interact with the book. Some books have videos, highlighting/notetaking features, moveable models and interactive diagrams. In addition, such technological books are more immediate-they are simply accessed by the press of a button. Arne Duncan also remarked that the US is lagging behind other countries in converting to these computerized books. With states desiring a lead position in education in the US, and Obama's push (Connect Ed) campaign to have all schools connected (internet/computer/tech), this transition to Digital Text/ebooks seems a likely probability-and exciting one too. Though sitting back, especially in a beach chair, with a paper book still holds an appeal for me.

This article outlines the notion of flipping the classroom to ensure there is more time in class "doing" your discipline and working on skills together, rather than "listening" or "looking" at how it is done. Being selective about what media you ask students to consume for HW, having them do blogs or discussion posts as HW and then using class time to work in groups and go deeper with the analysis of bias, perspective, sourcing, etc. is a great model. If we want to push the thinking further on the media literacy, we need to have class time to do this work with them.

In this article, teachers are urged to push students beyond simply providing personal opinions as answers. By offering better prompts and questions, students need to be pushed into "critical reflection and evaluation" of the topic at hand. Having students move beyond simply Q/A formats, they are more engaged in their learning in terms of both the process and the outcome. Teachers need to provide feedback, challenging prompts, and encourage the discovery process (among others) to improve critical thinking skills. In addition, teachers can post open-ended questions, provide models of what synthesis looks like, and refrain from being the authority on the subject. While this article was not specifically related to Web 2.0 tools, the elements of how to increase critical / higher order thinking skills apply to all of the elements of technology use in the classroom.

This professor uses blogs to have students discuss readings before they are due.  It supports HOTS because they are connecting the readings to current events as well as evaluating perspectives. Plus the prof. felt she was able to better tailor the class discussions after reading the posts to force students to think more deeply.  Students reported that the blogging helped them understand course content and improve their critical thinking and writing skills.  The prof. had students reflect as a part of their final about how their verbal exchanges on the blog shaped their understanding of the events.  In other words, students explored how they were constructing their knowledge through the blog.  Interestingly, this professor had her students post anonymously to the "class blog".  She believed this encouraged honest and open participation.

I found this video on Twitter tonight thanks to David Walker (@drdjwalker) who re-tweeted the video from The Partnership of 21st Century Skills. The video is called "Above and Beyond: the story of the 4Cs". Enjoy "In an increasingly complex, demanding and competitive 21st century, students need to learn more than the 3R's they are tested on in school. Although the 3R's are the foundation of learning (most especially reading), students must be prepared to Think Creatively and have Intellectual Curiosity in order to excel in the 21st century.

Oh, what fun! This video is a great tool to share with students. It's simplicity is a delight. The notion is that we all have different talents and skills we can bring to collaborative projects. We need to encourage students to take the time to share their creative ideas together; plan, explore, negotiate, compromise and problem solve together. My fifth and sixth graders will enjoy this video.

This video is fun, interesting and great for students to see. It stresses the collaborative nature of projects and how much more we can do together rather than alone. It reminds me of Odyssey of the Mind type projects, and I will definitely show this to my Advisory. I think they will find it interesting and funny, but more than that it can jump start a discussion about the creative power of collaboration. It also makes me think that it will demonstrate to students that diversity of ideas is powerful.

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!

Describes the efforts of the student group known as White Rose

For anyone who is interested in literary theory and philosophy, this is an interesting article about Facebook and how it related to Foucault's concept of heterotopia. My AP students have had discussions about how social media changes our view and perspectives on time.

An intriguing article delineating several useful methods to bring online classrooms to life. While text and self-teaching methods were the way of the past, we now have a multitude of means to engage the student both visually and audibly via an incredible assortment of tools and resources just brimming with creative potential.

Using online math course as the example, this article provides teachers and students with a lot of technology tools to create a rich online learning and problem-solving environment. With these digital tools, students get more engaged in learning and become more creative thinking. It's a good reference for subject teachers.

This article asks how we teach students the tools to learn how to talk, read, write, and think online. It mentions many of the media literacy tools presented in one of our readings.

There is lots going on in regards to the offering in of online learning in post secondary education.  A new organization Coursera offers college level courses using new technology with well known professors.  How will this effect the world of education going forward?

Very interesting summary of MOOCs. They just downplayed the low percentage of students who complete the courses. (Though Thrunn's Artificial Intelligence graduated 23,000 students!)

Free courses that are available online allow for students of all backgrounds to have the opportunity to get higher education. Some programs allow students to receive a certificate that courses have been completed. Does this stunt a students social growth and/or ability to develop effective communication?

Many educators are looking for more outside the box methods to learning and understanding. Many teachers have tried implementing more technology inside the classroom or tried to create a more blended classroom. This article shows another method of instruction that brings higher order of thinking and that is using games to differentiate instruction. Our students have been playing games since they were no more than 2 years old. Why not implement a learning method that they are already accustomed to. This has transformed classroom learning into a more interactive learning style that has shown great success. The articles talks about the importance of moving your lessons to the students strengths so why not lean them towards what they know best? Using games for higher learning is no different then a classroom review. It is no different then a quiz. The only difference is that it is more interactive and it is electronic. This style of high order thinking or critical thinking creates a learning environment that is geared to challenge the students in a way that they want to be challenged.

tudents have produced a range of podcasts based on the Year 11 and 12 Human Biology Course from 2006-2009. Check out his website to see the assignments set and his students' work.

This article by Vicki Davis, author of the book Reinventing Writing and the blog post "Cool Cat Teacher Blog," is for educators who have decided to use Twitter in the classroom. Davis provides "the essential apps, hashtags, and tips to help." Davis discusses 100 ways to use Twitter in the classroom, safely and for maximum benefit. She discusses apps that allow teachers to manage classroom Twitters (Hootsuite) and create schedules (Buffer) as well as offering 14 tips for writing Twitters. Lastly, she offers three valuable hashtags for classroom use.