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Educators have long cautioned students about posting damaging information online, but now it's also becoming important to build a positive digital footprint. When should students start building their online persona? The earlier, the better.

The rhizome metaphor, which represents a critical leap in coping with the loss of a canon against which to compare, judge, and value knowledge, may be particularly apt as a model for disciplines on the bleeding edge where the canon is fluid and knowledge is a moving target.

Developing online learning skills is essential for adult learners to support their completion of education goals. Although these students can easily locate an online course or degree program that's both convenient and accessible, they may face significant challenges in developing the skills necessary for success in an online learning environment.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion of the transformative potential of blended learning in the context of the challenges facing higher education.

A white paper from Adobe about 21st Century literacy.

Students around the world are increasingly bringing their own mini-computers (or some connected device) to class. Whether this creates a distraction or a boon to learning is debatable, but these four uses of mobile phones in education - and countless others - could one day help prove the latter.

Although wikis, with their collaborative approach and vast reach online, have been around for at least 15 years, their use as a general teaching tool in higher education is still relatively recent. But an increasing number of universities are now adopting them as a teaching tool. As part of that trend, a handful of Singapore universities are using the wiki platform as a way to engage students.

Throughout much of the 20th century the getting of wisdom involved a largely one-way transmission of facts, theories and ideas. In school classrooms it was mainly chalk and talk from an authoritative teacher up the front; in universities we had various sages on the (lecture) stage or the less-inspiring drones on the throne. By 2000, 82 per cent of the global population could read and write and the classroom played a critical role in shaping lives worldwide. Knowledge resided in books, publications and educated minds.

If you are beginning to investigate what a Flipped Classroom is, with the thought of possibly trying some kind of Flip yourself… then this is also the right place. I have researched and tried to find you the very best resources to get educators in all positions thinking about what a Flipped Classroom" really is"? I know that if you take a look at the resources provided you will walk away with a better understanding, and a well thought out implementation.

Sounds like MOOCs have a bright future and are here to stay!!

In some ways, the flipped model is an improvement. Research shows that tailored tutoring is more effective than lectures for understanding, mastery, and retention. But the flipped classroom doesn't come close to preparing students for the challenges of today's world and workforce. As progressive educational activist Alfie Kohn notes, great teaching isn't just about content but motivation and empowerment: Real learning gives you the mental habits, practice, and confidence to know that, in a crisis, you can count on yourself to learn something new. That's crucial in a world where, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, adults change careers (not just jobs) four to six times or where, as an Australian study predicts, 65% of today's teens will end up in careers that haven't even been invented yet. We don't need to flip the classroom. We need to make it do cartwheels.

I find this paragraph particularly telling: "The cartwheeled classroom not only connects text books and classrooms to the real world, but it also inspires, uplifts, and offers the joy of accomplishment. Transformative, connected knowledge isn't a thing--it's an action, an accomplishment, a connection that spins your world upside down, then sets you squarely on your feet, eager to whirl again. It's a paradigm shift." Imagine what this could mean for our ASU QEP, for example, if we told our twelve 2012-2013 teachers that each of their QEP courses was going to be taught within the larger context of being meaningful to the population of a Haitian, African, Muslim, or Afghan village or community. The difference for the students in their real-world learning would be immeasurable.

There's big talk these days about "big data" in education-looking for patterns of behavior as students click through online classrooms and using the insights to improve instruction. One start-up company that manages online discussion forums for thousands of courses recently performed its first major analysis of behavioral trends among students, and found what its leaders say amounts to advice for instructors.

The "Flipped Classroom" is a term that has recently taken root in education.  Much information and misinformation currently surrounds the conversation.  We, as outspoken advocates for the "Flipped Classroom" concept, believe the following:

I had high hopes when I handed out iPads to students in my graduate seminar this semester. I wanted to explore the possibilities of tablet computing and see firsthand how tablets might be used in higher education. … For the most part, students ended the semester with a collective shrug. They simply weren't all that impressed with tablet computing as it now exists.

An overview of Connectivism with some fine video explanations from Downes and Siemens.

Educators like Greg Green of Clintondale High School are flipping their school's teaching model upside down with TechSmith tools. Discover what the flipped classroom model is and how it can benefit any school.