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Social media may have started out as a fun way to connect with friends, but it has evolved to become a powerful tool for education and business. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter and tools such as Skype are connecting students to learning opportunities in new and exciting ways. Whether you teach an elementary class, a traditional college class, or at an online university, you will find inspirational ways to incorporate social media in your classroom with this list.

The American Press Institute is making a number of recommendations to newspapers to create successful new models, and their number one suggestion is: BECOME PART OF THE SOCIAL WEB. Newspaper executives should take it as a personal and professional challenge to participate in social media: Share photos and video online. Follow industry experts on Twitter. Create a Facebook or LinkedIn profile. This is extremely valuable market research. Learn all you can.

Ning for Social Studies Teachers

Here are over 100 social networks that have been set up by and for learning professionals. The platform (i.e. Ning, Facebook, Elgg, Groupsite, etc) and the name of the network creator, where known are shown in brackets.  If you know of a social network for learning professionals that you think should be on the list, leave the details at the bottom of the list.

Writing Units to Teach 21st Century Skills For 7th - 12th grade English or Social Studies Classes.

The time is finally here for my annual list of my top favorite sites of the year.  This year I decided to up my post to the top 100 instead of 25 due to the number of sites that I reviewed and due to the popularity of the post.  I tried to cover a wide range of sites from flash card creators, to digital storytelling, and of course social networks which really shined in 2011.

Summer has officially started for many of you! I know that you will probably be relaxing for the first few days, but eventually you may feel the need to be inspired and motivated for the upcoming school year! Social media provides us with incredible opportunities to choose the way we want to develop professionally. You can choose the topic, the medium, and who you want to learn from. You can choose the way you like to learn, because social media provides us with several multimedia experiences, such as webinars, LMS, live video, and more. The experience is usually dynamic and motivating because you are learning with others around the world! Additionally, you will be developing your Personal/ Passionate Learning Network (PLN).

Materials and resources include Voluntary Model Curriculum (VMC), incorporating learning progressions, units, lesson plans, and content resources aligned to the Pennsylvania standards in curriculum frameworks for the four major content areas (mathematics, science, social studies, reading-writing-speaking-listening).

Harvard's collections are the product of more than three centuries of decisions encompassing every imaginable thematic interest. The contours of these collections also, inevitably, reflect an evolving understanding of what academic libraries are expected to acquire-at one point the basic books that any educated person would have at his command; more recently a broadening array of resources, in all formats, to support an inclusive community's discipline-based inquiries. Libraries at other colleges and universities have of course pursued similar goals. Harvard, however, is unique for the duration of its efforts, and also unusual in having consistently anticipated scholarly needs by documenting emerging social, intellectual, and political trends. A host of distinctive collections, and the uniquely rich sum of these parts, are a visible result.

"For much of the world, it's that special time of the year when students head back to school. The good news for students is that even though that means waking up early and doing homework, there are a number of web-based and social tools to help you get through the school year. From staying organized to improving study habits to making sure you reference your research sources properly, the web can help you be a better student."

Used wisely, technology empowers students to take responsibility for their own learning. In Leonardo's Laptop, Ben Shneiderman provides teachers with a powerful framework, Collect-Relate-Create-Donate (CRCD), for designing student-centered learning opportunities using computers. In particular, Shneiderman's CRCD framework emphasizes the importance of the social aspects of learning in generating creative work. In CRCD projects, students research information, work collaboratively to create a meaningful product that demonstrates their learning, and contribute that project to a larger learning community. Shneiderman designed the Collect-Relate-Create-Donate framework as a vehicle for preparing young people for a 21st century world where innovation, creativity, and collaboration will be more highly prized than retention and repetition.

Several of us at ProfHacker incorporate blogs into our pedagogy, and we have written on a range of course blog-related issues such as "Integrating, Evaluating, and Managing Blogging in the Classroom" (Julie) and "Tools for Managing Multiple Class Blogs" (Amy) among many others. In this post we (Jeff and Julie) will offer a few specific tips for evaluating course blogs and addressing the common question "how are you going to grade this?"

Your part in changing the world Starts here

Your part in changing the world starts here