21st Century Strategies in the Classrooms

30 Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

2012-02-17T20:40:00.001-08:00

30 Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

View more presentations from Richard Byrne

A Teacher's Guide To Web 2.0 at School

2012-02-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

A Teacher's Guide To Web 2.0 at School

View more presentations from Sacha Chua

World Class Education

2012-02-14T10:50:00.000-08:00

A World-Class Education: Learning from International Models of Excellence and Innovation

37 Ways Teachers Should Use Pinterest

2012-02-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

Check my Pinterest ~ Click here to view.

(Cross posted from http://www.bestcollegesonline.com)

There are a lot of great technology tools out there for teachers that can make it easier to connect with other educators, get ideas for classroom activities, and find inspiration. One of the newest and best of these online tools is Pinterest, which has quickly become a favorite among educators. Using online “pinboards” teachers can save everything from photos to blog posts in one easily accessible and usable place.

Educators who are curious about Pinterest should sign up for an invitation today (it’s still invite only, but it doesn’t take long to get an invitation) and start creating their own amazing collections of pins. Not sure where to start? Check out some of these great ideas on how teachers can use Pinterest.

INSPIRATION
Pinterest is ideal for getting inspired on a wide range of topics.
Get inspiration for decorating your classroom. Looking to liven up your classroom? There are tons of photos of great classroom setups, from kindergartens to high school that you can use for inspiration.
Organize your ideas. Do you find yourself jotting down ideas or bookmarking websites and then forgetting about them? Pinterest can help you keep these ideas organized and easy-to-find when you need them.
Get ideas for an inspired bulletin board. A great bulletin board display can make kids excited to learn and proud to see their accomplishments on the wall. You’ll find some amazing ideas for creating your own when you browse Pinterest.
Follow interesting boards. Found a treasure trove of resources? Follow that board! That way anytime things are posted to it you’ll see it immediately in your own feed.
Get fun ideas for new projects. Whether you’re looking for holiday fun for students or something to relate to your lessons, you’ll find some really amazing ideas when you look through educational pins on the site.
Learn how to get crafty. Pinterest is full of great craft ideas, both for you and the students. Pin a few to have fun with later on.
Look for ways to organize your classroom. Classroom lacking organization? Search through pins for some great, often very creative, ways to keep your class neat and tidy.

LESSONS
You’ll find a wealth of lessons and ideas on Pinterest to look through.
Swap lesson plans. Pinterest is full of lesson plans that you can use and adapt to your own needs. You can also show off your own great ideas by pinning photos and blog posts on your own.
Locate amazing images for your lessons. Pinterest is a very visual resource, which is what makes it such a great place to look when you’re trying to find images for a lesson or a lecture. There are tons of material that is historical, contemporary, art historical, or just plain interesting to look through.
Have students pin project ideas. Pinterest can also be a great place to get students working. Teachers could have students pin ideas on a board that relate to a particular project they’ll be working on.
Use pinning as part of a lesson. Of course, pinning itself could also be an educational experience. Students could have to pin items that fit a certain set of criteria as part of a lesson.
Collect ideas for virtual field trips. Let your kids travel the world through the web when you find creative online field trips on Pinterest, or build your own through great images.
Make group work visual. Whether you’re working with your colleagues or helping students to work on a group project, Pinterest can be a great place to collaborate. Share images for presentations or links to papers, resources, and research.
Have students photo journal on Pinterest. There are numerous ways students can use Pinterest to journal. How about a series of photos captioned in a foreign language? Or documenting a trip they took? The possibilities are endless.
Find loads of printables. If you’re in the market for some printable games and lessons for your students, you’ll find tons of great stuff on Pinterest.
Pump up your science lessons with amazing experiments. Search through the pins on the site for some ideas that can help bring science to life for your students.
Get ideas on how to make learning more hands-on. There are pages and pages worth of pins all about hands-on projects for students. Take advantage of some to make your lessons more interesting and memorable for your students.
Find great books to use in the classroom. It can be tough to choose books for young readers that are both fresh and age appropriate. Luckily, you’ll find some help on that when you look through Pinterest.
Look for grade-specific materials. Need to search by grade? You can do that, too! If you find boards you like, make sure to follow them.

PROFESSIONAL
Develop your teaching skills and connect with other professionals using these Pinterest ideas.
Collaborate with other teachers and educators. Through Pinterest, teachers can create collaborative boards. This makes it simple to work together on projects, build better lessons, or just connect over shared ideas.
Start a conversation. Inspired by a lesson plan or image posted by another educator? Tell them! You can comment on their pins, offering you a chance to learn more and connect.
Share what you’re doing in the classroom. While it’s great to sit back and take in all the images other people have shared, you shouldn’t be afraid to share your own as well. Pin your favorite classroom projects so that other teachers and students can make use of them as well.
Find out about great reads. Whether you’re looking to be inspired or find non-fiction reads about managing your classroom, look to pins from teachers on Pinterest for some recommendations.
Get links to great tech resources. Pinterest is a great place to find out about new tech resources for teachers, including places to print off materials, track your students, or get free educational videos, among other things!
Look for new and innovative teaching methods. Don’t get stuck in the past! Learn about new ways to connect with and manage your students from blog posts linked to on Pinterest.
Find out about awesome new educational products. You can pin pictures of the latest and greatest in educational products, though some may be dream purchases.
Promote your own work or blog. Show off your teaching skills and creativity on Pinterest. You can use it to promote your blog, photos, or anything else you think is worth sharing.
Learn how to help with behavior management. You can find pins and talk with other educators for new ideas on how to handle your students, from rewarding them for doing well to handling a disruptive kid.
Find amazing teaching blogs to read. If you’re looking for more reading material, you’ll find it on Pinterest. There are loads of teacher blogs and educational posts pinned that you can look through.
Develop as a teacher. You might not have thought about using Pinterest as a personal development tool, but it works for that as well. Find ideas that can help you push your teaching to the next level.
Find other teachers. Seek out other teachers on Pinterest so that you can share ideas. You can find your coworkers or strangers and start following each other.
Stay on top of trends. It can be hard to keep up with the latest trends in education and well, everything else. Check out the latest pins on Pinterest for an update.
Find tutorials. Not sure how to take on a project or tackle a new technology? You can use Pinterest to find helpful tutorials that’ll make it a snap.

FUN
Pinterest doesn’t have to be all business. There are fun ways to use it, too!
Find inspiration. Being a teacher can be pretty hard work and sometimes you might need a little pick-me-up. You’ll find tons of inspirational quotes and photos that will help you get through even the hardest day.
Create dream classrooms. There are some truly beautiful classrooms posted on Pinterest. Collect your favorite ideas and build a board that represents your ultimate dream classroom.
Laugh after a long day. One of the best ways you can use Pinterest for fun is to create a board dedicated to things that make you smile. Pin cute pictures, comic strips, and funny images for an instant pick-me-up.
Have fun! Pinterest is one of the most fun sites out there to just browse through and enjoy, so don’t just use it for work!

20 Innovative Ways High Schools Are Using Twitter

2012-02-01T19:54:00.000-08:00

(cross posted from http://www.bestcollegesonline.com)

Plenty of colleges are getting tuned in to all of the great things you can do with Twitter, but unfortunately, many high schools are still held back by restrictive social media policies. However, the lucky few who are able to take advantage of Twitter are already doing amazing things. Chatting with students in Pakistan, reporting high school football on the fly, and supplementing classroom discussion are just a few of the great ways high schools have made use of Twitter. Read on, and we’ll explore 20 innovative ways high schools are making use of this great social media tool.

Vocabulary and grammar building

In foreign language classrooms (and beyond) students learn about verbs with the help of Twitter. Through the service, students tweet verbs, their definitions, morphology, and grammatical functions, and as the tweets come in, teachers and peers fix or give hints on incorrect entries. Teachers can see how and where students make mistakes, and have them immediately corrected, while students can understand how they’re making mistakes before getting too far, offering immediate formative assessment.

Parent communication
So many school districts are using both Twitter and Facebook to reach out to plugged-in parents without having to send home notes in kids’ backpacks. Lunch menus, school board meetings, and even discussions about school district decisions are being shared online. Proponents of school districts on Twitter support this move, pointing out that districts can get instant feedback, and parents can conveniently share their insights. In one Portland public school, after sending out information about swine flu and recommending that students wash their hands frequently, community members pointed out that there are unreliable faucets, and the school was able to respond with maintenance workers.

Back channel discussion tool

High school students can sometimes be quite introverted and shy in the classroom, but outspoken online. Additionally, some high school classes move through discussions quickly, and not all students find the opportunity to speak up in class. Both of these issues are addressed as high school classes encourage a Twitter backchannel discussion, in which quiet, shy, and unable-to-get-a-word-in-edgewise students are able to speak up in class without actually speaking up in class, sharing their comments, insights, and even relevant links through Twitter as the discussion goes on. Educators have found that Twitter backchannel discussions provide for more interaction not just in the classroom, but beyond, as students often enjoy further carrying on the conversation even after class time is over.

Professional development
Twitter makes the education world smaller, connecting principals, teachers, and other education professionals across the U.S. and even around the globe. Principal Sheninger at New Milford High School in New Jersey started using Twitter to keep in touch with parents, but found its real value in reaching out to other educators and collaborating with them. He is able to use the tool to find new ideas, new resources, and ideas for professional development.

Reaching out to political candidates
Wise politicians know that listening to the people is their most important job, and as such, so many have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon to connect with constituents and voters, particularly during campaign season. One 11th-grade social studies class in Canada is using a Twitter classroom to reach out to candidates in local elections, allowing students to become more informed and feel more involved in the political process. The students send out questions to the candidates, and often, get responses right back.

Creating imaginative dialogues
Illinois high school English teacher Tracee Orman uses Twitter to enrich the learning experience of Hunger Games, asking students to tweet as if they were a character from a chapter in the book. This is a fun way to engage students in the content that they’re studying, and a great practice in learning empathy and understanding of characters.

Review and understanding
At Iowa’s Valley High School, Sarah Bird’s DigiTools class uses Twitter as a tool for reviewing material. After each discussion Bird asks her students to twitter their MVP (Most Valuable Point) using their classroom hashtag. This quick exercise allows students to further digest and understand the material at hand, while at the same time creating a great resource for future review.

Upgrading under appreciated school newspapers
In some schools, high school newspapers just aren’t getting the attention they used to, as students are often glued to phones, tablets, and laptops much more regularly than anything representing real paper. Some school newspapers are now using Twitter as a way to aggregate news information, tweet stories as they happen, and interact with their audience through questions and polls. Freedom High student journalists in Pennsylvania’s Bethlehem Township often live-tweet updates about football games right from the stands, sharing news for those who can’t make it to the game

Worldwide connections
Adam Taylor’s class at Nashville’s Overton High School connects with students half a world away in Pakistan, and they’re quite enthusiastic about it. The two classes discuss student voices in school, cultural stereotypes, and more, learning what life is like outside of their own classroom and culture. Taylor’s idea has been quite popular, and is even such a great draw that students are willing to come in early to school for the discussions.

Volunteer opportunities
One nonprofit group, Jersey Cares, targets tweets to find volunteers to fill their recruitment needs, and has found that many high schoolers answer the call. High school groups use Twitter to locate projects in their area where they can help out, since so many nonprofits are speaking out and asking for help on the social media service.

Concise writing exercises
English teachers often need to teach the importance of brevity in writing, and Twitter is such a great tool for that, with its 140 character limit per tweet. Through the service, teachers assign tweets as a way to encourage understanding and efficient use of language.

Twitter quizzes
In California, Half Moon Bay High School history students can actually have fun with their quizzes, which take place on Twitter. Teacher Mike Putnam uses the social media service to ask fun questions that students answer, such as, “Who would you rather have dinner with? Adams, Jefferson, or Washington?”

Word tracking
As classrooms focus on a particular unit or subject, Twitter offers a great opportunity for staying up to date with learning beyond textbooks. Through Twitter, high school classrooms are tracking words, in which they subscribe to all tweets that include a particular words or phrase, like “Pearl Harbor,” or “woodworking,” returning results with insights, new developments, and more. This exercise is great for allowing students to follow current events and learn about resources they might not otherwise find.

Inspiration and thought provoking question
Minneapolis English teacher Candace Boerema doesn’t use Twitter for assignments, but she does keep up the educational chatter, and encourages her students to interact with Twitter. With questions like, “Who are you in Elizabethan England?” and “Is chivalry dead?,” Boerema sparks offline discussion and interaction among her students that’s reported to be inspiring and great for keeping students connected even when they’re not in class.

Fundraising
Whether it’s for sending the glee club off to regionals or shoes to South America, high schools always seem to have a need for fundraising, and they can use all the help they can get. Some schools have turned to Twitter and Facebook to get the word out, going social, and hopefully viral, in their efforts. Aided by online fundraising platforms and online payment tools, they’re able to do virtual fundraising to complement and even replace traditional car washes and bake sales.

Connecting with experts
Everyone is on Twitter these days, from celebrities to the President, and some high school classrooms are smart enough to take advantage of that. In Madison County, Ala., students use Twitter to interact with historians around the world. They put together questions to ask historians on Twitter, getting answers that may not be easy to find in their history books. This sort of interaction is great for learning from experts, and teaches students the value of research beyond traditional sources.

Planning careers
Another great way high school students are using Twitter connections is in preparing for their careers. Students can talk to professionals who are currently working in the paths they’re thinking about following in their future careers. Some teachers have set up assignments that have students create Twitter lists in which they can follow accounts that are relevant to their career goals.

Twitter scavenger hunts
Some teachers are helping students improve their research skills by assigning Internet scavenger hunts and only allowing students to use Twitter to find their sources. Students often find this a fun challenge, and a great way to research ideas and movements through Twitter searches.

Real-time source evaluation
Using Twitter, students are able to tweet sources and ask their teacher, fellow classmates, and others that they engage with on Twitter whether it seems to be a credible source or not. This is a great way to teach about the use of online resources and learning about which sources are reliable, and which shouldn’t be trusted.

Foreign language learning
Students in foreign language classes are able to use Twitter discussion around the world to learn about foreign languages. They create lists that allow them to follow foreign language news resources, key Twitter personalities, and more. Students are even able to follow foreign language Twitter pen pals that they can interact with.

Using free Google tools in the classroom

2012-01-11T20:32:00.000-08:00

12 Education Tech Trends to Watch in 2012

2012-01-05T05:04:00.000-08:00

12 Education Tech Trends to Watch in 2012
Cross-posted from http://mindshift.kqed.org/
12 areas where we believe we’ll see significant adoption and innovation in the coming months.
MOBILE PHONES: Mobile learning is hardly a new trend, but we have now reached the point with near ubiquitous cellphone ownership among adults, and growing ownership among children. More than three-quarters of teens own a cellphone, and about 40% own a smartphone. As such, these mobile devices will help unlock some of the promise of “anytime, anywhere” learning opportunities.

BYOD (BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE): A related trend to mobile learning. More schools will grapple with their policies surrounding students bringing their own devices to school. They do so already, of course, although cellphones in particular are often required to be turned off or stowed in backpacks or lockers. It isn’t just cellphones that are brought from home now either. There are iPod Touches, tablets, laptops, e-readers, and netbooks, and schools will weigh whether or not students will be permitted or even encouraged to bring their own devices to school.

BANDWIDTH ISSUES: The FCC has made broadband access the focus of some of its efforts over the last few years, arguing for its importance to the U.S. economy and education. It’s pushing for better access across the board, but also recognizing the importance of high-speed Internet specifically at schools and libraries. Even those schools with broadband access may find their resources strained in coming months — with the increasing number of mobile devices brought to schools, tapping into the local network as well as with growing demands for streaming video content.

NATURAL USER INTERFACES: The last few year have brought about a number of important innovations in the ways in which we interact and interface with technology: motion-sensing as with the Microsoft Kinect, the touchscreen of the iPhone, the voice-activation of Siri. Just as the graphical user interface, the GUI, opened computer technologies to new populations (specifically non-programmers), these natural user interfaces will likely push those things further forward, increasing accessibility.

WEB APPS (HTML5): Despite the popularity of Apple devices — among consumers and in the classroom — an emphasis or reliance on native (iOS or Mac) apps excludes a lot of people. The demands for tools that can be used at home and at school, regardless of device, will lead to more Web-based education applications. Thanks to HTML5 technology, Flash, which is still used by a lot of educational content providers, will no longer be as ubiquitous.

DATA: “Data-driven” has been a buzz phrase in education for a number of years now, but much of the emphasis has been on standardized testing. With more “data exhaust” from our usage of technology and the Web, there’s a trove of information we aren’t really fully tracking when it comes to teaching and learning. 2012 will likely bring about a search for new analytical tools to account for just this (many sidestepping the question of whether or not teaching and learning can be quantified and analyzed this way).

ADAPTIVE LEARNING: Adaptive learning companies had an interesting year: Knewton and Grockit raised substantial investment, for example, while Carnegie Learning found itself critiqued in a New York Times story. With the promise of personalized learning — that is, instruction and quizzes aimed at a student’s specific needs and skills — adaptive learning is poised for widespread adoption, both at the K-12 and higher ed levels.

PRIVACY/SECURITY: There was an increasing realization in 2011 that many of the pieces of legislation that govern children and students’ online interactions are woefully out of date. As such, there will be increased scrutiny in 2012 to COPPA (the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act), CIPA (the Children’s Internet Protection Act), and FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). Whether or not the government’s legislation and kids’ usage actually match up will be another thing entirely. Another major trend of the year, particularly in light of an increasing importance of data: user (student) control of their own educational data — that means both privacy protections and data portability.

OPEN LICENSING: “Open” may well be one of the big marketing terms we’ll hear in the coming months, and it’ll take some scrutiny to really evaluate what many companies mean when they adopt the label. That said, openly licensed content and openly licensed code is likely to be one of the most important trends in 2012: open source technology, open source textbooks, open educational resources, and open data.

PEER TO PEER: “Social learning” has gained a lot of attention in recent years as new technologies have offered ways for students to communicate and collaborate — whether they’re side-by-side in the classroom or thousands of miles away. The ability for learners to connect with one another will be one of the most important trends of the coming year. This isn’t just a matter of connecting learners with online resources or with online instruction. Rather, one of the big opportunities will be to create a space in which learners can help and teach each other.

THE MAKER MOVEMENT: The Maker Movement — encouraging people to make things by hand — may be one of the most important keys to improving STEM education in this country. That’s because it works outside the realm of standardized testing and all the associated hand-wringing. The movement, which includes efforts like Maker Faire and MAKE Magazine, may be the key to helping new demographics (or at the very least, “kids”) discover science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in an exciting and hands-on way. Building and tinkering and playing all offer powerful ways to learn and experiment. We need more of this — lots more.

GAMING: Game-based learning has been on the cusp of being “the next big thing” for a while now। Perhaps 2012 will be the year. With the flourishing of mobile technologies, with the promise of data and analytics, and with a realization that we can create new and engaging ways to move through lessons, we are likely to see an explosion of educational gaming apps this year. The big question, of course — with this as with every new ed-tech development: does this actually improve learning? When is a educational game fun? What makes it engaging? What makes it actually educational?
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60 Inspiring Examples of Twitter in the Classroom

2011-12-13T07:09:00.000-08:00

These are some of the examples of using Twitter as teaching tools in the Classrooms for student achievement.
(cross posted from Online Universities.com)
Social media offers some great opportunities for learning in the classroom, bringing together the ability to collaborate, access worldwide resources, and find new and interesting ways to communicate in one easily accessible place. Teachers around the world have found innovative ways to use Twitter as a teaching tool, and we’ve shared many of these great ideas here with you. Read on, and we’ll explore 60 inspiring ways that teachers and students can put Twitter to work in the classroom.
Communication
Twitter makes staying in touch and sharing announcements super simple and even fun. These ideas offer a great way to put the tool to good use.
Twitter as a bulletin board: Jim Newman at Northern Illinois University uses Twitter as a bulletin board for his class, letting students know about last minute news like canceled classes.
Ambient office hours: With Twitter, Howard Rheingold at Berkeley uses Twitter for group contact, which he calls "student-to-teacher-to-student ambient office hours."
Keep students in the loop: Using hashtags on Twitter, students who were not able to make it to class can follow along and stay on top of the conversation.
Assignment coordination: Instead of emailing each other or waiting to meet in class, students can collaborate on projects and keep track of changes by using a Twitter hashtag.
Silencing blurters: For students who have trouble with disruptive blurting, allow them to instantly tweet their blurts silently instead of out loud.
Student engagement in large lectures: In large lecture classes where student participation can be intimidating and logistically problematic, Twitter can make it easy for students to engage and discuss during class time.
Parent communication: Parents can sign up to receive tweets from teachers, learning about activities, tests, projects, and more.
Instant feedback: Twitter makes it easy to get instant approval and disapproval of discussions, issues, and more right in the classroom.
Attendance reminders: For students who have trouble making it to class on time, send reminders before school to get them in the door earlier.
Digital faculty lounge: At Kent State University, college of education teacher William Kist uses Twitter as a "digital faculty lounge" for networking with other professors.
Stay on top of the learning process: Ask students to tweet and reply about what they’re learning, difficulties they’ve faced, tips, resources, and more as an online logbook.
Classroom notepad: Using a Twitter hashtag, it’s easy to organize inspiration, reading, ideas, and more for the classroom to share.
Completed assignments: Students can let teachers know when they’ve finished their work by alerting them on Twitter.
Teaching bite-sized info: Share medical terminology, Shakespeare quotes, kindergarten activities, and more on Twitter.
Twitter pop quiz: Send out quick quizzes on Twitter, and have them count for bonus points in the classroom.
Organization
Twitter’s hashtags and other tools share a great way to organize information for your classroom.
Twitter recaps: At the end of the day, teachers can summarize what has been learned in the classroom, encouraging reflection and discussion between students.
Classroom connections: Classrooms around the world can collaborate using Twitter as a communication tool.
Collating classroom views: Students can share their opinions on issues or any open questions, and they can be organized using Twitter.
Corraling comments in class: Monica Rankin at the University of Texas at Dallas uses weekly hashtags to organize comments, questions and feedback that students have used in class, while also projecting live tweets in class for discussion.
Resources
Use these ideas to take advantage of the vast resources that Twitter has to offer.
Finding great resources: Teachers can ask for recommended books, teaching tools, and ideas for lessons, crowdsourcing resources for the classroom.
Following historical figures: There are many Twitter accounts set up that share the lives and personalities of historical figures, and students can follow them for fun and learning.
Building a brand: Long after school is over, a personal brand will live on for students. Using Twitter in the classroom to build a brand is a valuable exercise for students.
Partner with local organizations: Discuss cultural and educational events in the area on Twitter.
Talk to career experts: High school students exploring their career options can talk to professions in the paths they’re considering on Twitter.
Conversations are a public study tool: Long after the conversation in class is over, students can look back on the lecture discussion to find important points when it’s time to take exams or write essays.
Source evaluation: Students can share resources and discuss whether it’s a good or bad source of information, encouraging comments.
Foreign language news stream: Students in a foreign language class can build their reading skills and stay on top of the news with a foreign language news stream.
Gather real-world data: The classroom can ask Twitter for data from their network, like temperatures, opinions, locations, and interesting facts.
Following the government: Often, local and national political figures have Twitter feeds, and students in the classroom can track their progress.
Ask for help or advice: Using Twitter, teachers can find out if anyone has advice about teaching issues, like when certificates expire or how to handle classroom management.
Communicating with experts: Find authors, scientists, or historians on Twitter and get connected; a great resource for the classroom.
Writing Skills
These are just a few of the great opportunities that Twitter offers for building reading and writing skills.
Vocabulary building: Students can tweet sentences using a particular word to build vocabulary learning.
Twitter can improve writing and punctuation: As long as students are held accountable for their grammar, using Twitter offers a great opportunity for improving writing and punctuation.
Daily word games: Ask students to unscramble anagrams, contribute synonyms, or give vocabulary definitions on Twitter.
Grammar review: Students can tweet past tense, run on sentences, compound sentences, and more.
An exercise in learning to be concise: At the College of the Holy Cross, assistant professor Daniel Klinghard uses Twitter to teach students to be concise, summarizing major political texts without going over Twitter-imposed character limits.
Twitter Exercises
From scavenger hunts to Twitter stories, these exercises offer great ways to use Twitter as a teaching tool.
Inspirational quotes of the day: Allow students to become more familiar with Twitter, and exercise reading and writing skills by having a student post an inspirational quote tweet each day, preferably relating to course content.
Conversations can continue outside of class: When students participate in Twitter discussions in class, there’s a great opportunity for conversations to continue to develop even after the lecture is over.
School trip tracking: Whether it’s a field trip or a long journey, students can log and track their progress on a school trip using Twitter.
Bringing characters to life: At California State University-San Marcos, students in a literature course use Twitter to bring Twilight characters to life, choosing characters from the series to personify on Twitter.
Class newspaper: The entire class can come together to create a newspaper, contributing to sections using hashtags.
Conference following: Students can follow professionals and industry conferences to see what’s going on in that particular realm.
Bonus assignments: Give students optional bonus work to do at home, assigned via Twitter.
Meme tracking: Students can study communication and sociology through the tracking of ideas and ads that spread through Twitter.
Reading assignment summaries: Students can build 140-character summaries based on reading assignments, forcing a focus on quality.
Link sharing: With Twitter, students can share websites with class, making relevant link finding and sharing a classroom assignment.
Trend mapping: Using Twittermap, students can track what people are talking about where.
Researching locations: The class can send out a tweet, asking people to give them their location, and then research that particular location.
Twitter puzzles: Tweet a puzzle each week, giving a prize to the first student who shares the correct answer.
Language learning: Teachers can send foreign language students tweets in a different language, and have students continue the conversation in the same language.
Twitter poetry: Create a collaborative poem where each student contributes one line.
Twitter book club: Within the classroom, willing participants can engage in a Twitter book club for extra credit.
Word tracking: Using Twitter, students can track a word, staying on top of any posts that contain a particular word, like a movie title or store name.
A Twitter story: Students can take turns tweeting stories together, using a hashtag to keep it all together as each student takes a turn to tweet the next line.
Sharing microreviews: Using Twitter, students can write a short review of movies, books, and music that they’ve enjoyed (or not).
Twitter haiku: Using Twitter, students can share short poems to express how they feel about a subject.
Twitter art show: Students can curate their own art shows, using Twitter to share what they think belongs in a particular exhibit.
Collaborative event watching: Students can "watch" presidential debates, political speeches, and other important events together outside of class time, and then continue the discussion back at school.
Current events: By Twitter stalking, students can stay on top of current events through users, such as @BarackObama during the presidential elections.
Find foreign pen pals: Students can use Twitter to communicate with students in a different country, learning about their hobbies, home, school, and more.

Social Media Revolution 2011

2011-12-06T05:51:00.000-08:00

Watch this three minute video created by Scott McLeod and Karl Fisch Erik Qualman about the current levels of social media and mobile technologies

Twitter for Teachers – a professional development tool

2011-12-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

iPads at AES - a snapshot of iPads in school

2011-10-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

The American Embassy School in New Delhi acquired 60 iPads and are deploying them across the school divisions to study their effectiveness as student and professional tools. This is a 15 minute portrait of that program.

2011-10-13T06:29:00.000-07:00

BEST OF WEB 2011
An overview of good free web resources for teachers...

Open publication - Free publishing - More education

iPadGames

2011-10-05T22:51:00.000-07:00

These are some of the games recommended by Hongxia. Her ranking is based on general principles of instructional design, game design and reading teaching

The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators

2011-09-02T06:33:00.000-07:00

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Publishing Software from YUDU

"The Social Animal"

2011-04-02T03:14:00.001-07:00

David Brooks at the Westminster Town Hall Forum

Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century

2011-02-15T10:07:00.000-08:00

Katie Salen, Professor at Parsons The New School for Design and Founder of the Institute of Play, discusses how game design can help students explore systems.

Watch the full episode. See more Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century.

Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century

2011-02-15T09:43:00.001-08:00

Mimi Ito, cultural anthropologist at the University of California at Irvine, describes how new media practices are transforming the ways that young people interact, play, collaborate and learn outside of school.

Watch the full episode. See more Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century.

Kicking It Up A Notch by Darren

2011-02-12T04:55:00.000-08:00

China straddling bus

2011-01-29T15:03:00.000-08:00

An amazing concept to avoid pollution, traffic jam, saving energy and more...Worth watching!

Changing Education Paradigms

2010-10-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

Watch this great video where Sir Ken Robinson discusses through animation the need for Education Reform

The beauty of data visualization

2010-09-01T22:17:00.000-07:00

Watch David McCandless presentation on infographics. He explains how infographics can make a great data visualization tool! His creation of interesting patterns are an eyeopener.

Educational Change Challenge

2010-07-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Educational Change Challenge is a video that I came across and thought of sharing! It has some good questions that teachers to prepare their students for the forthcoming year.

Build a tower, build a team

2010-04-25T06:45:00.000-07:00

Tom Wujec presents to us a simple team-building exercise to build the tallest tower with dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. He explains why Kindergarten students often time out-perform the others. Watch this interesting video!

Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age: A New Model for the Workplace

2010-03-11T22:29:00.000-08:00

An inspiring talk by Randy Nelson who explains what schools must do to prepare students for jobs in new media. We should strive to work together collaboratively to achieve results. I liked his quote "...the core skill of an innovator is error recovery not failure avoidance."

21st Century Learning - Different kinds of minds

2010-03-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

Temple Grandin herself diagnosed with autism as a child reinforces in this video about the different ways we process information. She talks about how she thinks visually and that which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss. She mentions about others who are pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers etc., and how they all process information differently. She reiterates that that we all have different ways of thinking, behaving and learning and that educators need to consider a wide variety of strategies while educating children.

Inspiring & enlightening talk by Temple! Please watch the video till the end and consider sharing this talk with everyone you know. Please post your comments below as I would love getting insight!

Change in the Education System

2010-03-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

Meet the Press interviewed Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Rev Al Sharpton, and former speaker of the house, Newt Gingrich. They discussed about learning, accountability, Race to the Top, and their bipartisan effort to affect change in our education system.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Digital Parenting: Protecting and Empowering Kids

2010-02-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Parents need to educate themselves digitally so that they can be aware of possible dangers for their children and teach them how to choose to avoid those dangers while still utilizing all the benefits the web and digital media has/have to offer so that they can grow into empowered adults who do not fear digital media. As a parent I do strongly believe that our children need a good understanding of this new digital world and to be able to navigate it successfully.Today's parents also face a generation gap with their kids. While learning the latest technology is second nature to kids, parents often find it difficult to keep up.

Parenting the digital generation can be tough. Watch The Password Battle and explore resources for parents on balancing how to keep kids safe online, while empowering them as digital citizens.

Watch the video on Protecting and Empowering kids.

21st Century Schools: Learning in the Digital Age

2010-02-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

Teachers are tapping into technology and digital media for learning. Watch How Google Saved a School and discuss the hype and the hopes for improving education through technology.

More and more educators are tapping into the power of digital media and technology for teaching and learning. The variety of information resources available online is simply staggering. Explore how teachers and students are using the power of social media to promote students' active engagement, critical thinking and literacy skills.

The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

2009-11-22T06:19:00.000-08:00

Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data - including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." Pranav in his presentation has a very interesting way of bringing the physical objects to Digital world and vice versa. This technology is truly amazing, and it will change the way we are living right now. Genius & Mind Blowing!!

Technology in the Classroom" by Alan November

2009-11-19T07:05:00.000-08:00

Here is an informative video by Alan November on the importance of Technology in the classroom. Alan tours his hometown of Marblehead, MA and comments on the historical global vision of his community. Alan challenges us to think about the emerging role of “student as contributor” and to globalize our curriculum by linking students with authentic audiences from around the world. Wonderful video with thoughtful commentary. Worth watching!

Find more videos like this on NL Connect

2009-11-15T12:47:00.001-08:00

UST Minneapolis

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2009-11-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

Watch Sir Ken Robinson's talk about creativity and education and the urgent need to make the best of all of our talents. He feels that teachers need to foster creativity in schools

A Brave New World Wide Web

2009-10-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

This is a neat video on how we can use Web 2.0 tools to collaborate,create,communicate in the 21st century.

Parent Academies Help Mom and Dad Face School

2009-10-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

Parent Academies Help Mom and Dad Face School

Vocabulary Videos

2009-10-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

WordAhead is a vocabulary video and vocabulary practice website for teachers to create videos to engage students in vocabulary building. You can also create and share them via email,post them on a blog or a website.

Here is the sample of the vocabulary video

Web 2.0 tools for ELL students

2009-10-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

Using web 2.0 tools are a great way to engage ELL learners and also connect with cultures. View this presentation to see the strategies you can use.

web 2.0 tools for ELL

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Look Ahead to 2019

2009-08-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Look Ahead to 2019: video concepts of A Glimpse Ahead, has put together a concept video of what the computers and mobile devices of the future might offer us, with a heavy emphasis on touch control, interaction and modular devices. This video shows its future vision, with a lot of natural user interfaces, mobile technologies, and more which is worth watching!

Making Learning Stick

2009-08-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

I’ve just completed a book study on Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath which is a good read.

In the book Made to Stick, the Heath brothers share six key attributes: Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, and Stories – SUCCESs for presenting content in such a way that others will remember ‎it‎. ‎Whether you work with students, teachers, community members or all ‎of the above, these strategies can help you to more effectively share your ‎ideas and core content for long term understanding‎.‎

I have embedded the videos for all of you to get a taste of it. It takes a while to load so please be patient.
Introduction and Simple

Unexpected and Concrete

Credible and Emotional

Stories & Conclusion

21st Century Strategies in ELL Classroom

2009-06-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the ELL Blog! Here we will be brainstorming the different strategies and Web 2.0 tools to help facilitate the teaching and learning for student achievement. My hope is to share strategies and ideas by collaborating and building a learning community for all around the world.

Dr. Bob Marzano, CUE 2009 Keynote, Part I
Dr. Marzano spoke at the CUE (Computer Using Teachers) Conference in March 2009. Here Dr. Robert Marzano addresses the question What do we know about the effect of technology on student achievement?

Parent Involvement in Schools

2009-06-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

Parents and teacher both want the best for children. Patnerning with parents helps in students academic success. How do you use Parent Involvement in your classroom? Share a strategy with us in the comments below. Click here to read an article on the importance of Parental involvement.

Share with us your experience about interacting with student from a different culture?

2009-06-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

With the increasing diversity, we encounter students from another culture or country. Share with us you experience or story about your experience of interacting with students from another place. Click on the comments below to share your story.

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

2009-06-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

(Cross-posted on educatorslog.in)

Kids today are often referred to as “digital natives”. They enjoy being able to express themselves through the many digital technologies that they are so facile with; technologies that they would enjoy putting to use for the purposes of learning (and school work) as well.

This video was created to inspire teachers to use technology in engaging ways to help students develop higher level thinking skills and be better prepared to succeed in the century. It is just as important for parents to understand, and sync up, with their digital kids.

‘A Vision of K-12 Students Today’ was probably inspired by an earlier video ‘A Vision of Students Today‘ made by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University in which they share similar views (in similar fashion too) about their affinity for, and desire to use, digital media in higher education. This earlier post discusses Michael Wesch, his work on studying mediated cultures, and his popular channel on youtube.