Monthly Archives: February 2009

Recent Links 02/18/2009

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Fight Bill 363 in PA!

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Pennsylvania State House, Bill 363 was introduced into the Education Committee last week. The bill reads:

Section 1317.1.  Possession of [Telephone Pagers] Electronic Devices Prohibited.–
(a)  The possession by students of telephone paging devices, commonly referred to as beepers, cellular telephones and portable electronic devices that record or play audio or video material shall be prohibited on school grounds, at school sponsored activities and on buses or other vehicles provided by the school district.

(b)  The prohibition against beepers and cellular telephones contained in subsection (a) shall not apply in the following cases, provided that the school authorities approve of the presence of the beeper or cellular telephone in each case:
(1)  A student who is a member of a volunteer fire company, ambulance or rescue squad.
(2)  A student who has a need for a beeper or cellular telephone due to the medical condition of an immediate family member.

Section 2.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.

How can anyone even remotely think this is appropriate? Be sure to sign the petition and spread the word that this is legislation that sets back educational reform.

Recent Links 02/15/2009

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  • The Hyperlinked Society: Questioning Connections in the Digital Age

    [read for free online]

    The Hyperlinked Society focuses on “links” as one of the most basic—and unexamined—features of online life. Bringing together a prominent array of thinkers from industry and academe, this collection addresses a provocative series of questions about the ways in which hyperlinks organize behavior online. How do media producers’ considerations of links change the way they approach their work, and how do these considerations in turn affect the ways that audiences receive news and entertainment? What role do economic and political considerations play in information producers’ creation of links? How do links shape the size and scope of the public sphere in the digital age? Do hyperlinks function as “bridging” mechanisms that encourage people to see beyond their personal beliefs to a broader and more diverse world? Or do they simply reinforce existing bonds, encouraging people to ignore social and political concerns that seem irrelevant to their personal interests?

    This path-breaking collection of essays will be valuable to anyone interested in the now taken for granted connections that structure communication, commerce, and civic discourse in the world of digital media.

    tags: books, social networking, 21st century learning, hypertext

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Exponential growth for Facebook …

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From Inside Facebook …

Facebook has hit the 175,000,000 active user mark, just 5 weeks after it hit 150 million users in January. At this rate, Facebook has been growing by well over 600,000 users per day over the last several weeks, continuing the company’s torrid growth pace.

If Facebook were a country, it would now be the 6th most populous in the world.

So … do we think social networks have a place in schools?

Recent Links 02/14/2009

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  • EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

    Advancing Learning through Innovation

    EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. EDUCAUSE helps those who lead, manage, and use information resources to shape strategic decisions at every level. A comprehensive range of resources and activities is available to all interested employees at EDUCAUSE member organizations, with special opportunities open to designated member representatives.

    EDUCAUSE programs include professional development activities, applied research, strategic policy advocacy, teaching and learning initiatives, online information services, print and electronic publications, special interest collaborative communities, and awards for leadership and innovation. EDUCAUSE has offices in Boulder, Colorado, and Washington, D.C.

    tags: e-learning, 21st century learning, professional development, resources

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Recent Links 02/11/2009

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  • Adium

    Adium is a free and open source instant messaging application for Mac OS X, written using Mac OS X’s Cocoa API, released under the GNU GPL and developed by the Adium team. Based on the libpurple protocol library, Adium can connect you to any number of messaging accounts on any combination of supported messaging services and then chat with other people using those services.

    tags: mac, software, chat, opensource, download

  • Simple Tracking

    UPS Tracking – FedEx Tracking – USPS Tracking – DHL Tracking

    Enter a tracking number – the system is smart enough to know which carrier to use. Then copy the RSS feed link into you reader and get notified when status has changed. Nifty tool.

    tags: tracking, tools, resources

  • Classroom Architect

    Outline Your Classroom Floor Plan: For students, the classroom environment is very important. The size of the classroom and interior areas, the colors of the walls, the type of furniture and flooring, the amount of light, and the room arrangement all influence how students learn. Thoughtful arrangement of the indoor and outdoor environments will support your learning goals for students.This tool provides an opportunity for experimentation with the layout of your classroom without any heavy lifting!

    tags: classroom, design, resources, Tools, educational reform

  • NJ DOE Standards Revision Project

    The 2009 Standards Revision Project Website contains a draft of the revised Core Curriculum Content Standards in nine content areas for public review and comment. Public input is critical to the success of developing and implementing high-quality standards and all feedback will receive thoughtful consideration. The 2009 standards will be published solely in electronic format.

    tags: academic standards, DOE, educational reform, 21st century learning

  • Doing What Works

    Doing What Works is a website dedicated to assisting teachers in the implementation of effective educational practices. The Doing What Works website contains practice guides developed by the Department’s Institute of Education Sciences that evaluate research on the effectiveness of teaching practices described in the guides. The website also contains examples of possible ways this research may be used, but not necessarily the only ways to implement these teaching practices.

    The examples provided on the Doing What Works website – including any product names included in materials from schools – should not be construed as an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any products, programs, or curricula.

    tags: educational reform, instruction, educational research, research, DOE

  • Kent’s Chemical Demonstrations Movies

    Really wonderful chemistry videos.

    tags: chemistry, science, videos

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Connected Parents

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On the heels of my Digital Moms post yesterday comes this article from the Washington Post: Well-Connected Parents Take On School Boards: Web-Savvy Activists Push for Educational Change.

“For a new generation of well-wired activists in the Washington region, it’s not enough to speak at Parent-Teacher Association or late-night school board meetings. They are going head-to-head with superintendents through e-mail blitzes, social networking Web sites, online petitions, partnerships with business and student groups, and research that mines a mountain of electronic data on school performance.”

Seems that digital moms can be a force to be reckoned with. But school boards have to take notice:

“Officials caution that the new technology has turned up the volume for select parent voices. It can be especially apparent in parts of Fairfax or Montgomery where well-educated parents are not afraid to throw their weight around and register complaints with a phone call to the superintendent or the media. Blast e-mails and Web sites give these parents even more of an edge, compared with others who lack time or resources, some observers say.”

This only further serves to further divide the haves from the have-nots. Those with web access and knowledge have the floor, so business as usual.

Recent Links 02/09/2009

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  • Cassiopeia Project

    No Science Teacher Left Behind

    The Cassiopeia Project is an effort to make high-definition science education videos available to anyone who wants them.

    If you can visualize it, then understanding is not far behind.

    tags: science, videos, resources

  • Find Country

    Improve your geography knowledge
    -Locate the country on the map
    -The game ends when three lifelines are exhausted (i.e. when three questions are answered incorrectly) or all eighty four questions are completed
    -Use start/stop button to restart the game

    tags: geography, social studies

  • ImageStamper | Stay Copyright-safe

    ImageStamper is a free tool for keeping dated, independently verified copies of license conditions associated with creative commons images. You can use it to safeguard your use of free images from license changes, or to prove you are the original image creator. Simply paste the URL of the page that contains the image you intend to use. ImageStamper will produce a timestamp of the image’s license and will store this timestamp permanently in your account. The timestamp proves you obtained the image under that license and you can show it to others using a unique permalink.

    tags: photos, copyright, creativecommons, tools, image

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Digital Moms

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Interesting report from Razorfish on moms and their use of digital technology. The report is geared toward marketers, urging them to heed the 32 million moms that are both consumers and producers of online content. Important considerations for marketers:

  • Moms look to social networks for advice and information
  • Connect to moms through a combination of activities and personal channels, leveraging “mom 2.0” abilities of content creation and distribution
  • Do more than reach moms – need to engage them

It strikes me that this is good advice for educators as well. Won’t “digital moms” become increasingly impatient with their children’s non-digital experiences at school? This should be a concern for anyone involved in education.

“…engaging the socially networked mom goes beyond strengthening brand metrics with her as an individual consumer. It is about leveraging the benefits of her personal word of mouth and pass-along through everyday social networking activities. These result in her trusted brand messages being disseminated and well received by the broader population—the ultimate goal of social influence marketing.”