Inspiring New Futures

Learning to Change - Changing to Learn | kevin CORBETT Fantastic and inspiring video...

Top 50 Mobile Learning Resources | Upside Learning Blog : "I’ve spent an inordinately long time writing a whitepaper on mobile learning trying to expound our thoughts about it and how it might be used in the workplace. I’ve been doing some research around it and I’ve documented some of the better links I’ve come across. Again, as with the links I posted about Games and Simulation, these aren’t categorized in any way nor does the order assume any significance."

Gapminder… An Amazing Website For All Curricula Promoting Inquiry And Divergent Thinking… A 21st Century Gem! | 21 st Century Educational Technology and Learning : "Gapminder… An Amazing Website For All Curricula Promoting Inquiry And Divergent Thinking… A 21st Century Gem!"

Microlearning – A Paradigm Shift In The Way We Learn | Upside Learning Blog : "I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught. ~ Winston Churchill "Many of my friends and ex-colleagues usually dislike training. They dread entering the training room, the way they would dread entering a torture chamber. In most cases, Training is reduced to an exercise in futility and the prevailing emotion is “Let’s just get this over with!”"

Laptops para Educación Media - Red de Apoyo al Plan Ceibal : Plan Ceibal likes JP Sá Couto Education netbooks "El jueves 10 de junio de 2010 tuvo lugar el lanzamiento de una nueva etapa del Plan Ceibal. Esta consiste en la entrega de laptops a los alumnos de Educación Media (Educación Secundaria y Educación Técnica Profesional). "

Google Doc Discussions for Hybrid Learning : http://www.brokenairplane.com/ "Google Documents rock! Where else can you get a free document editor that you can share and collaborate with others? Recently, Google released Discussions which were an improvement on the comments you could embed within a document. With discussions, you could leave a comment and have it be sent to a recipient, who could in turn reply in conversational form. Now students could work together to refine their work and teachers could give feedback all leading toward beautiful work."

15 Free Tools for Web-based Collaboration : "In this article, you’ll find 15 free tools to help you facilitate remote/web-based collaboration. Whether you need basic whiteboarding/brainstorming tools or fully-featured project management applications – you should be able to find a tool or two that’s worth checking out."

Spongelab | Explore : Great resources "Search our collection of science digital resources - unique images, powerful animations, and fun games and videos. Click on items in the results window to see all the details. Find what you are looking for? Then download and it's yours"

You Matter - McTeach's Quick Notes : "I watched this video last week, in which Angela Maiers said: 'You are not just anyone; you are someone. And you are someone that has a contribution that the world needs.' I highly recommend you watch this and then go and tell someone that they matter. If everyone in the world felt that they were important, that they mattered, then perhaps more people would stand up and say, 'I deserve more respect, because I matter.' Imagine how different our world could be. "

Touring the Earth from Space (in HD) | Open Culture : "A new way to see the world. Give NASA seven minutes, and they’ll show you the Earth’s most impressive landscapes — as seen from space, in HD. The coasts of Namibia, Tunisia and Madagascar, they’re all on the itinerary, along with Sicily, China, Iran, and Utah. Plus you will see a giant hurricane over the Atlantic ocean. Not to be missed. H/T Kottke"

Envisioning Workshop produced by Education Impact Video Education Impact with JP Sá Couto education netbook: Magalhães - Our team in Haiti for a School Envisioning Workshop!

A Primer on Interactive Books | Edutopia : By Betty Ray "Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is Laura Fleming, school librarian at Cherry Hill School in River Edge, NJ. Laura blogs at EdTech Insight. In my quest to find all interactive children's literature or take 'static' literature and make it interactive, I have divided all of my findings into tiers which I will share with you in this post."

How to Inspire Your Students to Read this Summer | Edutopia : By Rebecca Alber "Some teachers like to get back all their classroom library books before the school year ends. I was not that teacher. Check ‘em out, read ‘em, and share ‘em. A dog-eared, weathered book returned in fall (or not) is an ideal book in my book. And we all know this: when kids independently read during June, July and August, it works wonderfully against what’s known as Summer Slide."

Summer Reading List for New Teachers | Edutopia Group Discussions by and for Educators : Hubert V. Yee "Summer is around the corner so we compiled a list of 'summer reads' for teachers recommended by community members from a previous discussions here on Edutopia. What other 'classic' educator books do you think should be a 'must read'? What do you like about these and other recommended books?"

Free Technology for Teachers: 77 Web Resources for Teachers to Try This Summer : "The school year is either over or almost over for the majority of readers of Free Technology for Teachers. The summer is a good time to explore and experiment with new things that you might use in the fall. In the PDF below I've compiled 77 resources that you might want try out over the next couple of months. Even if there's nothing new to you in it, please consider passing it along to a colleague that could discover a few new things from it."

The 21st century skills teachers should have | Educational Technology and Mobile Learning "In one of my previous post entitled what every teacher should know about google . reference was made to the notions of the 21st century learner and how these learners depend wholly on media and social networking to live in this fast_paced world."

Overcoming Technology Barriers: How to Innovate Without Extra Money or Support | Edutopia : by Suzie Boss "Five easy, practical steps toward better digital integration in your classroom. Credit: Wesley Bedrosian

10 Reasons To Use Digital Textbooks - Edudemic : "The future is here. If you’re looking for ways to cut costs as either a student or teacher, why not consider digital textbooks? There’s cheaper, easier to use, and a lot easier on the back. I remember my old L.L. Bean backpack nearly breaking under the weight of my required 10 textbooks in high school. Ahh, the good ol’ days. Here’s a few reasons why the digital revolution is worthwhile when it comes to textbooks courtesy of CourseSmart:"

Cultivating Creativity | Psychology Today : "Inventiveness comes in many forms, and it's possible to give the insight process a big boost."

This summer I won’t be learning how to be a better teacher | Powerful Learning Practice : Posted by Shelley Wright on Jun 13, 2011 in Making The Shift , The How of 21st Century Teaching , "This year I stopped being a teacher and instead became a co-learner with my students. This year I stopped making my students jump through the hoops of content consumption, rote learning, and memorization of facts and instead began constructing learning environments that are conducive to fostering the development of skills my students will use as life long learners."

The 100 greatest non-fiction books | Books | guardian.co.uk : "After keen debate at the Guardian's books desk, this is our list of the very best factual writing, organised by category, and then by date."

YouTube - Search by Image : "Now you can use an image instead of words to start your Google search."

Free Technology for Teachers: Free 33 Page Guide - Google for Teachers : "Google offers some wonderful tools for teachers, but I've learned over the last couple of weeks that while teachers are aware of many of Google's offerings like search, docs, and maps many teachers aren't aware of how to use these tools or what these tools offer beyond the obvious. Therefore, I sat down yesterday and started putting together this guide to using Google search, docs, books, news, and maps in the classroom."

7 Must-Watch EdTech Videos – SimpleK12 : WRITTEN BY LISA "With so many viral videos swirling around on the web, you’ve likely missed a few really great ones for education – particularly technology and education. Here are 7 must-watch EdTech videos for any EVERY teacher. In no particular order"

5 Traits of 21st Century Educational Leadership {Educational Leadership, Educational Administration} : "I have been thinking a great deal about Educational Leadership lately, and not just from the administrator’s perspective. We often overlook the leadership that happens among peers and socially within a school. However, I wanted to bring to the forefront 5 traits that I think are essential in being an educational leader in the 21st Century. 1- An Active Listener –..."

How Can We Scale Educational Innovations? - Al Zollar - Innovations in Education - Harvard Business Review : by Al Zollar "The challenges of urban K-12 education in the United States, and indeed globally, are at a crisis stage. It has become an issue of not only our global competitiveness, but also our citizenship and national security. Appropriately, education has occupied a top spot for the past two U.S. presidential administrations."

Can Technology Reinvent Education? - Robin Willner - Innovations in Education - Harvard Business Review : by Robin Willner "In 1994, IBM posed a deceptively simple set of questions to district superintendents and chief state school officers: Is there a long-standing barrier to school improvement that you think can be addressed by emerging technology to accelerate the pace of reform and support student achievement? What have you always wanted to do for students, teachers or parents that might finally be possible? What are the critical levers for change that could be enhanced through technology?"

21st Century Education Requires Lifewide Learning - Christopher Dede - Innovations in Education - Harvard Business Review : by Christopher Dede "I have decided to spend the remainder of my career helping to replace industrial era schooling with educational structures better suited to our 21st century, global, innovation-based economy. This sweeping goal of total educational transformation may seem overly ambitious for someone whose work centers in learning technologies. However, in my research I consistently find that new media are at the heart of innovative models for education: contributing to the obsolescence of traditional schools/universities as educational vehicles, while simultaneously empowering new forms of learning and teaching."

Family Can Provide Valuable Lessons On Collaboration - PSFK : By Kyana Gordon on June 9, 2011 "A recent post on Harvard Business Review brought to our attention how one’s family can teach valuable lessons about collaboration. The author, Tony Schwartz (CEO of The Energy Project) describes the advice and encouragement bestowed upon him by his two daughters. Below we have extracted a few key points that demonstrate the importance of shared family experiences when speaking about collaborative work relationships."

Netprof - Documento - As Novas Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação : "A preocupação em torno da integração das novas tecnologias na realidade educativa tem sido cada vez maior, sendo frequentemente tema em destaque em diversos fóruns internacionais. Exemplo disso foi o documento saído da V Conferência dos Ministros da Educação europeus, em 2001, onde foram expressos fortes e válidos argumentos que justificam a urgência da integração das TIC na escola, entre os quais:"

Kathy Schrock's - Google Blooms Taxonomy Google Apps and Tools meet Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

Justin Tarte - Life of an Educator...: My 10 goals as a 1st year administrator... : http://goo.gl/LMnmX "Over the last couple of weeks I have been utilizing the power of my PLN to garner advice and feedback as I begin my transition into the role of an administrator. I am completely humbled and amazed at the level of support and encouragement I have received. This is a true testament to the commitment and dedication so many Educators have to improving education."

Evernote for Students: The Ultimate Research Tool – Education Series « Evernote Blogcast : by Ron Toledo "Whether you’re writing a paper or studying for a test, odds are you spend more time gathering the pieces than actually working. Getting all of your notes together, hunting for quotes, and tracking down bibliographical information takes at least as long, if not longer, as writing the paper itself. In a group situation, sharing research and collaborating on the production of one document is even more difficult without the proper tools. Enter Evernote. For students, it’s an invaluable way to organize research and streamline the collaboration process. Here are some examples of how Evernote simplifies the student research process"

Techy Tips for not so techy teachers Good presentation and resources....

Starting a blog : a guide for teachers | The Whiteboard Blog : "I’ve had a few requests recently for advice on starting up a blog, so I thought I’d summarise some of my advice in a blog post. The first important decision is what blogging platform to use. There are many out there, but the main two that you should consider are Blogger and WordPress. You might also want to “self-host” your own blog on your own website."

Podcasting in Education | PoducateMe : "You've likely heard of podcasting by now. Countless universities, colleges and K-12 classes worldwide are using the technology to deliver recorded lectures, news and information to students. In fact, nothing has had a greater impact on students since the invention of the paddle. OK, I kid, but I'm also making a point here—podcasting has taken education by storm, and the technology cannot be ignored."

TED Blog: “Exploring The Creative Overlap” With Janet Echelman - PSFK : "While Janet Echelman was at TED in March, she got word that she was being awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. (And in fact, Echelman wasn’t the only new Guggenheim winner speaking at TED — her fellow Session 9 speaker Fiorenzo Omenetto also won the award). The award offers her a year of time off to think and explore. The TED Blog spoke to Janet last week to find out how that’s going so far…"

3 Universities; 12,509 Master's Degrees in Education - Brainstorm - The Chronicle of Higher Education : By Kevin Carey "Yesterday I was poking around in the IPEDS database and ran a search for the total number of master’s degrees in education conferred, by college. The top three were Walden University, the University of Phoenix, and Grand Canyon University, all of which are for-profit and operate primarily online. In total, they conferred 12,509 master’s degrees in education in 2009."

Why Teachers Need to Become Leaders - Education - GOOD : "There are plenty of business books written about leadership, but not every employee (or CEO) is a great leader. Likewise, although every teacher stands in front of a classroom of students, they're not all leaders in their schools. But they should be..."

100+ Sites to Download All Sorts of Things : "These days you can find all sorts of things online, from audio books to flash files, from sound effects to CSS templates. Below we compiled a list with over 100 download sites that serve that purpose."

The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators 83 pages of inspirational resources for educators...

The Internet Is My Religion: Jim Gilliam on the Divinity of the Web | Brain Pickings : by Maria Popova "Startups, spirituality and why connectedness is next to godliness." "These are the best 10 minutes you’ll spend this week, guaranteed." Watch live streaming video from pdf2011 at livestream.com

Angola likes JP Sá Couto Education Netbooks ... Bridging the digital divide and inspiring new futures..

TeachPaperless: Fifteen Paperless Math Strategies : John T. Spencer BEFORE #1 - Critical Thinking Description: Students answer critical thinking questions such as, 'Are numbers neutral?' or 'When are decimals less accurate than fractions?' The goal here is for students to go deeper into thinking conceptually about the math they use. For additional ELD support, I've found that definitions work well here as well as digital sentence strips to help scaffold the vocabulary. Grouping: This can work individually or in groups. One allows for more introspection while the other creates a greater sense of dialogue. Tech Tools: blog, form, shared document"....

Summer Professional Development Blog Series | Edutopia : "Learn more about project-based learning, classroom management techniques, how to use new media tools in the classroom, and more this summer!" "We know how important it is to relax and recharge after a long school year, but we also know that many of you use the summer months to learn and grow and improve your craft. Our team of bloggers are going to help you with this mission. Each week, we'll be adding more tools and tips to help you improve your practice. (So bookmark this page!) If you have any additional suggestions, please log in and post them in the comments below."

Infographic: Educating the Workforce of the Future - Education - GOOD : "President Obama has a goal that 100 percent of students should be college or career ready, and in the next decade, most jobs will require at least some post-high school education. The opportunities for high school graduates are declining and generally offer lower earning potential. But are we educating students with the right kind of post-secondary education to meet the demands of the workforce of the future?"

Google's Chromebook set to transform how we think about computers | Technology | The Observer : "With its promise of hassle-free computing, Chromebook marks a radical departure for the search giant John Naughton; The Observer, Sunday 5 June 2011 Google's Chromebook enables the browser to do the work, promsing hassle-free computing. On 15 June, Google will officially take the next step on its road to global domination. From that day onwards, online shoppers will be able to buy the Google Chromebook, a device that the search giant hopes will change the way we think about computers – and in the process rain on the parades of Apple and Microsoft."

Happiness is a Classmate PC student laptop JP Sá Couto reference design... "UltiNetS, an Inveneo Certified ICT Partner, is deploying Intel Learning Series Alliance solutions in the Lilongwe Teachers College, Malawi, as part of the Read Malawi program funded by USAID and implemented by the University of Texas, San Antonio. Read more about Inveneo's activities in ICT for education (ICT4E)"

Richard Chisala of UltiNetS showing a Classmate PC to Sellina Kanyerere | Flickr – Compartilhamento de fotos! : JPSC reference design inspiring... "UltiNetS is deploying Classmate PC's as part of a USAID-funded education program in Malawi. Richard Chisala is the CTO of UltiNetS, an Inveneo Certified ICT Partner. Pictured with him, and holding the Classmate PC is Sellina Kanyerere, UTSA project coordinator in Malawi working under the Malawi Institute of Education"

Back Story: Books vs. E-Books - Newsweek : "Does one have to win?"

Sig Behrens - Shape the Future : "Sig Behrens, General Manager US Education, Microsoft Corporation, says Shape the Future is essential in learning."

TED Talks Demystified for Teachers | The History Teacher's Attic : One word: Fantastic... "The title of this post is not meant as an insult! It’s just that so many of us (educators) are clearly impressed with the brilliance exhibited in the TED Talks, but have trouble sorting through all of the material to discover something appropriate for our disciplines. So, in the interest of preparing for teaching a new course next year, and wanting to sort TED out a bit, I’ve created the following list based on disciplines (organizing knowledge or research by discipline is, it should be pointed out, in stark contrast to the real objective of TED Talks in general). I really like this TED fella, and I hope he doesn’t mind:)"

Ted Curran.net » Cultivate your Personal Learning Network : "This post discusses how to build your own Personal (or Professional) Learning Network. Instead of starting by telling you which tools to use, I want to talk about why you would do this in the first place…"

The non-tech person’s guide to using new technology in the classroom | The Teaching Game : Posted on June 6, 2011 by Katie Hellerman Photo Credit: TSA "The school year is barely over and I can already feel the anxiety that new teachers are feeling for the fall. A lot of their stress revolves around how to successfully integrate technology into their classrooms. While I wouldn’t necessarily make this my primary concern, I thought it would ease some minds if I offered a few thoughts on the topic."

Evolution of an Information Junkie | Powerful Learning Practice : Posted by Jenny Luca on Jun 6, 2011 in Less Teacher, More Student , Making The Shift , Voices | 4 comments "I recently read a post written by Colm O’Regan about Divided Attention Disorder. It was yet another one of those articles talking about how our brains are possibly changing as a result of our constant exposure to online information. We’ve heard similar arguments from Nicholas Carr, who wrote the article “Is Google making us stupid?” and has gone on to pen The Shallows. (It’s worth noting that Nicholas is making a pretty penny cashing in on this message.) Colm’s description of the way he works from day to day sounds very much like me: “My Internet browser has 24 tabs open. Among them are three separate attempts to reply to the same e-mail. My online banking session has timed out, and in the corner of my screen a Twitter feed is a never-ending scroll of news and links. Which I click. And click.”"

Free Educational Software And Games A must look...

5 Reasons Why E-Books Aren’t There Yet | Epicenter | Wired.com : By John C Abell June 3, 2011 | 2:00 pm | Categories: Books , Internet Culture & Etiquette , Media "There are no two ways about it: E-books are here to stay. Unless something as remarkable as Japan’s reversion to the sword occurs, digital books are the 21st century successor to print. And yet the e-book is fundamentally flawed. There are some aspects to print book culture that e-books can’t replicate (at least not easily) — yet."

Want ‘Facebook’ In Your LMS? | Upside Learning Blog : Amit Garg | June 7th, 2011 | Learning Technology "One of the perks of being involved in a sales role is the interesting and enriching conversations with clients and prospects. I find such interactions extremely rewarding as they give an insight into whatthe real customer demands are and what we need to focus on. It also helps in creating material that educates customers and addresses their needs in a more organized fashion. I need ‘Facebook’…"

Ten ideas for interactive teaching | Curriculum | eSchoolNews.com : By Jenna Zwang, Assistant Editor "While lecturing tends to be the easiest form of instruction, studies show that students absorb the least amount of information that way. Interactive teaching methods are an effective way to connect with a generation of students used to consistent stimulation—and education professor Kevin Yee has some advice for how teachers can make their lessons more interactive."

The Three C’s of Social Networking: Consumption, Curation, Creation | Social Media Today : Posted November 8, 2010 by Brian Solis "Over the years, social networks have lured us from the confines of our existing realities into a new genre of digital domains that not only captivated us, but fostered the creation of new realities. As George Bernard Shaw observed, “Life is not about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself.” Such is true for social networks and the digital persona and resulting experiences we create and cultivate. It was the beginning of the shift in behavior toward an era of digital extroversion, self-defined by varying degrees of sharing, connections, and engagement."

Technology in the classroom [infographic] - Holy Kaw! : Posted Oct 13th, 2010 at 8:14 AM and seen 12328 times"

SMS education in Pakistan 06.06.2011 This is now changing very quickly! Many factors appear to be behind this change -- including, it is probably worth noting, the strong apparent interest by many companies to get in on the ground floor of what they feel will be very large markets related to 'm-learning' in developing countries in the coming years. (I now get so many cold calls from vendors every week wanting to share information about their 'm-learning solutions' that I let all phone calls ring into voicemail by default.)"

U.N. Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right | Threat Level | Wired.com : By David Kravets June 3, 2011 | 2:47 pm | "A United Nations report said Friday that disconnecting people from the internet is a human rights violation and against international law."

curiosity counts - How much information can the world store,... : "How much information can the world store, communicate, and compute? Makes one think of Douglas Coupland’s Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work! and where the concept of “information overload” began."

7 Reasons To Leverage Social Networking Tools in the Classroom | Emerging Education Technology : by K. WALSH on JUNE 5, 2011 Instructional uses of social networking software can provide opportunities for learning, connecting, and engagement. This year, I’ve written frequently about popular social media tools, and education-specific social networking apps. I’ve also noticed increasing coverage of this topic in the media recently. Maybe it’s just me paying more attention to it … or maybe it signals an increasing acceptance of these types of tools as legitimate and effective resources for the classroom."

Voicethread as an Assessment Tool - AestheTECH : "When questioned about assessment in the art room I often answer 'we never stop learning. This much learning can only be assessed through continuous observation. Why don't you come by for a visit?' Like most art teachers, I display student work in the school hallways yet, the final art product is ONLY one component to art education. So many concepts are integrated into each and every learning activity, it may be hard to know where to begin with formative assessment - and honestly, I am looking for fun and creative forms of assessment! Aren't we all? "