Technology Advances

"Open Educational Resources (OER) – that is, teaching, learning and research materials that their owners make free to others to use, revise and share – offer a powerful means of expanding the reach and effectiveness of worldwide education. Those resources can be full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, software, and other materials and techniques used to promote and support universal access to knowledge.

This book, initiated by the UNESCO/COL Chair in OER, is one in a series of publications by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) examining OER. It describes the movement in detail, providing readers with insight into OER’s significant benefits, its theory and practice, and its achievements and challenges. The 16 chapters, written by some of the leading international experts on the subject, are organised into four parts by theme:

This looks like it might be a good only with a thorough read.

La investigación sobre educación abierta sigue adelante.

Here's a Pinterest board of graphic resume examples worth following. 

Learn more:

- http://gustmees.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/bring-your-own-device-advantages-dangers-and-risks/

So what is a hashtg ?
Here what Twitter said about it : " The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. Hashtags are a great way to build community around content."

Excellent!

Permamarks | @scoopit via @juandoming http://sco.lt/...

A technology resource that could help in the classroom rather than hinder. This resource allows students to receive real time feedback on their typing skills and styles. The activities get progressivly harder until students can use all of the keys on the keyboard. 

Lots of link to information on Blended Learning.  Solid resources! 

Mix, match, mash and motivate..... Students in the centre of their learning 

Check it out, it's easy...

If you have a technical leaning and want to support your learners in a specific way this could be an interesting starting point.

This looks very, very interesting, AND, it is free for teachers!!

Buenas sugerencias para elaborar rúbricas

When you read the Common Core Standards the use of technology is embedded in writing, reading (informational) and speaking and listening. This post looks at "four sample standards from elementary, middle, and high school English-Language Arts" and provides a number of ways you might address them.

It suggests looking at the "thinking verbs" - publishing, collaboration, evaluation and integration, describing each and sharing how you might bring them into your classroom and address the Common Core Standards.

The post also looks at "Takeaways for Teachers". It states "...the takeaway is simple: technology is no longer a feel-good way to develop buzz and honor authenticity, but rather a matter of academic merit and fidelity–which is awesome for several reasons." Four reasons are provided, with the first stating "No longer must progressive educators defend the reasoning behind twitter, YouTube, iPads, or blogging in their classroom."

One question this post raises for me is that not all teachers have access to the technology needed on a consistent basis to help their students meet these standars.The Common Core has been adopted but will our students be ready to demonstrate their knowledge in these areas when the time comes.

The traditional civic decision-making process can be a turn-off, even if you care deeply about the issues involved.

The goal of Community PlanIt--a game built around local issues that’s now been played in several cities--is to engage people more, challenge them for their thoughts, and bring new residents into the process.

It only makes sense doesn't it?

What if this was adapted ever so slightly so that it would fit on 3M 3 1/3 x 4 inch permanent Adhesive shipping labels (same size as Avery 8164 / 5164 labels) and laid out in a pdf so 6 could be printed on a shingle sheet?

Where might these stickers or labels be placed to get the greatest bang for the buck with both students and parents?

And don't miss the Teachers and Technology graphics a bit lower on the same page.

 ~ http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com ~

This article does a great job and helping us realize the real and perceived reasons why people feel that reading on paper is more benefitial for them. At this point in history, people do tend to remember more if they read from paper.  We can often remember which region of a page we learned something even if we read it several weeks ago.  We like the transition of one side of the book being heavier than the other as we progress through the pages.  Book designers take great efforts to design how books look, feel and smell.  Digital books are disrupting our experience and interaction with the written text.  Many people are in a mental state before reading a printed text that it is more serious and meaningful.  This mindset may be changing how we engage the brain and thus how much we remember.

But why, one could ask, are we working so hard to make reading with new technologies like tablets and e-readers so similar to the experience of reading on the very ancient technology that is paper? Why not keep paper and evolve screen-based reading into something else entirely? Screens obviously offer readers experiences that paper cannot. Scrolling may not be the ideal way to navigate a text as long and dense as Moby Dick, but the New York Times, Washington Post, ESPN and other media outlets have created beautiful, highly visual articles that depend entirely on scrolling and could not appear in print in the same way. Some Web comics andinfographics turn scrolling into a strength rather than a weakness. Similarly, Robin Sloan has pioneered the tap essay for mobile devices. The immensely popular interactive Scale of the Universe tool could not have been made on paper in any practical way. New e-publishing companies like Atavist offer tablet readers long-form journalism with embedded interactive graphics, maps, timelines, animations and sound tracks. And some writers are pairing up with computer programmers to produce ever more sophisticated interactive fiction and nonfiction in which one's choices determine what one reads, hears and sees next.

When it comes to intensively reading long pieces of plain text, paper and ink may still have the advantage. But text is not the only way to read.