Bev Novak from Mentone Grammar School encourages educators to start developing their Personal Learning Network (PLN) and discover the joy of lifelong learning - learning anything, anytime, anywhere with anybody they choose.

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Lots of topics are at the forefront of discussion in education these days. As I am continually reflecting on these things, I wonder if we might be chasing our tails with a few of them. Are we treating the problems or the symptoms? I have been vocal about my disdain for homework and the negative impacts it has on students, teachers and families. However, if we are going to do anything about the issue of homework, don’t we first have to look at the overcrowding of curriculum in our classrooms?...  show all text

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Everybody knows the best thing about the Super Bowl is the commercials. So if you care less about the New England Patriots-New York Giants rematch than you do the commercials that accompany it, look no further—here are all of the Super Bowl XLVI television ads, uploaded in real time as they air. Bud Light Platinum: Factory Audi: Vampire Party Pepsi: King's Court Hyundai: Cheetah View Entire List ›

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Last year, I terminated my mobile phone contract with Rogers, and signed a three-year contract with Sasktel Mobility. I chose Sasktel at the time for two reasons. First, their coverage area within Saskatchewan is much better than Rogers’ (although now it is comparable to Bell or Telus). Second – and this was the most important reason - Sasktel offered a $40 unlimited Canadian texting & data plan (the data portion of my average $80/month bill). Seeing that I am a heavy data user and that I travel  show all text

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Apple has updated the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) for its iBooks Author app, clarifying its terms and ownership conditions. Immediately after its release, the EULA for iBooks Author was torn apart by the tech press and copyright analysts. The original wording stated that authors would only be able to sell books created in iBooks Author in Apple’s iBookstore. The broadness of the terms made it appear Apple was claiming ownership of the content generated in iBooks Author. With the 1.0.1 u...  show all text

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Mission U.S. offers two interactive journeys through two important eras in U.S. History. The journeys are designed as role-playing games or missions. Both games can be played entirely online or downloaded for play on your PC or Mac (you do need an Internet connection to save a game in progress). The first mission in Mission U.S. is set in Boston in 1770. Students play the role of 14 year old Nat Wheeler who, after the Boston Massacre, must choose to side with the Loyalists or the Patriots. A v...  show all text

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TB Today is Digital Learning Day, a national promotional effort by the Alliance for Excellence in Education to call attention to using technology in schools. More than 10,000 teachers and 1.5 million students have signed up in support to “celebrate innovative teachers and highlight instructional practices that strengthen teaching and personalize learning for all students,” according to the AEE. To that end, a repost of Adam S. Bellow’s Golden Rules of Technology in Schools, as he stated them at...  show all text

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Founded in 1943, ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the success of each learner. Our 175,000 members in 119 countries are professional educators from all levels and subject areas––superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members. Our nonprofit, nonpartisan membership association provides expert and innovativ...

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              As I reflect on my third Educon experience, I feel the need to get a few things off my chest in regards to the conference put on by Mr. Lehmann and his crew at Science Leadership Academy. The sessions – What’s up with so many great conversations in each time slot? I am used to attending conferences where I struggle to find one quality session in each time slot. Between the sessions – The conversations between the sessions are better than the actual sessions at most conferences. As...  show all text

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Last week Google announced another round of service and product closures. The popular image editing tool Picnik was included in the list of services that they're shutting down. I've had a few people ask me for recommendations for alternatives to Picnik, so here's a short list of alternatives to explore. Aviary offers the most complete set of image creation and editing tools of all the services on this list. Aviary provides tools for editing the colors, size, shadows, and other effects of exis...  show all text

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Here at Educon yesterday, I had the chance to learn a bit more about design thinking from David Jakes.  David's central point was that schools and teachers often get stuck in a "Yeah, but..." mindset when thinking about change. Instead of dreaming about what's possible -- taking a "What if" stance towards the challenges standing in our way -- we're all too ready to trip over the hurdles in front of us without even attempting to jump.  David asked each table group to come up with a "What if" que...  show all text

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When students get bored their minds drift. And while some settle on daydreaming, tile-counting, and general inattentiveness, other students are drawn to more…ahem…destructive pursuits. For where there is boredom, there is misbehavior percolating just under the surface, ready to pounce. Although there is a lot you can do to counter the onset of boredom, understanding what not to do is the first step to avoiding its negative effects. What follows is a list of the most common things teachers do to...  show all text

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Blogger's Note: Excused the rough feel of this post, y'all.  I'm running late this morning but I wanted to do some transparent reflection before heading back to #educon.  Hopefully something here will spark your thinking too. __________________________________________ So I'm here in Philly this weekend for #educon -- one of the highlights of my professional year -- and I left last night's panel discussion on sustaining innovation with a TON of unanswered questions.  Here's just a few that are ...  show all text

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A year ago, electronic textbook publishers turned down David Johnston’s big idea: the first interactive marine science textbook. Johnston, who runs a marine biology lab at Duke University, wanted the digital tome to show undergraduate students what his scientific field has to offer. But e-book publishers said the subject matter was too niche and the requested features too expensive to make financial sense. “When we approached them, they essentially told us we were too small,” Johnston said. Fru...  show all text

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A staggering manufacturing system in China has made it possible for Apple and other companies to make devices almost as quickly as they can be dreamed up, but for workers, it can be dangerous.

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Flickr: Marquette La By Dolores Gende Apple’s announcement last week about its new iBooks2 and authoring app created big waves in education circles. But smart educators don’t necessarily need Apple’s slick devices and software to create their own books. How educators think of content curation in the classroom is enough to change their reliance on print textbooks. As the open education movement continues to grow and become an even more rich trove of resources, teachers can use the content to ma...  show all text

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One of the challenges of large schools, especially large high schools, is getting to know the people in the building and what is happening in the building. I was thinking about this over the weekend when I got the idea for a student video project. The idea is this, have students create "this is our school" videos that can be displayed on your school's website. Here are some video project ideas: Profiles of teachers. Expand the profile beyond, "what do you teach?" and focus on the teacher's in...  show all text

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The popular online online bookmarking, digital notebook service LiveBinders released a new iPad app last week. The new LiveBinders iPad app gives you access to all of your binders to edit and present the content stored within them. If you aren't familiar with LiveBinders itself, it is a free online service that allows you to create online binders of webpages, images, and documents. Live Binders displays your collected content in a tabbed, book-like format. You can create binders for as many to...  show all text

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The digital age has changed more than how we learn. It’s changed what we need to learn.

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Read reviews, get customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about LiveBinders on the App Store. Download LiveBinders and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.” “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.” Smith also released the following statement on ...  show all text

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"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." -- Audre Lorde Well here we go, after months of speculation -- beginning with the publication of Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve jobs -- we now know about Apple's plans to "transform the textbook industry." There's been more than enough ink spilled waiting for this announcement, more than enough predictions about disruption and revolution. Such is the media machine that Apple commands, and even without the company's co-founder a...  show all text

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