In this post, I invite you to visit and explore the website of the US-based International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE): http://www.iste.org

ISTE bills itself as “the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving learning and teaching by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and higher education.” Whether or not you choose to become a member, there are a number of useful pages on this site, including…

• National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T), 2008
• NETS for Students (NETS-S), 2007
• Emerging Technologies Data Collection Database
• Educator Resources

This morning I read, “The Digital Promise: Transforming Learning with Innovative Uses of Technology” by Jeanne Wellings and Michael H. Levine–a white paper that I highly recommend reading if you are looking for rationale to support the integration of technology and edtech PD within your school.

To summarize, the article points out that when technology is skillfully integrated into school curricula, the benefits are many:

• Technology supports student achievement. (ISTE 2008)
• Technology builds 21st century skills. (ISTE 2008)
• Technology engages students in learning and content creation. (America’s Digital Schools, 2006)
• Technology increases access to education, virtual communities, and expertise. (ISTE 2008)
• Technology fosters inclusion. (Apple Inc. 2009)
• Technology helps prevent dropouts. (Smink & Reimer, 2005)
• Technology facilitates differentiated instruction. (Apple Inc. 2009)
• Technology empowers learning and research in critical STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields. (CEO Forum, 2001)
• Technology strengthens career and technical education. (Apple Inc. 2009)

And, if that is not enough to make you want to brush up your school technology plan, think about this and ask yourself how comfortable you are with media:

A Kaiser Family Foundation study, “Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year Olds,” confirms the immersion of American children in contemporary media. The average child spends over six and a half hours per day engaged with various types of media,  television, movies, music, electronic games, and computers. Over one week this equates to a full-time job with a few hours of overtime (Rideout, Roberts, and Foehr, 2005).

Wow! To find specific examples of resources and innovative things you can do as an educator to promote student learning via creative and engaging uses of technology, check out the blue call-out boxes throughout the report!

For more practical and easy-to-read research on the impact of technology and digital media on children’s learning, visit the Joan Ganz Conney Center. You won’t be disappointed!

Anna

@bon_education

Posted the following non-confidential stuff to our IBM internal mentors blog:

Patty has need to appoint a new Co-chair and suggestions are welcome.

Why did I leave?

Well I didn’t go anywhere really. Still doing the same stuff, just in a different place, like many of the original 6000 IBM VUC members. The great thing about being a volunteer is you are free to move to the places you see your contribution making the biggest difference. For me that has changed. I see the most need and good coming from my volunteer time every Sunday from 7-9 PDT (SL Time) on ISTE Island doing what I’ve always done, workshops, helping out, and goofing off. I would love to see you there anytime.

But IBM still needs the help?

Yes, desperately. But corporate interest and application is being dramatically eclipsed by the need and interest in the educational community–especially higher education. U of Texas, for example, recently announced 50+ new sims coming online, one for each campus. The state of NC now requires nine days of Second Life skills instructions as part of High School Computer Applications II course curriculum.

Ironically it remains difficult to convince seasoned technology professionals at IBM and elsewhere of the importance of this technology. And many that do embrace it devalue the importance of a greater external connection outside the firewall of the company. In short, there is more ROI helping educators, such as those gathering at ISTE, than IBM and we indirectly help IBM in the process.

Thanks to all that helped me help.

Wanted to give my personal thanks to all in the community who have contributed so much for so little appreciation over the years. I understand your frustration and appreciate your constant influence and contribution through all the org changes, restructuring, and refocusing. You have always been there even though many could not even name you. And thanks to Patty and all the mentors here who continue to help IBMers get started right. Make sure they know there is more than just IBM out there.

This change allows me to  focus more on ISTE and iNACOL. We had a half-dozen at our building workshop last night on ISTE and over 20 in the sim from 7-9 PM. Please come by and join/help us–especially if you are interested in educational usage of Second Life, OpenSim or any EDTECH.

I am in the process of planning a number of digital literacy workshops for parents across the UAE. In preparation for this, I am gathering a number of resources that parents can read and watch to gain a better understanding of the digital knowledge and skills students must have “to deal with our culture today,” “to function in the current media environment–with the Internet, with cellphones,” to be a responsible consumers and producers of media, to interact safely online, etc.

The video above (by Project New Media Literacies, MIT) is a nice one to pass along to parents, along with the International for Society for Technology in Education National Education Technology Standards for Students–A document that clearly bullets “What students should know and be able to do to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly digital world.”

When it comes to digital literacy, it is the collaborative responsibility of parents, educators and students to have a clear understanding of the amazing educational potential of the Internet and the associated responsibilities of being a digital citizen in the 21st century… As some might say, it takes a Digital Village!

Feel free to pass the above resources along and to share additional ones in the comments section of this post.

Sincerely,

Anna

Founder, Bon Education

Twitter: @bon_education

THE SLENZ WORKSHOPS AT

Teaching and Learning/eFest 2009 -2

MUVEing towards collaboration – the benefits and pitfalls of working as a collaborative teaching in a Multi-user Virtual Environment,” and “In-world, meets the real world – the trials and tribulations of bringing Second Life to an ITP,” presented by Merle Lemon, lead educator in foundation learning, and lecturer at Manukau Institute of Technology and Oriel Kelly, manager of MIT’s Learning Environment Support Technology Centre.

SL foundation learning students

“do better” than f2f learners

Real Life assessment finding

Merle Lemon is her SL alter ego on screen at Teaching and Learning/eFest 2009

Foundation Learning students who used the SLENZ pilot foundation learning programme in Second Life to hone their interview skills  did  better in real life assessment interviews than  those students  who had not been through Second Life, according to SLENZ lead educator and senior Manukau Institute of Technology lecturer Merle Lemon (SL: Briamelle Quintessa).

The  result came from  all foundation learning classes in interview techniques – both from those students who  used Second Life and those in face-to-face classes – being assessed in real life interviews by an assessor who did not know who had attended which classes.

Although Lemon is the first to admit the test was “not scientific” and that the results “might have  been confounded by individual class teacher ability” the results point to the benefits of  a properly- designed  virtual world  learning programme used by itself or as a valuable  adjunct to face-to-face learning.

The result, even if anecdotal in nature, was across the board with students four  the  four SL classes  doing better in the real life interview assessment  than those from six face-to-face-only classes.

Lemon reported the result as an aside to virtual world teaching workshops she conducted  at last week’s annual, national Teaching and Learning/eFest 2009  tertiary education conference  at UCOL in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Introducing “MUVEing towards collaboration – the benefits and pitfalls of working as a collaborative teaching team in a Multiuser Virtual Environment”,  Lemon  paid tribute to the SLENZ team and  to the support she received from her foundation learning pilot members and fellow educators -  MIT’s Tania Hogan (SL: Tania Hogan) and  Maryanne Wright (SL:Nugget Mixemup); NorthTec’s  Martin Bryers (SL: Motini Manimbo), Vicki Pemberton (SL: Sky Zeitman) and  Clinton Ashill (SL: Clat Adder), as well as Oriel Kelly (pictured right),  manager of MIT’s Learning Environment Support Technology Centre and MIT’s IT support staff  “although they were somewhat reluctant at first.”
“We tried  to get the  educators into Second Life as quickly as possible after the project started,” Lemon said. ” We tried to keep everyone on the same page all the time and largely succeeded.

“But  we had to keep the lecturers motivated. They had to realise they were not going to be alone when they were going into SL.  For this we used mentors and we linked up for meetings together in SL and with other educators in SL. Volunteers from ISTE ( International Society for Technology in Education) and the University of Arizona helped out a lot in SL.”

Highest praise for ISTE, Jo Kay

On an international collaborative basis she paid tribute for outstanding help – I publish her list in the belief it may be a help to other educators -  to  Second Life’s MNC  (New Media Consortium), CCSL (Community Colleges of Second Life), Google Teacher Academy,Second Life Mentors, Second Life Education, and Second Ability Mentors (for the disabled).

She also found the  VWBPE (Virtual World Best Practices in Education  conference) run virtually in  February  this year as being invaluable both from a  learning and networking point of view and received help from  the Education Coffee House, Virtual Pioneers and Media Learning – Danish Visions, the Kiwi Educators group, and COM Educators in Second Life.

She reserved some of her highest praise for   The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) which she described as “the trusted source for professional development, knowledge generation, advocacy, and leadership for innovation” in in-world education and Australian Second Life educator and researcher Jo Kay, of Jokaydia, the Jokaydia annual Unconference , Jokaydia News and Info and   Jokaydia Educators-in Rez.

“Inadequacy,” “panic”

Lemon said among the difficulties experienced by her  team  were: wavering support and/or a lack of commitment;  exacerbated by feelings of  “inadequacy” and sometimes “panic”;  communication problems and the loss of some team members as the pilot progressed. There  also was a problem initially with student non-attendance and  a lack of computer literacy but this had been overcome with the establishment of a “buddy” system. This had sometimes turned into a problem of keeping track of students: “Make sure they are in your group and are on your friends list,” she said.

However, in the five classes taken into SL, there had only been one student who had “resisted” the idea, not for computer or virtual world issues, but because of “privacy” in connection with the other students.

In deciding to move learning into Second Life, Lemon said, educators, rather than  initially spending lots on their developments etc, without proper research,  should consider the existing resources within Second Life and  whether they could use these  resources, and what needed to be added to them to make them useful for a particular purpose.

She recommended, based on her experience, that the lead educator or “champion” of any on-going  education project in Second Life should  Motivate, Motivate, Motivate team members.  She noted that in the Second Life context “knowledge is power”.

She added that any  education team should  hold regular meetings in world and members should lock  themselves into the relevant Second Life groups. But, she added, team members must take time to have fun in SecondLife.

Technology issues

On Technical and Learning Technology Support Issues, Oriel Kelly, who presented  this paper with Lemon, said at MIT, they had  found,  that Second Life barely ran on a computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo; Motherboard: Intel DG35EC (G35 Express); CPU: Intel E8400 (2Ghz); Memory: 2GB (800mhz) RAM; GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT. On the question of network and bandwidth,  latency was an issue  with computer lab  sessions needing 416kb/machine. Firewalls had also been problematic because Second Life’s  SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is non-standard  and needed to be passed without being shredded by SIP aware firewalls or declared an  “illegal operation”.
On the question of access MIT  had had problems with  single IP NATs (network address translation) registering more than two avatars.
“We had a lot of technical problems, ” Lemon said,  adding that the major complaints from students had involved  technical issues.

Many of the problems, Lemon said, could be overcome by involving the technical staff in-world in the Second Life experience.

“Once in there and involved in the experiences they are sucked in,” she  half joked,  adding that previously the technical staff hadn’t been able to see why anyone would want to teach in-world.

]]> http://creativetension.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/istes-essential-conditions-maybe-the-guide-that-you-need/ Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:15:58 +0000 blairpeterson http://creativetension.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/istes-essential-conditions-maybe-the-guide-that-you-need/

ISTE’s - National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators packet includes Essential Conditions: Necessary conditions to effectively leverage technology for learning. This type of document can serve as a guide for school leaders who want to move their school(s) forward.

• Shared Vision
• Empowered Leaders
• Implementation Planning
• Consistent and Adequate Funding
• Equitable Access
• Skilled Personnel
• Ongoing Professional Learning
• Technical Support
• Curriculum Framework
• Student-Centered Learning
• Assessment and Evaluation
• Engaged Communities
• Support Policies
• Supportive External Context

Have your team break down each item and define what it means. Then look at where your school currently stands, where you need to go and how you’re going to get there.

Why not use this to develop your school’s action plan and/or technology plan. We’re always looking for simplifying the complex.

Here is a link to download the audio directly: Special Episode: Big Announcement #2 -The Book

Hey everyone,

Well this was the big secret project I’ve been working on that I had mentioned in previous episodes.  I introduce to you now “The Practical (and Fun) Guide to Assistive Technology in Public Schools: Building or Improving Your District’s AT Team” by Christopher Bugaj and Sally Norton-Darr.  The book is being published by the International Socitey for Technology in Education (better known by the acronym ISTE) and will be available for pre-order in February March of 2010. 

The Content:

As the title suggests the book provides strategies of building an assistive technology program in public schools.  Answers to common questions such as “How do we consider AT for every student?”, “How does assistive technology get documented in an IEP?”, “What are some effective ways of working with Instructional Technology?”, “Who should be on an AT Team?”, “When and how do you write an AT evaluation report?”, “What is the most effect service delivery model?”, “How do you adequately follow-up with teachers and students?”, “How do you collect data and demonstrate progress?”, and “How do you build a comprehensive assistive technology program?” are all found in the book.

The Style:

The book is written in such a way that it is easy to use and fun to read. We wanted to create a book that wouldn’t feel like a chore to read.  Therefore, the book is laced with engaging analogies and humorous stories which emphasize and clarify the points being made.  In the future we hope to have some excerpts for you to sample, both in text and audio formats.  Throughout the book we provide procedures that have not only been relatively easy to implement but also have proven exceptionally effective for us.  In fact, that was kind of our mantra for the book, “If it’s working for us, why wouldn’t it work for you?”

More to Come:

I’ll be sharing more information in the coming weeks and month about purchase information, pricing, and how you can help spread the word about the book if you’re interested in helping out.

Upcoming Presentation Information:

 The Building Blocks of a Successful Assistive Technology Team presented with Sally Norton-Darr - ISTE Webinar – October 21st- 4pm – 5pm EST

Eight is Enough: Ways to Use What You Got - Clarksville, Maryland -                                                                                  November 9th – 7:30pm – 9:00pm EST

Alternative Professional Development - Powering Up With Technology Conference 09 – Upper Marlboro, Maryland -  November 14th- (Time TBD)

Alternative Professional Development - Assistive Technology Industry Association Conference 2010 – Orlando, Florida – January 28 – 2:45pm – 3:45pm EST

UDL 2.0 presented with Beth Poss - Assistive Technology Industry Association Conference 2010 - Orlando, Florida – January 29 – 9:15pm-10:15pm EST

I hope to meet you at any or all of these presentations.  But, if you can’t make it to those, and you’re interested in any of this (or other) content for workshops in your district please contact me at attipscast@gmail.com.  We can work together to set something up either in person or virtually!

Join the A.T.TIPPERS group on Facebook and/or Classroom 2.0 ! You can also follow me on twitter.com as @attipscast.

Leave a comment down below or drop me a line at attipscast@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the show! You can access the podcast and register as a fan of the show from here:

Podcast Hosting at CyberEars.com

Thanks everyone and happy listening!

Etter å ha vært ute å kjørt litt for å få tiden til å gå så har jeg kommet frem til at en grå dag alltid blir litt bedre med Nestea White Peach. Likte ikke iste før, men etter at jeg prøvde White Peach så er jeg blitt avhengig av den.

Så nå sitter jeg her med 1 Liter Iste å nyter god musikk fra gamle Linkin Park album ^^

Community of Practice (CoP)
Amplified in Second Life

In a Community of Practice (CoP) the members are drawn to one another and eager to interact and learn from one another. They share goals and interests and work with similar tools to reach these defined goals. There is collaboration and learning by sharing. In a CoP each individual member teaches other group members so that the entire group can move forward and onward with high skills and creativity. A CoP is committed to develop joint better practices.

Personally, I think in a virtual world the CoP is even more important than in the real world. In a virtual world such as Second Life, we see a lot of interest groups: Communities of people that have the same interests and goals. There are educational groups (which can be broken up further into specific content areas), role play groups, business groups, developers, gamers, etc. The committed and dedicated kernel of these groups is rather small though and it is very important that they tie together and work hard keeping the group together bringing learning and joint goals forward.

When entering Second Life, educators may join interest groups such as ISTE. ISTE is the International Society for Technology in Education. I am a docent at ISTE Island in Second Life helping new citizens that enter Second Life through the ISTE portal. I help connect educators that are interested in the same subject area and have decided they want to try out the environment. I give advice on places to visit, events to attend for professional development, and sometimes I may suggest they connect with people in-world or in real-world – people that I know are interested in the same things (and that have allowed me to share this information). I see a lot of new people come by every time I am on shift. Many return. This group of returning visitors is excited about not only the opportunities that Second Life offer in education, but are also excited about being able to connect with others that have the same interests but that, perhaps, are geographically dispersed. By networking these educators form groups of CoP’s and share ideas and practices that move not only them but their group as a whole, onward in teaching. I am not an educator by profession yet, but I am excited to see how these people connect in the virtual environment. An example is The Virtual Pioneers, started by a group of five New York educators interested in travelling together in Second Life learning about history. This group has grown in the past two years to include 226 members and now also has a Ning (http://virtualpioneers.ning.com/ ) to support their efforts, collaboration, and interest.

Having said all this, I am a firm believer that networks take on a whole new meaning in virtual worlds. This is because people that did not know of each other’s existence but have the same interest, now can use the virtual world technology to find each other and to connect and collaborate. It’s an amplification of the Community of Practice. Virtual worlds bring people together in two ways – by the use and interest of technology and by interest in a particular area.

I came into Second Life by accident one could say. I knew about Second Life but had a “game-play” attitude towards it: Not for me! However, when I joined ISTE in real life and watched their introductory video, I realized ISTE’s mission was serious indeed and promised its members something to good not to be part of: Professional development in-world, presentations, workshops, tours, and the 3D technology – all for free. I was sold! When learning that a reputable organization such as ISTE used Second Life to enrich the lives of members, how volunteers helped other members learn through presentations, exploration, and manipulation, I just had to learn the technology and be part of this awesome community. Subsequently, I ventured into Second Life and am now part of a collaborative CoP as a docent for ISTE  - helping others get to just as good and enriching start in-world as I got myself a year ago.

Socorro Consolidated Schools and Partners Win a $250,000 Grant

The Technology Department at Socorro Consolidated Schools is pleased to announce SCSD’s teachers will benefit from additional funding through the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) stimulus program from the Federal Government. As partners in the Consortium for 21st Century Learning (C21CL), SCSD will share in $250,000 dedicated to training teachers on how to integrate technology into their instructional practices.

The partnership falls under the umbrella of NMSU’s Regional Educational Technology Assistance program and includes Socorro Consolidated Schools (as the Local Educational Agency managing the funding), Carrizozo Municipal Schools, Dexter Consolidated Schools, Animas Public Schools, Las Cruces Public Schools, Lordsburg Municipal Schools and Truth or Consequences Municipal Schools. Please click HERE to download the complete 163-page grant application (prepared under the leadership of Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz From RETA RETA, and it is truly a masterpiece!)

SCSD will receive $35,000 through this program to fund professional development for technology integration by teachers and the GenYes program led by Sarracino’s Michael Torres. Included in SCSD’s allocation is an additional $16,000 for teacher stipends over the next two years. Combined with the district EETT grant awarded to SCSD, the Technology Department will have $31,000 in stipend funds available for teachers.

The goals of the C21CL Partnership are simple:

1. Improve academic achievement for New Mexico’s K-12 students, especially in rural areas, by implementing technology-enhanced teaching methods in alignment with standards [NM Content Standards and Benchmarks and National Educational Technology Standards for students (NETS)], which support 21st century learning and prepare students to meet NCLB technology literacy requirements.

2. Build NM K-12 educators’ capacity to transform their practice by providing access to high quality, ongoing professional development (via face-to-face workshops, online webinars and virtual professional learning community) in order to prepare educators to meet both National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS•T) and NM Teacher Competencies.

3. Create a research-based sustainable professional development model, which prepares NM K-12 educators, professional development specialists and technology coordinators to effectively support 21st century teaching & learning environments.

Dr. Cheryl Wilson, Superintendent of Socorro Consolidated Schools, said, “The Consortium for 21st Century Learning is a necessary and exciting partnership for our teachers. The professional development opportunities and the availability of more stipend money to encourage our staff to extend the use of technology in transforming our instructional practices couldn’t have come at a better time. This grant allows us to continue working with the great staff from RETA and our new and old partners from other innovative school districts across Southwest New Mexico.”

Director of Technology Vern Smith, recently appointed by New Mexico Secretary of Education Dr. Garcia to the Council on Technology in Education for a four-year term, was equally enthusiastic about the funding.

“SCSD is extremely fortunate to have all this funding available to train our teachers to infuse technology into their lesson plans,” Smith said. “It’s been said a thousand times: education is all about student engagement and nothing engages our students like technology. This training, combined with our new website that includes many exciting tools for teachers and students, offers all of us a wonderful opportunity to include technology in our efforts to improve student learning, student achievement and student test scores.”

The Technology Department recently finished a complete re-cabling and re-wiring project at Zimmerly, Parkview, Midway and Sarracino, and the installation of wireless networks at those four schools should be finished by the end of September. Also, in the next few weeks, the Tech Department expects to have completed the installation of a much faster (and long-awaited) DS3 Internet service.

Smith said that the improvements to the technology infrastructure and services will make it easier to add new technologies (such as Mimios, remote responders and mini laptops) into classrooms across the district. “These tools require specific training on how to combine the technology with curriculum and pedagogy to achieve effective, positive outcomes,” Smith said. “However, before we start investing a bunch of money into placing more technology in classrooms, there needs to be a commitment that teachers will properly use these resources. The Tech Department will provide the equipment, the training and the support to teachers committed to changing the face of instruction here in Socorro.”

In order to understand the obstacles to integrating Technology in the classroom, Smith is teaching Digital Media Arts at Socorro High School this year. The class is a dual-credit course with Western New Mexico University with instruction in Photoshop during the first half of the year. “I’ve actually sat in my classroom and said that the Director of Technology should be fired because I’ve faced my share of technology challenges, so I have an appreciation of the technology challenges that our teachers and students are facing in the classroom. The good news is that the Tech Team is more committed than ever to making sure that EVERY user throughout the district has a positive technology experience.”

Aynı duyguyu bir daha yaşamamak dileğiyle,Ölenlere rahmet diliyorum…

Digital Citizenship: Addressing Appropriate Technology Behavior describes nine standards established by the Instructional Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), referred to as the National Education Technology Standards. Specifically designed to be exercised by students, they really are a set of common knowledge principles with which anyone having access to technology should be familiar. For those with particular curiosity, I’ll list them, though you’ll easily be able to assume the particulars embedded within them:

1. Etiquette: electronic standards of conduct or procedure

2. Communication: electronic exchange of information

3. Education: the process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology

4. Access: full electronic participation in society

5. Commerce: electronic buying and selling of goods

6. Responsibility: electronic responsibility for actions and deeds

7. Rights: those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world

8. Safety: physical well-being in a digital technology world

9. Security (self-protection): electronic precautions to guarantee safety

I should note that modeling (the appropriate behaviors) was a recurrent theme among each of the standards, and rightfully so, was also a hot topic within our SPU online discussion.

Of particular interest to me, was the area of ‘Safety’, and its focus on ergonomics. For the purpose of my online discussion with classmates, I reviewed a few articles and found a bit of conflicting information. For example, according to the ISTE, ergonomics, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, eyestrain, and posture are major medical issues that can be linked to computer use. However, according to an article in Wired.com, “In addition to finding a relatively low rate of carpal tunnel syndrome in computer users,” J. Stevens, neurologist, said that there is “no significant differences between computer users who developed the syndrome and those who did not”.

I also explored UCLA’s ergonomics site, for information on general workplace (school place) ergonomics, and discovered on online self-assessment, for anyone who may be physically suffering from technology strains.

Of particular interest in my online conversations was the topic that school districts, (so it seems), are less interested in the issue of ergonomics, as they are with security (i.e.: antitheft). In other words, a hot topic on the discussion boards was the sentiment that school districts are quicker to purchase technology, than they are to fund the cabinets, tables, and chairs that will house the technology. Stationary pieces, such as furniture with anti-theft devices, tend to be more favorable to district personnel funding the decision-making.

Lastly, while it is obvious that varieties of forms of technology are still new, as is our ability to use it appropriately, many schools are finding themselves in the dilemma of the too-much-too-soon syndrome. They are simply unable to keep up with establishing the necessary barriers to make using technology safe.

Last night I read Joe Corbett’s post on ISTE Connects: Is Facebook the Enemy of Education? While looking for Facebook applications for education, he came across research indicating that Facebook could negatively impact studying. The general indication from the research was that Facebook is a distractor – Facebook users typically spend less time studying which in turn negatively impacts grades. Now, hold this thought!

Like Joe, this got me thinking and I decided to review some of my recent readings on the topic. The links below encompass a good selection of views on the subject.

Viewpoints

Social Network Access: available or blocked/content filtered
Classroom learning vs. socializing
Supported by teachers, not supported by administration
Social Networks are just tooks – can we use them in educationally effective ways?
Keep the issues separate
Social Networking is part of web 2.0 literacy and digital citizenship

Reference Articles/Blog Posts

Classroom 2.0: The Value of Social Networking

Sue Water’s Blog: Educational Networking and Staying Out of My Face

Cool Cat Teacher’s Blog: It Is About Educational Networking NOT Social Networking

Fran Smith, Edutopia: How to Use Social Networking Technology for Learning

Harold Rheingold: Attention Literacy

Mark Carbone: recent blog post re school content filtering and social network access

OK, you have been holding that thought …. I believe you will find Joe’s article interesting, and it includes a reader survey. His post and survey are at: Is Facebook the Enemy of Education by Joe Corbett, ISTE. Have you voted yet?

~ Mark