Whitepaper: Educational Networking

Steve Hargadon, a consultant for Elluminate, has been in my PLN for a couple of years now.  He started the Classroom 2.0 Ning to get teachers networking and using a social network for their own learning.  Now, he has produced a whitepaper called, "Educational Networking:  The important role Web 2.0 will play in education."  In it, he argues that technology reall hasn't changed education up to this point, but with the advent of the interactive web and social networking, we are beginning to finally see the changes that people in education had been expecting to happen when computers first entered the classroom.  It's a quick, but informative read!

Educational Networking: The Important Role Web 2.0 Will Play in Education

Alice in Web 2.0 Land

I love the web!  I love the fantastic things that people create and share on the web!  I love the fact that my PLN isn't limited any longer to the people I have face to face contact with. 

So, why the love letter to the Intertubes, you might ask?  This brilliant take off on Lewis Carroll's poem, "Jabberwocky," that's why.  This comes from Steve Wheeler's blog, "Learning with 'e's"  and is a list of a bunch of Web 2 tools woven into poetry.  Amazing!

Who said learning has to be dull?

Some of my favorite moments in the classroom are the ones when students are excitedly engaged in a task and they don't even realize they're learning.  I recently collaborted on a project with one of the Middle School humanities teachers about the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Repbulic and the murder of the Mirabal sisters by his regime.  My favorite overheard conversation happened last week when one of the students was trying to see the issue from the standpoint of the Trujillo government, and she said, "I see why he would think the Mirabals were bad but I hate myself for saying it!" Magic!

So, today's post is a site that I think teachers and students will have fun with.  Using the customizable templates on ClassTools.net students or teachers can create online, interactive games for just about any lesson you can think of.  One of our Spanish teachers thought the drag and drop Dustbin Game would be a perfect way to practice vocabulary.  It would be even better on her SmartBoard!