Thursday, August 25, 2011

Connections, Common Sense, QR Codes, and other Good Stuff!

Beginning the School Year:  It's about Connections, Not Content


Most classes, starting with about middle school, begin the school year with reviewing the content to be covered, expectations regarding grades, and other academic information provided by the teacher or instructor.  The human or social element is often disregarded.  

What is interesting is that most learners enter the classroom wondering who is in the course.  They want to know about the teacher and the people in the class not what material is to be covered. What this says to me as an educator is that it all begins with a social connection – between the educator and the learners, and between the learners themselves.
The QR Code for the Drive-thru
http://bit.ly/nTksrk


Online Education: A Word of Caution


 The pedagogical structures for most online courses is traditional and does not meet the needs of all students and the variety of learning styles that they come with. Although there might be a variety of media types, such as videos or music or reading, the lesson design is still in the "sage on the stage" mode, where the course knows the content and pushes it out on students. 

http://huff.to/n3v7eY





If Cellphones Existed Back in the Founding Fathers' Time

In many ways, our personal communications technologies are as integral to our modern life as a sidearm was in Washington and Jefferson’s day.
http://zd.net/reJJLg




Casting a Wide Net for Mentors



This fall, thousands of the nation's students hoping to find specialized knowledge on subjects ranging from paleontology to bus mechanics will do what Julia did: develop "PLNs," or Personal Learning Networks.Created by a loose consortium of teachers that now numbers nearly 9,700, PLNs use social networking to match experts with students who otherwise wouldn't be able to find specialized instruction, help or advice.
http://usat.ly/nAzkO2




QR Code Resources in Education


All about QR Codes (Quick Response Codes) by the Cybraryman


http://cybraryman.com/qrcodes.html








Common Sense Tips for Internet Safety
Digital life is very public and often permanent. If our kids don't protect their privacy, what they do online will create digital footprints that wander and persist. Something that happens on the spur of the moment -- a funny picture, a certain post -- can resurface years later. And if kids aren't careful, their reputations can get away from them and third parties -- like marketers or potential employers -- can access what kids thought was private information.


http://bit.ly/nCBzIY






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