I wrote recently about how many of my otherwise sharp students were “Google fundamentalists” who argued, to simplify a bit, that “if it’s in Google, it’s valid.” These are often the same students who insist they should be able to use Wikipedia as a source for research. I’ve been skimming Wikipedia’s own policies for writing [...]
Archives for the ‘Networked Learning’ Category
New Tech Teaching Habits
Thursday, 31 December 2009
I think this question would make either a good meme or a good open thread: What new routines have worked their way into your teaching-and-learning life as a result of the digital revolution? I’ll share a couple of mine. I think history teachers will find the first one valuable, but teachers of any discipline can [...]
Barbarians with Laptops: An Unreasonable Fear?
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
I expect to be soundly whipped for this post, but in this age of “failure being free,” I don’t mind. I hope to learn from teachers who can offer specific examples, or research, that give evidence that digital learning is superior to traditional. (Or who can contest my framing of the issue, and improve on [...]
Videos: Mental Poverty, Collaboration, “Recession Skills 101″
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Watch the two videos below — I even took notes of highlights to prod the attention-deficient — and then show them to your students. 1. Randy Nelson, Dean of Pixar University, on Collaboration and what I’ve been calling Social Intelligence in the Workplace. Key concepts: Making co-workers look good, not bad; “plussing” your partners; wanting [...]
On Using Technology Without Understanding It
Friday, 25 December 2009
This editorial from our high school student newspaper is a must-read for its criticism of the school-wide technology integration initiative. It’s a must-read for other reasons too — and other readers — but read it first, and we’ll get to that very different party afterward. The first thing I did when I read this was [...]
A New Diigo Vision and Call for Advice: On Students Teaching China to the West
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
How to “Smart Mob” against Creationism in Textbooks (video)
Monday, 8 December 2008
Picture this: enterprising students in cities in Texas, particularly, and other cities nationwide – along with counterparts in Romania, which just mandated a Creationism-only science curriculum (I kid you not), and maybe Turkey, for good measure – organize Smart Mobs to strike, peacefully and simultaneously, out of the blue to demand only 21st century science [...]
On Carrotmobs and Election-Stealing: An Edu-Activism Fantasy
Friday, 25 July 2008
After watching the following video on Dean Shareski’s blog (thanks to Kate Tabor for the alert): Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo. –and then watching this immensely disturbing clip from the Uncounted documentary about election theft in the 2004 USA elections: –and in the 2006 elections: –it should be no wonder that I [...]
“So Off I Flew to Seek a Newer Land” – Notes Beyond Schoolteaching
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Networked Learning Class Reflection 1: Basketball without Borders Project
Saturday, 21 June 2008
That Networked Learning elective “English Seminar” class I taught last semester ended two weeks ago. (Sift through the archives for related posts.) For new readers or simply people not tuned in here during the last six months, here’s a recap: Ten students of mixed grades (9-12, ages 15-18), each with a MacBook laptop (the school [...]






