Think and Dream in English: 01/10/09

Jonathan Zittrain: The Web as random acts of kindness

http://www.ted.com Feeling like the world is becoming less friendly? Social theorist Jonathan Zittrain begs to difffer. The Internet, he suggests, is made up of millions of disinterested acts of kindness, curiosity and trust.

Grim Grinning Ghosts

Farr-Out Links to Learning » Blog Archive » Word Searches…Worthless or Worthwhile?

Farr-Out Links to Learning » Blog Archive » Word Searches…Worthless or Worthwhile?:

"Recently, I came across some really terrific Word Search generators. As I played with the online tools and tried to solve a few of the puzzles I created, I began to question their value. Just because we can easily generate a word puzzle does that mean we should? Do word searches help students learn?"

HigherEdMorning.com » Blog Archive » The top 5 ways students use technology to cheat

HigherEdMorning.com » Blog Archive » The top 5 ways students use technology to cheat:

"They can do it faster and more easily than ever before. But what’s most worrisome: Today’s students may not think cheating is wrong.

Let’s start with the facts.

According to a recent survey by Common Sense Media, 35% of teens use their cell phones to cheat."

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2009/09/im-just-helping-look-at-electronic.html

News Details :: Enhance Learning with Second Life

News Details :: Enhance Learning with Second Life:

"There is a shift afoot in education. The wind is changing. This new digital wind is haling from a virtual world.

Students today need to be immersed in what they are learning - not dealing only with static things like pictures, books, and to some degree even movies. An immersive world allows the student to move, talk, build, and connect with the very information that they are learning - they can be surrounded by it and then they can contribute to it.

In real life (RL) you can’t take students out and let them swim in the ocean, listen to whales singing, touch sharks, see the Monterrey Bay Seashore National Park as only a few have seen it, but, in Second Life (SL) you can."

Guide to Twitter - The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter | Webdesigner Depot

Guide to Twitter - The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter | Webdesigner Depot:

"Twitter isn’t just a cute way for keeping in instant touch with friends on mobile phones anymore. It has ramped up quickly to be the search engine of choice for some with its human driven results.

Applications galore allow you to find friends all over the world with similar interests and keep up with them in real time."

E Learning 2.0, Open Social Learning

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University Of Texas Moving Into Second Life | Government IT Blog | InformationWeek Government

University Of Texas Moving Into Second Life | Government IT Blog | InformationWeek Government:

"The University of Texas launched a year-long, state-wide initiative to use Second Life in the curriculum for all 16 of its campuses, experimenting with using the platform as a means of providing innovative, low-cost undergraduate instruction involving students, faculty, researchers and administrators.

The Transforming Undergraduate Education Program at the University of Texas System awarded a grant to fund the initiative, driven by a mandate common to many higher education institutions: Reducing or eliminating expensive brick-and-mortar costs while becoming energy efficient. Linden Lab, which developed and operates Second Life, announced the Texas initiative on its blog."

Six internet acronyms your learners really ought to know « Six Things

Six internet acronyms your learners really ought to know « Six Things:

"Could online communication be one future component of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)? Should we start talking about ILF (internet lingua franca)? Whatever the take on those bigger questions, to start with here are six acronyms that I believe are pretty important for learners to know as they navigate the www.

1. lol and variations. This is one of the most common acronyms in online communication. People on the net laugh a lot, it seems. They don’t simply laugh either (l). They’re laughing out loud (lol), or they’re rolling on the floor laughing (rotfl), or they’re laughing their arses/asses off (lmao). I’ve even seen rotflmao, for really funny things."

DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: Tools and Technologies for Effective Classrooms

DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: Tools and Technologies for Effective Classrooms:

"Classrooms are not always safe places for students to share what they don't know. Call it human nature or whatever, but there are precious few students who are willing to expose their ignorance in public (especially in middle/high school). The result is that the 'loud' and 'overconfident' students often take over the discussion - until you tap the Power of Anonymity..."

Zombies in Plain English

What's New in TweetDeck v0.31

Personal Learning Environments

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Beauty Before and After Writing Prompt - TeachHUB | Teacher Tips, Fun & Advice

TeachHUB | Teacher Tips, Fun & Advice:

"Beauty Before and After Writing Prompt

K-2: What do you think makes someone beautiful?

3-5: Would you recognize the girl in the beginning from the final billboard photo? Would you ever want to change so much people didn't recognize you? Why or why not?

6-8: Is your image of your body and your looks affected by how models and stars look? Is that a good or bad thing?

9-12: Do you think the media should represent beauty more realistically or should they stick to these airbrushed models? What is their responsibility to the impressionable people (young or old) whom these images affect?"

Talks Bill Gates on mosquitos, malaria and education

Bill Gates hopes to solve some of the world's biggest problems using a new kind of philanthropy. In a passionate and, yes, funny 18 minutes, he asks us to consider two big questions and how we might answer them. (And see the Q&A on the TED Blog.)

About Bill Gates

A passionate techie and a shrewd businessman, Bill Gates changed the world once, while leading Microsoft to dizzying success. He plans to do it again with his very own style of philanthropy. Full bio and more links

How To Connect Your Students Globally | always learning

How To Connect Your Students Globally | always learning:

"As Fernando M. Reimers writes in Leading for Global Competency:

Good educators know that the real world is ever more interconnected and interdependent. We all share in facing such planetary challenges as climate change, health epidemics, global poverty, global economic recessions and trade imbalances, assaults on human rights, terrorism, political instability, and international conflicts. We also share opportunities for global collaboration in such areas as scientific and artistic creation, trade, and international cooperation. These challenges and opportunities define the contours of our lives, even in their most local dimensions. Yet in spite of growing awareness of the importance of developing global skills, few students around the world have the opportunity today to become globally competent."

The English Blog: Overseas students are better at English than the British

The English Blog: Overseas students are better at English than the British:

"From The Independent on Sunday:

British undergraduates are nearly three times more likely to make errors in English than those from overseas, according to new research.

A study of written work produced by final-year students revealed that, on average, they had 52.2 punctuation, grammatical and spelling errors per paper compared with just 18.8 for the international students."