To Learn Twice

There has been a lot of chat over the last few weeks in the mass of content I read about social networks and collaborative tools. The debates range from should we use them, if so how, does it really impact learning, are we preparing our kids correctly, and many variations on those themes. Here is where I am at - Good schools still start with good teachers Good teachers with good resources can better reach their students and teach skills Students with more resources are better prepared for the educational environment Parents that have high expectations and encourage their kids make it a lot easier for schools Technology is still an amplifier in many ways - it makes good teaching better and bad teaching worse Technology can really help instruction in 3 ways - that are completely new to education (it can also stop it when used incorrectly) Efficacy through Information - It can speed up communication and can increase the amount of information available to all stakeholders. That informati...

It has been a busy day, so this one is going out late. David Jakes turned me on to this site through his del.ico.us account . If that last sentence made no sense - don't worry - I'll describe del.ico.us tomorrow morning. Anyway, the site I want to tell you about is http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html This list has been compiled from the Top 10 Tools lists of over 100 learning professionals (consultants, analysts, developers, practitioners, academics, etc). This is a great spot to go to and look for things you don't know about in technology. Take a minute to click on the link of something you aren't familiar with and peruse it for a little while. Don't worry you won't wast your time - they are the top 100 after all!

Happy 1st day of school! As we go into this year I will be sending out Technology Tips on a pretty regular basis (a few times a week). Some of these will be cool websites or tools you can use. Most will be helpers or ideas for the classroom. Every so often they may just be good stuff to know. Either way you can be assured that I will be delivering a daily dose of geekiness. Past tech tips will be available at my blog . Here is your first installment... I want to introduce you to a couple of concept-mapping sites. Both of these sites allow you and your students to build mind-maps which take large difficult concepts and break them down into smaller manageable pieces. Here are some websites that have great examples or discussion: http://www.lifeclever.com/6-illuminating-concept-maps-you-should-know-about/ http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/Creative/Mindmap/ http://www.mind-mapping.org/article_main.php Anyway back to the cool tools... The 2 most popular si...