COETAIL @ TAS

Why Teachers Should Join Twitter…What I have Learned as a Twitter Newbie « adaptivelearnin:

Okay, I admit that I rebelled against joining Twitter for the longest time.  I had friends and family members urging me to join.  I often said, “Why should I join another social networking site?  I have not used MySpace for a while  and am quite happy with Facebook.”  Those who were part of the Twitter community kept insisting that I join because in their words it was better than Facebook.  I had no idea what I was missing on Twitter.  Months would pass and I was quite determined that I did not need Twitter.  I was fine without it.  I kept social networking for my personal life.  I did not see why I needed it otherwise.

Read more here

Teachers Teaching Teachers, on Twitter: Q. and A. on ‘Edchats’ – NYTimes.com:

Each week, thousands of teachers participate in scheduled Twitter “chats” around a particular subject area or type of student. Math teachers meet on Mondays, for instance, while science discussions happen on Tuesdays, new teachers gather on Wednesdays and teachers working with sixth graders meet Thursdays. (Jerry Blumengarten, Twitter’s @cybraryman1, posts this helpful list of educational chats.)

Read more here

10 years after laptops come to Maine schools, educators say technology levels playing field for students | State:

What are we getting? Teachers, students and administrators interviewed for this report said laptops are giving several kinds of return on that money. * Laptops make learning and schoolwork more interesting, students and teachers said. “When kids are engaged, you can teach them anything,” said Jeff Mao, who oversees instructional technology for the Maine Department of Education. * Writing test scores have improved. Angus King is quick to point out, “I never promised higher test scores,” but a study indicates laptops have improved writing statewide. A 2009 study by David Silvernail of the Maine Education Policy Research Institute at the University of Southern Maine showed that laptops helped students become better writers, boosting writing test scores statewide. Silvernail is working on a comprehensive report about laptops. He’s scheduled to give that assessment to state lawmakers in mid-April. * Freeport math skills have jumped. The number of Freeport students who need remedial math in the ninth grade has been cut in half. Educators credit the method of teaching math in middle school: laptops, no textbooks. In 2001-02, Freeport Middle School’s eighth grade passing rate on basic math tests was about 50 percent. In 2009-10, it was 91 percent, math teacher Alex Briasco-Brin said. Briasco-Brin’s way of teaching math with technology will soon be shared with other math teachers, Mao said. Laptop critics, including some parents, complain that they can be a distraction from learning: Students spend too much time on social-networking sites, including Facebook and Skype. Overall, educators say the laptops have done what King promised: level the playing field of access to technology and help students become technology-literate.

Colorado schools are beginning to write off cursive handwriting – The Denver Post:

“If they’re not using it when they’re older, why are we demanding it now?” Workman says. “The kids don’t like to write cursive, and it’s always an argument every year. I decided it’s a battle I don’t want to fight anymore. Now, I’m

First-grade teacher Susie Richardson helps students “shake it out” before beginning their next letter in cursive class at James Irwin Charter Elementary School in Colorado Springs, where students are introduced to the flowing script starting in kindergarten.(Joe Amon, The Denver Post )starting to think it really is becoming obsolete.”

Read more:Colorado schools are beginning to write off cursive handwriting – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17710389?source=mng_fulltext#ixzz1HsLKY9zc
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

80% of college now looking at students social presences. :

According to a Kaplan survey of college admissions officers, more than 80% said they consider social media presence when recruiting students. While they may not completely base an acceptance or rejection off of social media content, it has definitely become a factor in an applicant’s reputation. “A first impression is no longer a handshake; it’s a Google search, it’s a search on Facebook,” says Dan Schawbel, author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success and founder of Millenial Branding. “Because all of this information is online, it makes it easier for employers and admissions officers to find out information on candidates. Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/03/23/attention-college-applicants-admissions-facebook-page/#ixzz1HwKpqVxF

(via Why Blog? | Walking Through Information Technology)

Created by one of our COETAIL participants in Taipei this is an excellent presentation on why we blog and why we make you blog for this course. 

What Do Kids Say Is The Biggest Obstacle To Technology At School?:

The project surveyed almost 300,000 students (along with 43,000 parents, 35,000 teachers, 2000 librarians and 3500 administrators) from over 6500 private and public schools last fall about how they’re using – and how they want to be using – technology for learning.

Students Speak Up in Class, Silently, via Social Media – NYTimes.com:

Instead of being a distraction — an electronic version of note-passing — the chatter echoed and fed into the main discourse, said Mrs. Olson, who monitored the stream and tried to absorb it into the lesson. She and others say social media, once kept outside the school door, can entice students who rarely raise a hand to express themselves via a medium they find as natural as breathing.