Cellphones now teach phonics and animation and more

USA Today carries this AP news report: "Smart phones now have hundreds of applications meant to educate kids — from graphic calculators to animation programs that teach spelling and phonics. And while most public schools don't allow the devices because they're considered distractions — and sometimes portable cheating tools — some school districts have started to put the technology to use." Are cellphones the next pencil and paper? You can post a comment on Teacher Magazine's website.

Digital games: Playing for learning and health

eSchool News reports: Some researchers are recommending that schools capitalize on kids' love of video games to impart healthy behaviors and academic skills.

Teaching Naked: Why Removing Technology from your Classroom Will Improve Student Learning

A university professor writes on the National Teaching & Learning Forum: "simple, new technologies can greatly increase your students' engagement outside of the classroom and thus prepare them for real discussions (even in the very largest classes) by providing content and assessment before class time. The goal, in other words, is to use technology to free yourself from the need to "cover" the content in the classroom, and instead use class time to demonstrate the continued value of direct student to faculty interaction and discussion."

Teacher Cuts & Technology (Wall St Journal)

The Wall St. Journal reports that more money is coming to school districts to acquire technology and to provide professional development for teachers. "At the same time school districts around the nation are bracing for a round of severe belt-tightening as a result of strained state and local budgets, they’re also getting a significant bump in federal funding to make their classrooms more tech-savvy, which they hope will help improve student performance."

Social Media Sparks School Policy Debate

From the Ecology of Education web site: Last year, educational technology specialist Gina Hartman started looking at how school districts outside of St. Charles, Mo., addressed social media. She didn’t find many that had created guidelines on social media use, so she and several colleagues started a wiki on the topic.

NewsTrust Unveils News Literacy Guide

Fabrice Florin of NewsTrust asks that I pass along this new resource: I thought you might be interested in hearing about a news literacy guide we just released on NewsTrust.net, our social news network devoted to good journalism. Think Like A Journalist, by Michael Bugeja, gives news consumers a quick introduction to core principles of journalism, with helpful tips on how to review a story on NewsTrust. This short guide is aimed at people with a general interest in news, but limited time to learn about news literacy. The full guide is up on our site: http://media.newstrust.net/guides

This news literacy guide also include an extensive list of educational resources, for teachers or individuals interested in learning more. We welcome your recommendations for other worthy sites:

http://media.newstrust.net/guides/educational-resources.html

Digital Voice Recorders Turn Students Into Interviewers

Education Week's Digital Directions profiles several schools: "Because of their portable size, low cost, and ease of use, ed-tech experts say the new generation of digital voice recorders make ideal classroom tools."

New iPhone apps classes let you learn, test and earn

USA Today reports: Colleges and universities across the country are taking notice, offering courses in programming iPhone applications to computer-related majors. The courses represent a new path of study for many colleges and universities recognizing the longevity of smartphones and social media, college professors say.

A Kindle For Every Student?

Read about this idea on this New York Times blog..and then let me know if you think this is a good idea or a disaster waiting to happen.

How to Become More Tech Savvy This Summer (Edutopia)

This Edutopia blogger suggests ways for educators to "dip their toes into the water" of Web 2.0--and then consider their application and appropriateness for the classroom.

Adtext: an interdisciplinary curriculum

A new and valuable resource for those who teach with and about advertising.

"March Of Time" Newsreel Series Now Available

The March of Time newsreel series, produced from 1935 to 1967 by Time Inc., is now online in its entirely, courtesy of the HBO Archives. All films are free, but registration is required. They were first shown in movie theaters and on television and were more long-form than typical Hollywood-produced newsreels.

New "News Literacy" Blog

A campaign has been launched to improve "news literacy" levels amongst America's citizens. The Lovejoy Journalism and News Literacy Blog aims to counteract spreading "news illiteracy", which is considered as the "real" and "hidden" threat to journalism and ultimately democracy in the current climate of proliferating news sources. The blog joins two other "news literacy" initiatives--which will be the subjects of a session at NCTE 2009 in Philadelphia.

AASL's Top 25 Web Sites for Teaching And Learning

The "Top 25" Web sites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.

Consortium Urges Business to Get Behind Online Safety Education

The best practices guidelines from the PointSmart.ClickSafe (PS.CS) task force on online safety and literacy released July 8 put a heavy emphasis on education and a complaint/response procedure when problems arise. The story, in Broadcasting&Cable online, includes a link to the task force recommendations.

Bringing Visual Literacy into the Classroom

NCTE's weekly blog offers educators a host of resources for incorporating "visual literacy" into instruction. This blog was also referenced. Thanks NCTE !

Cell phones used to deliver course content

From eSchool news: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says schools and colleges should deliver course content to the cell phones that students use to talk and text every day. Some campus officials are listening, and classes via web-enabled cell phones could be mobile learning's next evolution.

Student Media Productions Recognized & Awarded

At the just concluded NECC 2009 conference 28 schools received awards and prizes in Sony Creative Software's second student digital video contest. The Technology in Motion content challenged high school and middle school students to produce a digital video that addressed this year's theme of "community of the future."

Crap Detection 101

Love the title of Howard Rheingold's latest blog entry. An excerpt: "The first thing we all need to know about information online is how to detect crap, a technical term I use for information tainted by ignorance, inept communication, or deliberate deception. Learning to be a critical consumer of Webinfo is not rocket science. It's not even algebra. Becoming acquainted with the fundamentals of web credibility testing is easier than learning the multiplication tables. The hard part, as always, is the exercise of flabby think-for-yourself muscles."