21st Century Learning – Page 19 – Media! Tech! Parenting!

21st Century Learning, acceptable use, conversations on commenting, digital citizenship, electronic communication, interesting research, parents and technology, social media, social networking, teaching digital kids

Online Etiquette Not the Greatest

Posted on May 14, 2012March 19, 2019 by Marti Weston

Check out the May 13, 2012 post, Online Etiquette Lacking, Study Finds, over at the Techlicious blog.

Writer Christina DesMarais describes a study that identifies irritating digital world behaviors such as communicating at inappropriate times, sharing too much information, and highly negative commenting — all related to our increasing use of 21st Century social media.

This article is filled with digital world conversation starters that parents and teachers can use to begin discussions about ethics, privacy, and security.

Also, you can check out my related post, Conversations About Commenting.

21st Century Learning, apps, assessing learning, digital learning, parents and technology

Wordfoto – Great Fun With Pictures and Word Lists

Posted on May 10, 2012March 19, 2019 by Marti Weston

wordfotosunflowers-2 — One of my sunflower pictures with words added for a presentation on professional development.

I have a new favorite app — Wordfoto. Interestingly it’s designed for an iPhone but does not yet have an iPad version.

With the Wordfoto application, I make a word list and then have some fun designing art. I select a picture as a background to highlight my words. I can use an image that comes with the app, I can use one of the pictures in my iPhone photo galleries, or I can take a new picture.

When I combine the picture and the word list — voila, a cool Wordfoto. The app comes with a variety of editing options, allowing users to play with the image, crop it, create styles, and fine tune the texture of the pictures. Wordfoto also comes with preset styles that introduce texture, color, and depth variations, making it easy for new users to get started.

Newly created images can be easily e-mailed, posted to Facebook, and more. Once e-mailed, the Wordfoto jpg images can be incorporated into other projects.

Potential uses? Spelling lists, messages and cards, vocabulary practice, event signs, and much more. The images will also be useful as illustrations for school reports, and I’m excited because I design occasional images for my blog posts.

21st Century Learning, digital learning, Evaluating Web Resources, networking, parents and technology

My Extreme Professional Development

Posted on May 9, 2012February 28, 2015 by Marti Weston

Over the past 10 days I have attended multiple, jam-packed professional development events. I’m beginning to think of it in reality show lingo as my extreme professional development experience, because I’ve encountered so many colleagues along with ideas, hands-on strategies, learning theories, and thoughtful approaches, all focused on becoming better teachers, collaborators, and learners in the 21st Century. One over-arching idea applies to all of my activities: learning, unlearning, and relearning are now routine. Anyone not comfortable with these three concepts — connected and in tandem — needs to get acquainted with them ASAP.

I’m reminded of a quote from futurist Alvin Toffler, “The illiterate of the future are not those that cannot read or write. They are those that can not learn, unlearn, and relearn.“

My extreme adventure started about 10 days ago when I presented in the Virginia Shenandoah Valley at the Virginia Association of Press Women. I described how technology has transformed the way we all learn and how specific content is now less important than our skill at discovering information, evaluating it, and using it well. The digital content is out there for everyone to find, I told the group. The role of adults and teachers is to ensure that as we teach one area of content we also ensure that children are developing the skills to recognize, evaluate, and use quality information.

I drove home on Saturday and left again on Sunday for the annual AIMS Technology Retreat on the Maryland Eastern Shore.

Continue reading “My Extreme Professional Development” →

21st Century Learning, copyright, digital parenting, Great TED Talks, parent child conversations, parents and technology, teaching digital kids

Copyright: Lessig on History, Creativity, and Sharing

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Marti Weston

In his 2008 TED talk, law professor Lawrence Lessig describes the history of copyright policy, illustrating the reasons why our laws in general and copyright laws in particular should evolve to reflect contemporary culture and information.

Thoughtful and thought-provoking, this lecture contains information that can be used as conversation starters for parents and teachers of digital kids.

21st Century Learning, digital citizenship, digital world conversations, parents and technology

Lawrence Lessig-MIT Media Lab Talk on Reforming US Congress

Posted on April 24, 2012March 19, 2019 by Marti Weston

I’ve embedded an interesting presentation by Lessig about reforming the United States Congress! Highlights are from a much longer presentation at the MIT MediaLab Conversation series.

Very much 21st Century Learning! And a great opportunity for a civics lesson.

Howard Rheingold presents on May 10th and you can even Tweet in with your questions.

21st Century Learning, digital citizenship minute, digital learning, digital world conversations, parents and technology, teaching digital kids

The Digital Citizenship Minute: Digital Digressions in the Classroom

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Marti Weston

netfamilynews3 — Read the piece at NetFamilyNews.org.

A year ago I asked my fifth-graders to write podcast scripts. They wrote about teasing, cyberbullying, gossip, intention vs. consequence, advertising, digital footprints, and the lack of facial cues in electronic communication. Working mostly in collaborative groups, my students recorded complete “’casts” in our informal laptop studio.

As always when it comes to 21st Century learning, a few students improved upon my lesson plan and asked to write podcasts for their other teachers. The resulting efforts helped students refine their digital citizenship perspectives. One student noted, “When an electronic problem [like cyberbullying] becomes a ‘big problem,’ teachers talk about it at school. How come we don’t talk about these things when they aren’t [big] problems?”

Continue reading “The Digital Citizenship Minute: Digital Digressions in the Classroom” →

21st Century Learning, collaboration, digital learning, parents and technology, social entrepreneurs

SOccket! Collaboration, Creativity, and Tech Create an Energy-Producing Soccer Ball

Posted on April 12, 2012March 19, 2019 by Marti Weston

Jessica Matthews, a co-creator of the energy-producing soccer ball, SOccket, visited my school today, taking the place by storm with her stories and engaging presentation.

A collaborative, 21st Century learning team working together for an undergraduate college class project, envisioned a soccer ball that might create clean energy as it moved around, while still being a ball for playing soccer. Their SOccket invention is astonishing and inspiring, creating enough energy to plug in a lamp or charge a mobile phone. Now, several years later, two members of the team have become social entrepreneurs, and SOccket is in production.

This CBS This Morning report gives lots more background. Two of the students, Jessica and her former classmate Julia Silverman, formed a start-up company, UnCharted Play and you can watch company’s introductory video, with an intro by Bill Clinton.