Useful Links (weekly)

• Extreme Biology Blog This site is maintained by Ms. Baker and her biology students. From the Northeast U.S., they blog about anything biology-related.

• Spezify Spezify is a search tool presenting results from a large number of websites in different visual ways. We take web search further, away from endless lists of blue text links and towards a more intuitive experience. We want you to get a good overview of a subject, find useful information and be inspired with Spezify. We mix all media types and make no difference between blogs, videos, microblogs and images. Everything communicates and helps building the bigger picture.

• Coaching informal learning « Learning Journal Informal learning – by definition – requires a learner to set his or her own goals and to monitor progress toward those goals. Learners may not set goals as stringently as instructional designers might, but it’s critical that they identify what it is they want to learn. Sometimes, learners will gravitate toward formal learning solutions in order to meet these goals, but in a great majority of cases, formal learning is not offered, or is not readily available. So the next step in the learning process is for the learner to come up with some kind of strategy for learning. This might involve going to the bookstore (okay, maybe I’m the only geek who does that, but still, it’s a strategy), finding a colleague who can teach or coach on the subject, doing an internet search and sorting through what’s found, or even doing some tentative experimentation to see what works and what doesn’t.

• openchemistry | Openchemistry makes chemistry learning content free, open and available to the world. The purpose of OpenChemistry is to make chemistry learning content free, open and available to the world with the aim of creating a community of educators, students and lifetime learners who are interested in producing and consuming original content in chemistry All work by openchemistry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License

• Digital Culture & Education Digital Culture & Education (DCE) is an international inter-disciplinary peer-reviewed journal. This interactive, open-access web-published journal is for those interested in digital culture and education. The journal is devoted to analysing the impact of digital culture on identity, education, art, society, culture and narrative within social, political, economic, cultural and historical contexts.

• ICT Mindtools ICT tools that necessarily engage users in higher order thinking. Students cannot use these mindtools without thinking deeply about the task at hand. They require students to be creative and to think and make connections for themselves.

• National Storytelling Network An extensive resource created by the National Storytelling Association. Lists events and also links to collections of resource stories; other storytelling organizations and great sites; newsgroups, newsletters and online magazines; and lists of profession

• Next: An Internet Revolution in Higher Education – BusinessWeek Article: Web technology is poised to shake universities, the way it rocked newspapers and the music industry—with convenient, cheaper alternatives

• Sean M Elliott’s Theoretikos.com – Science Communication, Spectulation, Imagination. 

• The Library 2.0 Gang Library 2.0 Gang 09/09 discussing eBooks & eReaders (The site offers a great resource of podcasts by librarians and library staff all about 2.0 issues in the library. )

• 14 Ways K-12 Librarians Can Teach Social Media – NeverEndingSearch – Blog on School Library Journal A good blog about librarians and 21st century learning skills has many links to other online materials concerning copyright and fair use, etc.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Passionate learning

Yesterday, in a number of professional development sessions, we thought about and discussed ways to engage students with their learning.

In the video below, one of my favourite thinkers, Sir Ken Robinson talks about harnessing natural aptitudes and passions to get the best out of their learning opportunities. This does not always sit so easily with the traditional education systems.