Encouraging students to update Shakespeare for their new, urban contexts has been encouraged in theatre and in film. Baz Luhrman's Romeo+ Juliet, Gus van Sant's My Own Private Idaho immediately come to mind. It is doubly exciting to see students encouraged to update Shakespeare, make the ideas and concepts their own, and to do so in a hybrid approach that blends immersive and interactive

Guest Post: by Savannah Krause Here is a beautiful post in the spirit of Self-Injury Awareness Day to put all of you in mind of the people we can help and the people who care about. Thank you, Savannah, for this little dose of inspiration! Currently I am taking a Novels course where the class was assigned a project to do for the quarter. My teacher, Mrs. Olson, asked us each to be inspired by our free read books to create or do something that would benefit other people. All we are required to do is make it something we are passionate about; something meaningful, blog about what we are doing, show evidence through pictures, video, music, etc, and then share it with the class when we are finished. After reading the book Perfect by Ellen Hopkins, I knew I wanted my project to in someway help teens who are struggling with all different types of issues such as depression, anxiety, self-harming, eating disorders, and more. I wanted to show them somehow that they ARE important and they DO matter. My initial idea was to cover all of the mirrors in the high school with signs that have inspiring messages and quotes to let them know how important and beautiful they are to the world. As I was preparing to do this, I discovered that Self-Injury Awareness Day was on March 1st. I started to think of how I could incorporate this into my project and soon after I stumbled onto what is called the Butterfly Project. It is used to help people who self-harm to quit and has seven rules:  1. When you feel like you want to cut, take a marker, pen, or sharpies and draw a butterfly on your arm or hand. 2. Name the butterfly after a loved one, or someone that really wants you to get better. 3. You must let the butterfly fade naturally. NO scrubbing it off. 4. If you self-harm before the butterfly is gone, you’ve killed it. If you don’t, it lives. 5. If you have more than one butterfly, cutting kills all of them. 6. Another person may draw them on you. These butterflies are extra special. Take good care of them. 7. Even if you don’t cut, feel free to draw a butterfly anyways, to show your support. If you do this, name it after someone you know that cuts or is suffering right now, and tell them. It could help. When I found this, I knew I had to do something with it. So I talked to my friend Taylor, who I knew felt passionate about this issue also. We decided that we wanted to raise awareness and inform people about the Butterfly Project so they could show support. We created signs asking people to wear orange, the self-injury awareness color, and to participate in the Butterfly Project. We created an event on Facebook to spread the word faster and farther. Within a few hours there were over 1,000 people invited and at least 100 attending our event. In the next two days there were over 4,500 people invited and 600 attending! People from all over were posting on the wall and sharing their stories and saying how amazing they thought this idea was. All the support that these people showed was overwhelming. People from my own school who I had never talked to were messaging me and telling me how what I was doing was amazing and how much it meant to them. Going to school that day and seeing all the butterflies was so incredible. I had friends from other towns sending me pictures of their own butterflies and telling me how their school had even participated in it! I never expected for it to go as far as it did. Words can not describe how this experience has impacted my life. I feel so grateful that I was enabled to be such a big part of something that has helped so many people.  Related articles The butterfly project (natashanewlife.wordpress.com)

What makes much of Big Data extremely useful is the ability to integrate geospatial information, especially when tracked with time. To that end, ArcGIS is a "must have", and Python is a practical language that allows one to manipulate large data sets such as those found in databases, and that gathered via data acquisition module streams. While the "cookbook" part of the title is a bit of a

It is easier than ever to offer a Massively Open Online Course (MOOC), with platforms such as Coursera, which are designed to handle hundreds of thousands of users, and to export data in a way that can be easily used within the information systems of colleges and universities.  Coursera currently hosts and delivers content for 63 universities, and they content is in Spanish as well as in English.

Today’s great tool is a testament to how one person can make a big impact in the world! I know how important the internet has become, and what a great opportunity to make some great connections it can be, but it is always important to take a step back and look at the situation. Amitay Tweeto understood this, and has come up with a great way to remind us that, while we work on our digital literacy and build new networks, we can always take a step back and have a quiet moment. The Quiet Place Project, Amitay’s global reminder, has had huge success in spreading his peaceful message. It combines three beautifully designed interfaces that provide a hushed reminder to stop and smell the roses. Check out The Quiet Place, the opening message from the site to take a small moment for yourself, and see if it makes you feel better about your hectic schedule! The beauty in the project is its simplicity. If you are feeling stressed, you can simply click the 90 Seconds Relaxation Excercise. The message is simple; we’ve all heard it before, but in his quiet way, it can help you feel more in touch and prepare you to face the stressful world with a calm face. If you need to take a little more action to feel at peace, the newest addition to The Quiet Place, The Thoughts Room might be a huge help as well. The room lets you type all your thoughts for as long as you wants as it destroys your negative feelings with bright starbursts in the night sky. The room is a great visualization that really makes your bad feelings seem more manageable, and might make your day that much more productive! Thank you to Amitay Tweeto for your beautiful example of how something small can make a big difference. Check out The Quiet Place, contribute if you want to, listen to the beautiful background music, and see how Amitay’s wonderful message can brighten your day! Here’s Marc Aeicherts composition "One Day in August," the background music to The Thoughts Room, to get you started! Check out the quiet place so we can all have A Quiet Day!  

Many colleges and universities are moving toward competency-based education, and developing opportunities for students to earn credit based on demonstrated mastery of skills and knowledge areas. This

If you’ve ever had trouble speaking in public, this post by Elaine Hirsch should be a wonderful tool for you! Enjoy, and speak up! How to Develop Public Speaking Skills Online Public speaking is one of the most effective ways to communicate ideas and persuade people to understand your point of view. However, if you have never spoken in public before, or just have anxiety towards doing so, you may have trouble with the idea of giving a speech to a group of people. Now you can let go of that fear because there are ways to learn how to develop public speaking skills online. One way to develop your public speaking skills is to look for an online class devoted to the topic. If there is no in-person class in your area, find an online class that teaches public speaking skills. Several colleges offer online public speaking courses, including the University of Wisconsin. Its Introduction to Public Speaking course covers speech composition, delivery and effective listening skills and can help you gather the poise and confidence to become a better public speaker. It requires you to be able to record video clips and post them online with the use of a webcam, helping you learn different methods of speaking in front of an audience. Although the course may seem basic and lacking in content, prominent programs such as traditional or online MBA programs value their students’ abilities to be able to speak in public and persuade consumers or shareholders. If you cannot afford a college course, you can still take public speaking lessons online for free. One such site, School for Champions, offers a full spectrum of topics related to public speaking, including setting goals, preparing to speak, showing confidence in your delivery, and satisfying your audience. It even suggests ways to make money as a public speaker. If you dislike the structure of a classroom, you can still learn to speak in public by reading as many articles as you can about the subject. Stephen M. Fournier’s website focuses on the art and science of rhetoric and how speakers use their skills effectively. In addition, his site contains pointers about body language, speech writing, vocal intonation, and how to overcome nervousness. Most importantly, you need to practice the skills you learn in order to develop them and keep them sharp. Just as a photographer can only take better pictures through practice, you can only become good public speaker when you practice the skills you learn from one of these online sources. If you want to practice using a pre-written speech, the Internet is full of historical speeches you can use to improve your skills. The History Place offers a collection of historically significant speeches, from Patrick Henry’s "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech to Winston Churchill’s "Their Finest Hour" speech to President George W. Bush’s first address to the American people after 9/11. When you know what skills you need to speak in public effectively, you can overcome your fear of public speaking through study and practice. The Internet is a great place to gather the resources needed to start gaining the experience needed to speak in public.   Related articles Public speaking (shanemcmordie.wordpress.com) Public Speaking on Short Notice (podiumproapp.wordpress.com) Getting Over Stage Fright: Becoming an Effective Public Speaker (psychologytoday.com) We get a new vocabulary list for public speaking (clipboards.wordpress.com)

One might argue that it's not necessary to have a special platform for online tutoring -- after all, free platforms such as Skype and Facetime are very effective. Further, opensource web conferencing such as Big Blue Button have many of the features (whiteboard, tools, etc.), of an Adobe Connect or Omnovia. However, when it comes to locating vetted tutors and subject matter experts, it's another

I’m excited to welcome back Joe Baker with a great post on modern teaching! ________________________________________________________________________________________ Pssst! Instructors, students expect more… Old habits die hard, but some need to die faster. In a recent research presentation at the International Conference on Online Learning, findings supported what many have suspected: college instructors are neither using nor as proficient in technology as are their students. They are not widely incorporating it into their courses and their own use is of technology is significantly less than that of their students. One conclusion stated in the report was that "…(online students) are much more proficient in technology than are their online instructors." Incorporating the use of technology and the Internet into the classroom is important as it becomes an integrated part of people’s lifestyle. Here are three specific ways instructors can meet their student’s expectations of using technology in school. E-mail: Really? It’s back to the basics when it comes to instructors using technology. In this case, we mean really basic. E-mail, for many, has become a dreaded reality, not because of its ease of quickly communicating and sharing documents, but because its ease has been so misused. Stories of users turning on their devices and finding literally hundreds of messages are common, but an overwhelming amount of mail is likely the result of users having no management systems, and that’s a huge problem. Practically all e-mail systems have filters that automatically direct incoming mail to specific, prioritized folders. One highly recommended filter strategy is to direct all Fwd: messages to one folder; don’t discount your trash or junk folder for this purpose. Naturally, you’ll want to scan your subject lines before flushing or redirecting these messages, but there’s a pretty good chance that these types of messages contain a majority of low-relevancy mail. Be ruthless in your deleting! Another important practice for your email account is filtering. Use a filter to direct all e-mail from your current students into a specific folder. Make sure your students know that you sort emails by their names so they should cut and paste rather than Fwd: messages. Using e-mail to generate group messages, share common files and address individual questions is a good use of e-mail, so don’t neglect this grand old technology - manage it! Content Management Systems (CMS) When your think CMS, think Cloud. Google Docs and Dropbox are two of the most popular, cloud-based CMS programs on the market, and many schools have their own cloud platforms that allow for collaborative file sharing. Think of the times circumstances have necessitated changing a syllabus, but process to make the changes is daunting, so it’s easier to just leave things as they are. With a CMS, such changes are relatively simple. If you are teaching online classes, group work can be greatly enhanced by sharing common documents with your students. You can manage the documents to access projects and evaluate student progress. Using a cloud system is also helpful to your students because hard-drive crashes and other incidences are sometimes unavoidable. Having the work available on the cloud saves time and stress. Saving documents on the cloud is a good skill to both practice as an instructor and teach to students. Digital Textbooks (e-books) Surprisingly, e-textbooks have had a slow acceptance record by students, but that trend is quickly changing. If you’re not using e-texts, invest a little time in locating appropriate digital text materials. The obvious place to begin this search is with your current bound copy’s publishing company. The cost saving to students is just one good reason to use a digital text. If you DO use digital text, be sure that your e-book isn’t simply an electronic duplicate of the regular text. In many cases it is, and if you can’t find a better replacement, you’ll want to begin developing additional online resources to augment your regular text - another good reason to take the time to find an e-text with value added features already present - such as student self-tests, videos underscoring core concepts, and other interactive assets. The future is now Knowing how to effectively use the most common forms of technology for teaching is not - as if it ever were - an optional part of teaching. If you’re hesitant, it’s time to face facts. Education is changing for everyone and even the seasoned instructor needs to leave their comfort zone and make their good content even better. This isn’t about changing for change’s sake, as is too often the case in education, but rather an opportunity to be more professional in both delivery and impact for students, the reason most instructors chose teaching in the first place.   Related articles Three Teaching Thoughts on Lectures and Textbooks (mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com) Crowdsourcing the Textbook: Terminology, Technology, and Technique (onlinecollege.org) Instant Messaging Found to Slow Students’ Reading (education.com)

The ultimate goal of data mining is not the acquisition of data, but the exploration and analysis  of massive amounts of data resulting in patterns, rules, and relationships. One of the key outcomes is the identification of reliable and meaningful patterns. Meaningful patterns can do the following: * Model typical behaviors * Identify atypical behaviors * Express possible cause and effect