by Shelly Sanchez TerrellPart 1 of the Education Transformation Through Collaborative Voices seriesSocial media is having an incredible impact on various aspects of our lives. Recently, CNN and the Huffington Post reported the impact of social media during the recent tragedies that have struck Japan. The underlying message was that social media has allowed people to communicate important messages through powerful real-time images and sharing their experiences. With Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube alone we have the ability to spread a message and impact an audience of millions worldwide. We have the ability to impact our world in a positive manner. Visuals are powerful as are stories shared through multimedia. In a series of posts, we will explore various ways to spread a message through various social networks in order to transform current education systems. This is also research for an upcoming Keynote that I will be giving for the Plymouth E-Learning Conference in April.Why Try to Spread Your Message?Education is one of those hot topics. Everyone has an opinion because everyone has experience with the education system. Powerful stories and messages are already being heard by millions regarding education. You have heard the ones spread by Oprah, Michelle Rhee, John Legend, and various presidents, prime ministers, and leaders worldwide. These are the most prominent messages that have impacted wide audiences. Waiting for Superman was a documentary heard by millions that basically shared powerful stories. The audience was motivated by these stories to act. Education policy was impacted by the stories shared in this documentary.What is missing is the voices of educators who are already transforming the way their students learn. We live in educator communities where we witness the beauty of what our colleagues are accomplishing with their students, but outside this community lies the general public and people who decide education policy and they rarely hear about the amazing learning taking place. We need for the stories of educators impacting education in a positive way to go viral and drown out the other voices negatively impacting education policy and hindering transformation.Collaborative Voices on VideoIn 2005 YouTube was created and is still one of the best tools for spreading a message. Web Monitoring reports that in 2010 Youtube exceeded 2 billion views a day which is double the prime-time audience of all 3 major US broadcast networks combined. Educators have a free powerful tool that attracts audiences worldwide to spread their messages about what they believe learning should look like.Can an educator's video go viral or even be heard by large audiences? Yes! Scott Mcleod's and Karl Fisch's Shift Happens videos have been seen by over 20 million people worldwide. Their message about the importance of effective technology integration has impacted many schools worldwide.So how do you spread your message through video?Define your vision and determine your messageIt must be succinct, clear, and powerfulAsk a group of educators to help you support your visionOrganize this through a Ning, Wiki, or Google Doc Combine with a nice video/audio editor (I recommend Camtasia)Add creative commons musicHave each contributor spread it like fire in presentations, through blogs and social networks, in e-mails to colleagues, or in the staff newsletterMake it available for anyone to download and upload through a Creative Commons LicenseUpload in various video channels including Youtube, BlipTV, and VimeoExamples of Collaborative VideosMy We Connect Project with various versions seen in various countries Daniel Pink's What's Your Sentence? video is seen by over 12,000 worldwideEric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque' is seen by millions worldwideMy newest collaborative project to spread the word about our free online Reform Symposium e-conference to get a wider audience to hear more messagesWhat message will you attempt to spread to transform education?

by John T. SpencerFor the last ten days, I've been participating in a Living Facebook Experiment, where I do everything in-person that I do on Facebook.  While I initially saw it as a chance to rethink the role of technology in my life, I'm now recognizing how it's changing my perceptions on education reform.#1: The Dangers of CustomizationObservations: Facebook, Google and other media have encouraged me to grow myopic in personalizing my settings. I realized this awhile ago with Pandora, when I began to listen to a narrower version of indie folk rock. I saw this recently in a TED Talk. It was as if the author had been articulating the dystopia I was trying to describe - a world in which the "relevant" and the "personal" replace the important, the uncomfortable and occasionally the boring.  For years I have advocated customized learning based upon students' interests and personality. Teacher Take-Home: What I'm wondering now is how to balance what students want versus what they need and how to expose them to the painful, the boring and the disruptive side of learning while still  meeting their individual interests.  I used to think Pandora would be the ultimate model for a school.  Now I'm seeing that I would rather have a school that looks like a rock festival where students can roam the live music with constant exposure to new ideas.#2: It Isn't NeutralObservations: Social media initially appears to be transcultural and trans-geographic.  Yet, there is a significance in what a medium omits and promotes as well as how it organizes information.  The end result is a distinct brand-based culture that permeates the entire experience.  I feel as if I "go to" Twitter and "go to" Facebook even if it is simply the tap of a plus-icon on my Chrome browser.Teacher Take-Home: I'll be working with ten 21st Century Classrooms next year in a hybrid, one-to-one learning environment.  I've been thinking about collaboration and communication using social media.  I've been dreaming up project-based learning opportunities.  And yet, this is forcing me to rethink some of my initial ideas.  I'm recognizing the danger in social media to colonize and socialize.  I'm recognizing the need to not only criticize the media but also the transcultural experience created by a media platform.#3: The Power of FriendshipObservations: This project is forcing me to rethink the meaning of friendship. I have hundreds of "friends" on Facebook, but I'm starting to question what all of that actually means. As I interact with my "friends" offline, I'm struck by the notion that I am sometimes more transparent online than I am in person.  I am far more guarded, private and awkward in my interactions with neighbors than I am with my PLN.Teacher Take-Home: I'm wondering what it means to "friend" former students and wondering about the relational distance we should expect.  In particular, to what extent should I still have a voice in my former students' lives? Moreover, what does it mean for students to "friend" students in other parts of the world?  How authentic can we be without the physical geography?#4: People Are ProfoundObservations: I'm fascinated by the depth of strangers. Sometimes I get into this place where I think that my friends are the only deep thinkers. I've been surprised by the deep conversations I've had with people I didn't know.  I never thought this would be the case, but living Facebook has caused me to see the depth of humanity in a way I hadn't seen before.  In other words, for all the trash people talk about social media, I am struck by the thought that I am living better when I am living Facebook.  Scary, perhaps, but true on some level. On the other hand, I'm often disappointed by the shallow nature of social media.  Often it feels as though the deeper conversations aren't occurring on Facebook and that much of Twitter is used to share resources rather than ideas or questions.Teacher Take-Home: What does it mean to use Twitter or Facebook for in-depth, critical thinking projects when adults often model a shallow, take-this-quiz-on-which-Phil-Collins-song-you-are-the-most-like?  What does it mean to encourage students to ask hard questions about their universe when they have so often used these social media platforms for entertainment? #5: Obsession With NumbersObservations: I care too much about numbers.  I am bummed to see that I have only ten subscribers.  However, I am surprised to see that I'm getting over two hundred page views a day.  I care too much about retweets or @mentions.  And that's the subtle seduction of social media - the way it encourages me to seek my self-worth through popularity-based data. It's been a humbling experience (for example when I wear a t-shirt advertising my friend count) to see just how arrogant I can be about my online influence.Teacher Take-Home: How do we pursue a humble reform when proposing bold steps toward changing education?  How do we communicate in blogs, conferences, podcasts and books in a way that recognizes the human element rather than the data-bound pie charts?  Have we, in the educational technology community, simply bought into a new data-bound narrative that is not much better than the current metrics used to rate students on standardized tests?

by John T. Spencer - cross-posted from Education Rethinkbinomial nomenclature has its place -- in the right contextMy mentor looked at me cautiously and said, "John, you're not going to like hearing this, but No Child Left Behind wasn't evil. It was misguided. It was unwise, but there were some good things that came out of it.""What do you mean?""You can disagree with the methods used. They were horrible. You can disagree with the approach. It needs to be changed. But I remember hearing teachers say things like 'that kid won't make it anyway' or 'you can't expect these kids to read at grade level.' In some schools, it was a wake-up call.""We're being tested to death.""I agree with you. But I was in those schools before and after and the results have been mixed. There were some teachers with a really low view of what urban students were capable of accomplishing."She went on to explain the down side of standardized tests, the arrogance of some of the powerful elite and the failure to understand the context. But she also reminded me that many of the kill-and-drill proponents are misguided and unwise, but not altogether wrong in their motives."I've met some of those people and it might be hard to believe, but sometimes it's an issue of good people with good ideas with big blind spots."*      *      * It's unpopular in the polemic world of edublogging to step out and say, "Maybe the enemy isn't so much an enemy as much as a misguided protagonist." But I wonder if maybe the real issue in education reform isn't that people are following wrong ideas as often as they are using good ideas, strategies and methods in the wrong context.The following is a list of things that I've railed against and labeled as wrong when the truth is they each have a place in the right context:Rewards: Daniel Pink does a great job describing the few situations where a reward works. If it's short-term and the task is very basic and not necessarily intrinsically rewarding. For example, I hate to mow the yard, yet I have an easier time mowing it if I can promise myself a half hour of reading time afterward. Multiple Choice Tests: The biggest failure in multiple choice is that it's being used in the wrong context. We use the tests to judge rather than inform. Finland uses multiple choice tests as an exit exam to determine larger trends in education. True, the tests are far from perfect, but they are decent at demonstrating reliably the larger trends in what needs to be changed. District Office Personell: I've ripped the D.O. in the past. I've mentioned why their jobs are useless. What I'm growing to understand is that they are often qualified people with great ideas, but they are placed in a context of compliance rather than leadership. PLC: I hated the concept when I saw it in action at my first school. (I mocked it for sounding like a drug - alongside PCP or LSD) Last year, however, I experienced a true Professional Learning Community with shared values, transparency and an intentional focus on providing meaningful intervention. It was all about the context. Politicians: My students had a chance to get to know a few legislators. What we found were people who genuinely believed in what they were doing and wanted to make a difference. The context of a broken system had curtailed their idealism and forced them into a place of either legislative impotence or bargaining against their beliefs. Lectures: I used to blast lectures. Then I heard a great sermon, I watched some amazing TED and I took the time to sit down and truly listen to the "I Have a Dream" speech. Talks and I realized that lecture had a place. We need stories. We need speeches. The issue is context. How often do we use lecture and where does this strategy belong?Merit Pay: It's not a bad idea if a job is based upon economic norms. However,  in a social context with people who are driven by a desire to educate rather than make shiny objects, it is a colossal failure. The issue isn't the idea. It's the context. Home-schooling: When I first began blogging, I blasted home-schooling and un-schooling. Then I met people who had created an amazing context where authentic learning was happening. (The same goes for those who are quick to attack public school teachers as thieves, Nazis, slave-drivers or child-abusers) Edublog Awards: I recently wrote a post that was critical of these awards. The truth is that they do a great job promoting awareness among the blogging community. The problem is the context. It's a bad "place" for me to be when I'm in what feels like a hyper-competitive environment. Common Assessments: There is a real value in sharing data, planning together and creating assessments that are shared across a grade level. The problem is when they are top-down, hierarchical and based upon a multiple-choice framework. I could continue the list, but you get the idea. None of those are wrong. The real issue is the context. However, when I attack ideas rather than the context of implementation, I grow close-minded. I miss the nuance and the paradox. I fail to build bridges with the misguided protagonists. And most of all, I fail to see how often I am the misguided protagonist, bumbling through a Don Quixote world of education.

by John T. Spencer (@johntspencer)Every time I've visited an educational conference, the big buzzword (is an acronym a word?) is PBL. I have heard to definitions of the PBL acronym: Problem-based and Project-based (or Product-based). I'm not sure why it's not PL, because of the hyphenation, but I won't ask. Either way, it is presented as a fix-all for education.I like the PBL framework. However, I see a subtle danger in pushing PBL as something that should be happening in every classroom with every student all the time. Most often, the reason behind this is that in "the real world" we learn through inquiry, problem-solving and projects.I don't deny the validity of that argument. However, in the real world (and in the magical world, too - folks still learn in Narnia), we learn in ways that go beyond the PBL approach.Take inquiry. Life doesn't always begin with my own questions. Sometimes someone asks me a question and the motive is external. Sometimes epiphanies happen. Sometimes I learn through something that is not a question at all - just an observation or an explanation. Sometimes I start with an answer and then question it later, as I intuitively create something new.Sometimes life isn't a problem to be solved. There's a place for nuance and paradox and the recognition that we don't have all the answers. I ran into this a few years back when I had a Palestinian-Israeli Peace Process PBL. In the end, a student approached me and said, "I read about fatalism and the history of that area. What if peace isn't possible? What if there isn't a solution? More importantly, what if it's not our job, as Americans, to solve the problem?" We should have looked at the human element, at the conflict and the culture without treating it as a problem to be solved.In the real world, learning isn't always a product or a project. Sometimes it's a conversation over a pint or a cognitive process in a time of distress. Sometimes it's a Google search when something sparks my curiosity. Sometimes it's a metaphor as I watch a baseball game. Or it's a tweet. Or a hike. Or a profound way in which a song speaks to the human condition.I am not against PBL. I see it as a vital part of authentic learning. However, as amazing as it is, it still remains a part rather than the solution to a holistic education.

by Mike Kaechele I was inspired by Shelly's final exam to try my own version of a collaborative, open internet test. The background for this is that students worked in groups of 3 on one of five topics related to the Cold War: Germany, China, Korea, Vietnam, and the arms and space race. All students were responsible for researching the beginnings of the Cold War and the policies and actions of the West and the Soviet Bloc. Students prepared presentations on their topic and shared while their classmates took notes. The next day the students worked in their same groups (they had two hours) to answer the following questions with full access to their computers.Names and font colors :Please pick a different color font for each group member and use it throughout. You should proofread each others' work before you are done. You must answer all of these questions in your own thoughts and words. Copy and pasting will result in no credit for that question! Your answers should be in complete sentences and paragraph form. You have some choices in how you answer these questions. Be sure that you address ALL of our sub-topics: China, Germany, Korea, Vietnam, and the arms and space race somewhere in this test. Standards:WHG8.1.1a blueExplain the origins of the Cold War including the differences in ideologies and policies of the Soviet bloc and the West.WHG8.1.1bThe arms and space race between United States and Soviet Union.WHG8.1.1cConflicts in Korea and Vietnam.WHG8.1.1dThe development of communism in ChinaAnswer all of the following:Explain how the conclusion of WWII helps start the Cold War. Be sure to list specific events and decisions by different countries.Explain in detail the message of this political cartoon. Be sure to identify the people, countries, etc:Give 3 examples of how the Capital used fear to manipulate people in The Hunger Games.Explain the "Domino Effect" and "containment" and how they originated from the Truman Doctrine. Give an example of how these policies were implemented.List as many examples of proxy wars from the Cold War that you can. Explain in detail how one of them was a proxy war.What factors lead to communism developing in China and how is China part of the Cold War?How were the space and arms race related to each other and to the Cold War? Give detailed examples of how they began and progressed.Watch this. Explain how this is not the end of the Cold War. How and why did the Cold War end? Evaluate your partners in this Google Form. Choose 4 of the following questions to answer in detail:Insert 2 images (One Western and One Soviet) of propaganda and explain how they used fear to manipulate people.Why was this era called the Cold War? Use reason and evidence to support your claim.List the title and artist of a Cold War song,insert a hotlink to the song lyrics, and explain how that song relates to the Cold War. Bonus points if Mr. Kaechele likes the song:)Explain how "The Butter Battle Book" is an analogy to the "Arms Race."Give specific examples of Cold War governments making decisions based on fear and false assumptions of the opposing side.Some people have compared the Cold War to a chess match. Others say "The Cold War never fought any physical battles." Agree or disagree with one of these statements and support your opinion with examples.Explain how the Berlin Airlift was brinkmanship between the Soviets and the Americans.Explain how the Suez Canal Crisis was part of the Cold War.Watch "We choose to go to the moon." How is this speech propaganda? How is it part of the Cold War? How is this speech part of the "American myth" of exceptionalism?Choose any topic of the Cold War that you feel is not addressed in the previous questions that you feel that you are an expert on. Explain it in detail. Some observations of this process is that students were challenged. I also enjoyed listening to the conversations going on in the room. They were more intense than normal. A couple of students told me they liked the test. When is the last time you have heard that? I also think that if I used this format again they will do even better in both their preparation and understanding that it is their responsibility to make sure that they address all of the standards.

Todays textures are black and white and from an old concrete wall that seems to have been used for target practice by the look of all the bullet holes in it. They have a nice grunge feeling to them and I’m sure they would be a nice addition to any texture arsenal out there. Remember, you can download them all in a zip file at the bottom of this post. Enjoy! Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (48.6Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - Grunge Stone Wall 3 Free Texture Friday - Gritty Grunge Wall Free Texture Friday - Gritty Wall Free Texture Friday - Grunge Wall 3 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Wall 2

While Adobe Photoshop has added some support for creating vector illustrations, Adobe Illustrator remains the most powerful software and the industry standard for creating illustrations and vector artwork. Illustrator can be used to create icons, fonts, posters, logos and more, and because they are vectors, they are scalable without any loss in quality. The online design community is always releasing new tutorials on how to achieve effects in Illustrator, and here and some of the latest and greatest: Create a Cylindrical Loading Bar Vector Graffiti Inspired Line Icons Create a Plastic Balls Text Effect Rock and Roll Guitar Poster Vector Airplane Easy Way to Make Vector Flowers Twisted Balloon Text Effect Design Supersoaker Vector Illustration Cigarette Text Effect Cute Deer Illustration Related Posts Instructive Adobe Illustrator Poster Tutorials Illustrator Tutorials for Text Effects The Best Photoshop and Design Tutorials from July 2015 Illustrator Icon Design Tutorials 10 Fun Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials

Hey guys, I’m back with some brand new textures this week. A set of five grunge and rusty surfaces that will be perfect for your next vintage project. I hope you enjoy them. Cheers! Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (44.3Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - Vintage Rust Free Texture Friday - Gritty Rust Free Texture Friday - Grunge Plastic 2 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Metal 3 Free Texture Friday - Abstract Grunge 4

Pets aren’t just animals, they are family. Unlike working animals or livestock, pets are animals that owners develop a close relationship with, for company, for protection, and for general well-being. The most common animals to be kept as pets are dogs and cats, but guinea pigs, birds, hamsters, turtles, fish and many other animals are often kept as pets as well. People develop a close relationship with their pets, and they become part of family, and as such, are worthy of being photographed: Child lovingly embraces his pet dog By Robert Hainer A Dog Called Man By Xavier Minguella Presence By Mika Going Places By Barrie Gledden Attack!! By Josh Norem Christmas Kitty By Wendy Teal Earl By Vivi Rose Untitled By Ana Francisconi Melancholia By joe Conroy Yellow Eyes By Esmee Prexus Tasting Time By Shingo Uchiyama lucruri simple (simple things) By Vlad Dumitrescu Friendship By Milenko Ðilas Cat By Patthana Z Let’s play By Evgeniya Karnaukhova double trouble …. By Mathias Ahrens Flame Point By Josh norem Nala By Winfried Werner Lola at the Window By Bopbie Huber face to face By Mathias Ahrens Bailey By Darcy Evans In the forest By Sandra A-B The Poser By DJLee The Element of Innocence By Marc Steensma Bokeh Sam! By Maricel Quesada An English Summer By Robert K. Baggs Autumn Eyes By Beverly Crichton Amaruk By Sandra A-B Stairway of dreams By Aris Sánchez Brumi By Géza Egyed Related Posts Eclipse Photography: Obscured Sun and Moon in Photographs 30 Photographs with Rings 30 Uses of Blur in Photographs 30 Photographs of Arches Around the World Family: Showcasing the Importance In Photos