Eduslam

Okay, let's get a little more practical. I came across Eduslam on Google Hangouts. Tanya Avrith and Holly Clark have educators from around the world  talking about ideas, tools, apps that can transform the learning going on in your classroom.  Basically it's teachers teaching teachers. Short (about 5 minutes) videos explain a practice that has proven successful. I can talk on and on about emerging technologies, but until I can show how effective they can be in a classroom, they will remain untested. Eduslam has classroom teachers explaining their experiences – where things went wrong, and where things went right – giving valuable insight into procedures you might have wanted to try, but just didn't know enough about.

Some of the topics are: Using Stories in the Math Classroom, Collaborative Writing in Grade 3, The Best way for Seniors to End the Year, Using Twitter in Grade One, App Speed Dating... I knew you'd like that one. Check out Eduslam!

The Digital Future

Huffington Post has published an article by Matthew Lynch about the recently-released New Media Consortium Horizon which details six up-and-coming technologies for K-12 classrooms. The article, "A Digital Future: K-12 Technology by 2018" outlines how things like Mobile Learning, 3-D printing, Learning Analytics, and open content will develop over the next five years. Things can change rapidly in 5 years, but the 6 technologies projected here look like they're here to stay.