Simulating social networking sites for student projects has become a popular strategy for instructors. Here are links to some resources: Facebook Project & Template – A PowerPoint slide template and a Word document with directions and a scoring rubric. My Fake Wall – A site sponsored by Cavi Studio. User registration required. Fakebook – Site sponsored by ClassTools.net

Would you like to… Meet new people? Discover new cultures? Connect with classes from around the world? …all without leaving your classroom? Then check out Skype in the Classroom (beta). Setting up an account is easy and should take just a few minutes. To do so you will need to enter a screen name*, e-mail address*, avatar, categories*, location*, description*, website / blog URL, and select student age ranges. Required fields are marked with an [...]

I have been helping educators manage their own classroom blogs for a few years now. Most of them use the software to post announcements, assignments, reminders, etc. But a few are now engaging students in public responses to their blog posts, and a few more are exploring ways to engage students in writing the blog. In case you are in a similar situation, this resource might help you decide how to run a group-authored blog: [...]

If you were using GMail lately, you may have noticed a new link and icon beneath your Inbox link, Google Buzz. Buzz lets you “go beyond status messages to share updates, photos, videos, and more. Start conversations about the things you find interesting.” Want to know more? Watch this video!   What do you think of this tool? Share your thoughts?  

Back in June, when the Iranian government was cracking down on dissent, I finally understood the power of Twitter. Just wanted to share a few Twitter resources that I have come across. Nine Reasons to Twitter in Schools 25 Ways to Teach with Twitter by Sonja Cole Twitter Handbook for Teachers An overview of Twitter and ways of using it in education. A Twitter primer with reasons, stories and resources. Created by Tomaz Lasic. I [...]

Are teachers integrating digital media resources in the classroom? Yes, is the answer from the annual Grunwald survey for PBS. Read the press release, “New Research Reveals PreK-12 Educators Increasingly Value and Use Digital Media” and access the free report, “Digitally Inclined.”

Let’s start with a few questions: Do you want any easy way to share web sites with friends, family, or colleagues? Would you like to add notes to those web pages? Need to highlight important content? Do you need to organize those web sites for easy access? Well, then your solution is WebNotes, an online browser tool that allows you to create and manage online annotations. I just signed up for the free Web Notes [...]

PBS Teachers® and Classroom 2.0, with support from Elluminate,are partnering on a series of free monthly webinars designed to help preK-12 educators learn new ways to integrate online instructional resources in the classroom and engage students in curriculum lessons. Some past events are archived and available for download. Check it out! View all PBS events.

My introduction to Ning was over a year ago when I was asked to build a social networking site for an upcoming technology conference. Since then, in addition to the conference site, I have created a Ning site for graduate students to explore in a class I teach. There are a lot of things I like about Ning. For example, I can… adjust the appearance of my network and customize it to my liking control [...]

Are you looking for another way to connect with community of teachers to share ideas, collaborate, and support the effective use of technology to enhance learning? Of course you are! And here is a link to the PBS Teachers Connect web site. On this site you can… personalize your home page utilize bookmarking tools access and participate in discussions and find more than 3,000 resources (e.g. classroom activities, lesson plans, interactive resources) Check it out!