"Life Writing"

This article by Clive Thompson from Wired magazine offers an interesting perspective on literacy. Many have bemoaned the lack of writing skills in "today's youth" but the Stanford Study of Writing found that students write more than ever. The study, conducted by Andrea Lundsford, a professor of writing and rhetoric at Stanford University, says writing has increased,

"... because so much socializing takes place online, and it almost always involves text. Of all the writing that the Stanford students did, a stunning 38 percent of it took place out of the classroom—life writing, as Lunsford calls it."

Here's the MILI connection, as stated by Thompson,

"The fact that students today almost always write for an audience (something virtually no one in my generation did) gives them a different sense of what constitutes good writing."

That should sound familiar from our discussions of authentic, global audiences that students can reach through blogging, video production, and more. As Thompson points out, good teaching matters. Teachers and media specialists are the guides for students as they create their content in a reliable, responsible manner.

I really like that phrase "life writing."

iPhone in the Classroom

Minneapolis MILI participants may be interested in this summary of research done on a college that implemented iPhone/iTouch use in their classes. The Unofficial Apple Weblog describes the program and talks to the minds behind it at Abilene Christian University.

Play to Win

You can test your knowledge of books and of Google Book features by playing a contest Google announced. It is running a contest for the next ten days ( July 27, 2009 and ends at 11:59:59 P.M. PT on August 5, 2009) on the Google Books site where contestants can win a Sony Reader eBook. You hunt for literature-related trivia using the site's new search inside the book feature. Find the right answers (and offer a 50 word essay on the "reading experience") and you will be entered into a drawing to win a Sony Reader.

Plagiarism Checkers

You know we prefer the "fence to the ambulance" plagiarism-proofing approach to assignments, but we know that sometimes tools can help teachers find those incidents of plagiarism. Make Use Of offers a summary of five plagiarism checker tools in this post.

Finding Information on SlideShare

We have talked about SlideShare as a place to upload and share your slide presentations, but it is also a source of information for you to use in class or for inspiration as you prepare a slide presentation. For example, the White House page includes content about the Road to Recovery, green collar jobs, healthcare reform and much more. You can follow the White House page, too, so you know when it is updated.

Search a keyword to find information on almost any topic. Here are some other informative slide presentations:

• Ways to Use Wordle in Your Classroom
• How Our Kids Are Using the Internet
• Web 2.0 Tools and Their Educational Applications

If you haven't explored SlideShare, take some time to do so the next time you need a slide presentation or inspiration.

Edutopia

Edutopia is a good resource for teachers and media specialists interested in "What Works in Education," as their description says. It is the Web site of the George Lucas Educational Foundation. It has articles, multiple blogs, and much other information. Definitely worth adding to Delicious.

You can subscribe to its free online newsletter or join for a nominal fee and receive access to free webinars and a print magazine. I just joined; I will let you know what I think. In the meantime, here is a blog post that supports several of the MILI concepts on teaching and learning together--Five Ways to Enrich Your Teaching Life by Heather Wolpert-Gowan.

Google Elements

Google Elements is a lesser-known Google feature. Elements lets you embed Google Calendar, Chat, GoogleDocs Presentations, custom search, spreadsheets, GoogleMaps and other Google content into your Web site by just copying and pasting some code. You can easily enhance your teacher/LMS site with student presentations, your class calendar, maps, or other Google content.

The latest Element is News. There are eight general news feeds (Top stories, entertainment, technology, World, US news, and others) or you can create your own using keywords. Like this News Element for Libraries:

Finding Images with Yahoo! Search

Yahoo has introduced new filters in its image search to help find Creative Commons-licensed images, although the term Creative Commons is not used in the filter. Use Yahoo Image Search filters to refine results to show only images that "User allows reuse."  You can limit to Commercial Use or to images licensed for "Remix, tweak, build upon." To find out about Creative Commons, you must click the Learn More link which takes you to the Creative Commons site.