This video has been around for a while and I've used it in various presentations as a powerful illustration of using the web to change lives.      It represents for me a few very valuable lessons. 1. The Web Can Change Lives. The way in which ideas are exchanged and built on top of each other happens every day. Mostly in trivial ways,...

There's an interesting phenomenon that I've been observing as late and that is the visualization of text. By that I mean using words as graphics. I remember back in the 1990's learning to create webpages using Dreamweaver, when we wanted to insure that a particular font was consistent across browsers and individual machines, we had to convert text to...

I may be the last person on the planet to discover this, but even so, it’s worth showcasing. The Khan Academy is a website created by Sal Kahn who began it by wanting to tutor his nieces. (Reminds me of Darren K and Ellie.) What started out as a simple way to help them understand difficult math and science concepts is now a storehouse of over 1,000 videos....

When I get an idea or concept in my head, I seem to see it show up in all sorts of interesting places. This story takes a few turns so be patient. The whole idea of community and creating community in our classrooms has been a very important theme in both my current class as well as the work I do in Prairie South.  In reading Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky...

I'm at Educon. If you're not familiar with Educon, it's a conference/conversation hosted by Chris Lehmann and the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA. I was fortunate to be able to spend Thursday and Friday hanging around the school. Here's what I saw: Lots of smiles. Loud classrooms A principal's office that looked more like grand...

I'll be teaching a new session of advanced computers and technology with pre-service teachers at the University of Regina from January to April. In previous introductory courses I've had my students become mentors for classrooms around this world. The chance for my students to connect with great teachers and becoming involved in classrooms in a variety...