Richard Byrne has done it again!

Image by beth69358 via FlickrRichard Byrne is one of the giants od Educational teachnology blogging. His blog Free Technology for Teachers has the best name for what he really does. Not only does he find the best stuff, he also knows how it can be used in the classroom. Added to that he has written up some of the best guides to using different technology in the classroom. And he still finds time to actually teach.


He has just released a collaboration of some of my favourite bloggers including Kelly Tenkely & Larry Ferlazzo who are both on my blogroll. This online book is full of not just resources but the knowledge and experience of these educators.

For access to the free book - click here

The New Literacy Generation

Image via Wikipedia

I just read an article from Wired magazine regarding the literacy of this generation. It seems that Stamford University has done a huge study and found what a lot of us who work with technology in education and blogger generally) already suspected.

Students are writing more now than ever in the history of education and large amount of it is outside the classroom mandated essays and coursework.

emails, blogs, facebook, review sites, Wikipedia... the list of ways that people write and use text is huge and it is all with an audience in mind, usually people we don't even know if it is a broadcast.

What is also interesting is that the style of writing adapts as the writer writes for different purposes and audiences so the smiley face has not crossed over to the essay or term paper.

There are a couple of important things we must as teachers take from this.
1: Literacy is more important now than ever before in society - we are moving from Read Only to Read/Write. This includes written, video, sounds and images.
2: People / students will write for an audience, especially if the audience is more than just a teacher.
3: That the purpose must be authentic for writing to be enjoyable.

View the full article here - http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-09/st_thompson