In my living room: social rules

I have been working to establish acceptable behaviors or use policy for several social networks that I am involved with. I came across this post by Shel Israel on the blog Global Neighborhoods. He enforces very similar rules as if those posting comments were in his living room. He states that,

"If you came into my home and were rude to another guest, I would ask you to stop. If you continued to be rude, I would ask you to leave. From this point forward, this is what I will do. If I feel you are being abusive, hogging the conversation or otherwise discouraging the open exchange of legitimate points of view. I will ask you to be more polite. If you ignore the request, I will ban you from further Comments. I call the the Living Room rule and I will enforce it subjectively."

He also sets a hard rule on anonomous comments / postings. He does not allow them.

SharkRunners - Game

The SharkRunners (Discovery Channel) game is an amazing example of how real time sensor data can be integrated into an educational game. You get to create a virtual SharkRunner boat (my boat is the Pelican Pat) and use it to track down real sharks! The boat is virtual, the sharks are real. When you find a shark you earn rewards. You can also compete against other SharkRunners that you know. This is a great game for showing how sharks move around the ocean and what it would be like to be a scientist tracking and studying these wonderful creatures.

Sites Alive: with history for example

Sites Alive, connects students to learning adventures on land and at sea around the world! Live programs include the following: math live, oceans challenge live, US history live, rain forests live. See this interesting site for more live programs.

How to use Google Reader

Here is a five minute video on how to use Google Reader to subscribe to RSS syndicated websites and RSS feed content.

Ning! - Classroom 2.0

Steve Hargadon has created a Ning social networking site (Classroom 2.0) that is exploding! This site now has over 2000 members sharing ideas about the use of web 2.0 technology to improve education. There is much discussion on this site about collaboration and the constructivist model of learning. Join in the group and learn.

To join simply click on this Classroom 2.0 link and then select "Join Classroom 2.0 Now."