That gives us something to think about, too, in terms of what “counts” and what doesn’t count as text, reading, writing, and communication, both in school and out.

You can download the full report from the link below.

Pew Internet: Writing, Technology and Teens

Writing, Technology and Teens

4/24/2008 | MemoReport | Amanda Lenhart Sousan Arafeh Aaron Smith Alexandra Rankin Macgill

Teens write a lot, but they do not think of their emails, instant and text messages as writing. This disconnect matters because teens believe good writing is an essential skill for success and that more writing instruction at school would help them.

Test Podcast

Top News – Analysis: How multimedia can improve learning

An analysis of existing research supports a notion that already has begun to transform instruction in schools from coast to coast: that multimodal learning–using many modes and strategies that cater to individual learners’ needs and capacities–is more effective than traditional, unimodal learning, which uses a single mode or strategy.

According to a new report commissioned by Cisco Systems, adding visuals to verbal (textual and/or auditory) instruction can result in significant gains in basic or higher-order learning, if applied appropriately. Students using a well-designed combination of visuals and text learn more than students who use only text, the report says.

It also provides insights into when interactivity strengthens the multimodal learning of moderate to complex topics, and when it’s advantageous for students to work individually when learning.

As you read/listen to it, you might begin thinking about the opportunities that it afford your students to collaborate and write with newer technologies. What opportunities does a project like this afford students? In what ways would they be able to collaborate, respond, revise, and share their work?

By the end of the night, you should have a good idea of how blogging, podcasting, and RSS are changing the way that people use the internet, and how you can use them in your classroom.

Also, we will use our forum as another space for online discussion.  As you write tonight, consider how the forum function in Edublogs works as compared to the discussion pages on Wikispaces and the threaded discussions in Nicenet.

I look forward to seeing you develop your tech skills tonight and watching them translate into your classroom!

To get signed up here, please email me and let me know what email account you used to sign in to Edublogs. Then, I will get you connected to our blog, too.

Thanks and happy blogging!

Troy