Looking back and forward at my New Year predictions for education

Last January I shared my predictions with Tech & Learning about what I thought would be big in hardware and software in 2013.

Here they are:

-->School districts will begin embracing social media as they realize the importance of empowering students to responsibly use these resources for academic, career, and citizenship success

-->Lifting the ban on use of cell phones and other student-owned digital devices in school; providing home Internet access by working with Internet providers to offer special rates and packages to students who qualify for subsidies; going paperless as districts reallocate resources toward digital solutions; customizing learning with digital lectures and learning resources that are available anytime, anywhere.

This year Tech & Learning is running a follow-up article in their January 2014 issue and asked, me to share what I thought about my predictions.  

Here is what I shared.

Common Sense Media names The Innovative Educator as a digital citizenship blog to follow for 2014

How nice to approach the new year being named one of Common Sense Media’s ten favorite digital citizenship bloggers to watch in 2014! I am in the company of some friends already in my PLN like Jerry Blumengarten and Susan M. Bearden and also have the pleasure to discover some with whom I have yet to connect.

Here's what they said about me:

Lisa Nielsen is the director of digital literacy and citizenship at the New York City Department of Education and author of the popular Innovative Educator blog. She has a great ear for what’s happening in the educational technology landscape, and keeps readers attuned to the latest developments. No wonder she was recently awarded the Making IT Happen award at this year's NYSCATE conference. 

Here are the others named as digital citizenship bloggers to watch:

NYC blazes trails to prepare students for success with new social media guidelines

While some school districts have banned the use of social media because of fears of inappropriate use and distracting students, in an unprecedented move, the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) has reached out to students, teachers, and parents as partners to create guidelines for the appropriate use of social media for personal and academic purposes.  

The hottest posts everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Entry	Pageviews
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	1380
When and How Should Kids Learn to Type? Feb 8, 2011,	1185
Create interactive learning modules with ThingLink... Dec 11, 2013,	1003
Think before you send or post Nov 1, 2013,	858
Help for parents who want to keep their children ... Nov 24, 2013,	781
Teen @CGressmanTHS builds a PLN to spread ideas ... Dec 22, 2013,	770
The trick to knowing what social networking sites ... Dec 17, 2013,	664

The Innovative Educator named blog to follow in 2014

What a nice gift this holiday season to find that Common Sense Media's Graphite blog listed this The Innovative Educator as one of the 11 to follow in 2014.  This blog was in great company with several members of my personal learning network being named as well. Here is the rest of the list:

1.     Steven Anderson @web20classroom

2.     Richard Byrne @rmbyrne

3.     Lisa Dabbs @teachingwthsoul

4.     Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher

5.     Michael Gorman @mjgormans

6.     Mary Beth Hertz @mbteach

7.     Erin Klein @KleinErin

8.     Scott Mcleod @mcleod

9.     Darcy Moore @Darcy1968

10.  Tom Murray @thomascmurray

Here's what they said about me:
Lisa Nielsen, author of the Innovative Educator, has a great ear for what’s happening in educational technology, and keeps readers attuned to the latest developments. No wonder she was recently awarded the Making IT Happen award at this year's NYSCATE conference. Making IT Happen is a program that identifies and rewards educational technology leaders around the world for their commitment and innovation. In addition to blogging and tweeting, Nielsen is the director of digital literacy and citizenship at the New York City Department of Education.

Check out the post on the Graphite blog here and discover why you might want to consider adding some of these other great people and their blogs to your PLN in the New Year.

Believe

I dreamed so hard

To end education that is charred

No more bean counting

No more data scrubbing

I dream of meaningful education

Children’s accomplishments are celebrated

I see teachers with real dedication

Learning Styles are elevated

I open my eyes and look around

Educational desolation still rules the land

No change is found

Everyone is still listening to its command

I want to believe
that change can happen right now
And I want to receive
news that real educators are in charge again somehow

Stop speaking of the dream

There's a light, where innovation starts

Take action; join the team

Join us now; embrace it in your hearts

Teen @CGressmanTHS builds a PLN to spread ideas about the key to giving the gift of learning

High school student Courtney Gressman made a powerful public service announcement as part of her social studies class titled “Learning is NATURAL. The Way We Learn Should Be OPTIONAL.” Unlike most high school students, however, her work didn’t stay locked in the walls of the classroom. Gressman explains, “Our class is a very opinionated group of independent, connected learners. We use tools such as social media to gain knowledge, perspective, and to have diverse conversation where anyone can be included.”

As such, the first thing she did upon the completion of her PSA was to Tweet it.

Learning is NATURAL, but the WAY we learn should be OPTIONAL http://t.co/FPzHY2qVoF #SandersTHS #StuVoice #PSA #innovation #iCitizen
— Courtney Gressman (@CGressmanTHS) December 11, 2013

The PSA was meant to address the problem of lack of student input in education and to show students AND adults that there are different ways to learn and teach. Gressman explains, "One of these ways in my own life is #SandersTHS, my class in which I made the PSA, but I know we could be doing so much more at my school to provide all students with independent learning opportunities so we can truly learn the way we want and need to. We all deserve and want to have more freedom in our education."

The hottest posts that everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Entry	Pageviews
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	1393
When and How Should Kids Learn to Type? Feb 8, 2011,	1178
Think before you send or post Nov 1, 2013,	1169
Create interactive learning modules with ThingLink... Dec 11, 2013,	973
Help for parents who want to keep their children s... Nov 24, 2013,	848
5 reasons cell phones benefit a 1:1 environment Dec 8, 2013,	787

The trick to knowing what social networking sites are right for students

Parents often come to innovative educators for advice about the online spaces their children are or should be using. Is Snapchat ok? What about Instagram? Should my child be using Facebook and Twitter? What is a safe site for my pre-teen to engage socially?

If you consider yourself an innovative educator you may be wondering how you can be expected to keep up with all the different options out there.
Don't despair.  You can!
Common Sense Media (http://www.commonsensemedia.org) allows you to look up any digital product and find out just about anything a parent or teacher would want to know.  

The Innovative Educator Hosts Tonight’s #SSchat (December 16)

If you are a social studies teacher, librarian or tech teacher who infuses social studies and current events into your work, or a teacher of another subject that incorporates social studies into your lessons, then I hope you’ll join me at 7 p.m. EST tonight for  #sschat. During this conversation the topic will be "Enriching social studies with social media."

For those who don't know what #SSchat is, here's a description:

“#SSchat is a collaborative group of social studies teachers who work together to create materials, discuss teaching, integrate technology and problem solve. We learn together and talk about the direction that education is moving, talk to experts, crowdsource materials and share our best lessons. In the last two years a culture of sharing has developed. Imagine if some of the most passionate teachers you know were to get together and share the best materials they have. That’s #sschat.” -@ShawnMcCusker, Go Where You Grow.

The following were the questions for the #SSchat:

Q1 Share 1 way social media helped you become a better #SSteacher?

Q2 How has/can social media helped your students make global connections?

Q3 Share 1 cool thing you have done with students in social studies class using social media?

Q4 How can we use social media to increase the effectiveness of #SSteachers?

Q5 What are your hopes or fears about using social media with students?

If you missed it, you can check out a recap on the Storify below:

3 Step plan for a digital makeover

Who controls your online identity? Google or you?

If your answer is Google, it's time to take control with this three step plan.

Step 1) Analyze your digital footprint.

Know what the internet says about you.  Think about what you like and what you'd like to change.

Search	Background checks	Social media	Credibility
Google Search Google ImagesGoogle Video Spezify	Spokeo Zaba Search Intellus People Finders	Facebook - Museum of Me Facebook - Year in Review Twitter Cloud Tweet Grader	Klout Kred Stackoverflow

Step 2) Determine a headline. i.e. Passionate about real and relevant learning.

Who do you want to be known as on the internet? Think of this in the context of a headline. This is important because who you are, your brand, is what you'll use to update your image.

Step 3) Update your digital image.

Create your digital resume, profiles, images, and clean up anything you don't want out there using the sites below.

Digital Resume	Profiles	Images / Video	Clean Up
Why a digital resume? Linkedin Profile LinkedIn InMap Vizify	Facebook Profile Titter Profile About.Me Flavors.Me Brand Yourself Google Profile	Images Tagging images Picasa Flickr Video Tagging videos YouTube Vimeo	How to unGoogle yourself - general How to remove yourself from background checks. Remove unwanted images Remove from Google Image search Remove a page or sites from search results

Once you've updated your image, be patient. Change won't happen over night. Think of it as your digital diet. It takes a little while to the see the fruits of your labor.  It also requires maintenance.  If you've followed these three steps however, in about 30 days, you'll be rewarded with an online presence that puts your best footprint forward.

The hottest posts that everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Entry	Pageviews
Think before you send or post Nov 1, 2013,	1809
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	1696
If you're not preparing your students to use social media... Oct 29, 2013,	1319
When and How Should Kids Learn to Type? Feb 8, 2011,	1108
What if we let students design their own schools? Nov 8, 2013,	841

Create interactive learning modules with ThingLink (limited free-for-educators offer)

ThingLink is a cool tool that lets you create interactive images for anything you can imagine.  In our touch screen culture, this is a great tool for today’s students to engage with content. Teachers can use ThingLink images as interactive learning modules that activate and inspire students with creative and effective learning experiences. They can also use Thinglink images for professional development and parent outreach.  

Below is a ThingLink image that someone used to translate a blog post I wrote.  Using ThingLink to translate writing is a powerful way to update and transform information. This is something teachers and students can do.  For example, imagine how you might do something like this in social studies class to make an image interactive. Keep in mind that you can embed video and polls write into your creations.

The next ThingLink was created by Dana Lawitt at the Kurt Hahn School.  She has it embedded on the school website (you can see that here) to provide students with an engaging an interactive overview of some important items that students need to know. 

5 reasons cell phones benefit a 1:1 environment

Cross posted at Partners in Learning 1:1 Hot Topics

Go into any office today and you’ll notice that 1:1 does not exist. To operate effectively in today’s workplace, at the very least, a 2:1 environment, with a computer and a phone, is required. It’s likely that there are one or two other devices in use as well. This is the world for which we have to prepare today’s students.

Not only is it beneficial to support students with their success in school environments that look like real-life environments, it is also beneficial to schools.

Here’s why:

The hottest posts everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Entry	Pageviews
Think before you send or post Nov 1, 2013,	2619
Is compulsory education really necessary? Aug 30, 2012,	2234
If you're not preparing your students to use social media... Oct 29, 2013,	2139
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	1772
What if we let students design their own schools? Nov 8, 2013,	1205
The principalship: 6 ways smartphones have changed... Nov 6, 2013,	1068
When and How Should Kids Learn to Type? Feb 8, 2011,	960
Help for parents who want to keep their children s... Nov 24, 2013,	832