"Teens targeted in net safety push" (BBC News, 02/10/09)

Half of Europe's teenagers browse the web with no parental oversight or supervision, a survey suggests.

"For Some Minn. Students, Online Learning is Best" (EdWeek, 02/08/09)

More than 5,000 students in Minnesota opted to "attend" all of their high school classes online in 2007-2008, instead of sitting in a traditional classroom with their peers.

The number was nearly double the number of students who took classes entirely online in 2006-2007.

"Student Fights Record of ‘Cyberbullying’" (NYTimes, 02/07/09)

Katherine Evans said she was frustrated with her English teacher for ignoring her pleas for help with assignments and a brusque reproach when she missed class to attend a school blood drive.

So Ms. Evans, who was then a high school senior and honor student, logged onto the networking site Facebook and wrote a rant against the teacher, Sarah Phelps.

"Student's Free Speech Case May Lead To Legislation" (Hartford Courant, 02/02/09)

In his ruling on a pioneering Internet free speech case last month, U.S. District Judge Mark R. Kravitz offered something of a plea to higher courts: Revisit the boundaries of free speech for students.

"Internet connection + English = college degree" (Ars Technica, 02/01/09)

Shai Reshef has a vision: soon, anyone with an Internet connection and some proficiency in English can take classes online at his new "University of the People." And not just classes—the school will be accredited, offering actual degrees in subjects like computer science. Charges will be minimal, starting at just $15, and will be based on the student's country.

"Utah teacher's Web site publishes students' books" (Daily Herald, 02/02/09)

In an age of standardized testing, elementary school teacher Chris Wilcox believes writing has become neglected and something needs to be done to motivate children to write.

"Want to Get a Degree Online? Get Ready to Work Just as Hard." (Wash Post, 02/01/09)

One way to get an edge in this job market is to earn an advanced degree. Just don't assume that doing it online will be easy. Online master's programs are often cheaper and more convenient than traditional ones, but they also present challenges.

"Click and Jane" (NYTimes, 1/30/09)

Reading books is an operation with paper. Playing games on the Web is something else entirely. I need to admit this to myself, too. I try to believe that reading online is reading-plus, with the text searchable, hyperlinked and accompanied by video, audio, photography and graphics. But maybe it’s just not reading at all. Just as screens aren’t books.

"Well-Connected Parents Take On School Boards" (Wash Post, 01/30/09)

For a new generation of well-wired activists in the Washington region, it's not enough to speak at Parent-Teacher Association or late-night school board meetings. They are going head-to-head with superintendents through e-mail blitzes, social networking Web sites, online petitions, partnerships with business and student groups, and research that mines a mountain of electronic data on school performance.

"The Twitter Experiment" (NYTimes, 01/29/09)

In this follow-up, David Pogue shares the sweet, funny, interesting results of a Twitter experiment.

"Teaching Teenagers About Harassment" (NYTimes, 01/26/09)

A new campaign from the Advertising Council highlights social issues such as digital dating violence, sending nonstop text messages or posting cruel comments on a boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s Facebook or MySpace page.

"Google Hopes to Open a Trove of Little-Seen Books" (NYTimes, 01/04/09)

Ever since Google began scanning printed books four years ago, scholars and others with specialized interests have been able to tap a trove of information that had been locked away on the dusty shelves of libraries and in antiquarian bookstores.

"Mrs. P Has a Story for You, Kids" (LATimes, 11/10/08)

Mrs. P is the title character of a new children's storytelling website debuting at the beginning of National Young Readers Week. Los Angeles Times, November 10, 2008

"Stumbling Blocks: Playing It Too Safe Will Make You Sorry" (Edutopia, 11/5/08)

How teachers are working around overprotective content filters to use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom.

A Quarter Million Teachers to Get Free Wikis

A San Francisco wiki services provider has just finished a multiyear project under which it gave teachers all over the world 100,000 free wikis. And now, it is doubling up and getting set to give away another quarter million.

Sharing Your Notes Online -- and Getting Paid for It

Knetwit is a Web site that combines some familiar Web 2.0 features — user profiles, file sharing, online communities — with the goals of campus note-taking services.

Twittering from the Cradle

IT would be easy to assume that the first month of Cameron Chase’s life followed the monotonous cycle of eat-sleep-poop familiar to any new parent. But anyone who has read his oft-updated profile on Totspot, a site billed as Facebook for children, knows better. Cameron, of Winter Garden, Fla., has lounged poolside in a bouncy seat with his grandparents, noted that Tropical Storm Fay passed by his hometown, and proclaimed that he finds the abstract Kandinsky print above his parents’ bed “very stimulating!”



The New York Times, September 10, 2008

Graphic Storytelling and the New Literacies: An Interview with NCTE Educator Peter Gutiérrez

Referring to The NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies, Gutiérrez notes, "Yes, new technologies encourage non-traditional, often non-linear ways of engaging with text, but there's a danger in supposing that what makes the new literacies 'new' is the technology per se -- it's the literacies that are new; . . . they speak to the idea of 'participatory culture.'" Diamond Bookshelf, September 2008

Literacy and Online Reading

NCTE member Donald Leu, holder of the John and Maria Neag Endowed Chair in Literacy and Technology and director of The New Literacies Research Lab at the University of Connecticut, is interviewed. Focus 580, WILL Radio, September 4, 2008 (scroll down to program)

Donald Leu is a contributor to NCTE's Secondary School Literacy: What Research Reveals for Classroom Practice.

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

Facebook's News Feed, Twitter, Flickr, and other forms of incessant online contact have created a brave new electronic world of "ambient awareness." The New York Times, September 5, 2008