We are delighted to announce this years finalists, and to officially open voting. Once you’ve had time to evaluate the finalists yourself, click through the category titles to vote.

One thing we should say at this point is that the response to these awards has been amazing… even though you had to fill out contact form after contact form to get your nominations in, we still received over 500 and choosing a shortlist from these has been immensely hard – if you haven’t got listed this year, don’t be disheartened, for ‘best teacher’ for example we had over 80 different blogs to choose from!

1. Best individual blog

Don’s Learning Log
dy/dan
I’m a first-year blogger and a fourth-year teacher. I teach 14-18 year olds math in Santa Cruz, CA, and aim to share anything
that’s any good in my classes with the rest of the Internet. I spent over 18 hours prepping a 45-minute lesson last year but that kind of work is easier when you can share it with 6,000 people over a two week stretch. I’d love to see that kind of collaboration become the norm ’round the edublogosphere and I’m glad to have been highlighted by the edublogs gang.

e-Literate
e-Literate is a U.S.-based edublog by Michael Feldstein focused primarily on higher education. Special areas of interest include edupatents as well as the impact of educational technology infrastructure ( e.g., LMS/VLE, ePortfolios, etc.) on teaching and learning capabilities.

Ewan McIntosh’s edu.blogs.com
OLDaily
OLDaily covers the world of online learning. If it reflects a rising trend, if it describes a new approach to online learning, it recenters our thinking, then it’s in OLDaily. Publishing six or so items five days a week, the blog covers education and technology news and also looks at how developments in fields such as online publishing, software and multimedia design, information and communications studies – to name a few – impact on online learning. The website is also a learning and research resource for practitioners. OLDaily posts are tagged, indexed and collected in a large searchable resource base. The website also offers articles, audio speeches, and videos. The site demonstrates new learning by embodying the principles it describes, integrating learning, practice and research into a single environment. OLDaily is authored by Stephen Downes.

Mobile Learning
Mobile Learning is authored by Leonard Low at the Centre for Education Excellence, Canberra Institute of Technology, Australia. As might be expected from its title, it is concerned exclusively on the use of mobile devices such as media players, mobile phones, and handheld computers, and their role in educational settings. It started as a record for personal reflection, but has evolved into a platform for sharing and discussing new ideas and insights with other teachers and technologists, and as a result delves into all aspects of mobile learning: pedagogy, technology, strategy, policy, and practice.

Mobile Technology in TAFE
I’m Sue Waters from Perth, Western Australia and am best known for my Mobile Technology in TAFE web sites (blog, podcast, wiki). My passion is the belief that organisations and individuals are not utilizing e-learning, Web 2.0 and m-learning to their full potential — so my goal is to help others engage in these technologies by providing helpful information through my web sites. Some people consider I have the coolest job because part of my work involves training people how to farm fish and the half is training people how to use technology in education. I work in the VET sector (vocational education and training i.e. trades type area) in Australia which means my students range in age from school age upwards to WAY older than me and I facilitate professional development with VET lecturers.

Moving at the Speed of Creativity
“Moving at the Speed of Creativity” documents my own learning journey as an educator in the 21st century and facilitates collaborative conversations with others about issues including educational reform, learning theory, practical applications of read/write web and other digital technologies in classroom learning contexts, Internet safety, one to one learning, and other topics. Wesley Fryer, US.

Newly Ancient
Newly Ancient is the occasionally coherent ramblings of the 14-year-old student, developer, designer and resident demigod Arthus Erea.
Primarily, the blog focuses upon student learning and how technology can be successfully integrated into schools (from a student’s perspective). Arthus blogs from his MacBook Pro nestled in the beautiful Green Mountains of rural Vermont (Which may or may not be a member of the United States). Newly Ancient enjoys an evolving focus and background as Arthus continues through his schooling.

ScienceRoll
I’m a 23-year-old Hungarian medical student and I’m the author of the blog Scienceroll.com. I try to help medical students, physicians, medical librarians and health care lawyers to get closer to the world of Medicine 2.0. Medicine 2.0 is the combination of medical education and the tools of web 2.0. I share medical tools, sites with them; write reviews about web 2.0 based medical community sites and I’m also the co-organizer of several medical projects in Second Life. I help coordinating medical exercices for medical students and I also organize sessions in the Scifoo lives on scientific conference in the virtual world. I hope that medical professionals find my blog useful and innovative. Berci Meskó, Hungary.

2. Best group blog

Bionic Teaching
In Practice
Who are we? Teachers at primary and secondary level (students age 5 to 18); Teachers at schools with a large number of poor students (Title One schools in the U.S.); Teachers who use technology in their classrooms, but want to make sure it’s used well.
Why would you want to read this blog?
-We have some really incredible teachers who happen to also be awesome writers. They have interesting stories to tell.
– If we can make information technology, collaborative curriculum, and constructivist instruction work in the classroom, it can be done. All these approaches have to work with our children, not just the children of the rich and middle-class, if we are going to have a truly public education.
– We write about the hard truths, but also we also find humor in the impossibilities and improbabilities of our jobs, and ourselves.

Kitchen table math, the sequel
LeaderTalk
LeaderTalk is the first group blog written BY school leaders FOR school leaders. Its intent is to share the voice of principals, superintendents, and the faculty that prepare them. The success of LeaderTalk is due to the nearly 50 busy administrators and professors who somehow find time each month to share what it’s like to live the life of a school leader today. LeaderTalk is relevant to all persons interested in PK-12 school leadership issues. CASTLE, Iowa State University, Dr. Scott McLeod, Director.

Techlearning blog
The TechLearning blog brings together the best thinkers in the educational technology world to share their ideas and to start conversations with educators, administrators, policy makers, and others in the community. The goal is for all of us to think deeply about technology integration and other issues affecting schools and educators today. Gwen Solomon, Director, TechLearning.com

3. Best new blog

dy/dan
I’m a first-year blogger and a fourth-year teacher. I teach 14-18 year olds math in Santa Cruz, CA, and aim to share anything
that’s any good in my classes with the rest of the Internet. I spent over 18 hours prepping a 45-minute lesson last year but that kind of work is easier when you can share it with 6,000 people over a two week stretch. I’d love to see that kind of collaboration become the norm ’round the edublogosphere and I’m glad to have been highlighted by the edublogs gang.

enlighten education
Matthew K Tabor
Mobile Technology in TAFE
I’m Sue Waters from Perth, Western Australia and am best known for my Mobile Technology in TAFE web sites (blog, podcast, wiki). My passion is the belief that organisations and individuals are not utilizing e-learning, Web 2.0 and m-learning to their full potential — so my goal is to help others engage in these technologies by providing helpful information through my web sites. Some people consider I have the coolest job because part of my work involves training people how to farm fish and the half is training people how to use technology in education. I work in the VET sector (vocational education and training i.e. trades type area) in Australia which means my students range in age from school age upwards to WAY older than me and I facilitate professional development with VET lecturers.

mrs. amy’s preschool press!
“mrs. amy’s preschool press” is a first-time blog site created by Chicago, Illinois (USA) not-for-profit program coordinator, amy ewaldt-doseck. this site shares stories, photos, anecdotes, teaching tips and more from FUN CLUB, a premier preschool (ages 4-6) enrichment program in Chicago’s historic Old Town neighborhood. parents can log onto the site to stay current on classroom happenings, comment to teachers, check calendars and more. there are also pages with theatre scripts, short stories, and Illinois educational standards…this site is all about good, old-fashioned fun – in a tech-savvy wrapper!

The PrincipalsPage.com Blog
The PrincipalsPage.com Blog has already become far more than I could have imagined. Much to my surprise, people actually read it. Even more shocking, they come back. The only purpose of the blog is to share thoughts, ideas, and stories as told from the perspective of a practicing K-12 (5-18 year olds) school administrator. And maybe every once in a while someone might actually get a smile or laugh out of my usually incoherent ramblings. In summary, it is an honor just to be nominated. micsmith.

The Random Thoughts of Louis Schmier
Spotlight 4
Taylor the Teacher
thinking 2.0

4. Best resource sharing blog

edte.ch
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites Of The Day For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Each day my blog highlights between 1-7 sites accessible to English Language Learners that have recently been added to the 8,000 categorized links on my website. These sites include ones for English, Math, Social Studies, and Science, along with links to hundreds of Web 2.0 tools that students can use to produce content (and examples of their work). These sites are accessible to English Language Learners of all ages — from pre-school through adult. Many classes with native-English speaker students aged 5-14 years old, and Special Education classes of all ages, find most of these sites useful. Teachers of students from 5-18 years old find the Web 2.0 tools helpful. I’m a teacher in Sacramento, California (USA), with students aged between 14-21 years old, and am responsible for the blog’s content, though readers also contribute site recommendations.

OLDaily
OLDaily covers the world of online learning. If it reflects a rising trend, if it describes a new approach to online learning, it recenters our thinking, then it’s in OLDaily. Publishing six or so items five days a week, the blog covers education and technology news and also looks at how developments in fields such as online publishing, software and multimedia design, information and communications studies – to name a few – impact on online learning. The website is also a learning and research resource for practitioners. OLDaily posts are tagged, indexed and collected in a large searchable resource base. The website also offers articles, audio speeches, and videos. The site demonstrates new learning by embodying the principles it describes, integrating learning, practice and research into a single environment. OLDaily is authored by Stephen Downes.

TipLine – Gates’ Computer Tips
woodchurch science
woodchurchscience is the homepage for Woodchurch High Specialist Engineering College science department. We are based on the Wirral in the UK and the school caters for 1360 11-16 year olds. The site is maintained by chemistry teacher Graham Warren. All science teachers at the school strongly encourage the use of this blog; every pupil has the address in their planners and a vibrant online community is building. It has become essential in the science classroom and is fast becoming a vital communication tool for getting information quickly to where it’s needed most: the user. Hopefully it’s the first stop for our pupils when looking for science news, views, classroom resources and revision materials.

5. Most influential blog post

Gone Fischin’ – Dangerously Irrelevant
The Did You Know? video (version 1 and/or version 2) has now been seen by over 10 million people online as well as countless others at workshops and conferences. This is the post that went viral and facilitated the video’s worldwide impact. The success of the video is a real tribute to Karl Fisch’s vision and creativity. The video is relevant to all persons who care about preparing students for our digital, global future. CASTLE, Iowa State University, Dr. Scott McLeod, Director.

How to Grow a Blog – blog of proximal development
How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci – Wandering Ink
Wandering Ink is a student blog by Kris Bradburn (16) from the Vancouver region, Canada. It’s not strictly an edublog, though I do lots of edublogging within it. Topics vary, but include education, Web 2.0, curent events, giftedness/intelligence, creativity, and other strange ideas that come to mind. Targeted towards anyone who wants to hear and share interesting thoughts.

Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher? – The Fischbowl
The Fischbowl is a blog in support of a staff development effort at Arapahoe High School (serving grades 9-12 in the United States, which is roughly ages 14 through 18) exploring constructivism and 21st century learning skills. What we are asking the teachers to do in our staff development is to reexamine everything they do with their students, to see if it matches up with what the latest research says about how people learn, with the demands of a rapidly changing, globally interconnected and technology-enabled world, and with their own personal beliefs about education. We are then asking them to make changes when what they are doing does not match up with what our students need. This particular post was exploring the question of whether or not a teacher today can be technologically illiterate and still be a good teacher. If you click through to the post, be sure to read through the comments and the links to the post (at the bottom of the comments) – I think that’s where most of the good conversations took place. Karl Fisch, Director of Technology.

The Ripe Environment – Discourse about Discourse

6. Best teacher blog

Beyond School
I’m Clay Burell, blogger at Beyond School. I’m an American whose 8 years teaching at Asian international schools – Shanghai and Seoul – has opened a more global view of teaching, politics, and philosophy. My highest values are to bring relevance, creativity, and internationalist citizenship into the learning I try to foster. Web 2.0 is great, of course, but not if it just gives economic advantages and promotes more socio-political indifference. I fear schools are not preparing the future leaders we will need to effectively confront global warming, peak oil, and other looming crises; at the same time, I know to laugh as we go. I teach secondary humanities (English and history) for 14-18 year-olds.

Blog of proximal development
Betchablog
Betchablog is a personal reflective blog of an Australian educator, responding to a range of educational issues and ideas, as well as sharing of resources, tutorials and links with other teachers. Chris Betcher.

The Cool Cat Teacher Blog
The Cool Cat Teacher blog is a blog for teachers, leaders, and educators by Vicki Davis, teacher and educator in Camilla, Georgia, US. Vicki works with global collaborative projects and likes to share the things that work and her own mistakes as she reflects on the improvements that Web 2.0 technology has made in her classroom during her two years of blogging.

Miss Baker’s Biology Blog
My students and I are honored and thrilled to receive this nomination! The goal of our blog is to create a place where we can share science news, communicate ideas, and discover our passion for learning biology. I have loved every moment of developing this blog with my 14-18 year old students and to be acknowledged in this manner is very special. Thank you students for all of your hard work and thank you to the Edublog Award Committee for selecting our blog for this honor. Stacy Baker, United States.

Primary Teacher UK
Primary Teacher UK is a news, reviews and resources site with daily updates for primary teachers (age 3 – 11) in the UK. The website is run by Andrew Ross, a year 6 (age 11) teacher from Northwich. A range of teachers submit articles and add to the resource bank. The site is updated frequently with links to websites, news articles, and additional resources along with personal observations about teaching in the primary age range. With an average readership of 800-1000 teachers a day the site continues to grow. If you enjoy the site please feel free to add your own contributions. Full details on how to do this are available on the site.

Teaching Generation Z
Hi, I’m Graham Wegner from Adelaide, Australia. This is my blog. It’s gone from a solo expedition over two years ago to becoming the central focal point for my online learning network. I pull in influences from all around the world and from all sectors of education, wrestled with ideas from some of the brightest minds in learning and mix it all up with my unique perspective all from my humble location in this part of the world. I’m a primary school (ages 5 -13) teacher with some leadership responsibility and I have no doubt that blogging in general has made me a better, more critical and open teacher.

Teaching in the 408
The tempered radical
Being recognized as an Edublog Awards finalist has left me completely jazzed! As a passionate classroom teacher of 11-13 year olds for the past 15 years, my goal on the Tempered Radical has been to raise the voice of educators into critical conversations about teaching and learning in America. By tackling topics with an open mindset, I hope to leave my readers—whether they be classroom teachers or policy makers—challenged each time that they visit. Bill Ferriter.

Science is fun with the right teacher
My name is Jerry Mullins and I am a science teacher for Kanawha County School District in Charleston, West Virginia, US. I developed this site to assist 14-21 year old learners in the areas of Biology; Anatomy; and Forensic Sciences. I wanted to incorporate 21st century technology into my district and to better align my lessons with my students background knowledge. My students seem to do better now that they are not doing worksheets and reading out of a book. This site gives me the opportunity to concentrate on labs, discussions and demonstrations while the students learn in an interactive manner via the web. Lastly, it greatly assist parent in assisting their children at home, as well as, allowing students to continue there studies even if they are absent from school. I never imagined that this site would gain this kind of attention. I only hope that it assist all those students how view the site no matter what country of origin they are from.

7. Best librarian / library blog

Hey Jude
Librarians Matter
Librarians Matter is a personal blog primarily about emerging technologies, libraries and education. Major themes include how to have fun with new web tools, how to keep user needs firmly at the centre, alternative forms of participation ( unconferences, webjams, collaboration), and how to find time to do this. Kathryn Greenhill, the author, is employed in a university library in Western Australia.

A Library By Any Other Name
A Library By Any Other Name is a vehicle for me to share information and resources, particularly Library 2.0 versions, primarily with the elementary and secondary librarians in my school district. I know my information is being used by other librarians, teachers, and other persons interested in helping school-aged students, ages 4-18, to learn. I post about books and authors and ways to use the stories and information with students. I inform my audience about interesting and fun websites that can be helpful with students as well. As the district supervisor for cataloging, I try to keep my librarians updated on things about MARC records and Dewey subject headings. I pay tribute to the organization of information by classifying each of my posts with a Dewey number. And I regularly react to what is newsworthy in regards to the 2.0 world and the ways in which we all can communicate and share information and how we need to be sure our students experience all that is possible! My goal for my blog is that I make a difference somewhere for someone for a minute or two about something.

Spineless?
The spineless? blog from Heriot-Watt University Library, Edinburgh, UK, is almost exactly one year old. We (various library staff) blog about our services, new resources, items of interest, and answers to frequently asked questions, always trying to do so from the library user’s perspective. As well as common categories of posts such as new book alerts, and opening hours, we?ve tried on occasion to introduce a little humour and creativity. We?ve kept the design of the blog as simple as possible, so that there?s less distraction away from the information within it. Sometimes the posts have not even been about the library! We?ve tried to keep our readers up to date, as well as sometimes providing more general information in posts such as ‘Open Access – some pointers’ and ‘It?s amazing what you can get for free!’ Our library is not boring, and neither should be its blog! A big thank you if you vote, and also to all who have contributed to spineless? over the past 12 months. Roddy MacLeod, Senior Subject Librarian, Heriot-Watt University.

Techno Tuesday
Wow, I am both flabbergasted and amazed to be nominated. My blog, TechnoTuesday is really just ramblings I make as I learn about new tools, particularly web 2.0 applications, and their role in the educational arena. I am a teacher librarian working with ages 10-14 in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina, US. I do not limit it to just targeting librarians or those interested in libraries, as I feel the library can be pivotal in schools adopting these tools. My goal is to share with all educators as well as those in my field, and perhaps be there to guide any who decide to jump in this “information ocean” called the Internet. Being a school teacher librarian affords me many opportunities to do just that, and my blog is one vehicle I use to explore its vastness. I am honored to be nominated.

8. Best educational tech support blog

The Ed Techie
My site is edtechie.net, I’m based in the UK where I’m a Professor of Educational Technology at the Open University. The main purpose of my site? To have a space where I (and hopefully my peers) can think through the seismic changes in education, and occassionally to talk about football. For sample posts see The Future of content (http://tinyurl.com/2yxwxr) and The VLE/LMS is dead (http://tinyurl.com/2tvlkz)

Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom
Mobile Technology in TAFE
I’m Sue Waters from Perth, Western Australia and am best known for my Mobile Technology in TAFE web sites (blog, podcast, wiki). My passion is the belief that organisations and individuals are not utilizing e-learning, Web 2.0 and m-learning to their full potential — so my goal is to help others engage in these technologies by providing helpful information through my web sites. Some people consider I have the coolest job because part of my work involves training people how to farm fish and the half is training people how to use technology in education. I work in the VET sector (vocational education and training i.e. trades type area) in Australia which means my students range in age from school age upwards to WAY older than me and I facilitate professional development with VET lecturers.

OUseful Info
OUseful.info is a UK based blog written by Tony Hirst of The Open University. Originally focussing on library and web search related mash-ups, in recent years the focus has moved towards a wider consideration of the potential use of new technologies in education, particularly higher education and formal and informal lifelong, adult learning. OUseful.info tracks new technologies in a hands-on way, providing commentary as well as rapidly prototyped demonstrations, showing how new technologies can be used today. Recent posts have included the use of the Google Custom Search Engine to provide a meta-search tool over instructional video sites, a consideration of how Google Analytics can be used understand student behaviour on online courses, and a mashup of Yahoo Pipes, the Grazr feed reading reading widget and the CoRank DIY-Digg-like site to construct an Open Educational Resources website solely from third party tools and content.

El tinglado
El tinglado is a lively experimental blog full of multimedia and interactive activities for those teachers and students who believe in a new kind of education. We are a bunch of mature Spanish teachers who live in Madrid and other Spanish towns. We have our personal blogs, but work together and colaborate in El tinglado.

9. Best elearning / corporate education blog

Clive on Learning
E-Learning Queen
E-Learning Queen focuses on online and distributed training and education, from instructional design to e-learning and mobile solutions, with emphasis on real-world e-learning issues and applications for corporations, schools, universities, and not-for-profit organizations. E-Learning Queen takes an interdisciplinary approach and looks at culture, human relations, leadership, and humanities as well as technological advances. In addition, e-Learning Queen provides annotated bibliographical entries on recent articles in “Corgi Catches.” The entries include podcasts, video, and useful integrated web applications. Who is the “Queen”? You, the reader, are the Queen (or, if you prefer, the King). Dr. Susan Smith Nash is the Queen’s assistant, located in the U.S., but with featured interviews of elearning professionals around the world.

eLearning Technology
In the Middle of the Curve
Mohamed Amine Chatti’s ongoing research on Technology Enhanced Learning

10. Best educational use of audio

Allanah’s Appleby Showcase
Our podcasting site was born little over a year ago as a record of some of the exciting things we have been doing in my classroom of eight to ten year olds here at Appleby School in Nelson, at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. It is a companion to our blog site which is mainly written by the children themselves: http://moturoa.blogspot.com/ Our blog also records some of the happenings in our classroom. I made this video at the beginning of 2007 to explain how I use ICT in my classroom: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=93fe8abcfe3ce2003e5c

EdTechTalk
SMARTBoard Lessons Podcast
The SMARTBoard Lessons Podcast facilitates a community of educators who share lesson ideas that use technology to engage students in learning with a focus on interactive whiteboards. Teachers from around the world (Australia, Canada, France, Israel, New Zealand, Oman, United Kingdom, and United States) have been discussed teaching and learning with Canadian co-hosts who are 2000 kilometres away from each other. Joan Badger leads this podcast for professionals from Winnipeg, Manitoba and Ben Hazzard chimes in from Port Lambton, Ontario.

The Virtual Staffroom
The Virtual Staffroom is based in Australia, with contributors from many countries (so far, Canada, USA, New Zealand, Belgium, UK, Hong Kong, etc…). The main purpose of site is to support conversations with leading teachers about the use of technology in the classroom – informal grassroots discussions about how ICTs are being used in classrooms on a daily basis. Chris Betcher.

Youth Radio
The Youth Radio Project is a joint venture between teachers and students loosely connected through the US’s National Writing Project and beyond. The project is designed to connect upper elementary students (aged 9-13 years old) through the use of “voice” as a publishing medium with the Weblog platform providing a way for the young writers to connect with others around the world. The podcasts have ranged from full-length radio stories, to collaborative found poems from literature books, to poems for multiple voices. Kevin Hodgson.

11. Best educational use of video / visual

Mr. C’s Class Videos
My name is William Chamberlain and I teach 10-11 year olds (5th grade) in Noel Elementary School in Noel, Missouri USA. Mr. C’s class videos is a site I post videos that I have made to use on my class blog.

Mr. Smith’s History
MyGermanClass
MyGermanClass.com aims to help people of all ages learn to understand and speak some basic German, while having fun. The MyGermanClass video podcasts are quite different from traditional language learning resources with a twisted sense of humor and silly sensibility. Videos range from off-the-wall food preparation (Cooking with Herr Nelson) to The Man Who Wears the Rubber Shoes, to Animal Cracker Love in the Forest. Viewers can also sign up for a small donation to participate in online mini-courses which give access to scripts in English/German, self-check quizzes, and discussions. Clark Shah-Nelson, US.

PlanetFesto
Planetfesto is an environmental nonprofit whose goal is to build a virtual ribbon around the planet consisting of 6” pieces. Each piece includes a photo or drawing of what you love most about the planet, a sentence about what you love, and pledges of personal action. There are lots of educational tools embedded about actions we can take that make a difference, but what people are loving is that planetfesto is a creative and emotionally engaging way to get involved in helping the planet, as well as informative. Contributors have come from 39 countries, including a research base in Antarctica, and ages from 4-87. Entire schools have challenged each other to participate at 80% or 99% rate. Nancy Raff, US.

RBG Street Scholars Think Tank Multi-Media E-Zine
RBG Street Scholars Think Tank’s Multi-Media E-Zine is an educational program and research project aimed primarily at 15-30 year olds (the hip hop generation and their children), but good for all age groups. The site is dedicated to further building the Hip-Hop/Black Liberation Movement connection by integrating conscious digital edutainment with a scholarly self directed learning environment. One of the baddest edutainment resources on the web.

12. Best educational wiki

GoAPES Wiki

Horizon Project 2007
The Horizon Project is a collaborative project between five classrooms of students aged 15-18: the Vienna International School, International School Dhaka, Shanghai American School, Presbyterian Ladies College (Australia) and Westwood Schools in Camilla, Georgia to envision and analyze the future as outlined in the Horizon 2007 report by the New Media Consortium and Educause. The project required the use of social bookmarking, video, outsourcing. . It was dubbed “the project that never sleeps” by its participants and had six student led teams with student project managers responsible for all content and organization. This wiki is proof of what can happen when students take the reigns and teacher’s guide!

Mr. Lee’s Math 12 Advanced Class
Outcomes Portfolio Wiki – The Atlantic Canada mathematics curriculum contains a list of specific outcomes that identify the educational goals of each math course. The objective of this wiki project is to create a shared electronic portfolio that clearly and concisely explains these grade 12 (age 17) expectations and connects each outcome with sample problems. By using a wiki located on the world wide web, students can collaborate to develop these explanations and then share them with each other. Erick Lee.

Salute to Seuss
The “SALUTE TO SEUSS” wiki (hosted by Jennifer Wagner) is an online project for the teacher (who is teaching 4 to 13 year olds) to use within their classroom. Each teacher is encouraged to showcase their students’ participation by using a Web 2.0 tool — such as wiki, blog, photoshare, podcast, or more. For many of these teachers — this is their first time using these tools both for themselves and with their students!! There are 214 teachers from 45 U.S. States, 3 Canadian Provinces, and New Zealand participating. The final date of the project is not until mid-December — so the pages change daily as teachers post their projects. 2007 is the 50th Anniversary of the writing of “The Cat In The Hat” written by Dr. Seuss. To celebrate this milestone, this project also had many websites to visit, worksheets, standards, and activities to expand the project even more as the teacher wishes.

Welker’s Wikinomics
Welker’s Wikinomics was created by Jason Welker, an AP and IB Economics teacher at Shanghai American School in China. The wiki serves as a meeting place for AP Econ students where they can collaborate on a comprehensive online study guide, communicate about their course, study for exams, share resources, debate topics we don’t have time to cover in class, and help each other learn and prepare for tests and exams. The wiki has grown to over 120 pages and has over 75 regular student contributors, all 15 – 18 year olds from SAS.

13. Best educational use of a social networking service

Classroom 2.0
Classroom 2.0 was created to provide an easy starting place for educators to be introduced to the tools of Web 2.0, and to encourage them to be part of the online dialog. With over 4,000 registered users, and growing over 100 per week, Classroom 2.0 has become a spawning ground for many other wonderful educational social networks based on the Ning platform, and has also hopefully shown the positive potential for social networking in education at a time when concerns about MySpace and Facebook overshadowed the technology’s pedagogical potential. Steve Hargadon in California, USA.

EFL classroom 2.0
Kingswear School Network
Hello! Our rural primary (ages 3-11) school Ning was set up by Mrs Rhys-Jones to help us improve communication, share work and celebrate progress. Each student and member of staff has their own blog page which we can see and the best blog posts are featured on the public main page. We hope you like it as much as we do!

Talkabout Primary MFL
Talkabout Primary MFL is a network for those teaching (or considering teaching) foreign languages in Primary school (ages 3-11); a place to share worries/successes with supportive colleagues. Jo started it earlier this year in response to the isolation felt by many teachers in the UK finding themselves suddenly tasked with introducing languages to the primary curriculum and desperate for support – oh and is learning as she goes along – as we all are perhaps?

Voices of the world

14. Best educational use of a virtual world

Edtech Island
The Island of jokaydia
The Island of jokaydia was opened in September 2007 and is dedicated to building a creative and vibrant community focused on education, arts and society. The current focus of jokaydia is in supporting a growing community of educators who are exploring how they can use virtual worlds in teaching and learning. The island is owned and operated by Jo Kay aka jokay Wollongong who is based in (you guessed it!) Wollongong, Australia. The island includes a range of flexible meeting spaces, educational tools and examples, free newbie resources and links to web resources. As well as using the island to provide Second Life presentations, tours and training, Jo Kay and Sean FitzGerald use the space to support a range of activities including conferences, discussions and social events. Visit the jokaydia blog at jokaydia.com for more info or visit the Island in Second Life via SLurl.

Schome Park
The Schome Park Project is using our island in the Teen Grid of Second Life (Schome Park) alongside a wiki and forum to develop our thinking about schome (not school – not home – schome – the education system for the information age). Whilst the schome community includes members of all ages from all around the world, the Schome Park Project itself is focused on working with 13 to 17 year olds. Current students come from the UK, the USA and the Falkland Islands. Peter Twining directs the Schome Park Project, and founded the Schommunity – join us and help make schome (the education system for the information age) a reality at http://www.schome.ac.uk/

Second Life in Education
The Second Life in Education Wiki provides a range of resources for educators who are interested in exploring the use of virtual worlds, in particular Second Life, in teaching and learning. It was developed by Jo Kay aka jokay Wollongong and Sean FitzGerald aka Sean McDunnough who are both based in NSW, Australia. The wiki includes useful resources for educators who are new to Second Life, including how to get started in Second Life, an extensive overview of Educational Uses of Second Life, a comprehensive categorised directory of current and future virtual worlds and links to Jo and Sean’s presentations and workshop materials. It is also used to support their activities on the Island of jokaydia in Second Life, where they run workshops, tours and events.

Suffern middle school in Second Life
“Suffern Middle School in Second Life” is the running account of the process of the proposal, acquisition, development and integration of a virtual presence for education at Suffern Middle School, Suffern, NY. Hosted and maintained by Peggy Sheehy, facilitator of the virtual campus, the blog speaks of the evolution of Ramapo Islands where in the 2006/07 academic year, 400 8th grade students (13-14 years old) and their teachers participated in exploring curriculum on a three island private estate in Teen Second Life. Math, Social Studies, English Lit, Health, Family and Consumer Science, were addressed and after great success Ramapo Central School District increased the virtual presence to 6 islands where we now also explore digital storytelling, science, foreign language, digital music, multimedia, and research skills. Ramapo Islands will serve approximately 1000 students this year ages 13-15 and is a student-centered, project based, experiential frontier. The kids are incredibly engaged and invested in their learning as along with their teachers they are designing authentic and meaningful learning scenarios.

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Josie Fraser & James Farmer