Dot Learnt

2011 is right around the corner. Have you made your New Year’s Resolutions yet? It’s the time of year when people decide they will finally do that one thing they’ve been meaning to do, whether its running a marathon, losing weight, getting your finances in order or just reading more. But the real challenge lies in keeping the resolution, not just making it.

So, how do you keep a New Years Resolution? Tell a friend. Even better, tell thousands of friends. Sharing your goals with others will help keep you motivated, and honest. And Social Networks are here to help.

For some of the most common New Years Resolutions, “Lose Weight / Exercise More,” “Control My Finances,” “Learn How to Cook,” and “Read More,” new Social Networks are ready to help.

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This holiday season, give your family the gift of digital literacy tutorials. Google has put together a wonderful site called teachparentstech.org, that allows users to send custom email gift cards with embedded technology tutorials (such as the one above) for free.

Whether mom needs to know the definition of a word, dad wants to figure out the live traffic or grandma wants to make a blog, there is a tutorial here for practically all of your family’s basic tech needs!

Happy holidays!

Anna

As the term was winding down in Oregon, I had the opportunity to interview Kevin Simpson , founder of the education consulting company Know.Do.Serve.Learn. I spoke with Kevin about his recent travels (Dubai! Bangkok! New York!), his philosophies on education – for kids and for adults – and his views on the role of social media in education.

Listen to the interview here:

Instead of creating a teacher-centered “Empire State of Mind” in the classroom (sorry, Jay-Z), Kevin wants to see a classroom with a “D-I State of Mind.”

“A Differentiated Instructions state of mind,” Kevin explains, “is where each and every day you take the data (prior knowledge, instructional needs, etc.) students bring to you and figure out how you are going to use that to teach them.”

And what is one thing that students young and old need? “It all comes down to the relationship,” Kevin says. “And listening, really listening.”

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