Today’s is “Digital Learning Day,” a nationwide initiative that draws attention to the very positive, transformative role that technology can — and should — play in today’s classrooms.

If you haven’t heard about Digital Learning Day — today is the first of its kind — be sure to visit the website that has been set up with tons of information about national and state events, as well as a toolbox for teachers interested in what other educators are doing to participate in Digital Learning Day.  An estimated 1.7 million students will be working on related projects and assignments today — with a great many of them powered and supported no doubt on Schoology!

Obviously, we share in the vision behind National Digital Day and in its broader message that we can meaningfully enhance the learning process through digital learning strategies that foster stronger student engagement, communication, and collaboration.  As Jeremy Friedman, our CEO, said earlier today in a press release:

“Pick virtually any industry or sector and you will find that technological innovation is at the core of all major game-changing advancements; the same will be true for education.  Today’s students are growing up surrounded by…

This morning Alec Couros (@courosa), a Professor of Educational Technology & Media at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada, reached out to his Personal Learning Network by tweeting to #SAChat the following,

“Speaking with a group of Student Affair Managers. Please say hi, Tell us where you’re from and why social media is important for education”

The conversation triggered from this tweet was great! In fact, the instant response from educators from all around the world displayed the perfect example of why social media and education work so well together. Here we have a group of educators, sharing their views, answering a question they were actually living by. It was refreshing to see this process in motion and hearing positive feedback on the topic was great too.

Cristina Costa (@cristinacost), currently the Research Technologies Development officer at the University of Salford in Southhampton, UK, pointed out how “Social media is great to keep in touch, share ideas, connect, learn, network, raise profile, and outreach”. Here at Schoology, we could not agree more. We take pride in being able to incorporate social media with education.…

We had another successful chat yesterday, the topic at hand:

“How do we adapt our curriculum to the technologies that kids are already using?“

The topic generated some great responses, and all related to integrating digital media and technology into the classroom. What makes this the place to be? Once the clock strikes six (6pm EST/ 3pm PST), the hashtag #Web20Chat becomes an open forum to comfortably learn, add your own opinions, and discover.

Some of the themes targeted during the hour long chat:

• Filters and blocks severely limiting accessibility to existing tools and platforms, making it difficult for teachers to integrate technology within their curriculum
• Administrators are (or seem to be) focused on the risks of incorporating these technology tools, while teachers are fighting to get them available in their classrooms
• Online Responsibility, along side personal responsibility on the web. Teaching students to properly conduct and protect themselves online
• Do not be afraid to ask your students what type of tools they are using outside of class. Drop the ego and just ask.
• When incorporating tools into a lesson, try to find the purpose. Do not use a tool for the sake of using a

…

For those of you who may not know, the first Twitter chat devoted to learning about Web 2.0 tools took place this past Wednesday, July 21.

This week’s topic was: How to help educators feel comfortable deciding on Web 2.o Tools.

It was a great success with over 35 people contributing to the conversation with over 300 total tweets. What originally was a 30 minute chat will now be a full hour thanks to the the great educators who joined us to start it off. It is clear that there is a want and need and hope to provide an open meeting and discussion place for learning about Web 2.0 tools.

Going with the idea the learning does not end in the classroom (the classroom being our #web20chat) you are welcomed to join in the conversation on the webpage. The official #Web20Chat webpage, Web 2.0 Learning, is now live and ready for interaction. We will be using the blog at Web 2.0 Learning to:

• Matter Monday : Topics for the next chat will be posted. The discussion is chosen by you so make sure to vote before Wednesday.
• Theme Tuesday

…

As a semi-newbie to #Edchat , a Twitter hashtag that is used as a collaborative tool for educators to debate and evaluate solutions to various problems, many of the discussions I have engaged with has led me wanting more. The education topics brought up during #edchat are relevant and important, but it is clear there is an absence of discussion focused on technology integration in education. For many, incorporating these web 2.0 tools in class can be scary, but it does not have to be.

So we have created: #web20chat

What is #web20chat ?

A comfortable setting for educators to come together to discuss their issues and concerns, share their advice, and give input about using web 2.0 tools in our modern day classrooms. The goal behind #web20chat is to encourage a productive dialogue between educators in hopes to answer those mysterious questions we may have about these new tools, as well as bring new ideas on how to make better use of these tools in our schools. We welcome everyone!

When is #web20chat ?

Our motto: Wednesday’s are for Web 2.0

Join us every Wednesday at 6PM EST via Twitter

How to join #web20chat ?

Follow #web20chat using the Twitter browser…

No matter the subject, these teachers know how to Tweet.

Just in time for #FollowFriday, here is your list of the Top 50 Tweeting Teachers.

1. coolcatteacher
2. plugusin
3. drdeason
4. johntspencer
5. web20classroom
6. mzimmer557
7. tomwhitby
8. NMHS_Principal
9. ktenkely
10. budtheteacher
11. thenerdyteacher
12. kylepace
13. shellterrell
14. suzanneITRT
15. andycinek
16. rmbyrne
17. johnfaig
18. kyteacher
19. nunavut_teacher
20. classroomchuckles
21. sywtt
22. missjaustin
23. butwait
24. smcgon
25. EdTechLeader
26. JudyHarris05
27. phsprincipal
28. Hairynomas
29. trossman1
30. WillSwartz
31. mmossman
32. manfull
33. cheritoledo
34. spillarke
35. cassiepatt
36. csitterley
37. dwsutherland
38. scasagrand
39. grykat
40. edutechgeek
41. nnorris
42. kcaise
43. tonnet
44. cathywo
45. AtlTeacher
46. tperran
47. msstewart
48. TeachPaperless
49. learnteachtech
50. cristama

1. The recent news that Ning will no longer be offering their free social networks for free is unfortunate.
2. The news that they are forcing existing users to either pay or leave instead of just charging new customers is unsettling, especially for educators and academic institutions who have spent months migrating from their existing systems over to Ning, who had promised free social networking.
3. Facts 1 and 2 combined with their lack of an open API is even more troublesome.

At first glance, Ning was an olive branch to innovative educators: a free network in exchange for occasional advertisements.  Adopters soon learned that because of the advertisements, the domain was being blocked by many school networks.

It is no surprise that Ning’s free advertising-backed model could not support it. Most of today’s biggest free services (such as Facebook, Twitter) use advertising as a supplement to additional revenue streams, and others (such as SurveyMonkey) do not rely on ads at all.

Although there were many holes in today’s educational web 2.0 offerings that were filled by Ning’s services, one simple fact remains:

Ning was not created for education.

That is why it was blocked on…