By ARIELLE LEVIN BECKER
Hartford Courant Staff Writer

May 30, 2008

Ruling in a case that addresses broad questions of the boundaries of free speech in the Internet age, a federal appeals court on Thursday effectively ended a Burlington student's effort to serve as a class officer and speak at graduation.

Another example of a State Affiliate leveraging social media to get messages out ... Listen carefully to Linda Nelson's discussion about how she used "blogging" as a knowledge management tool...

Props to ISEA!

"In Focus is our way of keeping you informed about what's happening in Iowa education. Each week, the Iowa State Education Association talks with educational leaders, policy makers, and Association members about everything from student achievement to public policy. These podcasts let us explore in-depth the issues that matter to all of us. We welcome your comments about the podcast, as well as your ideas for future topics. Email us your feedback!"

[visit ISEA In Focus]

CR Student Program worked with GR to produce version 3 of its College Affordability Campaign brochure.

Rather than GR creating their own commitment card for collecting names and email addresses to support their issues organizing campaign around college affordability, CR offered to merge GR's content with that of its College Affordability Campaign brochure’s mail-in commitment card.

The new brochure will debut and be promoted both by GR and CR at this year's Student Conference. We are planning give-away activities in an effort to engage student members to fill out the brochure's commitment card--both with their contact information and contact information of their friends.

[view new brochure]

I met with NDEA staff and NEA field staff in Bismarck, ND on June 13 and 14.

With regard to membership recruitment via technology, we agreed that application of advanced social media is not a good use of staff time or association funds at this time. This decision is based on two factors: (1.) Staffing is very limited (2.) demographics show older population less inclined to participate across multiple progressive social media outlets.

We agreed that we can leverage online media to engage member and non members and that the most effective way to do this will be by traditional mailing that encourages non members to visit the NDEA site for valuable resources--resources that, if they were members, they would have access to 24/7.

I plan to integrate GEM with the NDEA site and design a full-page ad on GEM for NDEA's membership handbook.

[view meeting notes]

June 2008 – May 2008 shows 17% increase in visits to the Gateway over May 2007!

Over 1,000,000 visits and still growing! New resources, features and partnerships in the wings!

Last month we started the count toward our next million visits to the Gateway to 21st Century Skill since NEA began our sponsorship. As observed in last month’s update that is phenomenal! But, we are not satisfied that this pace is enough. We want the growth in visits to continue to escalate and the contents of our repositories to grow right along with visits so we can make an even bigger contribution to the lives we touch across the educational enterprise.

Using The New Online Web World to Connect and Communicate

[download presentation]

A recent conference for educators, museum staff, and history buffs titled “Stepping Into History,” organized by an Illinois library group, kicks off with a "picnic."

—Second Life screen capture

Education Week
By Andrew Trotter

For educators who think real life does not offer enough opportunities to practice their profession, there’s Second Life, an Internet-based virtual environment that counts thousands of educators among its enthusiasts.

Second Life bears a passing resemblance to an online game, with users represented by digitally drawn characters, called avatars, that can interact and engage in a vast array of activities. But a growing number of K-12 educators and groups have come to see the 3-D virtual environment as having educational potential that is very real.

“Think of Second Life as a world, an extension of the physical Earth, and a place where you will find a thriving educational community,” said Peggy Sheehy, a teacher in New York state who has become a Second Life evangelist to the K-12 community.

Area teachers made examples of what not to do

By ANTHONY WILLIAMS
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Most young people know the basics of landing a job: Prepare a résumé, compile references and dress up for the interview.

But a handful of 20-somethings got a staunch reminder last month of a subtler job-hunting lesson — that they need to polish their online profiles before entering the work force. A Houston TV station searched their Facebook pages, broadcasting some questionable photos and content.