Social network sites, online games, video-sharing sites, and gadgets such as iPods and mobile phones are now fixtures of youth culture. They have so permeated young lives that it is hard to believe that less than a decade ago these technologies barely existed. Today’s youth may be coming of age and struggling for autonomy and identity as did their predecessors, but they are doing so amid new worlds for communication, friendship, play, and self-expression.

We include here the findings of three years of research on kids' informal learning with digital media. The two page summary incorporates a short, accessible version of our findings. The White Paper is a 30-page document prepared for the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Series. The book is an online version of our forthcoming book with MIT Press and incorporates the insights from 800 youth and young adults and over 5000 hours of online observations.

Current developments with technology and social software are significantly altering:
(a) how learners access information and knowledge, and (b) how learners dialogue with the instructor and each other.

Both of these domains (access and interaction) have previously been largely under the control of the teacher or instructor.

One way to improve your teaching is to become aware of very common things teachers often do which don't help the learning process, and avoid them! This usually takes some practice, and discussion with others who teach.
Six of these behaviors you should note and avoid are:

• Insufficient "Wait-Time"
• The Rapid-Reward
• The Programmed Answer
• Non-Specific Feedback Questions ("Does anyone have any questions?)
• Teacher's Ego-stroking and Classroom Climate
• Fixation at a low-level of Questioning

Conclusion
If asked to formulate the goals of the educational process, most teachers would probably include the nourishment of intellectual curiosity, encouragement of independent learners, development of people able to engage in the more complex thinking processes, as well as knowledge of certain contents. Yet instructors''behaviors" such as the six described above work against the achievement of these goals.

The Mixxer is a free educational site for language learners and teachers to find a language partner for a language exchange. The language partner is someone who speaks the language you study as their native language and is studying your native language. The partners then meet online to help each other practice and learn a foreign language.

Was eigentlich kann ein grosser Könner?
“Ein Könner ist jemand, der sich in ganz subtiler Form einlassen kann auf das, was der Fall ist, und der das - anders als die meisten Menschen glauben - kann, ohne viel nachzudenken. [...] Können hat oft viel mehr mit Sehen zu tun als mit Tun. Man muss zunächst einmal das Wichtige sehen, das ergibt sich das Tun von selbst."

[...] Wichtig dagegen sei neben Zeit und Erfahrung die Reflexionsfähigkeit: die Fähigkeit, über die Erfahrung und sich selbst nachzudenken. "Weil die Erfahrung für sich genommen schweigt, muss man sie durch Reflexion zum Sprechen bringen", sagt Neuweg.

Like the web itself, the early promise of e-learning - that of empowerment - has not been fully realized. The experience of e-learning for many has been no more than a hand-out published online, coupled with a simple multiple-choice quiz. Hardly inspiring, let alone empowering. But by using these new web services, e-learning has the potential to become far more personal, social and flexible.

Two lessons I have learned: When it comes to learning and creative uses of technologies, children have more to teach adults than adults to children! When it comes to innovating for others, don’t guess what they want or do what they say: co-create what they—and you—will love once it is there!

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