XplanaZine

Here’s our take on news that matters for Monday, February 13. Today’s theme is giving in (sort of), and here are a some links to headlines about technology that is changing the way we live and learn.

• Gaming –
  A new genre of games is flipping commercial product placement and promotion on its head. Known as
  “anti-advergames,” the new titles satirize big companies and question corporate polices ranging from how cattle are raised to low pay for workers.

• Blogging, Podcasting, and Vodcasting — For those people who might be addicted to blogging, here’s a nice set of lyrics — Addicted to Blogs. It’s high time people wrote more about blogging as a way to nurture friendships among teens.
  Other good statistics from the latest Pew study: Girls are leading the blogging trend. Among online teens, 25 percent of
  girls ages 15 to 17 blog, compared with 15 percent of boys. Those
  numbers go even higher when it comes to simply reading blogs: 53
  percent of older adolescent girls, compared with 34 percent of boys
  their age, do it.

• Handhelds – Also, Sony is planning on bundling UMDs with DVDs in order to gain more exposure for its PSP-specific format. Open source rival to iTunes launches. Finally, here is a company that’s working to turn handheld devices into portable projectors.
• Social Networks – Here’s a nice take on the economy of reputation, or how social networking can improve performance and the bottom line in business.

Now, here’s a recap of our favorite posts from the edublogging community from the past 48 hours.

• From Scott Wilson : Post programming sectarianism and the search for the right language for learning frameworks.
• From Clarence Fisher : Post on the information ecosystem and getting kids to give as well as take with their writing.
• From Donna DesRoches : Post on problem-based learning.
• From Christian Long : Post on 10 brain things…and one reminder that people are the curriculum.
• From Chris Lehman : Post on high stakes tests.
• From EdTechTalk: Podcast on Wiki Textbook Project (#5, part 2) with Larry Sanger.
• From Alan Levine : Post of notes on Nancy White’s presentation, “The Seven Competencies of Online Learning.”.
• From Doug Johnson : Post on whether virtual experiences are driving our real life experiences in education.
• From Albert Ip: Second Post on ” Information, language, knowledge and connectedness”.