Today in an email newsletter I received information about Knol, an initiative from Google designed to produce user-created encyclopedic content that is more authoritative than Wikipedia. As you probably know, Wikipedia is controversial among educators and librarians since anyone can create or edit an article on this site, raising questions about the validity and the accuracy of their articles. However, Wikipedia articles may also be corrected quickly through this method, leading to an accuracy level that rivals traditional encyclopedic sources.

Here are some unedited notes from a session at NECC about strategies for online discussion. I personally found this session very helpful in thinking about instruction strategies for a new era with new tools. Here are those notes:

This really isn't the best timing, but I'm having difficulty with the battery on my laptop, so any NECC updates today will rely on my ability to move close to a power supply during the various sessions.

In the meantime, here are some resources from the conference from yesterday:

Here are some links which may be of interest to teachers in Lutheran schools that I've uncovered this past week:

• Google is opening their popular Gmail email service to testers in trying out new features. Some of these features may eventually be permanently incorporated in Google Apps, which may be used by schools. Full article.

I've started playing with a service called Diigo, which appears to be a combination of several social networking ideas, such as Ning and del.icio.us, with steroids added. The site is much faster to render than the other previously listed services in my tests, which is remarkable given the richness of the features found in Diigo. As a result, I'm finding it to be fairly overwhelming. There are so many interesting tools and uses that it is difficult sorting through the utility for education, professional development, and ministry in a focused way.

Over the past week I've compiled a short list of potential professional development resources for teachers in my building. While this is by no means a comprehensive list, I thought that the list might be worth sharing. Each of these books, sites, and activities relate to education and technology in some way. I've encouraged each teacher to be proactive as far as their own learning this summer as part of the process of restoring energy and passion for future service.

My friend Alan in California has started to blog. His blog, while not having a long list of posts as of yet, does provide some insights into the work of a technology specialist and the struggle that persists in pushing educational and technological change in our Lutheran schools.

The Post-American World is a volume that is getting a lot of buzz in the media and blogosphere these days. This book, written by Newsweek correspondent Fareed Zakaria, studies the fundamental changes taking place in the realms of economics and geopolitics taking place in the world today. The quotes which I've read make it seem like this book is almost a natural follow-up volume to The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman. I cannot wait to get a full copy of the book in my hands. In the meantime, here are a few quotes from the book, as compiled by the Two Million Minutes blog:

Some of you may have already seen this notice, but there is an online meeting today for all educators in Lutheran schools related to technology, education, and ministry. This meeting is being hosted by Dr. Perry Bresemann, our Synod's School Technology Director. On the agenda for today is a discussion of the format for future meetings, a review of the technology sessions related to NECC in San Antonio in June and July, and a conversation about the possibility of hosting our own Lutheran K-12 online conference.

Please join us at 5 PM Eastern, today, Thursday, May 1st, at http://breeze.muth.us/techleaders.