Following the Equator

Which education blogs do you read?

Two of my favorite education blogs are The Fischbowl and Dangerously Irrelevant.

They're written by Karl Fisch—the director of technology for Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado—and Dr. Scott McLeod—the coordinator of the Educational Administration program at Iowa State University. Those are the two teachers primarily responsible for the provocative Did You Know?/Shift Happens video that we wrote about recently.

There have been several lists of the top edublogs (try this and this and this), but what do you read? Please share your favorite education blogs in the comments section below.

Shift Happens

Here's a fascinating video about global awareness that will you make you think this weekend:

Teaching with Twitter

There are more social-networking sites than we can name. There's Facebook and MySpace, Flickr and LinkedIn, Pownce and Twitter. But what are they? And what good are they?

Sites like those can be incredible wastes of time for students and adults alive, or they can be incredible opportunities to connect with new people and exchange new ideas. They can spur creativity, and they might even be useful tools for educational travel.

Teachers looking to embrace Web 2.0 capabilities are finding exciting new ways to reach students through these 21st-century means. One of the most interesting sites is Twitter, a microblogging service that allows users to update friends with quick posts no longer than 140 characters.

Travel Tribune: Global awareness

Want to meet an EF Group Leader who incorporates global awareness into her curriculum? Want to read about how global awareness fits into 21st century skills? Looking for some additional educational resources from PBS? Or how about some great packing tips from a seasoned pro?

Then check out the newly released February issue of the EF Travel Tribune, our online magazine.

Which blogs do you read?

There are more than 112 million blogs, according to Technorati. But which ones are actually worth reading—especially for educational travelers?

We have a few of our favorite travel blogs (and education sites) listed on the right. But I'd love to know what you're reading.

Which travel and education blogs—especially education blogs—do you rely on? Please post your comments below, and we'll check 'em out.

Education around the world

The February issue of Edutopia magazine is out. It's especially worthwhile because the theme is global education.

The cover story, "As the World Learns: Education as a Vital Global Marketplace Represents the Future," is particularly interesting with reports on how students are taught in Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Sweden and Uganda. There's also a report on Room to Read, a global nonprofit that builds schools and libraries in developing countries. Plus, there are additional global education resources.

The other cool thing in this issue is the Sage Advice page, which asks, "How do you prepare your students to be citizens of the world?" Some good responses that are worth reading.

Edutopia is the website of The George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit that celebrates and encourages innovation in schools. The monthly magazine is free to qualified subscribers. You can even get the ultracool digital version, which looks and reads just like the printed version.

2 Million Minutes

Two million minutes … that's how long four years is, that's how long high school lasts, that's how long high school students have to prepare for their futures.

And that's also the name of a compelling new documentary, 2 Million Minutes: A Global Examination, which focuses on how the United States, China and India—"the three superpowers of the 21st century"—educate and prepare high school students for the global economy.

The one-hour documentary—the brainchild of entrepreneur Robert A. Compton—examines two high school students (a boy and a girl) from each country. The Americans (from Carmel, Indiana) are excellent students but appear more interested in sunglasses and sororities than studies. Their counterparts in China and India, on the other hand, are consumed with their education, their careers and pursuits such as the violin.

The film doesn't focus on big-picture solutions, but we know that increasing global awareness through educational travel can play a major role. This is right in line with the goals of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, of which EF is a board member.

Thanks to Scott McLeod over at Dangerously Irrelevant for bringing our attention to this compelling documentary. I just ordered my copy. You can read more about the film, about the characters and about What Should America Do, and you can read Education Week's article.

But, first, you have to watch the trailer:

To test or not to test …

The guys at Freakonomics posed the question "What should be done about standardized tests?" to a group of testing "aficionados." It's a hot—and controversial—topic, to be sure. But the comments are interesting, especially the French fries analogy.

Route 21: The path to success

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills yesterday announced the release of Route 21, the first online resource dedicated to 21st century skills teaching and learning. The Partnership bills Route 21 as "an online, one-stop shop for 21st century skills-related information, resources and community tools."

Route 21 is a tremendous resource for administrators, educators and anyone else who wants to tap into the 21st century skills that most Americans agree our students need to succeed.

Dangerously Irrelevant has some more information and links about Route 21 and what the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has been up to recently.

EF is a member of the Partnership, and is particularly excited about the advancement of 21st century skills. International travel is an ideal way to not only enhance students' global awareness but also hone other 21st century skills such as problem solving and critical thinking.

What in the world?

This is why all students should travel ...

Channing Crowder, a linebacker for the Miami Dolphins, says that he doesn't know where London is on a map and that he just learned that people in England speak English.