It was a public-friendly showcase of the rapid shift toward more digital learning opportunities in schools, an area where many adult educators are starting to accept what their students have known for years: Technology can't be suppressed, and it has the capability to change the learning experience in ways that haven't even been imagined yet. On Wednesday, a state-level Digital Learning Advisory Council released recommendations that encouraged more online collaboration and technology in Wisconsin's public schools.

That's a different tone from even just a few years ago, when administrators at many districts were still confiscating cellphones from students who surreptitiously tried to use them in class.

Rather than top-down deployments of devices every few years en masse, I'd love to see schools like ours take more of a hybrid model.

Of course, this means relying on differing standards of production (not everyone will have Pages or Word or Open Office depending on their platform), but web apps such as our Google accounts, will more-than-allow for us to bridge those gaps.

My friends in "the corporate world" are already going through this process of adjusting to a world of BYOD instead of issued Blackberry's and Dell laptops. It's just a matter of time before we do the same.

Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom.

The ability to get most of these in both mp3 and pdf formats is fantastic as is the selection that goes beyond literary classics.

I'll definitely be using these in the classroom (especially the "American Founders" series).

Twitter chats are such a great way to stay connected and informed in your professional circle, and education is no exception. Through education chats, you can find out about new methods for teaching, tech resources, even jobs for teachers. Most chats are held weekly, and offer an opportunity to have a regularly scheduled conversation with like-minded educators.

I love the time and schedules for these... better than cable!