Tool #8

I tried inserting the video of 'What do we do' but Explorer kept giving me an error message and wouldn't upload it, so I linked it and also, just in case, I added it as an HTML gadget.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AvZ5ulVyLc&feature=player_embedded  I thought, 21st Century Skills: What do we do?, from the Wikispaces site, was very thought provoking. It challenges teachers with the reality of the educational gap evident in high school graduates, and it shows the results of a survey of 431 employers indicating that high school graduates are underprepared for the workforce, and deficient in the areas of: critical thinking, problem solving, written communication, professionalism and work ethic. It raises the question: How are we preparing our future graduates for a world where they have to be 'masters WITH content,' not 'masters OF content,' and it proposes changes high school curriculum. Very, very interesting.
My absolute favorite site is http://www.commoncraft.com/about/who. Several of their tutorial videos appear on our 11 Tools Blog to teach various tech concepts and applications (the guys with the paper drawings). Have you seen their main webpage? It says, 'our product is EXPLANATION.' They are brillirant! From a teacher's perspective, the way they 'teach' is just what we need in order to understand the fast-pased, non-stop evolving technology engine. Simple and clear explanations. Love those guys!