COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course meets OSPI's STEM requirements.

Twitter, Delicious, WordPress, blogging, RSS; these terms may sound familiar, but are you using them to enhance your classroom and learning opportunities as a professional? If the answer to that question is no, maybe, or not as much as I would like, then this course is for you. Come along and join the fun as we explore how to wrap many powerful web 2.0 technologies into a usable and functional system that will support you as an educator. This course will ultimately change how you view technology and enable you to design a website and personal learning network (PLN). Many assignments are packaged into individual modules that build upon each other. Modules become more complex as you proceed, but each previous module prepares you for the next one.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon completion of this course, participants will have:

1. Understand what web 2.0 is/means and how to use it in an educational setting,
2. Become proficient with social bookmarking, online document collaboration, Twitter, blogging, RSS, personal learning networks (PLN).
3. Understand how todayʼs students interface with technology and each other.
4. Understand the conceptual framework behind web 2.0 to help better understand future changes in technology.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Completion of all specified assignments is required for issuance of hours or credit. The Heritage Institute does not award partial credit.

HOURS EARNED:
Completing the basic assignments (Section A. Information Acquisition) for this course automatically earns participant’s their choice of CEUs (Continuing Education Units), or Washington State Clock Hours or Oregon PDUs. The Heritage Institute offers CEUs and is an approved provider of Washington State Clock Hours and Oregon PDUs.

UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT INFORMATION

REQUIREMENTS FOR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT
Continuing Education Quarter credits are awarded by Antioch University Seattle (AUS). AUS requires 75% or better for credit at the 400 level and 85% or better to issue credit at the 500 level. These criteria refer both to the amount and quality of work submitted.

1. Completion of Information Acquisition assignments 30%
2. Completion of Learning Application assignments 40%
3. Completion of Integration Paper assignment 30%

CREDIT/NO CREDIT (No Letter Grades or Numeric Equivalents on Transcripts)
Antioch University Seattle (AUS) Continuing Education Quarter credit is offered on a Credit/No Credit basis; neither letter grades nor numeric equivalents are on a transcript. 400 level credit is equal to a "C" or better, 500 level credit is equal to a "B" or better. This information is on the back of the transcript.

AUS Continuing Education quarter credits may or may not be accepted into degree programs. Prior to registering determine with your district personnel, department head or state education office the acceptability of these credits for your purpose.

ADDITIONAL COURSE INFORMATION

REQUIRED TEXT

Easy Wordpress Guide is required (it is free) Pick only ONE of the other books.

• Horton, Anthony. "Easy WP Guide V3.0 (PDF) Archives - Easy WP Guide." Easy WP Guide. https://easywpguide.com/download/
                                                              One of the two below
• Tapscott, Don. Grown up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World.                                                              OR
• Boyd, Danah. It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens.

• Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World

  ISBN# 0071508635
  by Tapscott, Don
  McGraw-Hill Education
  
  Buy from Amazon

MATERIALS FEE

The required text for Anthony Horton's, . "Easy WP Guide V3.0 (PDF) Archives - Easy WP Guide." Easy WP Guide is free online at https://easywpguide.com/download/ Choose one of the two texts below • Tapscott, Don. Grown up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print. OR • Boyd, Danah. It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

ASSIGNMENTS REQUIRED FOR HOURS OR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT

A. INFORMATION ACQUISITION

Assignments done in a course forum will show responses from all educators active in the course. Feel free to read and respond to others comments. 

Assignment #1: Understanding Today’s Students

Explanation

Today’s students have never known a time without the Internet. They have only lived in a connected world. As they become older they will likely become even more wired and connected to each other.

Seemingly, with some exceptions, schools are only slowly changing their teaching practices to better match our students. While there is debate about the prudence of teaching in a way that matches our students’ digital lifestyles, it is helpful to at least understand where they are coming from and how they access information and each other.

Our students are really not any different than we were at their age. For most of them, there are three reasons they go to school: Friends, friends and their parents make them.  While this statement is a bit satirical, it does have elements of truth and students use technology to study a bit, but mostly to stay in touch with each other and make new friends in worlds once unreachable to them because of distance. Want to join a group of people who love sewing, there will be a group out there! What scares adults is the change in scale in regards to the speed and reach of communication. Now students can “shout” out to a much bigger online world and have less control over who sees the message they are sending.

Assignment

1. Listen to at least one of these three interviews.  Don’t be surprised if find yourself so interested you listen to all three!
   1.  Don Tapscott, author of Grown Up Digital. It was conducted in 2008, yet seems to hold its relevance.
   2. danah boyd, (yes she spells her name in all lower case), author of It’s Complicated.  Watch the video version here.
   3. Teen Girls And Social Media: A Story Of ‘Secret Lives’ And Misogyny  with Nancy Jo Sales, author of the book by the same name.  This one is a little more disconcerning than the other two.
2. Write a 250 word (minimum) reaction to the  views of one or all of the authors. Be sure to comment on how (if at all) schools should change to match today’s students.

Resources

• My FlipBoard magazine “Teen Addiciton to Social Media”

Assignment #2: How Web 2.0 Impacts Our World

Explanation

The primary advantage of Web 2.0 technologies, and perhaps the reason for its popularity, is that it allows for easy collaboration.   This is a fundamental shift from the past when there were barriers to collaboration.  For the most part, it had to be synchronous (live) vs.  asynchronous (email, voicemail, YouTube, message boards, chatting, etc.).

This change in collaboration has allowed for much larger groups of people to find each other and contribute to each other’s interests.  Sites like Wikipedia, Reddit and YouTube are but a few of the examples.

Assignment

1. Take a look at one, all or some of the TED videos below.  If they don’t fit your interest, feel free to find another TED video from the TED website.
2. Write a 250 word (minimum) reaction to what you hear. Let us know what TED talks you enjoyed the most.

Resources

• List of Videos

Assignment #3: Social Bookmarking

Explanation

Social bookmarking is a way to share bookmarks of websites with other people such as students, parents and coworkers.  It is also a convenient way to keep an eye on what websites your students are bookmarking during their research. Social bookmarking sites use a system called “tags” to help recall and organize  information.  Tags are really just another way to say “keywords.”  They are words to describe the site you are saving.  Tags for a site website about Indonesia, for example, might include islands, fishing, Tsunami, earthquakes, Jakarta, Bali, dance, etc.

There are a bunch of different social bookmarking sites out there and depending on your needs, one or more of them should fit your needs. I like to use Diigo myself.

Social bookmarking sites are easily shared, and added to, by group members. For example, for our Tech Tools Daily podcast we do, we share this Diigo account to add tools we might review.

Assignment

1. Review the list of sites below that talk about Social Bookmarking.
2. Create one or more social bookmarking accounts.  Delicious is the easiest, but the choice is yours.
3. Setup a “bookmarklet” in tool Chrome or your favorite browser. Here is what mine looks like.  You can find them in the Chrome Store.  This is SUPER important as it makes adding links to your social account super easy.  If it is hard to do, you won’t be likely to use it.
   1. Specific Chrome store links:
      1. Delicious
      2. Diigo
      3. Pinterest
      4. Listly
4. After you pick your service, bookmark at least 10 sites.  Tag each site with keywords that describe the site
5. In 250 words or more, reflect on the ease (or difficulty) of setting up and using a social bookmarking account.
   1. Is this something you can see yourself using in the future?  Why or why not?
   2. How could students use social bookmarking?
   3. How could you use social bookmarking in the classroom?
   4. What are some effective ways to use tagging?
6. Copy and paste the link to your social bookmarking account(s).

Frustration Alert

The use of tags can be difficult. I mean, it is easy to type out the tag, but harder to fully understand what tags are for. Basically they are just words that describe the content of the page you are bookmarking.  Say you were bookmarking a travel site about beaches and hotels in the world. You might use the following tags: “beach, travel, hotel, sunscreen, deal.” You can use an unlimited number of tags, so feel free to get crazy with them.

Resources

• Social bookmarking video from Common Craft. (Very old, but nice explainer video)
• Suggested social bookmarking sites

Assignment #4: Online Document Collaboration (Google Apps)

Explanation

Online document collaboration is one of the greatest “most excellent” things to come along in the Web 2.0 world. For a while now, browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome) can run programs on their own inside of the browser itself. While this sounds a bit nerdy, it is really an important upgrade. No longer to separate programs have to be launched to make something happen.  Online games are now better than ever, but most importantly (at least for the purposes of this course), online document collaboration is possible. Google and Microsoft have built free online writing, presentation, spreadsheet and storage systems for anyone to use.

While Microsoft has invested some energy into the concept, Google and its Google Apps for Educators program is the clear, clear leader in the space. Many of you reading this are already part of a Google Apps school.  If you are not?  Go find your tech director and scream from the top of your lungs “What do you mean we are not a Google school yet?”  At this point, the only reason to use OneDrive from Microsoft is if you live in a country like China, where Google is blocked. I taught in China for eight years and having Google blocked was a huge bummer.

Creating and using documents online in a collaborative way is a massive game changer for how we can both teach and share information with other educators. I have seen many a school make a large, positive change as it embraced document collaboration.

Assignment

Many of you may already work for a Google Apps school.  So… I differentiated the assignments below to help you get the most out of this lesson.  Pick the assignments that work well for you.

New to Online Document Collaboration

1. Explore both Google Drive and Onedrive to see how they compare

2. If you don’t already have one, create an account with at least one of the companies
3. Create documents using the docs, spreadsheets and presentation features
4. Share each of those documents with your instructor (that would be me) via email.
5. In 250 words or more, reflect on the ease (or difficulty) of setting up and using an online document account.
6. How do/could you use these services in the classroom?
7. How do/could students use these services?
8. Is this something you can see yourself using or continuing to use in the future?  Why or why not?

Not New to Online Document Collaboration

1. Create a Google presentation, spreadsheet and document.  Please share it with me at this address: michael@21c-learning.com

2. Open your Google Document and click explore the awesome add-ons available.  If you are not sure where to find that, click here for help. I love EasyBib and Rubric Creator myself.
   1. Explore a bunch of the options
   2. Add at least two options and try them out
3.  In a reflection
   1. Explain the best parts of having this service and how it has changed your teaching and/or how your school operates
   2. Speculate what you see the future of this type of collaboration creating for education
   3. Feel free to add any frustrations you have with online document collaboration. I know at my school we use it for EVERYTHING and that means there are a zillion docs floating around. In the end, it is a good thing, but another thing we have to now manage. 

Assignment #5: Twitter

Explanation

Twitter is a fantastic way to find new ideas and resources that can help you as an educator or in your personal life.

Often when people take a look at or hear about Twitter, their response is “I don’t get it.” Or “Why would I care if someone tells me about their breakfast?”

The power of  Twitter is that you can follow people that are helpful and interesting to you. If they talk about their breakfast, just don’t follow them.  On my Twitter account I follow people or companies that enhance my primary interests: technology, autism, funny stuff and politics.   Just like Facebook, I only stay connected to people that help me to learn or laugh.

Twitter helps me to find new links and stories everyday.

Assignment

• Read/watch the websites in the resource section below that discuss how and why to use Twitter.
• Create a Twitter account if you do not have one already
  • Follow me: autismpodcast
  • Follow at least 10 or more people on Twitter.  You can start with Paris Hilton if you want.
• Write a short reflection
  • Add the link to your Twitter account.  It will be something like this www.twitter.com/What sort/types of people and organizations would you be interested in following?
  • How could you use Twitter in the classroom?
  • How could/should students use Twitter?
  • Is this something you can see yourself using in the future?  Why or why not?

Frustration Alert

When it comes to using Twitter, you may have a love/hate relationship with it.  The people who get into Twitter end up finding friends and colleagues with similar interests and communication styles.  If you do not enjoy a fast paced stream of links and information coming at you, then you may not enjoy Twitter too much.  That is ok; it is not for everyone. I hope that you will give it a try for a while and see if it hooks you too.

Resources

• Using Twitter in the classroom

Assignment #6: Blogging

Explanation

Blogging is an online method for communicating to a wider audience on issues that you care about. Blogging started out as a way for people to drone on and on about their life experiences, but has evolved into a more diverse communication medium for individuals, educators and corporations.

As an educator, blogging is a super way to post important events in your classroom. It could be pictures or videos of events in your classroom, or something as simple as a place to post your homework.

All of my students are required to have a blog. They post nearly all of their work (writing, videos, pictures, etc.) on their blogs.   Depending on the assignment, other students are required to read their fellow student’s work and post a comment. This two-way communication gives the students valuable (usually) feedback about their work and how it is seen by other people. Lastly, by having students post their work on a blog, it creates an electronic portfolio that they can share with family.

Assignment

• Create your own blog using one of the many blogging platforms out there. I have a list below.
• In 250 words or more reflect on the benefits and/or drawbacks of using blogs in the classroom
  • What sort of information should you put on your blog as a teacher?
  • What blogs are interesting for you to follow?
  • How could/should students use blogs?
  • Is this something you can see yourself using in the future?  Why or why not?
  • Copy and paste a link to your blog page.

Frustration Alert

Blogging versus websites. Really they are the same thing. They both appear on the internet and they both have exactly the same abilities to share videos, websites, photos, etc.   The main difference is that a blog is considered a personal expression of the writer. For example, Concordia, where I used to work, has a HUGE website with a ton of content on it.  This content represents Concordia as an organization and not so much as individuals.  \Now, if Concordia added a blog component to it, then the words on the blog would be the personal observations, thoughts, feelings and expressions of individuals within the organization.

So, you will need to decide if your web presence will be a personal expression of your thoughts and ideas or if it will be an “organizational” destination where people can find and use content relevant to your classroom.

You can have it both ways if you want!

Resources

• Blogging Platforms for Educators

Assignment #7: Subscribe To Content With RSS

Explanation

There is a ton of awesome content out there on the web; you could spend your whole day jumping from site to site reading, watching and listening. When you go to various sites your are part of a “pull” process that entices you to enter a website address and check out the content. But what if you would rather the content come to you?  Say, subscribe to some service(s) that send you content you can enjoy? Instead of the content “pulling” you in,  it is “pushed” to you.

Now, you may already do something like this through email where you have signed up for newsletters or listservs that send you content on a regular basis. As you know, our email boxes are generally stuffed with content and adding more to it is not a light decision.  There is a better way today thanks to the power of RSS.

Nerdy explanation…RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, a detail you don’t really need to know, but is highly coveted by nerds in the world of the Internet. RSS creates a “feed” that is stuffed with content from a website, audio podcast, video site and more. The feed is readable by some programs that make it all very visual for you. It takes a feed like this and converts it to something like this. See the difference? Huge! It is now visual and easy to browse and enjoy to read!

Normal explanation… Basically, you can now have content pushed directly to your via one of these readers. Maybe you use it already? Most people don’t know that RSS is behind all this and makes it possible. Now you do! But, again, don’t worry that part is not so important. What is important is learning how to use the awesome, mostly free tools.

To make all this happen you need a reader of some sort to pull it together.  There are a variety of readers out there (see list below) and some are easier than others to use. My personal favorite is FlipBoard. You can see all the FlipBoard magazines I curate here.  The power in all this extends beyond easily pushing content for you to enjoy as an individual. Instead, you and your students can create virtual magazines full of interesting content that relates to what they are learning.  For example, I teach another course about how to build a website for teachers. Because things change so fast, I curate this magazine to help teachers in the class (like you) keep up with the latest changes.

Assignment

1. Explore the different readers in the resources section below.
2. Sign up for a FlipBoard account.
   1. The resource section below has links to iOS and Android versions
3. Follow a bunch of content that is interesting to you. I find this a lot easier to do on a mobile app device.
4. Add content to a magazine of your own. You do this by “flipping” articles into your magazine. You can even create your own, individual magazines that relate to the type of content you want to add. Again, here are all my Flipboard magazines I use to support courses I teach.
   1. This article will help you to do this on a mobile device.
   2. This tool will help you add (flip) articles using the Chrome browser. I use this almost every day!
5. In 250 words or more reflect on the up and downside of viewing and generating content on one of these readers.
   1. Is this something you can see yourself using in the future?  Why or why not?
   2. How could/should students use one of these readers?
   3. How can they impact your classroom or parents?
   4. How can one of these readers impact you as a professional?
   5. Copy and paste in your FlipBoard profile address. See here for help finding that.

Resources

• RSS readers for teachers and educators

Assignment #8: Personal Learning Network

Assignment #9: Build a Wordpress Website

Explanation

WordPress is a wonderful open source blogging/website platform.  It is FREE and comes in two different flavors:  WordPress.org and WordPress.com

WordPress.ORG is where you find the wordpress software that you can download and install on your own server or host.  For example,  I use it to run a bunch of websites including the one you are on right now!

WordPress.COM will host the WordPress software for  free.  What a deal!  You can host your own website free of charge.   Your address will be something like.  coolteacher.wordpress.com.

Which one to use?  Hmmm…  I have a list of articles that might help you here, but if you are new to the idea of using WordPress, then WordPress.COM is likely for you.

If you are interested in purchasing your own domain (web address) then you can host your own site with your own name.   That is a really neat option and if you don’t mind spending the money (about 100 USD per year) then go for it.  You will first need a web host.  I use Dreamhost, but there are a zillion others. I do really like mine though.

Be sure to use the required book, Easy WordPress Guide, for help.

This will likely be the most time-consuming and challenging assignment of them all!

This is your chance to bring together all the work you have done so far in one place.

Assignment

1. Create a Wordpress site complete with content.  The lessons below will guide you.
   1. What is Wordpress?
   2. The Wordpress dashboard
   3. Adding your first post
   4. Adding hyperlinks
   5. Adding photos and images
   6. Changing themes
2. Create and share a link to your new WordPress website .  It may be something like this http://teacher.wordpress.com
3. In 250 words or more reflect on the benefits and/or drawbacks of using WordPress.
   1. Is this something you can see yourself using in the future?  Why or why not?
   2. How could/should students use WordPress?
   3. How could you use WordPress in the classroom?

Resources

• All my WordPress videos 

Assignment #10: Book Reflection

• Grown Up Digital  gives us a window into their world from a wider perspective. However, the book was published in 1998. Oddly, it seems to keep its worth though as the thoughts behind student behavior and interaction with technology have stayed the same.  The tools, of course, have great changed!
• danah boyd’s book,  It’s Complicated,  is much more contemporary and paints a detailed picture of how teens operate in the social online world. She does a great job showing us how their networks work and reminds us that we don’t need to be so afraid of it.
• American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers is a much more intense book and one that a parent (like me) to a teenage girl might find a little nerve wracking.

Assignment

1. Write a 500 word (or more) reflection of the book Grown Up Digital,  American Girls, or It’s Complicated.
2. Choose as many of the following suggested writing topics below as needed:
   1. Define what Web 2.0 means to you.  Explain your definition.
   2. Reflect on the current state/use of technology at your school and what the book discusses. How much and how well is it used?
   3. Discuss a roadmap of where you think education should go after reading the book.  Where do you think it will actually go through?
   4. Creating a Personal Learning Network (PLN) is similar to the relationship networks you already have.  Explain how Web 2.0 technologies enhance or even detract from building a larger, more efficient relationship network.
   5. In what areas does the author seem misguided, overly optimistic or just plain wrong?

Assignment #11: STEM Career Choices

Overview

The future of work, as you know, is shifting.  Even education which is often one of the last structures to change embraced remote learning for certain courses or entire programs. These are designed to meet the needs of students who prefer to school from home and/or enjoy the chance to take a specific course their school is unable to offer.

Some sort of STEM-related skills is becoming nearly mandatory for access to a middle class or above lifestyle. 

Assignment

Take a read of the two articles below. One discusses the future of work and how it is (no surprise) embracing remote workforces. The other lists the top 30 STEM careers of the future. This list, of course, will end up changing over time but for now, it is a starting point.

After reading the articles, pick one or more of the 30 careers and in 250 words or more, speculate how the five changes of the future ( fluid gigs, decentralized workforces, motivation to work,  lifelong learning, artificial intelligence) will impact the career you choose.  For example, if I choose the career of web developer, what would my career look like based on the five future changes in how we work?

Resources

• The Future Of Work: 5 Important Ways Jobs Will Change In The 4th Industrial Revolution
• The 30 Best STEM Jobs

ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS REQUIRED FOR UNIVERSITY QUARTER CREDIT

B. LEARNING APPLICATION

In this section you will apply your learning to your professional situation. This course assumes that most participants are classroom teachers who have access to students. If you do not have a classroom available to you, please contact the instructor for course modifications. Assignments done in a course forum will show responses from all educators active in the course. Feel free to read and respond to others comments. 

Assignment #12:

Explanation

This is it, you are almost at the end of all the assignments.  This time, I am asking you to update the website you built in an earlier lesson.

Assignment

1. Put together a series of 3-5 lessons/items on your WordPress site for your students, parents or other faculty to use. Try to incorporate as many of the things you learned in this course as possible. For example social bookmarking, wikis, document collaboration and social media.
2. Develop and submit a written description of what you completed and why. Please be sure to add links to the specific pages.

Or

Another assignment with permission from the instructor

Resources

• Take a look at my old website I used when I was a classroom teacher in Shanghai.  You can find my more recent work on my radio site and my ES Tech Coach blog.
• Here is a blog post I wrote some additional ideas.

Assignment #13:

Assignment

 (400 & 500 Level)

Choose ONE of the following:

1. iTunes has a section called iTunes U. In there you will find a section called Edutopia with a variety of educational technology videos. Download and watch any three videos and provide a 250-word summary/reflection on each of the three.  This link will take you to the right place.  Edutopia is a great location for following trends in education.
2. Find at least three articles that relate to education and web 2.0. Write a 250-word review of each one. Include your personal views on the topic, the message it sends, and the potential impact the content of the article will have on education. You can find some articles on our FlipBoard magazines.  We add to it on a regular basis.

Assignment #14: (500 Level ONLY)

Choose ONE of the following

1. Write a 750-word paper that (in your view) defines web 2.0 and suggests what it holds for the future of education. Provide a bibliography.
2. Technology is moving into the classroom and it does not appear to be going away anytime soon. The issue of balance, social interaction, distance learning and other topics often comes up in conversations about the future of our students.
   1. In a 750-word paper, discuss technology and its relationship to education. What are the upsides and downsides of its intrusion and infusion in the lives of our students? What about balance between yesterdayʼs teaching techniques and todayʼs?
3. Watch some of the TED videos located here.  Or feel free to browse for one from the TED site. Write a 750-word paper that discusses the message being sent by one or more of the presenters and its potential impact on education.

C. INTEGRATION PAPER

Assignment #15: (Required for 400 and 500 Level)

SELF REFLECTION & INTEGRATION PAPER
(Please do not write this paper until you've completed all of your other assignments)

Write a 350-500 word Integration Paper answering these 5 questions:

1. What did you learn vs. what you expected to learn from this course?
2. What aspects of the course were most helpful and why?
3. What further knowledge and skills in this general area do you feel you need?
4. How, when and where will you use what you have learned?
5. How and with what other school or community members might you share what you learned?

INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS ON YOUR WORK:

Please indicate by email to the instructor if you would like to receive comments on your assignments.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR TEACHING THIS COURSE:

Michael Boll is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Podcaster and Technology Coach at the International School Bangkok.. Michael enjoys helping educators, parents and students harness the transformative powers of technology. Michael is an enthusiastic instructional designer and presenter. He works to make his courses and presentations information packed, slightly provocative and fun. Michael has a teenage son with profound autism and is keenly interested in the special needs community and its population of diverse learners. This interest led Michael and his wife, Lori Boll, to open an innovative school in Shanghai (ShineAcademy.asia) for their son. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEB 2.0: Powering Up With The Latest Technology

Hortin, Anthony. “Easy WP Guide » An Easy to Follow Guide for Updating Your WordPress Content.” Easy WP Guide RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 July 2013. <http://easywpguide.com/download/>.

“My aim for the Easy WP Guide was to write something that was easy to read and that covered the basics in regards to editing & updating your site content. You’ll find that some topics within the guide are only touched upon lightly. My intent wasn’t to cover setting up your WordPress site or editing theme files, there’s plenty of information on those topics within the WordPress Codex and on the web.

Tapscott, Don. Grown up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.

Super book!  Discusses the Net Generation and how they think, behave and their future.  Published in 2008, so is now a bit dated. Still has lots of great information though.

Boyd, Danah. It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

danah boyd (she really does spell her name lower case) provides fantastic insight into how our teens operate today. Well researched and an easy read, I took what I learned to my teenage daughter and was told that I “get it” now!

Sales, Nancy Jo. American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

“Instagram. Whisper. Yik Yak. Vine. YouTube. Kik. Ask.fm. Tinder. The dominant force in the lives of girls coming of age in America today is social media. What it is doing to an entire generation of young women is the subject of award-winning Vanity Fair writer Nancy Jo Sales’s riveting and explosive American Girls.”