A tool is just a tool until...

 We have titled our first two NGN courses Beyond Cool: Meaningful Technology Integration for a reason!  Our focus is not on the tools we share, but beyond them.  Our goal is to provide resources and initiate professional discussions that help educators learn the most effective ways to incorporate any technology in their instruction in a meaningful way.  Any Web 2.0 tool can be used as a gimmick. It is the pedagogy and planning that allows students to have fun and activate their critical thinking skills at the same time. Therefore, each of our sessions requires teachers to create and share a lesson they will teach in their classrooms based on the ideas we present and the discussion that follows.  Then, we ask our teacher-students to provide each other with meaningful feedback.  We have been so impressed with the level of discussion in which our class participants engage.  It is so great to see teachers collaborating to make their instruction the best that it can be for students.  Students and learning! That's what it is all about, right?